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funerals are being held for the 2a soldiers killed in israel's deadliest day since the war began in gaza. there has been intense fighting around khan younis, israel says it has surrounded the southern gaza city. could i hostage deal close, though? reports that israel has proposed a two—month pause to negotiate prisoner exchanges with himars. the us and uk carry out joint strikes against houthi targets in yemen for the second time in two weeks. —— hamas. and oppenheimer leads the oscar nominations with 13 — but barbie�*s margot robbie and director greta gerwig miss out. time for a look at the business news now — with lu kwesa burak. it afternoon, lukwesa. —— could

afternoon. —— good afternoon. we start here in the uk — with the government's finances — because the amount it had to borrow last month was far less than expected. that has raised hopes the chancellor, jeremy hunt, may have extra room to cut taxes when he announces his spring budget in march. a lot of it is down to lower interest payments — some of which are linked to inflation. let's put this into perspective for you — because the uk's national debt is at record levels. £2.69 trillion is how much it owes. that is almost the size of the uk economy — the so—called debt—to—gdp ratio is around 97.7%. that is a useful guide to how affordable the debt is for a country. the chancellor has pledged to get that ratio down. the uk's far better off than some of its regional neighbours — italy's debt—to—gdp is around 140%. but if we look at germany's —

that's only 65%. earlier i spoke to james smith who looks at developed economies at the bank ing. i asked him how financial markets are reacting to this improving picture for uk government finances. the really big thing for the treasury is the fact markets are beginning to anticipate rate cuts. financial markets expect around a one percentage point cut in the bank of england's base rate later this year. it plays into that, and in actual fact that is what will give the chancellor the space to offer tax cuts this year. whenever we talk about tax cuts it brings back the memories of the mini budget crisis a year or so ago. there's obviously differences to back then. some of the numbers we are talking about. the size of tax cuts available is much less this time. there is and interaction with the bank of england here and that's because if the government does do a big fiscal expansion,

it cuts taxes or decides to spend more, the bank of england might read that as that will boost the economy and might keep inflation a little higher than we previously thought and that might be used as an argument to push back those rate cuts. that's the way it is being looked at. there are also people who are saying that a substantial tax cut, there is talk of 1p off income tax which amounts some 7 billion a year, so if these tax cuts are not funded properly funded properly, lots of people say tax cuts are not funded properly lots of people say this is reckless and instead of spending and giving away money they should be consolidating the work that's been done towards fighting inflation, for example. i suppose the way to think about this as this is presented as part of a wider budget and that wider budget for quite some time has been baking in quite a lot of aggressive measures after the election, so spending in real terms once adjusted for inflation is going to be under wraps for the next few years as well. there are some other things baked

into there as well which have a tightening effect on the economy. there is a question as to whether or not that will happen after the election. i suppose that's the broader picture right now. james smith from ing, thank you very much. let's stay in the uk — because the long—running inquiry into the post office scandal has resumed, examining the causes of one of the worst miscarriages ofjustice in british legal history. more than 900 post office managers were prosecuted — after faulty software wrongly made it look like money was missing from their branches. facing questions today, was robert daily, a former post office official who investigated two of the wrongly prosecuted subpostmasters. here's our business reporter, ben king. bill guam and peter holmes, two subpostmasters who didn't live to seejustice done. both wrongly accused of taking money from their post offices. their names weren't cleared until after their deaths. peter's widow, marion, arriving at the public inquiry today

into how the faulty computer system horizon led to one of the biggest miscarriages ofjustice in british history, which saw more than 900 convicted. i want to know why, why they didn't listen to him when they said listen to him when he said it was with the computer, why they didn't at least check. i swear by almighty god. former post office investigator robert daily, who helped put both men in the dock, was asked about his training and his obligations to disclose information to the defence, which might help clear the men. i don't recall any training on the horizon system. i do recall, i think when i was temporary in 2000, we went to hotel for a day to look at the system. what that involved ican't remember. the inquiry this week focuses on scotland and northern ireland. robert daily was the only investigator in scotland in 2009,

but denied that the extra pressure affected his work. his investigation helped to convict bill quam, who ran a post office on north uist in scotland's western isles. his widow and described the impact of that wrongful prosecution. my whole world, you know, - just everything i'd worked so hard to achieve and, you know, just came down like a tonl of bricks around you. up to 100 subpostmasters were convicted in scotland. just four cases have so far been overturned. ben king, bbc news. wall street might all run has taken a breather after leading shares closing up yet another record high on monday traders say the rally might take a pause as investors await results from some of america's biggest companies. we are going to cross straight to new york because the bbc boss mike erin delmore has been following the numbers for us.

things have calmed down but everything is holding steady in these figures come out, erin? right, we are singing _ these figures come out, erin? right, we are singing a _ these figures come out, erin? right, we are singing a bit _ these figures come out, erin? right, we are singing a bit of _ these figures come out, erin? right, we are singing a bit of a _ these figures come out, erin? right, we are singing a bit of a different - we are singing a bit of a different team this morning, we are seeing now the dowjones around four tenths of a percentage point and the s&p nasdaq emma gatten nasdaq down a bit less than that amount this is different than what we saw yesterday which were record poses for both the dowjones and s and d but the dow jones hid a new benchmark trading above 38,000 in the first time ever. —— s and t. we are looking at the earnings reports this week they could fuel wall street's rise or put the brakes on like you speak of for instance a few airlines reporting this week and in addition netflix, johnson &johnson and procter & gamble and tomorrow tesla and at&t. we are getting some different economic data coming in towards the end of the week, on thursday we look ahead to the fourth quarter gdp for the us and on friday an inflation

report that is closely watched by the fed. . ~ report that is closely watched by the fed. ., ~ , report that is closely watched by the fed. ., ~ i. , . the fed. erin, thank you very much indeed. 0k, _ the fed. erin, thank you very much indeed. 0k, to _ the fed. erin, thank you very much indeed. 0k, to the _ the fed. erin, thank you very much indeed. 0k, to the uk, _ the fed. erin, thank you very much indeed. 0k, to the uk, there - the fed. erin, thank you very much indeed. 0k, to the uk, there has l indeed. ok, to the uk, there has been a warning from one of the leading charities regarding fuel poverty. and people being unable to pay for the heating. they say around 2 million people could have their gas and electricity cut off this winter because they can't afford to top up their prepayment meter. that warning comes from the charity, citizens advice — which provides free help on financial, legal and consumer issues. i spoke alex belsham—harris earlier. we are seeing a difficult picture of people coming to us with higher gusts, but a third since before the

energy crisis began. we are seeing challenging pictures with debt and for people on prepayment meters as you said. if you have a prepayment meter you need to keep it topped up and if you don't you will be disconnected from your energy. in wintertime that means you are having to pay a lot of money when your energy usage is higher and we are seeing millions of people now disconnected from their meat is because they don't have enough money to top up in the coldest months. —— metres. ——meters. and how do we stand when it comes to fuel poverty? so the picture with fuel poverty has been getting worse in recent years. we've been seeing increasing numbers falling against fuel poverty as energy prices have risen. and that is a real challenge that fuel poverty generally means you don't have enough money coming in, and also that your home isn't energy efficient enough. so you're losing a lot of the heat that you're you need to live through your walls and through your ceilings. so there's two challenges there that we really think government needs to bear down on.

and on the income side, what we're calling for is better targeted support for those people who really need it most so they can stay on their energy supply, keep connected, and don't have to sit in a cold, dark home. that was alex belsham—harris citizens advice, currently in the uk. fix. citizens advice, currently in the uk. �* . ~ citizens advice, currently in the uk. �* .~ citizens advice, currently in the uk. a quick look at the stories makin: uk. a quick look at the stories making business _ uk. a quick look at the stories making business news - uk. a quick look at the stories i making business news headlines. china's investment regulator says it will step up the injection of capital into the market — and put market stability in �*a more prominent�* position. chinese shares have slumped to a three—year low — wiping out some $6 trillion in value — on concerns about the health of the world's number two economy. china is planning to spend billions propping up the stock market using overseas cash reserves of state—owned firms, according to bloomberg news. french regulators have fined amazon's warehouse management almost $35 million, for excessively intrusive staff surveillance.

they said the way that employee activity was monitored through the scanners they used was illegal. amazon recorded not only the time the workers were processing parcels, but also whether they scanned them too fast or too slow. amazon said the findings were factually incorrect, and that surveillance was necessary — adding it �*reserved the right to appeal.�* the english sparkling wine maker, chapel down, has reported a 14% rise in sales last year to £15 million. the company which is the uk s biggest sparkling wine maker, benefited from a shift in the market towards english fizz, away from champagne, whilst exports were up 67%. time for me to say cheers. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

bringing you different stories from across the uk. i bent down, he put his feet on my shoulders and give me a kiss. i thought, this dog needs to come home. he�*d been there nine years, so at the time he had maybe the next three or four years in the house. he spent almost his entire life at an animal sanctuary in outside kennels. well, now he�*s experiencing a warm home for the first time, thanks to his new owners, ken and sandra. it loves it. absolutely loves it. he has two beds. he has one up on the landing. he has one downstairs by t'side of the radiator. he's just fit in so well. but despite humbug�*s close bond with ken, it has come as a bit of a surprise. as part of the reason he was so difficult to rehome was because of his fear of strangers. after nine years, he needs a proper home. he is loved already. for more stories from across the uk,

head to the bbc news website. you�*re live with bbc news. more now on developments in yemen, after the us and uk launched fresh airstrikes against houthi targets. bbc verify�*s nick eardley has the latest on what we know. we have spent the day building up more of a picture of what happened last night and why the uk and us felt the need to launch further air strikes. have a look at this video of last night, a hand—out from the us military. it shows a jet taking off to take part in those air strikes. we have been looking at a lot of other video today and i should point out that verification is important on a day like this. we have seen lots of videos online saying they are from yemen which are not of the latest strikes, some are older, some are from other parts of the middle east. so far we have not

found anything particularly compelling showing the situation on the ground. but if we get it we will bring you it later in the day. we are getting more of a picture, though, of where the strikes were taking place. have a look at the map. from information on the ground, both local media and some houthi spokespeople, we think the strikes hit these areas. prime minister rishi sunakfor example hit these areas. prime minister rishi sunak for example talked about strikes just north of here in sanaa. there is an airfield here so it makes sense if the us and uk were targeting the houthis�* military capability. the uk said all of the strikes in all of these areas where a response to an ongoing and imminent threat from the houthis. it is worth talking about about the backdrop to all of this and the attacks on ships in the red sea and other waterways in the region. bdc verify has been spending the last couple of weeks looking at the situation and all the publicly available data. there have been

frequent attacks by the houthis. look at this video. that is a missile hitting a ship last week. when the uk and us launched the first air strikes ii when the uk and us launched the first air strikes 11 days ago, they urged de—escalation. but that�*s not what has happened. in fact, you could say the opposite has happened. this graph based on data and shows incidents in and around the red sea. you can see they go down and they go back up, they go down again, but after those first air strikes on the 12th of january there is quite a significant increase in incidence in and around the red sea. finally i want to show you this which is a bit of a changing picture. where the attacks on ships have been. we have mapped them out and you can see that over time a lot of them have been here, this end of the red sea, the southern end at this choke point, the bab—el—mandeb strait. what is interesting, though, since the first

uk and us air strikes ii interesting, though, since the first uk and us air strikes 11 days ago there have been more attacks in the southin there have been more attacks in the south in the gulf of aden. finally, look at this. it will take a second to come up. this is live data showing ships going through the area. there are still quite a few there as you can see heading in both directions. but there is a lot less than they would have been three months ago. many of the ships that previously would have gone through the red sea are now taking a longer and more expensive route. that was nick eardley. ukraine says at least six people have been killed in a wave of missile attacks, with the capital kyiv and second city kharkiv among cities targeted. once again, people headed for shelter in the kyiv metro. the ukrainian military says of 41 missiles launched by russia, 21 were destroyed by air defences. our eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford sent us this update from a bomb shelter in kyiv.

we�*re reporting right now from the hotel bunker because there was an air raid just a while ago. it�*s now over. so people have left this area. we�*re just down here for the moment so we can talk to you. but this is the second air raid today. the first one was earlier this morning before 6:00, and it lasted for two and a half hours, which is the longest siren that�*s sounded here since the beginning of this month. and it heralded the arrival in ukraine, as you said, of several dozen russian missiles. we�*re talking about 41 missiles, according to the ukrainian authorities. now, they appear to be targeting specifically kyiv and kharkiv, ukraine�*s second city, which is, of course, very close to the border with russia. and that fact, i think, is critical to understanding what has happened. hardship has been pretty badly hit. again, we know that at least five people have been killed. we know that several dozen people have been injured there. we�*ve seen pictures from the scene of rubble, an apartment building

very, very badly damaged. i�*ve spoken to a contact there, a woman called natalya, who told me that she heard multiple explosions. she said other than fear and hatred, she said, i don�*t feel anything anymore. i think life there close to the russian border is particularly difficult, of course, because it is so hard to intercept missiles that are fired at such close range. here in kyiv we get a bit more warning, but still the damage has been fairly extensive today. nobody has been killed. one woman was thought to be dead. she was pulled from the rubble. she�*s now fighting for her life in a hospital here in ukraine�*s capital, kyiv. but there is damage here. there were fires, cars set on fire, damage to residential buildings too. and ukraine�*s president volodymyr zelensky, has talked about what�*s happened overnight as an act of deliberate terror. as an act of deliberate terror, he called it, against ordinary residential buildings and certainly for people here, it�*s another reminder of this now near daily reality of air raids and and fear and the threat that russia missiles

could be heading for their cities. sarah rainsford. thousands of people have attended prayers at the hindu shrine in northern india. yesterday activists. the project has been controversial as the building occupies the site of a mosque destroyed in 1992. that assault led to communal violence in which hundreds of people were killed. the temple was consecrated by the indian prime minister in what is seen as the unofficial start of his campaign ahead of elections. let me show you the live pictures coming into us from new hampshire because voting is going on in that primary in a two horse race, just donald trump and nikki haley. is there a path for nikki haley. is there a path for nikki haley? that is what we will see when we get the results. those are the live pictures coming into us. a man who stabbed three people

to death in nottingham last year has had a plea of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility through mental illness accepted by prosecutors. valdo calocane killed two 19—year—old students — barnaby webber and grace o�*malley—kumar — and ian coates, a 65—year—old school caretaker. navtej johal reports. first came the shock. then the sadness. and then the support. on the 13th ofjune, the city of nottingham was scarred by a killer who left three people dead. they were 19—year—old students barnaby webber and grace o�*malley—kumar, and school caretaker ian coates, who was 65. and this is the man who took their lives. valdo calocane, a 32—year—old dual guinea—bissau portuguese national with settled status in the uk. his first victims were the university of nottingham students. we�*re walking the same route that

grace and barnaby were walking on their way home after a night out clubbing at around four in the morning. they were just five minutes from their student accommodation when they were stabbed to death. she was the best to me. since everything has happened injune, i have been completely lost without her. i�*ve notjust lost an older sister, but a best friend. someone i would go to about everything. i was so proud. i would always speak about her. it�*s a joy for me to be able to say she is my older sister, it�*s a privilege. and now myjob is to do the best i can to make her proud. calocane then walked to a hostel a mile away and tried unsuccessfully to break in before attacking his next victim. ian coates, who was just a few months away from retirement, was killed on his way to work.

his van was stolen and then driven by calocane back into the city centre, where he used it to hit three pedestrians, one of whom was critically injured. the deaths caused an outpouring of grief. i�*ve lost my baby boy and i can�*t even comprehend how i�*m going to deal with it. the students�* fathers spoke at this vigiljust a day after their children had been killed. and all they were doing was walking home. and then the next day we heard from all three families at an event in the city centre attended by thousands. it feels like he's touched a lot of hearts over the years, - more than what we assumed and knew that he had _ calocane has pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility, and guilty to three counts of attempted murder. navtej johal with that report.

survivors of the grenfell tower fire in london in 2017 say they will be a voice for the 72 people who died, as they share the impact the disaster has had on them. they were speaking at the beginning of grenfell testimony week, as frances reid reports. it was one of the uk�*s worst modern disasters. a fire that started in a fourth floor flat, raced up the exterior of the building, and spread to all four sides. 72 people died. those impacted have tried to be heard in all kinds of ways since that night injune 2017. six and a half years later, testimony week is supposed to give a platform for them to speak directly to some of those they hold responsible. it came about as part of a multi—million pound high court settlement agreement, but it has no impact on the ongoing grenfell inquiry, or on the eventual decision as to whether criminal charges will be brought. and not everyone is hopeful of it helping. in my eyes, i don�*t think

it will make a difference. i just think it�*s a chance for us citizens to say how much we really feel about the total lack of human regard, really. i still suffer with survivor�*s guilt every single day, and every month that the names are read out, i say to myself, really, that should have been me. but for others, this has been a long time coming, reflecting on how their lives are still impacted, as well as the many failings that happened. for those given the chance to speak, they�*re hoping their voice will be heard and listened to. frances read, bbc news. we are about to take a short break. stay with us because here on verified live coming up in the next few minutes at five dm, with a hamas delegation reportedly in egypt for talks we assess the prospects for a

new israel — gaza ceasefire deal. plenty of developments on that story. and also we are live in los angeles for the oscars nominations, with me will be the entertainment journalist kj matthews. i want to show you the pictures from new hampshire because voting has started in that primary, a two horse race, donald trump and nikki haley, absolutely crucial that nikki haley performs strongly to keep her in the race, donald trump with that huge lead, hoping for a knockout blow. we are live on all of those locations on all of those stories, coming up. at first we will catch up with the weather with elizabeth. it evening. it's weather with elizabeth. it evening. it�*s a stormy period of weather, we have seen the second named storm in just a few days, storm jocelyn follows hot on the heels of storm isha hampering to clear up and we are seeing heavy downpours of rain heading eastwards along with strengthening winds and here goes

the area of low pressure passing to the area of low pressure passing to the north of scotland following the same track as storm isha, the wind gusts not as severe for most but with the trees, the structures having been weakened from the previous dom and the ground pretty saturated there will still be some strong impacts, so much of the north and west of scotland towards exposed coasts in particular underneath a met office amber weather warning until eight o�*clock tomorrow morning for gusts of wind up to 75—80 mph. best stores irish sea coasts up to 65 mph, widely a0 having 50 myles brown gusts even to low levels and away from the coast, so a very windy night all in all. but it will be mild, dry and away from the coast, so a very windy night all in all. but it will be mild, dry towards the south, blustery showers, torrential downpours at times, further north across scotland. still a very windy start of the day, in fact much of the uk tomorrow is covered by

lower—level yellow weather warning for the strength of the wind —— a0-50 for the strength of the wind —— a0—50 myles brown. some baskery scotland and wales and towards the end of the day we will see this area of cloud creep into south—west england, patchy rain on that, temperature is not as high as on tuesday but still mild for the time of year with double figures. it will turn milder still as this warm front just creeps further northwards and eastwards as we had three thursday, tight squeeze on the isobars. windy but not as windy as on tuesday with further downpours of rain across northern ireland, north—west england and into western scotland, some of the rain wintering over the tops of the rain wintering over the tops of the hills before milder air digs in. highs of 13 celsius for money. there will be more rainfall across western scotland. it is here we will see the ground pretty saturated. another 100 millimetres of rainfall perhaps by the time we get to the end of the

week. also north—west england, some high rainfall totals. so while the wind is the main concern, rain could also be a problem by the time we get to the end of the week. there are some flood warnings in force. heading through friday, it is more settled, turning cooler by night towards the north and east in particular as we head through the week. some more rainfall for many, particularly in the north and west over the weekend. by. live from london. this is bbc news. funerals are held for 2a soldiers

killed in israel�*s deadliest day since the war began in gaza. could a hostage deal be close? reports say israel has proposed a pause to negotiate prisoner exchanges with hamas. the us and uk carry outjoint strikes against houthi targets in yemen and for the second time in two weeks. a man who killed three people in the english city of nottingham last year has his manslaughter plea accepted on mental health grounds. and oppenheimer leads the oscar nominations with 13, but disappointment for barbee as margo robbie and greta garlick miss out. hello, i�*m matthew amroliwala, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the israeli prime minister has vowed — that israel will not stop fighting in gaza, until it achieves �*total victory�* over hamas.

benjamin netanyahu was speaking after the deaths of 2a israeli