and calls for new laws in congress after explicit deepfake images of taylor swift circulate on social media. hello. i'm sarah campbell. welcome to bbc news. donald trump says he'll appeal against a court order telling him to pay $83 million in damages to a woman who he defamed. ejean carroll had claimed the former us president had destroyed her reputation by claiming she'd lied about him raping her in the 1990s. she said the ruling was a great victory for every woman. nada tawfik reports from new york. it took the jury less than three hours of deliberations to reach this unanimous

verdict, landing on a significant amount for donald trump to pay ejean carroll — $83.3 million in total. they decided he should pay $7.3 million in emotional harm, $11 million for reputational damage, and $65 million in what's called punitive damages. that's the amount they felt donald trump would have to pay in order to be convinced to stop defaming ejean carroll. because remember, he has consistently, throughout the trial, and since she came forward with her claim that he raped her at a department store in the 1990s, that she was a liar, that she made up her claims to try to sell her memoir, and that the whole thing was a hoax. and ejean carroll's lawyers used that in closing arguments, displaying on the screen his campaign events, saying that he needed to pay a heavy, heavy amount of damages in order to be convinced to stop. donald trump has reacted saying he will appeal. he called the jury's decision absolutely ridiculous and repeated his claims that this was all a witch—hunt.

ejean carroll held her lawyer's hands and left the court smiling. donald trump was not there when the verdict was read, but he will now go off campaigning. now, as for the judge and jury, the judge said it was up to them if they wanted to reveal they were part of the case, but gave them a warning it may be best to remain anonymous. that was nada tawfik. outside the court mr trump's lawyer gave this reaction to reporters. we will immediately appeal, we will set aside the ridiculous jury. but i want to remind you all of one thing — i will continue with president trump to continue to fight for everybody�*s right to first amendment freedom of speech, the right to defend themselves when accused, and to be able to say "i didn't do it." and two double and triple and quadruple down and say "this is wrong." but we are in the state of new

york, we have a new yorkjury, thatis york, we have a new yorkjury, that is why we are seeing these witch—hunts hunts and hoaxes, and this is not another one of them. then abroad in new york, and stays they know they will get juries and stays they know they will getjuries like this. it will not deter us. we will continue fighting. we didn't win today but we will win. live now to politico white house reporter daniel lippman — he'sjoining me from washington. hello, daniel. thank you for giving us your time. there was an impassioned reaction never donald trump's lawyer. what does it leave donald trump in rose dash it looks like he is the prime republican candidate, going forward towards an election. it going forward towards an election-— going forward towards an election. , ., , election. it is a blow but it comes on _ election. it is a blow but it comes on a _ election. it is a blow but it comes on a friday - election. it is a blow but it i comes on a friday afternoon. that is traditionally when americans start to stop paying attention to the news. but you can expectjoe biden and democrats running against donald trump to tell voters that this is a man that doesn't deserve to be in the oval

office. if you also gets convicted of a felony in a criminal charge, that is especially going to hurt donald trump. but i think most americans have a ready made up their minds about donald trump. we're talking about 100,000 people in the swing states of wisconsin in georgia and michigan deciding the selection. so those people are paying attention today because they are clued in. it isn't a good day for donald trump because it makes him look like a reckless liar, basically. i was looking at some of the comments afterwards. witch—hunt has been used again. donald trump called it ridiculous and making the point he said he would appeal against the whole joe biden directed witch—hunt. so he is clearly making that link again. with all of these legal cases that have been going through, it has been interesting to watch, hasn't it, that it isn't noise about the court case, it is those

about the bigger, wider conspiracy theory, and sensory play well them, or as far as his supporters are concerned. people are still unhappy about the economy and they are trying to tell pollsters and fellow americans that they need to be listed and be taken care of. it is interesting in that in that statement that he doesn't — she does attack the court ruling but doesn't attack e jean carroll. it is almost like he has learned his lesson. he doesn't want to get hit with more millions of dollars that he will have to pay and what is also interesting is that what will take a while for him to lightly pay he doesn't have — she likely doesn't have all of this money in cash, liquid cash, that he can write an $83 million check. he may potentially have desired property, cell interest and other investments. he doesn't

like to pay a couple of thousand dollars in gardening bills, remember. he got dozens of lawsuits when he was a businessman by vendor is who said he never paid them. $83 million is a strong price to pay for someone who claims he didn't even meet.— didn't even meet. that is interesting. _ didn't even meet. that is interesting. i— didn't even meet. that is interesting. i was - didn't even meet. that is interesting. i was going i didn't even meet. that is| interesting. i was going to didn't even meet. that is - interesting. i was going to ask whether you thought he would actually ever pay the fine. but it sounds like you think he will. . , . ., , it sounds like you think he will. . , , ., it sounds like you think he will. ., , , ., ., will. eventually courts have a nice way of — will. eventually courts have a nice way of - _ will. eventually courts have a nice way of - you _ will. eventually courts have a nice way of - you don't - will. eventually courts have a nice way of - you don't reallyj nice way of — you don't really mess with the american court system. even in a civil court. so for the $5 million that it was ordered to pay her after he was ordered to pay her after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting her, that money is at a court account. so we to wire that money to a court. it is being held while there are appeals. but he is definitely — this is someone who is a

self—proclaimed billionaire, that i'm sure his kids are not going to be that happy given that that is a big part of their inheritance, as well. daniel lipman, thank you for joining us. daniel lipman, thank you for joining ne— the un security council says it will hold a meeting next week to discuss the decision by the body's top court to call for israel to prevent genocidal acts in gaza. israel has made clear it will continue to defend itself against hamas and called claims of genocide outrageous. thejudges stopped short of demanding an immediate halt to israel's military operation. here's our diplomatic correspondent paul adams. shouting gaza's despairjust seems to deepen. in gaza city, a rare glimpse of aid brings chaos and precious little relief. after three and a half months of war, the palestinian population is on its knees — hungry, sick or dead. whether this amounts to genocide is a decision for another day,

but all this, the un's top court insists, has to stop before it gets worse. the military operation conducted by israel after 7 october, 2023, has resulted inter alia in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries, and the destruction of homes, schools, medicalfacilities and other vital infrastructure, as well as displacement on a massive scale. in these circumstances, the court considers that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the gaza strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further before the court renders its finaljudgment. by overwhelming majorities, the court's 17 judges ruled that israel must avoid killing or seriously harming palestinians mentally or physically, inflicting living conditions designed to destroy the palestinian population, in whole or in part, or imposing measures which prevent palestinian births.

thejudges also said israel must take all measures to prevent and punish public incitement to genocide, and do more immediately to improve humanitarian assistance. on october 7 last year, hamas gunmen launched devastating attacks on israeli communities bordering the gaza strip. more than 1200 israelis were killed. israel's response was overwhelming. since then, more than 26,000 palestinians have been killed — mostly women and children. entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed. almost 2 million palestinians have had to flee their homes. states now have a clear legal obligations to stop israel's genocidal war on the palestinian people in gaza, and to make sure that they are not complicit. the icj order is an important reminder that no state is above the law.

gunfire crucially, the court did not demand an immediate ceasefire, but it wants israel to behave very differently, at a time when its pm says the war could go on for many more months. like every country, israel has an inherent right to defend itself. the veiled attempt to deny israel this fundamental right is blatant discrimination against thejewish state and it was justly rejected. the charge of genocide levelled against israel is not only false, it is outrageous, and decent people everywhere should reject it. the court also called for israeli hostages to be released without condition, but it's powerless to make any of this happen. today's ruling was significant, but it doesn't necessarily mean that an end to the agony of palestinians or israelis is any closer. paul adams, bbc news. the us has paused funding to the un agency for palestinian refugees after some of its staff

were accused of being involved in the hamas attacks on israel in october. the head of unrwa said the staff had been dismissed immediately. our state department correspondent tom bateman has more. unrwa says the information was passed to them by the israelis and this was an allegation that several of their staff had been involved in the october 7th attack. crucially, we do not know exactly the details of the allegations. they have not been revealed. but what the head of unrwa said is they are being investigated and that they will be, he says, accountability against anyone found to be involved in terrorism, including, he has said, criminal prosecution. but i think in a sign of just how seriously this is being taken, the us state department has said that it will withhold further funding to unrwa until it is satisfied that all of this is being looked into. that matters

because unrwa needs more than $1 billion a year to keep running. it is a huge service providerfor palestinian refugees in gaza, the occupied west bank, in eastjerusalem and the wider region, and these are people that rely on unrwa for schools, for hospitals, health services, food and welfare and other services that unrwa provide. frankly, without unrwa, gazan would collapsed in terms of service provision. so it is a crucial organisation. it is also long been at the end of criticism and attacks by the israelis for they say failing to deal with the exploitation by hamas by some of their facilities in the past or sympathy among some staff with hamas. unrwa has always rejected that, saying wherever it finds these kinds of problems that it deals with them. with me is mohamed taha from bbc arabic.

hello to you. what has been the reaction? the ruling by the un's top court doesn't — didn't go as far as south africa wanted to go, but explain what the reaction has been. the feelin: the reaction has been. the feeling in _ the reaction has been. the feeling in the _ the reaction has been. tue: feeling in the middle the reaction has been. tte: feeling in the middle east the reaction has been. tt2 feeling in the middle east is a mixed feeling. they are hearing what the court took as provisional measures to ask israel to prevent any genocide happening in gaza and to invite their politicians to stop inciting genocide and also, to make sure that aid goes to gaza immediately and take effective measures for the aid to go to gaza. all of these things are welcomed in the middle east, also the fact that the court accepted the case to be looked

at. this case will take years to reach a conclusion, but at least these provisional measures are held in the middle east. they hoped, in the middle east, to have a call for a ceasefire. this didn't happen. but at least this provisional measures will invite un security council to have a meeting to look at it. qt meeting to look at it. of course. _ meeting to look at it. of course, what it doesn't mean is dividing. in israel, gaza, at the moment. key to all of this is the hostages which are and have been held since october seven. there is some development, potential development, potential development there. explain what is happening. development there. explain what is happening-— is happening. indeed, apparent negotiations— is happening. indeed, apparent negotiations are _ is happening. indeed, apparent negotiations are happening - is happening. indeed, apparent| negotiations are happening now regarding the hostages. president biden made a call with the emir of qatar and the egyptian president. i think the main point, the main different

point at the moment is what is the future after the war, what is the situation in gaza. who will rule gaza. will the palestinians have ruled, any egyptian country, agent, cutter, this is really important in the negotiations. it looks like hamas what a long—term solution for the palestinian problem, if i may say, and israel care so much of the hostages back. we saw overnight a video that was issued by hamas for three female israeli soldiers. they asked the israeli government to stop the war for them to stay alive. it is very interesting video, as we saw this female soldiers in a good shape, if i may say. and it looks like they

took social media training. interesting. we don't know yet they deal with the hostages but there is certainly, it would appear, negotiations happening behind the scenes. so we should wait for news on that. for the moment, thank you. let's get some of the day's other news now. the uk government says britain and its allies reserve the right to respond "appropriately" after an oil tanker off yemen was set on fire by houthi fighters. no injuries have been reported. the vessel is receiving assistance from a us navy ship. the us government has approved the sale of 40 new f—16 fighter jets to turkey, a day after ankara fully ratified sweden's long—delayed membership of nato. turkey will also get upgrades to the war planes in its existing fleet as part of the $23 billion deal. the sale had become contingent on turkey dropping its objections to sweden joining the alliance. two malaysian men have been sentenced at guantanamo bay for their role

in the bali bombings of 2002. the attacks on nightclubs in indonesia killed more than 200 people, including many foreign tourists. mohammed bin lep and mohammed bin amin were each jailed for 23 years but will only have to serve six, after pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. a disturbing trend on social media struck one of the world's biggest stars this week when explicit, ai—generated images of taylor swift began to circulate on x, formerly known as twitter. taylor swift's fans, or "swifties", rallied to flood the platform with posts and drown out the so—called deepfakes. the incident has led to renewed calls by politicians in the us for legislation to clamp down on these ai—generated fakes. here's what a white house press secretary had to say.

we are alarmed by the reports of the circulation of images that you just laid out, false images to be more exact and it is alarming. so while social media companies make their own independent decisions about content management, we believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation, and nonconsensual intimate imagery of real people. here's our north america correspondent david willis. under existing us law tech platforms such as x, formerly twitter, enjoy protection from liability for content posted on their sites, which means lawmakers here can do very little to prevent the spread of this sort of misinformation. there was a bill put forward a short while ago which would have imposed criminal penalties against anyone found guilty of creating or distributing this

sort of information, it is currently bogged down in congress. and the hope is that the involvement in all this now of taylor swift could in some way reinvigorate legislative moves and those attempts to get some sort of laws on the books. the white house said today it was alarmed by the sexually explicit taylor swift pictures, but the spokeswoman appeared to concede that in the absence of congressional action, there was very little in this regard that the biden administration could do to help the situation. for its part the x platform has said it is actively removing the sexually explicit pictures, and that it was taking appropriate action against those who have been found to created or distributed those images. but one image alone is thought to have received more than 47 million views before it was taken down. a few years ago

of course creating these sort of course creating these sort of images required a degree of technical skills — now there has been a lot of these new tools available online which has made the whole thing a lot easier, and there are concerns amongst regulators here of a sort of tsunami of this type of material involving celebrities and non— celebrities, politicians and other members of society. in the absence of congressional action, taylor swift's fans, otherwise known as swifties, are taking measures of their own. they have taken to the x platform under the hashtag #protecttaylortswift in a bid to distract attention from the sexually explicit images. joining me now is io dodds who is a senior reporter at the independent newspaper. hello to you, it is

fascinating, isn't it incredible that something that has been going along, affecting lots and lots of people but as soon as taylor swift gets involved, here we are, the white house has been commenting and this has been taken super seriously. and this has been taken super seriously-— and this has been taken super seriousl . . , ., , seriously. there have been many victims of — seriously. there have been many victims of ai _ seriously. there have been many victims of ai generated _ victims of ai generated nonconsensual pornography in the past and i think it is very significant but if you get the president to weigh in on yours. that being said, she and the white house are drawing attention to ongoing problems, it has been going for a while, are quite serious problem and a problem that is only likely to get worse unfortunately. tote get worse unfortunately. we were hearing _ get worse unfortunately. we were hearing from david they're saying a few years ago you would have required a lot of really serious tech to do anything along these lines, but now it is becoming easier and easier to produce something thatis easier to produce something that is vaguely convincing and that is vaguely convincing and that must be part of the problem. that must be part of the problem-— that must be part of the roblem. ~ , , . problem. absolutely, tech companies _ problem. absolutely, tech companies and _ problem. absolutely, tech companies and big - problem. absolutely, tech companies and big ones, i companies and big ones, microsoft, google and so forth are falling over themselves to try and make it easier to generate stuff with al. it is all in the wake of when chatgpt

came out, it blew the socks off everyone in silicon valley and all the big incumbents, the tech giants of the world went over, if we don't get on top of this, we are going to get left behind, and so everyone from them to fly by night companies that are creating tools, may not be very responsibly minded about how these tools are used, right up to those big giants, all trying to get in on the action. and actually there is evidence that pacific peace of ai fake porn was generated in a telegram group that is for people, whose hobby is essentially generating stuff like this. in that group they encourage people to use a tool, we don't know what that tool is, but they encourage people to use a tool called microsoft design, and one of the things you can do in microsoft design is bundled into the microsoft

edger browser which is pushed on users, if you make a new windows install it well say hey, do you want it as your default browser, and that is symptomatic of how companies across the board are pushing ai towards their uses in any way they can. unfortunately this kind of gold rush mentality is only going to make this problem worse. tote only going to make this problem worse. ~ ., ., worse. we were hearing from david that — worse. we were hearing from david that the _ worse. we were hearing from david that the image - worse. we were hearing from david that the image that - worse. we were hearing from| david that the image that was posted on x was viewed something like 46 million times before it was taken down. how easyis before it was taken down. how easy is it to get these deepfake taken down? with ta [or deepfake taken down? with taylor swift. _ deepfake taken down? with taylor swift, i _ deepfake taken down? with taylor swift, i don't - deepfake taken down? with taylor swift, i don't know how long _ taylor swift, i don't know how long that _ taylor swift, i don't know how long that image was up therefore for about 47 million views— therefore for about 47 million views is— therefore for about 47 million views is a _ therefore for about 47 million views is a lot. it therefore for about 47 million views is a lot.— views is a lot. it is not so easy for— views is a lot. it is not so easy for twitter - views is a lot. it is not so easy for twitter things i views is a lot. it is not so i easy for twitter things down these days because after elon musk�*s takeover they have really gutted there content moderation infrastructure, a lot of people who would previously have been reviewing this content manually have been fired and so the company has really degraded its own capacity to respond to these sort of problems. but even putting that aside these kinds

of, something that really should not go viral goes viral and is not caught beforehand, and is not caught beforehand, and once it goes viral eventually it can be clamped down on because these companies basically subscribe to shared image databases, that take an exact record of the image and then can spot it again. so once it is in those databases, if that same images posted again than another ai tool can police the thing which is created by different ai tool and can remove it automatically. once that happens these things can be suppressed, but if it gets big enough to quickly, it will be seen before that happens, and unfortunately i don't think tech companies are very far ahead yet in creating automated tools because ultimately that is what it is going to take to respond to this with any degree of speed that can spot these kind of images while they are trending or even before they are trending, the state of ai that can check if something is al generated is not really ai generated is not really there yet. ai generated is not really there yet-— ai generated is not really there et. ., , ., there yet. not everybody has an arm of

there yet. not everybody has an army of swifties _ there yet. not everybody has an army of swifties to _ there yet. not everybody has an army of swifties to help - there yet. not everybody has an army of swifties to help you i army of swifties to help you out, io dodds, it has been fantastic to talk to you, thank you very much. a bit of basketball history is going up for auction. a set of six pairs of sneakers worn by michaeljordan are going under the gavel soon at sotheby�*s new york. his airness wore the air jordans in the clinching games of his six career nba championships. the auction house expects them to sell for as much as $10 million. stay with us here on bbc news. the weekend's weather is looking relatively quiet, certainly quieter than we started the week with all that stormy weather. still quite breezy with a few showers, particularly across parts of scotland. but for most of us, a dry weekend in store and things turning milder, particularly by the time we get to sunday. so to start off saturday, i think temperatures will be around about one or two degrees in the south and

south—east of england. quite a chilly start here, a touch of frost, perhaps a few mist and fog patches around. they should clear away pretty quickly. windiest weather will be in the north and north—west. we could see gusts 60, even 70 miles an hour up towards the northern isles through saturday morning. some rain lingering mainly to the north of the great glen, i think for scotland, perhaps the odd, light spot of rain for northern ireland as well. but i think for southern scotland, england and wales we're looking at a dry day with some long spells of sunshine, areas of cloud drifting around, particularly towards the west, and highs around nine or ten degrees. into saturday evening then, it's again going to turn quite chilly in the south and the east for a time with those lighter winds. but more cloud rolling in towards the west, could be the odd spot of drizzle coming out of this cloud as well. and it will be turning milder. belfast, plymouth, eight or nine degrees first thing sunday, but only round about three there in norwich.

and through the day on sunday then, we've got a high pressure sitting out towards the near continent. this frontal system moving its way in from the atlantic that is going to draw in these southerly winds all the way from north africa. could be some dusty conditions in the skies as well as the mild air that we're going to be seeing. so things, i think, a little bit hazy with all that saharan dust around on sunday for some of us, some of it coming down in this rain that will arrive across northern ireland and western scotland later on in the afternoon. but a good deal of dry weather before that arrives, perhaps a little bit more cloud through parts of the midlands, south—west england as well. sunny spells either side of that and the top temperatures in the west up to around about 13 for the likes of glasgow and belfast. into monday, that frontal system has slipped its way a little bit further southwards and eastward, so it's likely to bring some rain across much of northern england. i think wales perhaps down towards the far south—west, just across parts of scotland, it'll turn to snow for a time, perhaps over the highest ground of the southern uplands and to the north and the cooler air we're looking at single

figures, seven or eight degrees, still not particularly cold, but 14, possibly 15 in that warmer air down towards the south—east. so the week ahead still fairly unsettled in the north and west. showers at times, drier conditions further south and east. and for all of us, it's a mild week ahead.

this is bbc news. the headlines: ajury in new york has ordered donald trump to pay $83 million in damages to the writer ejean carroll. mr trump had already been found to have defamed her with comments he made in 2019 while he was president. mr trump has said he'll appeal.

israel has insisted it abides by international law, after the united nations' highest court ordered it to take steps to prevent acts of genocide in gaza. the international court ofjustice in the hague ruled israel should do everything in its power to avoid killing or seriously harming civilians. politicians in the united states are calling for new laws around so—called deepfake images — after faked explicit photos of the pop star taylor swift went viral on social media. one fabricated image of the singer was reportedly viewed more than 70 million times before it was taken down. now on bbc news, unspun world withjohn simpson.

hello, and welcome to unspun world.