hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. the leader of northern ireland's democratic unionist party says his party is prepared to return to powersharing in northern ireland if the uk government delivers on a new proposal, which would include passing new legislation. the dup collapsed the power—sharing government nearly two years ago in protest against post—brexit trade arrangements. sirjeffrey donaldson says that the measures proposed by the government in london will secure a positive future for northern ireland within the uk. the package of measures in totality does provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the northern ireland executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions. we recognise that significant further advances have been achieved through these negotiations and the details of the new package of measures will be published by the uk

government in due course. this package, i believe, safeguards northern ireland's place in the union and will restore our place within the uk internal market. northern ireland's main nationalist party, sinn fein leader mary lou mcdonald responded saying: we learned more about this significant step for northern ireland from our correspondent chris page in belfast. well, the details will be published over the next few days, according to the dup leader

sirjeffrey donaldson who you heard from there, but essentially, we know that a deal will include a number of elements. one will be legislation which sirjeffrey says will strengthen northern ireland's place in the united kingdom, particularly around the issue of trading arrangements after brexit which has really been at the heart of all these political problems in northern ireland for the last two years. also, there will be some extra funding for northern ireland. 3.3 billion pounds sterling that will go towards settling pay disputes involving public sector pay workers. also to help new ministers in northern ireland's regional government here to transform, as the political parties would put it, public services, particularly the health service here which is widely regarded as being in a crisis, but really the focus of the negotiations that have been carried out by the dup over the last few months have been focused

on repairing what the dup has seen as the damage that's been done to northern ireland's place in the uk as a result of a brexit trade barrier being placed between northern ireland and great britain. it's worth saying that all the other main parties in northern ireland have said that was no reason for the dup to veto the formation of a power—sharing devolved government. they will say the people in northern ireland have really suffered because of the absence of government but as you've heard there, the biggest party in the northern ireland assembly, the irish nationalist party sinn fein, giving a welcome of sorts to what sirjeffrey donaldson has said here — that sinn fein looks forward to the devolved government in northern ireland being back up and running as soon,

it says, as next week. and if it happens, incidentally, it is the leader of sinn fein in belfast, michele o'neil, who will become the first minister of northern ireland. she will be the first irish nationalist to hold that position. that in and of itself will be a major moment. it's a moment that now looks like it will arrive with this dup endorsement of the deal that it has negotiated with the british government, but sirjeffrey donaldson careful to say the dup would not move to lift its veto to allow the regional government to be restored until the uk government in london had passed legislation through the british parliament. now to the deadly drone strike over the weekend targeting us soldiers in jordan. the us army says three service members were killed when an unmanned aerial drone struck their container housing units. this marks the first time american troops have been killed by enemy fire since the start of the israel—gaza war. the pentagon says at least a0 other people were injured. us officials said monday the enemy drone may have been mistaken for an american drone. a preliminary report found there was no effort to shoot down the enemy drone because an american drone

was returning to the base at the same time, and as a result, the attack drone went undetected. the pentagon said monday it could not determine whether iran directed this specific strike on the base, but that the attack had the �*footprints�* of kataib hezbollah, a militia group whose bases the us targeted with air strikes the previous week in iraq. our north america editor sarah smith has more. in the situation room, president biden with his defence secretary is considering his military reaction. we are told he is weighing his options. he needs to retaliate, but without causing more conflict. we do not seek another war. we do not seek to escalate. but we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves, to continue that mission and to respond appropriately to these attacks. shortly after he learned of the attack yesterday, mr biden vowed the us will respond.

we shall respond. now he needs to decide what that response will be. his secretary of state warning other actors not to get involved. from the outset, we've been very clear in warning that anyone looking to take advantage of conflict in the middle east and try to expand it, don't do it. the us has not said which militia group it believes is responsible for the attack on their base injordan or why the deadly drone was not intercepted. president biden�*s opponents lay the blame on him and are demanding he target iran itself in response. senator lindsey graham wrote on x: mitch mcconnell said: and donald trump's response? he claims this attack would never have happened if i was president.

not even a chance. on tehran, the reigning government denied involvement in the attack. a spokesman said the militias do not take orders from iran. the three soldiers killed yesterday have been named as specialist breanna moffat, specialist kennedy sanders and sergeant william rivers. their deaths will mark a new phase in america's role in the escalating tensions in the middle east. here in washington at a joint us—nato news conference, i pressed secretary of state antony blinken on the us response. you referred to a multi—staged response to yesterday's attack. do you hold iran directly responsible? do you consider the us to be at war on the verge of war at this point? we do not seek conflict with iran, we do not seek war with iran, but we have and we will continue to defend our personnel and to take every action necessary to do that,

including responding very vigorously to the attack that just took place, and as i mentioned, i'm not going to get ahead of where the president is, i'm certainly not going to telegraph the response but, as i mentioned, that response could well be multilevelled, it could come in stages and it could be sustained over time. democratic congressman seth moulton sits on the house armed services committee. earlier, we asked him what he thinks a strategic response would look like. well, exactly what it looks like, of course, is what the administration is debating right now. but the goals that it has to achieve are to send a clear,

decisive message to these militia groups — but also to their backers — that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable and will not be tolerated, but it's also got to be politically calculated to ensure that the message of deterrence gets through and what doesn't happen is this response empowers exactly the people who want to go to war. this is particularly relevant with iran. we all know that in iran there are competing factions — factions that want to reconcile with the west and factions that want to start a war. we don't want to empower the war—makers in iran, that would be playing into our enemy's hands. and for the republican perspective, my colleague sumi somaskanda spoke to congresman don bacon, who also sits on the house armed services committee. these proxy forces have hit americans 150 times, going back about 100 days. and our response — just to hit proxy forces, that doesn't get iran's attention. when they see proxy forces get a black eye or a bloody nose, they don't care. iran does care when they get a black eye or a bloody nose. so i would pick, what i would say, low risk targets. i'm thinking things like oil terminals where we could maybe shut down the export of their energy or maybe some of their

navy targets that are on the coastline. the main goal is to exact a price on iran. for analysis on the attack and accusations by the us of iranian involvement, i talked earlier to michael singh with the washington institute. he's a former senior director for middle east affairs at the white house national security council. what does a response look like here? the president has said there will be one, secretary of state the same, but what are their options? i think the key thing for the president is that there has to be a very clear line when it comes to the killing of american personnel. and so whatever responses he may have had in the past to attacks on us facilities, attacks on us interests, any response to the killing of american servicemen needs to be much more significant so that iran in particular but also iran's proxies, receive the message that this simply won't be tolerated. look, in the past we've been engaged in this sort of tit—for—tat with iranian proxies. and i anticipate whatever the us now does in retaliation

will go well beyond those previous responses. who do they target, though, michael? you're talking about iranian—backed proxies here, but yet the secretary and the president have said they believe iran trains these individuals, resources them, may have a role in the planning as well. who does the us target? is it iran or someone else? that's always the crux of this debate inside the us government. i've sat through many of these debates myself, and of course there is a temptation to say look, iran is of course willing to fight the last iraqi or syrian or yemeni militiaman. this is why they put a gun in their hands and say "go fight" — but is perhaps much more reluctant to take a risk that iran itself might be targeted,

but weighing against that is the worry that the us response could fuel the very regional escalation we're seeking to avoid. so that will be the tension inside the white house debate. i anticipate, though, that yes, this will create a lot of pressure inside and outside, to strike back against iranian targets. maybe not inside iran but irgc personnel, iranian facilities or vessels in the region, which was already under consideration before this. and those considerations are all military level considerations. there are plenty of sanctions against iran at this point which clearly haven't worked as a deterrent from the us perspective? that's right. i think that sanctions won't be deemed an adequate response. you may see sanctions as part of an american response but i think responding only with non—military measures, whether they be economic or diplomatic, would be taken inside the us as woefully insufficient, so president biden would come

under significant pressure. but that's not to say there won't be a combination of tools utilised here and that there won't be messages, frankly, to iran as part of whatever us response comes. what's this all going to mean for the rest of the world, then, michael? we have the situation in ukraine as well and emphasis and focus is now shifting to the middle east. well, it will be quite complex because those states which are contributing to the us led military engagement in the region, say, those that are participating in operation prosperity guardian, themselves may worry that they could be seen as easier targets for retaliation by iran and so there will be a number of states that will need to be acting now to safeguard the interests, their citizens and so forth, and then in that broader picture, yes, we have seen a shift in global attention, no doubt from ukraine and even from the indo pacific

as we call it, back to the middle east which is exactly the opposite of the dynamic end of the flow of attention that american and western officials have been hoping for. but i think that hopefully what we will see is that we are able to pay attention both to events in the middle east as well as keep sustained attention to ukraine. and i think secretary blinken�*s engagements recently, just today in fact, are meant in part to show that. we're hearing reports that a deal on further release of israeli hostages and a temporary pause in fighting is close to agreement. conflicting reports as to how close and who has signed up to that, but what impact will whatever action the us takes in this instance impact that deal? well, look, obviously iran is not party to those talks, nor are its proxies. i think iran would be very happy to see those discussions fail because i think the longer the fighting goes on in the gaza, the better it is for iran. iran feels as though it's making gains as the fighting goes on in gaza, as the attention is off iran and on the fighting elsewhere. but i don't actually think the us response will detract from our ability to get

a ceasefire deal done. in fact, you know, you could argue that being willing to show a bit of toughness and a bit of resolve might be something that actually enables us to do a betterjob of getting these types of deals done because it may make iran's proxies worry that "ok, perhaps now we've pushed too far." around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. returning to our top story. the leader of northern ireland's democratic unionist party says his party is prepared to return to power—sharing in northern ireland if the uk government delivers on a new proposal, which would include passing new legislation. the party collapsed the power—sharing government nearly two years ago in protest against post—brexit trade arrangements. you have worked with uk government in our recent negotiations to ensure that going forward northern ireland has the best possible chance to

tackle its short—term challenges and build longer term prosperity within the union. our goal has been to secure the conditions that allow for the return of devolved government on a sustainable basis. and where it can make a real and meaningful improvement in the lives of all the people of this part of the united kingdom. you can get the latest on this story on bbc.com/news. you're live with bbc news. more countries have halted funding to the largest un agency operating in gaza — unrwa — over the alleged role of some staff in the october 7 hamas attacks on israel. japan and austria became the latest countries to suspend payments, joining others including the us and uk. unrwa has sacked 12 staff members over the allegations. the un secretary general is calling for the ongoing internal investigation to be done swiftly.

and us secretary of state antony blinken called the reports "deeply troubling" but said the agency plays an indispensable role in aid to gaza. the director of communications at unrwa told the bbc that they are "extremely desperate," adding:"|t has come at a time when the humanitarian needs "in gaza are growing by the hour." unrwa also warned that if funding is not resumed, the agency would not be able to continue its operations beyond february. shifting now to the war in ukraine. hungary's foreign minister signalled progress in talks with his ukrainian counterpart ahead of an eu summit that will seek agreement on an aid package for kyiv that has been held up by budapest. it follow reports saying the bloc was planning to sabotage hungary's economy if budapest blocks the aid at a summit this week. hungary's prime minister, viktor orban, has maintained close ties with the kremlin since its invasion of ukraine. kyiv hopes the eu will provide it with a $54 billion package — that's 50 billion euros —

to plug a budget deficit this year as it battles russian forces. thousands of french farmers have blocked motorways around paris and other parts of france in an ongoing protest at government and european union policies, which they say mean they are struggling to make a living. they are unhappy about a reduction in diesel fuel subsidies for their tractors and a range of other green policies, which they claim make farming uncompetitive. bethany bell has more. a convoy of angry farmers moves on paris. they're worried about the low prices they get for their produce as the government tries to reduce inflation. they also don't like the red — or rather the green — tape demanded by environmental laws. we've been driving with farmers in this convoy, which has now come to a halt on one of the main motorways outside paris. there's a lot of anger here,

and people say they're going to stay as long as it takes. some farmers say green policies are blocking their ability to be profitable. translation: we are all in favour of changing our| environmental practices. but there needs to be a level playing field with other european countries. they can't force extreme green policies on us and then allow imported products from within and outside the european union that don't meet the same standards. france's prime minister has made a first offer of concessions, maintaining the subsidies on diesel for farm vehicles. but so far, it's not enough for the unions. the government is concerned that the farmers�* anger could translate into support for the far right. lucien told us he was joining the protest on behalf of his son—in—law who runs a large stables with 70 horses nearby. "we need to be able to live from our work," he said.

"the next time i vote, it will be for the extremists." with eu elections injune and with protests by farmers in belgium, germany and elsewhere, the future shape of both the political and agricultural landscape of europe could be at stake. bethany bell, bbc news, near paris. police in brazil raided a holiday home linked to carlos bolsonaro, one of the sons of former presidentjair bolsonaro. the search is part of an investigation into allegations that political enemies of president bolsonaro were spied on illegally by the brazilian intelligence service during his time in office. the former president was staying at the residence with his sons before police arrived. neither carlos bolsonaro, nor his father have so far commented. for more on the raid, and the wider legal problems facing the former brazilian president, i spoke with our south america

correspondent ione wells. thank you forjoining us. talk us through what happened today with those raids. today police raided the home of carlos bolsonaro, the son of the former president bolsonaro, into an investigation that is looking into allegations of illegal spying. now, the allegations centre around accusations that the state intelligence agency, during bolsonaro's presidency, used an israeli software to spy on the political opponents of president bolsonaro, including tracking, geolocating data on their mobile phones, for example. now, they had formally raided the offices and homes of the intelligence chief under bolsonaro. now, they're centring that investigation on his inner circle, particularly, yes, his son, carlos bolsonaro. carlos is sort of a social media guru for his father,

he is someone ho was famous for his strong online campaigns in support of his father's politics, but really fierce online criticism of his father's opponents. they're targeting the raids on him as someone who could've been a potential beneficiary of some of that intelligence. so, do we know — did they find anything? was jair bolsonaro there at any of these properties? he was pictured outside, not during the raid itself, but has strongly denied any allegations of wrongdoing. saying that him and his family didn't receive any geolocation data, and he would have refused that if it was something that was obtained. he has made allegations that this investigation is part of a persecution against him and his political cause. so pretty firm denials from him and his family around some of the allegations of wrongdoing. this is part of a number of investigations him and his family are facing at the moment. what does this mean in terms of that broader context for him? well, this is one of many legal battles the former

president is facing. carlos bolsonaro, his son, who was subjected to these raids today, is also facing another allegation of running a false fake news operation out of the president's office. that is ongoing. he know as well that former president bolsonaro is currently barred from standing for office for eight years, and is facing investigations into whether, for example, he incited some of the riots that took place last year after he lost the election in brazil. so there are a number of kind of legal battles his family are facing at the moment. but that certainly hasn't deterred some of his supporters, who, in his words, feel like this is part of a stitch—up against him and the right—wing politics that he represented. thank you very much for all of that. let's turn to some important news around the world. italy's prime minister has proposed a partnership with african countries

in an effort to curb and migration. at a summit of african leaders, giorgia meloni, said her government will commit $6 billion to the plan initially. officials in chile have put the country's capital, santiago, on red alert to warn about dangerous extreme heat that is moving across parts of the country. they're cautioning people to stay in indoors and hydrate. wednesday is forecast to be the hottest day with temperatures reaching 35 degrees celsius. authorities in spain's southern andalusia region have approved new measures to combat a country—wide drought with reservoirs at dangerously low levels. the measures include financial support for desalination efforts and reservoir improvements. officials have warned water usage restrictions will begin in the region's biggest cities of seville, cordoba and malaga by summer if there's not substantial rain soon. it may feel like winter hasn't even arrived yet in those parts of spain with unseasonably warm and dry weather, people in the town of ituren have already moved to try to set the stage for spring.

sheepskin—clad dancers with heavy bronze bells strapped to their backs took to the streets to perform a lengthy ritual dance to ward off evil spirits. it's part of tranditional efforts to invite fertile land for spring. no matter the temperature. thank you very much for watching. that is it for now in washington. stay with us here on bbc news. do take care. bye—bye. hello there. temperatures will continue to fluctuate through the rest of this week. on sunday, of course, we saw temperatures in highland scotland of 20 degrees. and after a frost, typical temperatures monday afternoon were 6 degrees. highest temperatures this time were across southern parts of the uk. cloud breaking up here and there to give some sunshine and 14 degrees in cambridgeshire. in between, we had thicker cloud on these weather fronts, an area of low pressure, bringing some wet weather, that's moving away into the north sea. so it is turning drier. keeping more cloud, though,

for england and wales. that'll keep the temperatures up. clearer skies for scotland and northern ireland. it could be a frosty start early in the morning, but the promise of more sunshine for scotland and northern ireland. the cloudy start for england and wales. still a bit dampness in the east, but we'll see some sunshine developing more widely as the cloud retreats back towards east anglia and the southeast. here, temperatures could make double figures, but i think 7, 8 degrees is going to be nearer the mark. it could be the odd shower coming into northwest scotland, especially as the breeze picks up later in the day. and if we look to the north, by wednesday, this deep low is pushing between iceland and scotland, really strengthening the winds overnight. very windy for scotland, widespread gales, gusts of 80mph for a while in the far north. and this squally band of rain sweeps into scotland and northern ireland, picking the winds up here, gusty winds and some rain in the far north of england. further south across england and wales, the winds much lighter. and after a chilly, bright start, the cloud will increase and we'll see top temperatures of 10 or 11 degrees.

that weather front bringing that rain moves southwards but weakens, so little or no rain coming in to southern parts of the uk. and then another weather front following in from the atlantic, eventually towards the northwest. but a dry, bright start with some sunshine for many, a little bit chilly on thursday. we will see the cloud increasing in northern ireland and particularly scotland with some rain arriving in the northwest, but still some sunshine for england and wales, although their temperatures will be a little bit lower on thursday, around 9 degrees celsius. but those temperatures rise again for the end of the week. this strengthening southwesterly wind will bring with it some higher temperatures on friday. but because the winds are coming a long way over the atlantic, it will come with a lot of cloud, a little light rain or drizzle, mainly across western parts of scotland. but those temperatures by the end of the week on the mild side again, widely 13 or 14 celsius.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. israel has been ordered by the international court ofjustice to take specific measures to prevent genocide in gaza. the case for genocide — the very worst crime humanity can commit —

was brought by south africa and will now be the basis of a full trial lasting years. the israeli government is outraged. world reaction has been mixed. but in terms of the situation on the ground in gaza, nothing seems to have changed. my guest is ronald lamola, south africa's justice minister. could the war in gaza be a game changer in geopolitics? ronald lamola injohannesburg, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. thank you very much.

minister, it's great to have you on the programme.