norfolk police refers itself to the police watchdog for not responding to an emergency call from a house where a man, woman and two young girls were laterfound dead. iran's revolutionary guards now say five of their members were killed in an air strike on damascus, which they're blaming on israel. british communications regulator ofcom is reviewing whether to allow the royal mail postal service to end saturday deliveries. a bbc verify investigation has uncovered a network of nearly 200 fake social media accounts pushing pro—government messages in uganda. and ariel the cocker spaniel has succesfully had her two extra legs removed months after being dumped outside a supermarket in wales. we speak to one of the surgeons.

hello, i'm frankie mccamley. we begin with a developing story here in the uk. norfolk police has referred itself to the police watchdog, saying it failed to respond to an emergency call from a house, where a family was later found dead. the bodies of a man, a woman and two young girls were discovered in cossie, near norwich on friday. anisa kadri is following developments for us. we are getting more and more information about this. what is the latest as we know it? this information about this. what is the latest as we know it?— latest as we know it? this is a big sto in latest as we know it? this is a big story in the _ latest as we know it? this is a big story in the uk — latest as we know it? this is a big story in the uk in _ latest as we know it? this is a big story in the uk in the _ latest as we know it? this is a big story in the uk in the east - latest as we know it? this is a big story in the uk in the east of- story in the uk in the east of england, and the 999 call was made by a man at a house near norwich at about six again yesterday morning. police did send anyone to the scene off the back of that call. it was one hour later after another emergency call from a local resident

that officers forced entry to the property and found the bodies of a 45—year—old man, a 36—year—old woman and two young girls. the police force has referred itself to the independent police watchdog over its response to that initial 999 call and how it was dealt with and not followed up. this is the second referral that the force has made to the watchdog following these deaths. the first relates to a missing persons report that was filed last month. a big story in the region, as i mention. let's listen to what people in the local area have said about it. a guy went missing before christmas, and the _ a guy went missing before christmas, and the police brought a photo to see if_ and the police brought a photo to see if we — and the police brought a photo to see if we could capture him on our camera _ see if we could capture him on our camera but — see if we could capture him on our camera. but i haven't personally seen _ camera. but i haven't personally seen them. camera. but i haven't personally seen them-— camera. but i haven't personally seen them. the feeling is 'ust of

disma . seen them. the feeling is 'ust of dismay. such * seen them. the feeling is 'ust of dismay. such a i seen them. the feeling is 'ust of dismay. such a thing h seen them. the feeling isjust of dismay. such a thing happening | seen them. the feeling isjust of i dismay. such a thing happening on our doorstep, _ dismay. such a thing happening on our doorstep, it_ dismay. such a thing happening on our doorstep, it is— dismay. such a thing happening on our doorstep, it is so— dismay. such a thing happening on our doorstep, it is so sad - dismay. such a thing happening on our doorstep, it is so sad and - our doorstep, it is so sad and heartbreaking, _ our doorstep, it is so sad and heartbreaking, what- our doorstep, it is so sad and heartbreaking, what has- our doorstep, it is so sad and - heartbreaking, what has happened to the family _ people clearly concerned about that family. what more do we know about them? ., ., ., , ., ., them? the man who was found dead in them? the man who was found dead in the house has— them? the man who was found dead in the house has been _ them? the man who was found dead in the house has been named _ them? the man who was found dead in the house has been named in - them? the man who was found dead in the house has been named in reports, | the house has been named in reports, but there has been no formal identification yet. we understand the woman was a visitor to the property. postmortem examinations will now take place. so very much a developing story. will now take place. so very much a developing story-— iran has blamed israel for a suspected air strike in syria that killed five members of tehran's revolutionary guards. the iranian foreign minister described the attack as a desperate attempt to create instability, and said his country reserved the right to respond. syrian activists say at least ten people were killed by the strike, which destroyed a building said to house iranian military advisers.

there has been no comment from israel. here are two witnesses describing what happened. translation: i was using my asthma inhaler, my granddaughter, _ translation: i was using my asthma inhaler, my granddaughter, who - translation: i was using my asthma inhaler, my granddaughter, who is - inhaler, my granddaughter, who is three years old, was beside me. i jumped at the inhaler popped as well. i tried to protect the little one. during the earthquake, it did not happen like that. three huge sound shook the area.— sound shook the area. within seconds. _ sound shook the area. within seconds, israeli _ sound shook the area. within seconds, israeli missiles- sound shook the area. within - seconds, israeli missiles descended in a terrifying manner with a sound beyond _ in a terrifying manner with a sound beyond description. a building collapsed instantly, cars were shattered, buildings demolished. it is a crime — sara bazoobandi is the managing director of middle east risk consulting, and a research fellow at the german institute for global and area studies. she told me that the new strikes

in damascus should be interpreted as clear signs of escalation between israel and iran. we are reaching a point that is quite visible and obvious that the tension is rising and both sides are now more willing get involved in direct confrontation. a lot of indirect attacks and a lot of... there was an element of deniable plausibility in all of this. but now we are reaching a point that there are direct attacks that are very obvious, and it shows that we might even reach the point that will be a point of no return. direct on each other�*s soil, or confirmation of various forms, or perhaps iran might escalate through its closest and most important proxy in the north of israel, has

hesbollah. the head of hesbollah has said that they have no desire getting involved in the conflict between hamas and israel, but we might see a change in that strategy as well. . , ., ., ., ., ~ as well. that is what i want to talk to about. these _ as well. that is what i want to talk to about. these shadow _ as well. that is what i want to talk to about. these shadow wars - as well. that is what i want to talk to about. these shadow wars we l as well. that is what i want to talk l to about. these shadow wars we are seeing in conducted, how do you think these will have an influence on the war in gaza? the think these will have an influence on the war in gaza? the influence on the for in gaza. _ on the war in gaza? the influence on the for in gaza, i _ on the war in gaza? the influence on the for in gaza, i think _ on the war in gaza? the influence on the for in gaza, i think it's _ on the war in gaza? the influence on the for in gaza, i think it's quite - the for in gaza, i think it's quite obvious that it is the other way around. the war in gaza is the cause of a lot of these incidents, from the south of the red sea by houthis. that incident has opened up a pandora's box in the region and it is difficult to contain it. if the

situation continues, escalation continues, we might see a broader conflict, more players involved, and more devastation caused by this crisis in that part of the world. when we look at those players, look at the devastation. we are seeing the air strikes happen. you don't have a crystal ball, butjust looking at the geopolitics taking place now, what do you think might happen in specific areas in the days or weeks to come? fining happen in specific areas in the days or weeks to come?— happen in specific areas in the days or weeks to come? only a few weeks auo, a or weeks to come? only a few weeks ago. a similar— or weeks to come? only a few weeks ago, a similar attack— or weeks to come? only a few weeks ago, a similar attack was _ or weeks to come? only a few weeks ago, a similar attack was conducted i ago, a similar attack was conducted by israel on another commander in damascus. that was followed by a terrorist attack in one of the cities in iran. what the islamic republic did in response to that was to conduct a series of what is perceived from our side as random attacks on parts of the region, they

started shooting missiles into iraq, to certain parts of pakistan. i do expect some sort of retaliation. i'm not sure towards whom they will be directed. there is a lot of tension in the waterways in that part of the world from the red sea to the persian gulf. iran has a history of capturing and seizing oil tankers and ten three mecca have been attacking military ships in that part of the world. —— and houthis have been attacking military ships. perhaps they will not be shy and pick and choose when conducting these random attacks in the coming days. the middle east has been on high alert since hamas' surprise attack on october 7th, which triggered the war in gaza. hamas health officials say

the overall number killed in the war so far is approaching 25,000 as israeli forces have continued to pound the city of khan younis in southern gaza. gunfire many people have now fled the grounds of nasser hospital — the largest of the few hospitals still functioning in gaza. doctors there deny israeli claims that hamas fighters are using it as a base. with more from jerusalem, here's our correspondent, mark lowen. the focus of the israeli military operation now is very much around khan younis, where the israeli forces believe some of the top hamas leaders are holed up in that city and perhaps even in the tunnels underground, including the leader of hamas in gaza, yahya sinwar, who is still on the run. thejordanians, for example, have accused israel of firing towards a medical facility, a jordanian field hospital, around khan younis, but israel says

that attacks by hamas are coming against it from medical facilities in khan younis and even further south. just to give you a sense of the population, the inundation of refugees, really, from the north of gaza in that area, down in rafah in the far south of gaza on the border with egypt, that is a city which has a prewar population ofjust under 300,000 but is now thought to have more than a million people sheltering in rafah. so, as israel pounds those areas of southern gaza, of course the risk of civilian casualties and the risk to the refugees who are sheltering there is a very high indeed. you laid out all those regional spillovers, and that has always been the fear when this conflict erupted on the 7th of october, or re—erupted, that it would spill over into this volatile region and with those strikes in syria today, yet another illustration of how this tinderbox region is having fires lit in every corner, and i suppose the big question as the conflict goes on is how far

those claims will spread. and of course as well, there is the political side of things. wide attention surrounding the israeli minister, benjamin netanyahu, who yesterday spoke to presidentjoe biden and talked about these two—state solutions. have we heard any more on that today? well, he has once again said that he repeated to president biden that he is against palestinian sovereignty, ie a palestinian state, which is what he said a couple of days ago in a news conference as well. he said that he had told the americans that he opposes that. that is no surprise because he has espoused that position all his career. but by so publicly rebuffing and repudiating us attempts to reach a diplomatic solution to this crisis, itjust shows how there is this widening chasm between benjamin netanyahu and the biden administration,

and indeed many other of israel's western allies that are pushing for diplomacy at this stage. and it shows really how increasingly isolated benjamin netanyahu is now, not just externally with israel's western allies, but also internally because this member of israel's war cabinet, gadi eisenkot, one of the five—member war cabinet here, has publicly criticised benjamin netanyahu, saying he is not being truthful about the war aims in gaza, that he bears responsibility for leaving israel exposed to the attacks on the 7th of october, and that there should be fresh elections to restore israelis' trust in the leadership. you get the sense of a prime minister who is increasingly vulnerable, increasingly isolated, and who is staking his political survival now on this hard—line anti—palestinian state position. you mentioned a little earlier fighting very much continuing in southern gaza and we are seeing air strikes around the region, clearly a very volatile situation at the moment.

what can we expect? we can see light is falling where you are, but that doesn't stop, air strikes don't stop. what can we expect, do you think, over the next few hours and days to come? i mean, more of the same, i suppose. night does not bring refuge or solace to gaza, where the air strikes continue. the israeli defence minister has suggested that the intense ground operations in the north have concluded and so that is why they are focusing on the south. but, you know, israel is facing increasing calls from its western allies to rein in and ease its offensive. meanwhile, anger grows here in israel from families of the hostages. remember, there are still about 130 hostages still missing after the attacks on the 7th of october. there was a protest outside the residence of benjamin netanyahu of the families of the hostages who are saying he is not doing

enough to bring them back and he needs to prioritise that over the attack on hamas and the attempt to destroy hamas. so that is another sign of how he is increasingly unpopular here, he is losing popularity and a recent poll showed thatjust15% of israelis feel that he should remain in office once this conflict in gaza comes to an end. he has backed himself into a corner, but he is israel's great political survivor, so don't write him off yet. this conflict has affected people around the world. pro—palestinian protesters have repeatedly interrupted a speech by the shadow foreign secretary, david lammy, at a conference in london. he was stopped three times by protesters who criticised the labour party's response to the israel—gaza war. after the first protestors were escorted away by security, more people in the audience stood up to launch verbal attacks. here's one of the interruptions.

the moment when the patient either begins to recover, or begins to slip away... shouting you should be ashamed of yourself! blood on your hands. blood on your hands! change through power not protest, my friend. we all want a sustainable ceasefire. people have gathered in towns and cities across germany for further demonstrations against right—wing extremism. it comes a day after tens of thousands of people took part in similar protests. the head of the german domestic intelligence service has welcomed the rallies, which were triggered by reports that far—right politicians had discussed the deportation of millions of people

with immigrant backgrounds. 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. she was found by a dog walker less than an hour after she'd been born. the watchdog, 0fcom, is set to publish options for reforming royal mail services in the uk, which could include scrapping deliveries on saturdays. the document — which is expected to be released next week — will include evidence on how the postal service might need to evolve to meet customer needs. earlier, i spoke to our business correspondent, esyllt carr, and asked her about the prospect of changes being brought in. well, this issue of scrapping saturday deliveries is something royal mail has raised before, and that is because a number

of letters being delivered has fallen significantly. royal mail says the network was designed for 20 billion letters a year and that has now fallen to around 7 billion a year, and it expects it to fall even further over the next few years. delivering six days a week is something that the royal mail has to do as part of its universal service obligation, and that is an agreement that can only be changed by parliament. that was last updated in 2011. but 0fcom has been looking at this and says it wants to look at evidence to see what changes could be made to bring the service in line with the way customers are behaving now. it is expected to set out a series of options next week which could include changing the number of days royal mail has to deliver and it says it will be asking for views on those. royal mail has made its view on these issues very clear. earlier this month in a letter to mp5, the chief executive of the company that owns royal mail, international distribution services,

said that maintaining the current network is unsustainable. royal mail faces huge financial difficulties. it posted a loss of £390 million for the first half of this financial year. it says reform is urgent. but of course, ultimately, whatever 0fcom comes up with next week, this decision will lie with the government. 13 children have been killed in a fire at a boarding school in central china — all of them aged nine or ten. the fire broke out on friday night in a boys' dormitory in the nanyang region of henan province. state media said the head of the school had been detained and the authorities are investigating the cause of the fire. fatal incidents of this kind are not uncommon in china because of lax enforcement of building and safety standards. 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 pro—government messages and targeting critics — sometimes with threats. a short time ago, i spoke to one of the targets of the fake accounts, climate activist hillary innocent taylor seguya. i started by asking what happened to him. i was flabbergasted when i heard the findings of the investigation, that i am a target of state—sponsored inauthentic accounts. they want to silence me because i am a campaigner about a pipeline which has displaced thousands of people in our country, and 379 million metric tonnes of climate pollution will be the result in our lifetime from this pipeline, so i'm saying we cannot have this in uganda and it is better if we invest in renewable energies,

not this oil pipeline. yes, and it sounds like you are passionate about what you are doing and your campaign. when you found out there was a fake account in your name, and i personally have been targeted by fake accounts as well, but how were you feeling when you saw this? were you surprised at all? at some point i was surprised, but on the other hand i was not so surprised because we are used to the regime that we have in uganda. it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened, prior to the the 2021 election there were fake accounts. this is the reality we living in uganda. we have to fight with fake accounts because as democracies come online, we also see propaganda and manipulation of public opinion.

so were you expecting something like this to happen? well, because of the world where the fake news and things disseminate so fast, i was not surprised. we expect this because we know that as we are pushing for climate change the fossil fuel industries are also using different fake attacks, different influences. we are saying that we want climate justice. they are looking at profits with fossil fuels. and this was notjust your account that was faked so to speak, it was a network of nearly 200 fake accounts at the bbc investigation found. are you surprised that there were so many, or did you think that actually may be there's not very many at all? i did not anticipate the number would be as big as that, but anything can happen with this regime. lies is the official language

of the regime in uganda and they use any means possible to disseminate their propaganda to change public opinion. but we must protect people affected by this project in the east african area by the pipeline is. and finally i would like to get your thoughts on how influential you think these kind of fake accounts can have on countries like yours in public debate, in society? as a country that is so young and we are trying to create democracy in our country, of course, if you have such inauthentic accounts because it affects public opinion because we have seen that many times the regime is using it to show the world that everything is ok in uganda, so we believe that with these fake attacks

they send the wrong message to the entire world. the reality is different on the ground. for more on this story, listen to bbc trending: crude fakes in uganda on bbc sounds. every dog has its day — and today it's ariel's! she was born with six legs, and was abandoned in a car park in pembrokeshire. but she's now recovering after having her extra limbs removed. this is 11—week—old ariel before the operation. her extra legs were fused together at birth. now, after her life—changing operation, she is returning home to her foster family in west wales. about £15,000 pounds was raised by well—wishers all over the world for the treatment. we spoke to aaron lutchman, one of the veterinary surgeons involved in the operation. the steps were taken

in a very stepwise procedure. we performed a ct scan with our specialists in diagnostic imaging to identify exactly the abnormalities that ariel had, which allowed us to perform the procedure in as safe a manner as possible. so this wasn't a simple routine amputation. she had additional blood vessels, additional nerves, which we had to be considerate of during the procedure so as not to compromise the function of her normal leg on that side. have you ever seen anything like this before in an animal? personally, i haven't. it is not something that is generally seen very often at all. so, yes, she is a bit of a one in a million, really. and it seems that ariel's story, we are just seeing pictures of her and she is incredibly cute, i am a dog lover myself — and look at those eyes — but this has piqued a lot of people's interest and people have

donated so much money to help her. how likely is it that she will survive this operation? so everything has gone very, very well and we are pleased with the procedure so far. so it is going to be a case of some rest and recuperation, but we do hope she will go on to lead a normal life. i said in the introduction she is going to have to have some physiotherapy. talk me through puppy physiotherapy. so it is very much as you would expect with human physiotherapy. we have some great practitioners in veterinary. she will be doing some basic passive range of motion exercises, before building up her normal walks, and then we expect her to go on and do nice, big walks as any other dog would. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello. it looks to be one of the strongest storms of the season. it is likely to lead to transport disruption as well as probably damage to power networks. it is the rapidly deepening area of low pressure, travelling below a powerful atlantic jet stream, and pressure, travelling below a powerful atlanticjet stream, and it is this combination that strengthens this area of low pressure. severe gales will be widespread, so will the threat of disruption. we will look at that in more detail in a moment, but first tonight. a band of rain pushes eastwards, followed by showers. relatively mild air, for to seven celsius, so nowhere near as cold as this week. northern ireland sees outbreaks of rain turning heavy quickly, and this wet and windy weather will then spread its way northwards and eastwards. the south

south—westerly winds bringing very mild air. that will set off a thought of the lying snow, which could bring some concerns with localised flooding. it is the strength of the winds on sunday evening into sunday night at the early hours of monday morning that are cause for concern. storm isha will bring maybe 80 most powerful wales and northern ireland, but the druggist was will be in scotland, where gus could reach 85 mph, maybe even stronger than that. the abba warning in scotland is in the highest impact column weather—wise. if the likelihood or confidence grows, then we may well see a red weather warning follow. in other words, stay in touch with the latest forecast, because that could be updates to the warnings through sunday. it then gets ready for a time on sunday night across parts of the coast of south—east england, likely disrupting the ferries.

monday, blustery day with strong winds slow to ease down. a date of heavy, thundery showers, some turning to snow over the highest scottish mountains. it will feel colder with temperatures ranging between eight and 11 celsius. then we will see more rain coming away for tuesday, wednesday troyer and sunnier. in the short—term, pay attention to the warnings for storm isha.

live from london, this is bbc news. norfolk police has referred itself to an independent watchdog for not responding to an emergency call from a house where a man, woman and two young girls were laterfound dead. police forcibly entered the home near norwich on friday after a call from a concerned member of the public. iranian state media says five of iran's revolutionary guards have been killed by an air strike in damascus. syrian activists say at least ten people were killed in the blast, which targeted tehran's military advisers. iran has blamed israel for the attack. a bbc verify investigation has uncovered a network of nearly 200 fake social media accounts pushing pro—government messages in uganda. the accounts also target critics of the counrty�*s president — sometimes with threats. and a cocker spaniel called ariel has successfully had her two extra legs removed, months after being dumped outside a supermarket in wales.

hello and a very warm welcome to the programme. i'm frankie mccamley. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's chetan pathak. hello from the bbc sport centre. we will start with tennis. the women's top seed has been knocked out of the australian open. iga swiatek�*s search for a title in melbourne goes on after she lost in the third round to czech teenager linda noskova. swiatek was on an 18 match unbeaten run... and took the first set 6—3 against the 19—year—old but the world number was then unable to deal with noskova's power and faltered on herforehand, losing the next two sets and becoming the 7th top ten seed to go out.

noskova said she was speechless afterwards and will now play 19th seed elina svitolina in herfirst 11th round match at a grand slam. in the men's draw, the number 2 and 3 seeds are through to the second week... that's carlos alcaraz and daniil medvedev... while britain's cam norrie pulled off one of the other significant results of day seven. he's knocked out the number 11 seed... and three—time grand slam finalist casper ruud in four sets and now faces the german sixth seed alexander zverev on monday. norrie, who reached the wimbledon semi—finals in 2022, is the only british player remaining in the singles draw — until the wheelchair tennis gets under way next week. arsenal are back up to third in the premier league with a 5—0 win over crystal palace stopping their recent slide it also puts palace boss roy hodgson under further pressure... they've only won once since the beginning of november and are just five points above the relegation zone. gabriel opened the scoring early on and forced the second,

which was an own goal. leandro trossard added the third before gabriel martinelli scored twice in injury time to wrap up a comfortable afternoon, with arsenal now level on points with manchester city and two points behind the leaders liverpool. very pleased with the performance, a clean sheet to wind the game. i had a good feeling as soon as we left the stadium after liverpool, and the performances were there. the results weren't. it was a really good performance. we used moments of the game that we knew we could exploit really, really well. you need everybody really focused and determined to have an impact in the game and i'm really pleased. ivan toney captains brentford on his return from his eight month ban for breaching betting rules as the bees host nottingham forest in the premier league. 0ne one has just got under way. brentford are already behind, and

early go for forest from danilo after just early go for forest from danilo afterjust a early go for forest from danilo after just a few early go for forest from danilo afterjust a few minutes, so he will have to inspire his side to come back after that one. south korea scored an equaliser in injury time to rescue a point againstjordan in their second group game at the asian cup. an early lead came courtesy of son hyeung min's penalty... but from there things became a lot harder. the first of the game's two own goals broughtjordan level before yazan al naimat... who plays his club football in the host nation qatar... made it 2—1 tojordan... setting them up for a first ever victory over south korea. but it was another own goal denied them the 2—2 draw leaves both teams on four points. talking of late goals, algeria got one in the 95th minute to draw 2—2 against burkina faso in the day's opening match at the africa cup of nations. the 2019 champions who haven't won a match at the tournament since that finalfive years ago came from behind twice to draw for the second

time in ivory coast, with both goals coming from baghdad bounedjah. burkina faso still top the group on 4 points. algeria second with 2. later tunisia will hope to bounce back from their shock opening defeat to nambia they're playing mali in group e. rory mcilroy has moved to wihtin touching distance of the lead at the dubai desert classic after a third round 63. the defending champion was out of contention before his seven birdies and an eagle took him to 12 under, two off the lead which is held by american cameron young. he had a more modest one under par round of 71... but his three birdies on the back nine helped him keep an advantage going into sunday's final round. more on that on the bbc sport website. and that's all the sport for now. earlier on bbc news we broadcast live pictures of guests arriving

for the inauguration ceremony of felix tshisekedi as president of the democratic republic of congo, for a second term. during that broadcast we mistakenly referred to the zambian president who was arriving at the event as mr tshisekedi. this was incorrect and bbc news apologises for the error. well here is felix tshisekedi being sworn in. he speaks in french. he took the oath of office in a packed stadium in the capital, kinshasa. heads of state from across africa were invited to the ceremony. the opposition has refused to recognise the result of the poll, describing it as a sham. three defeated candidates had called for protests in kinshasa on the day of the inauguration, but police banned the demonstrations.

returning to one of our top stories this hour. five members of iran's revolutionary guards — including the head of the force's information unit in syria — have been killed in an air strike in damascus. iran is blaming it on israel. syrian activists say at least ten people were killed in the mid—morning blast, which flattened a building in the mazzeh district of the city. earlier i spoke to siavash ardalan from the bbc persian service. he began by explaining that israel has not taken responsibility for the attack. the israelis never acknowledge, either reject or confirm, the kind of operations that they do. contrary to previous incidences, the irgc was very quick to release the necessary information that we had to go by, naming all four commanders — without their rankings, though. the irgc affiliated domestic media inside iran named these people, and from the names we can tell — there is one gentleman

called sadegh 0midzadeh who is a deputy of the quds force, that is the overseas wing of the revolutionary guard, a very high ranking official. this would be the number two man in the quds force, the deputy of qasem soleimani's successor, so the israelis have really struck hard in an area in damascus which many foreign embassies are located there. it is a very precision attack targeting particularly that building in which these four people have been killed. i think it is important to stress the israelis have not said anything yet or claimed responsibility for this attack, but let's look at the wider context, how this proxy war will affect the war in the middle east. yes, it is a proxy war, indirect war, cold war, name it whatever you want, between iran and israel. it is a tit—for—tat thing going on. just last week iran attacked this house, killing a iraqi—kurdish tycoon,

a billionaire there residing in his house with his family, claiming that was a mossad operated base, never providing evidence for it, although some irgc media released photos and pictures, but it's very difficult for us to verify, but the fact that israelis are responding now in this fashion shows us that maybe that place was linked to their interests or they just acted independently, but what is interesting is that previously what israelis would do was target iran's proxy forces, usually in syria, but now after the gaza war where israel feels it might be on the defensive and surrounded by what it calls this ring of fire strategy that iran is pushing in the region, it felt the need to attack high—ranking military officials, and this is the second time it is doing this. 0k, and just finally, i know nobody has a crystal ball, butjust looking at the geopolitical situation and what is happening

at the moment, what can we expect in the days, hours to come? iran is on election seasons now so the authorities are under a lot of pressure, the authorities, by domestic public opinion, to project their power, to show we are in charge, we are notjust taking blows from the israelis, we are also acting, being proactive ourselves, and hence you have those attacks both in syria, iraq and pakistan all at the same time, perhaps a bit more overconfidence on the side of the iranian authorities, but very much responding to the domestic situation. 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 fighting 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... 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 neighboring 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 in gaza will certainly.

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. aus a us village has long been known as little palestine. they have been showing support for palestinians in gaza. posters and signs call for a ceasefire. they said about the brunt of the current conflict. this is little palestine or bridge view, an area near chicago. they are thousands of miles away from home, but closely tied to the ongoing

fighting in gaza. this but closely tied to the ongoing fighting in gaza.— but closely tied to the ongoing fighting in gaza. this is a sign, this is the _ fighting in gaza. this is a sign, this is the famous _ fighting in gaza. this is a sign, this is the famous sign. - fighting in gaza. this is a sign, this is the famous sign. since l fighting in gaza. this is a sign, i this is the famous sign. since the fi . htin: this is the famous sign. since the fighting broke — this is the famous sign. since the fighting broke out _ this is the famous sign. since the fighting broke out in _ this is the famous sign. since the fighting broke out in gaza, - fighting broke out in gaza, leila has had this sign up. she received death threats on two consecutive letters. the biggest change is not being able to go outside whenever i want to go outside. sometimes... sometimes i get scared that maybe a person will come and try to take one of my kids just to get back at me. i've explained to my kids, if you see somebody trying to hurt me, you run back into the house and don't try to save me. just run back. because it happened to wadea, so it could happen to me. wadea was a six—year—old palestinian—american who lost his life last october after being stabbed 26 times. the suspect, his landlord, is now to be tried for murder and hate crimes. wadea was 0dai's only child.

it's here where he used to sleep when he visited his father's place on weekends. 0dai cannot get over the shock. translation: i still hear his voice. he used to come on saturdays, and up till now, i still stand next to the window waiting for him. i know he won't show up, but itjust relieves me to wait. but it's not all tragedy for palestinians here. over the past couple of months, a few support rallies took place in chicago, where various communities came together to call for an end to the war. for palestine support rallies, these are absolutely the biggest that chicago has ever seen, especially other oppressed communities — the black community in the united states, latino community, other immigrant communities, the native communities here, asian, have always been on the side

of the palestinian people. back at laila's place, the family tells me they hate to live in fear. even if the war is over, they will always feel bitter when they remember how it meant to be uncomfortable at their own home. sally nabil, bbc news, bridgeview, illinois. sexual health services in england and wales are at breaking point as a result of increasing demand. recent analysis by the local government association shows there has been a surge in rates of sexually transmitted infections across the majority of council areas. while some of the increase is linked to more testing, the overall scale indicates a higher prevalence of infections within the community. i'm joined now by anne phillpott — who is the founder and co—director of the pleasure project.

why do you think we've seen this rise? . ~' ,. why do you think we've seen this rise? ., ,, ,., ,., . why do you think we've seen this rise? ., ,, y., . ., why do you think we've seen this rise? ., ,, . ., ., rise? thank you so much for having me on. i rise? thank you so much for having me on- ithink— rise? thank you so much for having me on. i think there's _ rise? thank you so much for having me on. i think there's hundreds - rise? thank you so much for having me on. i think there's hundreds ofl me on. i think there's hundreds of different reasons why there's been a rise, and some of them earlier people have spoken about, such as the increase in sex after the covid lock downs, but i think one of the other things that really lead to editors we need to think about how we deliver sexual health services and sexual health interventions. there's been a massive rise in sti is in young people in the uk, this is in young people in the uk, this is mirrored by global rises in sti is. there's a million stis court globally every day. we need to focus —— we tend to focus only on stopping the negative impacts, death and disease, but we need to focus on the reasons why people have sex, which is pleasure, love, intimacy, and people aren't really thinking about

diseases when they are having sex, but we need to think about the way we are delivering sex education. we need to talk about all the things that could be great in their sex lives, what a great vision for their sex life, talk about eroticised on condom use, but also making sure they are safe and they have sex and when they have relationships. find when they have relationships. and this is a problem notjust in the uk, butaround this is a problem notjust in the uk, but around the world. what kind of different tactics you talk about their talking about pleasure rather than the danger is around, what kind of things can be done on a global level, do you think? i of things can be done on a global level, do you think?— of things can be done on a global level, do you think? i think if you think about _ level, do you think? i think if you think about flipping _ level, do you think? i think if you think about flipping the _ level, do you think? i think if you think about flipping the narrative | think about flipping the narrative in the way that we, for example, teach young people to drive, we will say to them, you need to be careful about speeding, need to do this, but this is going to be a great experience. so we talk about the benefits will bring to them, and we may ask them what they want to gain from learning how to drive, but we can do the same things when it comes

to their relationships and their sex lives. what you want to gain from this? and then keep them safe. recently the pleasure project a really big research review with the world health organization, and we look to all the research over the last 20 years globally that hoped to have an impact on sexual health, and that included stis, and we found that included stis, and we found that when those interventions included pleasure, we call it pleasure by sexual health, there was a significant and much bigger impact on sexual health outcomes, and that included condom use, and so we have really been missing a trick in the world of sex education and sexual health, in that we have been only focusing on kind of finger wagging and saying, you need to wear a condom, and you really must stop doing that, whereas what we should have done is talked about the benefits are, what we can gain, and why they are having sex in the first place, and if we had done that, we would have saved, for example, a lot

more life since the beginning of the pandemic, and i think it's not about a whole new type of intervention, it's not like setting up new vaccine manufacturing, it'sjust it's not like setting up new vaccine manufacturing, it's just about changing the conversation and making sure people just feel a lot less shame around sex and moralistic around pleasure.— shame around sex and moralistic around pleasure. really interesting to net our around pleasure. really interesting to get your thoughts. _ as recently as 2017, the world health organization declared that measles had been eliminated from the uk for the first time. 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. that's it today from me. you're watching bbc news.

hello. storm isha looks to be one of the strongest storms of the 23/24 season. it is likely to lead to transport disruption as well as probably damaged power networks. here is the rapidly deepening area of low pressure travelling beneath a powerful atlantic jet stream, and it's this combination that rapidly strengthens this area of low pressure. severe gales will be widespread, and so will a threat of disruption. we'll take a look at that in a bit more detail injust a moment. but first of all, this night, a band of rain pushes eastwards, follows by showers. the south—westerly winds bringing us relatively mild air. 4 to 7 degrees celsius, so nowhere near as cold a night as it was for many of the nights that we had last week. a mild start then to sunday, sunshine to start the day in northern and eastern scotland and across most of england and wales. northern ireland sees outbreaks of rain turning heavy quickly and this wet and windy weather will then spread its way northwards and eastwards. the south—southwesterly winds bringing very mild air. the mild air will set off

a thaw of the lying snow, which combined with the heavy rain, could bring some concerns with the localised flooding. however, it's the strength of the winds sunday evening, sunday night and into the early hours of monday morning that are cause for concern. storm isha will bring gusts of wind of around 60 to 70 miles an hour quite widely across western areas, maybe 80 miles an hour for northwest wales and perhaps parts of northern ireland. but the strongest winds will be going across scotland, where we could see gusts reaching 85 miles an hour across the north and west, maybe even a little bit stronger than that. now, the amber warning in scotland for storm isha is in the highest impact column weather—wise. if the likelihood or confidence grows, then we may well see a red weather warning follow. so, in other words, stay in touch with the latest forecasts because there could be updates to the weather warnings as we go through sunday. it then gets very windy for a time sunday night across parts of the coast of southeast england, that will likely disrupt the ferries. and then from monday, we're looking at a very blustery day. the strong winds very

slow to ease down. a day of sunshine and heavy thundery showers. some of the showers turning to snow across the high scottish mountains. it will feel a colder kind of day with temperatures ranging between eight and 11 degrees celsius. it then looks like we'll see more rain come our way for tuesday. wednesday, drier and sunnier. in the short term, though, please pay attention to the warnings for storm isha.

live from london. this is bbc news. norfolk police refers itself to the independent watchdog for not responding to an emergency call from a house where a man, woman and two young girls were later found dead. iran has vowed to carry out revenge attacks against israel, after five members of its revolutionary guards were killed in an air strike on damascus. a bbc verify investigation uncovers a network of nearly 200 fake social media accounts praising the government and targeting its critics in uganda. and a cocker spaniel named ariel successfully has her two extra legs removed months after being dumped outside a supermarket in wales. hello. norfolk police has referred itself to an independent watchdog, saying it failed to respond to an emergency call from a house

where a family was later found dead.