x stops people from searching for a taylor swift after fake images of her were circling social media.— images of her were circling social media. leiber from our studio in _ social media. leiber from our studio in singapore, - social media. leiber from our studio in singapore, this- social media. leiber from our studio in singapore, this is i studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it is newsday. welcome to the programme. we begin with developing news from an american base injordan. presidentjoe biden said it was carried out by radical iran—backed groups, adding that the us will respond. it is the first time a strike has killed us troops in the region since hamas's october seven attack on israel. jordan, a close ally of the us, has condemned the attack and says it's cooperating with the us to secure the border.

our diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. the american say the attack happened at abase known as tower 22, right on the syrian—jordanian border. it is one of many american bases across the region. there have been dozens of drone and missile attacks in recent months, but no american personnel had been killed until now. joe biden, seen here attending church this morning, was quick to point the finger. "we know it was carried out by radical iran—backed militant groups operating in syria and iraq," he said. it's not necessarily a tipping point into uncontrolled escalation between the united states and iran, but is a dangerous step because, as i say, the us will have to respond even more strongly than it has done to previous attacks. carefully cultivated over yea rs, iran has a wide network of allies and proxies operating in countries across the middle east. they are all opposed to israel and the united states —

it's sometimes called the axis of resistance. there are pro—iranian militias in lebanon, the palestinian territories, gaza and the west bank, plus iraq and syria, and far to the south there's also the houthis in yemen. over the weekend, the houthis have been launching their own attacks, hitting a tanker in the gulf of aden. last night, a british warship, hms diamond, used an air defence missile to bring down a houthi drone. with british help, the us had been hitting houthi military targets for weeks. so far, the houthis seem undeterred. they say they will stop attacking ships if and when there's a cease—fire in gaza. the problems america is dealing with across the region aren't all about gaza, but the war there has left the whole middle east a lot more dangerous. paul adams, bbc news. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet says this is the latest and most

serious of a string of similar attacks on us forces. earlier she told us how biden might respond to these attacks. he has to be seen to be doing something. both at home, it is a domestic political issue as the election campaign hots up. former president trump has already intervened, saying "this would never have happened if i was in power", but a message has to be sent to iran—backed militias that the united states simply will not take this standing by. the difficulty is what target do you hit without then provoking an even greater escalation? since the start of the crisis, both the united states and iran, two countries long locked, decades in animosities, have avoided a direct confrontation. there are now calls in the united states for president biden to strike iran directly. he will want to avoid that.

there are a range of iranian assets in the region that his military chiefs could choose. they have struck iranian assets in the region during this current conflagration, but they have to choose a target which sends an even stronger message. more importantly than being seen to do something, they have to succeed, and this is the conundrum. the united states is now leading the attacks against the houthis in the red sea, but that military campaign has not only not stopped the houthi attacks, it has actually multiplied them and has catapulted the houthis exactly where they want to be on the centre stage. it's unlikely that, whatever the measure of america's reply, that the attacks by the iran—backed militias won't stop. all that will stop them is an end to the war

and the cease—fire that so far, president biden has not called for, at least in public. earlier i spoke to aaron david miller, who's a former adviser and negotiator at the us state department and is now a senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace, focusing on us foreign policy. he told me how an attack like this could happen and help vulnerable at the us military assets in the region are. since october, i think there have been 170 attacks. that's probably not counting houthi strikes against us commercial vessels or us flagged or owned commercial vessels, and those of scores of other countries in the red sea, and probably no more than 10% responses by the united states. so the biden administration has been pretty risk averse, i think, and also very lucky. they were not lucky this time. and obviously, they picked a target of vulnerability, not iraq, not syria, butjordan right across the border. at a structure or a place called tower 22, which is

a staging area for an american garrison — that may be too formal a word — in tanf, which is right across the border in syria. and the casualties were three. three dead, 30 wounded. and that's going to go up. many with traumatic brain injuries. so i think the options for the biden administration are not great here. there is going to be a response. both the secretary of defence and the president have expressed their, obviously, opposition to these strikes, and said that there will be a response at a time of their choosing. i think, though, it may well go beyond, may well go beyond, what the united states has done in the past. and what do you think a reprisal would look like, though? who exactly would they be targeting? well, there are several options. number one, you can go after iranian revolutionary guard

corps personnel, troops, in iraq or syria. that's an option. number two, you could go after iranian naval assets, radar installations in the persian gulf, or you can do something that the united states has never done before, which is to strike iranian assets in iran proper. in 1988, we destroyed a0—50% of the iranian navy and two offshore oil wells. but the united states has never struck iran in the republic at least, and/or claimed responsibility for any action. there may have been covert actions. those are the range of responses. but to do nothing or to respond characteristically, which is to strike back at pro—iranian militias, it's not reducing what the iranians now have, which is a pretty good, large margin to attack us forces in iraq and syria. and houthis in the red sea

without much of a response from the united states. so how real, then, do you think the risk of confrontation or direct confrontation between the us and iran is there? and wouldn't that further escalate more conflict around the region? it would, particularly if you end up with a sustained strike, counter—strike trajectory between the united states and iran, and the israelis might even get into this as well. i don't think we're on the cusp of a major regional war which would bring the firepower of the united states, and almost certainly the israelis into direct strikes over a period of days and or weeks against iran proper. i don't think that's where this is going, in large measure because i don't think the major actors here are busy and focused on... with tremendous challenges, trying to de—escalate and/or end the israeli—hamas war in gaza without much success so far.

but, again, you could see an american strike. question then is if it's against iran proper, what will the iranians do? they don't want a major war, largely because of overwhelming us firepower, and they want a measure of stability. the ayatollah khamenei is much more concerned, frankly, not with the united states right now, with the process of succession. so i don't think they're looking for a major confrontation with the united states. but if you wanted to find a back door into regional war, then the deaths of significant numbers of american troops mightjust get you there. for more on this story, you can head to our website. turning to the main conflict in gaza. the united nations is urging governments not to withdraw funding from its main agency which delivers aid to palestinians in gaza, known as unrwa.

japan is the latest country to pull money for the organisation after israel alleged that 12 of its staff were involved in the deadly october 7 attacks by hamas. the agency, which employs 30,000 members of staff, 1,300 of whom work in gaza, says it is investigating and has already sacked nine employees. ina in a written statement, the un secretary general antonio guterres said tens of thousands of men and women who work for unrwa, many in some of the most dangerous situations for workers, should not be penalised. the daily needs of the populations they serve must be met. here's un spokesman stephane dujarric. the secretary general is horrified by this news and asks mr lazzarini to investigate this matter swiftly and to ensure that any unrwa employees shown to have participated or abetted in what transpired on october 7th, or in any other criminalactivity, be terminated immediately and referred for potential

criminal prosecution. for context, that funding is extremely crucial to the unrwa because more than 2 million people in gaza depend on them forfood and urgent people in gaza depend on them for food and urgent healthcare. displaced palestinians living khan younis for rafah gave their reaction. translation: it is my right as a palestinian child to get| help from these european countries. as a displaced palestinian, all the people of gaza are supposed to get aid from the european countries. we are displaced for the second time from gaza and we didn't see the aid reaching us from the european countries. translation: unwra is our lifeline. - who will give us food and drink after the war? may allah help the people. what can i say? translation: the comments of britain, germany and some| other european- countries in regards to the aid for the palestinian people is considered -

a disaster for us. the occupation keeps on doing crimes - and yet they are | supporting them to do more crimes on us. what we are going through right nowl is not a war from israel. it is a war between- the world against us and. meanwhile, the israel military is pressing ahead with its operation against hamas in the south of the gaza strip. palestinians continue to flee khan younis, which is now the focus of israel's offensive. multiple israeli air strikes were reported there, as well as further north in gaza city. the hamas—run health ministry says 339 palestinians have been killed in the two days since a top un court ordered israel to prevent any acts of genocide in gaza. it takes the total number killed since the start of the war to more than 26,400. representatives from israel, the united states, egypt and qatar have met in paris to discuss a proposed truce in exchange for the more than 100 hostages still believed to be held by hamas.

israel says negotiations, which would see it suspend fighting for about two months, have been "constructive", but significant gaps remain. before sunday's talks, president biden spoke by phone to the leaders of egypt and qatar, who are acting as intermediaries with hamas to try to narrow the remaining differences. more talks are expected in the coming days. two gunmen have been arrested after a man was killed at a shooting at a catholic church in istanbul. the islamic state group said it carried out the shooting. oursenior shooting. our senior international correspondence sent this report from istanbul. two attackers in the mask, captured on cctv walking casually towards the church.

a man enters. the gunmen follow and appear to target him. the congregation, ducking for cover. the victim had intended to become a christian, according to a relative, but was not baptised yet. police move in to seal off the streets around the 19th—century church, as a man—hunt gets under way. a morning mass here became a scene of terror. police are still here and there is a real sense of shock in the community. local officials and government ministers have rushed to condemn the attack. the local mayor told us there was no tension in the area between different religions. "the church doors are always wide open," said sukru genc, "even during mass." "muslims visit the church, as well as christians. "from time to time you see the priest having tea "in someone's house."

and from the vatican, a message of support from pope francis. "i send my sympathy to the congregation "of the church of santa maria..." "..which suffered an armed attack during mass." the motive for the attack is unclear. but churches in this overwhelmingly muslim country have been targeted in the past. orla guerin, bbc news, istanbul. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. n, ., ., ., different stories from across the uk. ., ., ., ~ the uk. good morning, a walk down here _ the uk. good morning, a walk down here to _ the uk. good morning, a walk down here to record _ the uk. good morning, a walk down here to record the - down here to record the rainfall at about nine o'clock. since he was ten years old trenbolone from angus liddell has journey to the bottom of his garden every year without

fail. ~ ., ., ~' his garden every year without fail. ~ ., ., ~ ., his garden every year without fail. ~ ., ., , fail. we took the final hours which collect _ fail. we took the final hours which collect the _ fail. we took the final hours which collect the rainfall. i which collect the rainfall. there is a bottle underneath which collect the water —— the final out. it is then put into a calibrated gauge, and that is more or less one millimetre. the rainfall measurements he takes bust onto natural resources wales. it takes bust onto natural resources wales. it helps us with forecasting, _ resources wales. it helps us with forecasting, with - with forecasting, with modelling, and with water resources.— modelling, and with water resources. . , ., ., resources. the weather station he uses was — resources. the weather station he uses was built _ resources. the weather station he uses was built by _ resources. the weather station he uses was built by his - he uses was built by his grandfather at the end of the 19th century. tom took over the responsibility of measuring the rainfall in 19118. how long do you think you will keep going? for as long as they can, for as long as i can walk, hopefully. for more stories from across the uk, do the bbc website. —— had to be. you are with bbc news. president of the philippines is in vietnam this week when he is expected to sign a memorandum

of understanding with the vietnamese president on cooperation between that coastguard forces, a move that risks angering china. the two southeast asian countries have competing claims of a swathes of the south china sea, an important waterway for fishing and global trade that china claims almost in its entirety up claims almost in its entirety up for more on this deal and the relations between both countries we can speak with a researcher in the vietnam studies programme at thic �*s institute. thank you for joining the programme today. firstly, what about the philippines and vietnam hoping to achieve from this signing — from signing this coastguard deal? ., ~' , ., from signing this coastguard deal? ., ~ , ., from signing this coastguard deal? ., ~ , deal? thank you. so the purpose of this mou _ deal? thank you. so the purpose of this mou is _ deal? thank you. so the purpose of this mou is to _ deal? thank you. so the purpose of this mou is to better - deal? thank you. so the purpose of this mou is to better manage | of this mou is to better manage their own maritime dispute, so prior to this visit both countries had agreed to information sharing and co—ordination on rights and issues, particularly on illegal

fishing, there have been incidents where the philippine coastguard arrested and pursued vietnamese vessels in the disputed areas for illegal fishing and vietnam is also prioritised combating illegal fishing, especially after it received a warning from the eu. and the dealers also for the two forces to engage in capacity building activities and also confidence building measures. and also confidence building measures-— measures. will they be anticipating _ measures. will they be anticipating a - measures. will they be anticipating a reactionl measures. will they be - anticipating a reaction from china with this collaboration, china, as we know, claims almost all of the south china sea as its own.— sea as its own. well, this is not actually _ sea as its own. well, this is not actually a _ sea as its own. well, this is not actually a move - sea as its own. well, this is not actually a move that. not actually a move that directly challenges china. like i said, the main purpose is mainly to address vietnam— philippine bilateral maritime issues and the mou is also not

about recognising maritime claims or something that could undermine china's claims. i think china will be measured in its response. to be sure, think china will be more critical of the philippines given the ongoing tension between the two countries on the south china sea and china views the philippines are reached to other southeast of the —— like southeast countries, including vietnam, is an attempt to reach united front against china. so the deal could worsen the tension between the philippines and china, but, you know, vietnam on the other hand has been more cautious in dealing with china on the south china sea and it has sought to reassure china of its non— allied posture, so think china has reason to believe that vietnam would not agree to join and anti— china packed with the

philippines or with any other country. philippines or with any other count . ., ~ ,, philippines or with any other count . ., ~ ., philippines or with any other count . . ~' i” ., i” country. thank you for your insiaht country. thank you for your insight today. _ country. thank you for your insight today. in _ country. thank you for your insight today. in the - country. thank you for your insight today. in the uk, i country. thank you for your. insight today. in the uk, two boys aged 15 and 16 have died in hospital after being stabbed in hospital after being stabbed in bristol last night stop police say they were attacked by a group who fled the scene in a car. a 44—year—old man and 15—year—old boy have been arrested. danjohnson reports from bristol. this is another community stunned into a moment of collective silence by the loss of two young lives to knife crime. a minute to quietly contemplate what happened and what it means. their parents have to live the rest of your life and their brothers and sister without them. it's heartbreaking, heartbreaking. the question on everyone's mind here is, "why? "what prompted such violence"? this street was today still a crime scene under intensive investigation.

it needs to stop. it really needs to stop. i don't want my girls to grow up. don't want them to grow up. do you worry it's getting out of control? yeah. a lot, yeah. i thought it was bad when we were young. i thought it was bad then, but no it wasn't. that double—decker bus marks where this attack happened, but we don't believe that was involved, itjust happened to be passing at the time, but we are told that one of the boys was living on the street, so it has hit people here hard. officers were here quickly and tried first aid. they have made arrests and found a car but not yet the others they think were involved. it is demoralising but it has made me determined to support the community and work with the team of police officers we have committed to this to identify others and bring them to justice. any idea what was happening beforehand, and why these boys were attacked? not at this stage, and that is still subject to the investigation and cctv and accounts from people

in the locality. no child should be on the street with a knife. you can't mistake the anger in this community, and while there is talk of gang rivalries on this estate, people believe these boys were blameless. it's shocking, they were quite nice boys. my honest opinion, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. people are grieving but are also anxious to know who did this and how to stop it taking more lives. danjohnson, bbc news, bristol. let's ta ke let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines.- stories in the headlines. north korean state _ stories in the headlines. north korean state media _ stories in the headlines. north korean state media says i stories in the headlines. north | korean state media says leader kimjong—un supervised korean state media says leader kim jong—un supervised a submarine launched cruise missiles at sunday, the news agency said the cruise missiles flew for more than two hours. earlier south korea's military said pyongyang had fired multiple missiles into the sea offers is closed. there followed a similar test on

wednesday in what north korea said was a new type of cruise missile that could be people of carrying nuclear warheads. kim chol the latest test a success and also inspected the construction of a nuclear submarine —— kim called. a britishjob as died in submarine —— kim called. a british job as died in thailand of his budget failed to open as he plunged from a 29 story building. the 33—year—old was killed after leaping from a 29 story apartment block in a tie resort. eyewitnesses reported seeing a man fall to the ground after crashing through a tree. police say they found a blue parachute on him which had not opened. the social media platform x, formally known as twitter, has stop users from searching for taylor swift after explicit ai generated images of the singer began to be on social media. some of the fake images were flagged by her fans, who flooded the site with real

images of her with the caption "protect taylor swift". in a statement to the bbc, a spokesperson for x said it was a "temporary action" to prioritise safety. the world's largest cruise ship, theicon world's largest cruise ship, the icon of the seas, has set sail from the icon of the seas, has set sailfrom miami in florida on its maiden voyage. it is a 365 metre long ship that has 20 decks and there is enough room for almost 8000 passengers on board, but environmental organisations have raised concerns about the ship was make methane emissions. environmentalists warn the liquefied natural gas powered ship will leak harmful methane into the air. the japanese space agency says is moon landing has resumed operations, indicating that power had been restored. this might land for investigating the moon, or debbie simm, touchdown earlier this month by the lead was upside down and it wasn't clear if the spacecraft�*s solar panels would be able to charge, given their

orientation with the sun. they said on excilly la sele communication with slim was successfully established last night and science observations were immediately started. hopefully we will get more images of those moon lander a bit later on. in the meantime, thanks for your company here on bbc news. hello there. we did expect it to get a bit warmer today, but it may well turn out to be a record—breaking day with some sunshine and a southerly wind ahead of a band of rain. in highland, scotland, temperatures reached close to 20 degrees earlier on, and that would smash the previous january temperature record in the uk. now, the winds are dropping, actually, and the temperature is going to be dropping too. this band of rain moving through scotland and northern ireland is heading into northern parts of england and wales. and following on from that, in the lighter winds, we're getting into colder air —

so much so that in northern parts of scotland there's likely to be a frost overnight tonight, whereas ahead of the rain across england and wales, it's still a mild start to monday. but this rain is going to hang around in northern england and wales, heavy over the hills, particularly in the northwest of england. much of scotland and northern ireland likely to be dry with some sunshine, lighter winds but much colder than today. temperatures typically 7—8 degrees, whereas where it's dry across the midlands and southern england, it's still mild, temperatures of 1a, maybe 15 degrees. now, it's notjust rain that we're going to see, though, on monday. after dark, there could be some snow in the southern uplands leading to icy conditions by tuesday morning, by which point that area of low pressure will have taken the wet weather away and we're left with a cloudy start for england and wales. some sunshine for scotland and northern ireland will push its way southwards through the day. that very mild air is going to get pushed away, but 12 degrees is still

possible in the southeast. but for many in the afternoon it's going to be nearer eight degrees or so. so it's turning chillier from the north. but if we look to the north again by the middle part of the week, we've got more isobars, some weather fronts. it's turning wet and windy, particularly in scotland. widespread gales here on wednesday and across northern ireland, northernmost parts of england. the really strong winds are in the far north of scotland, but over the highlands this time we could see a couple of inches of rain. that wet and windy weather in scotland will sink down into northern ireland. england and wales looking dry, the winds much lighter further south and some sunshine temperatures of 10—11 degrees. now the weather front bringing that rain is going to move southwards overnight. the rain petering out, chilly weather for a while, but then we change the wind direction by thursday, bringing in a milderair and also more cloud.

in the area between different religions.

cracking down on short selling. chinese authorities hold efforts to help a worsening stock—market rout. we look at why thousands of men in india are signing up to work in israel. welcome to asia

business report. i am steve lai. we begin in china where authorities are stepping up measures to stabilise financial markets. shortselling will be restricted today in a move that the regulator has said is designed to create a fairer market order. short sellers try to make money on shares, bonds or other financial instruments they think will fall in price. by they think will fall in price. by curbing the practice regulators are hoping to halt a worsening sell—off. china's stock market tumbled for a third consecutive year in 2023. it's benchmark index dropped 11% last year and has extended its slide in the new year. earlier i spoke to the director for economic research at moonee's analytics and she told me this is to address negative sentiment about china's economic recovery. me

sentiment about china's economic recovery. we are seeinu economic recovery. we are seeing the _ economic recovery. we are seeing the stock-market . economic recovery. we are i seeing the stock-market rout