with the power of their mind? hello, welcome to the programme. we start with a significant political breakthrough in northern ireland — one that could pave the way to a return to power—sharing at the devolved assembly in stormont. it comes after the biggest unionist party, the dup, backed a british government deal aimed at soothing concerns over trading rules — that came into force after brexit. government at stormont has been suspended for nearly two years, after the dup walked out in protest over what it said were trade barriers between northern ireland and the rest of the uk. it's not yet clear what exactly what's in the deal, but it won't change the basic settlement

between the uk and the eu, as sara girvin reports. across northern ireland today people woke up news of a political breakthrough thats has been nearly two—years in the making, the lack of a functioning executive for so long has caused many issues for the lives of people, public sector workers were out on strike earlier this month over pay. unions hope that increases will now be a priority. our members have a sense of hope but they are apprehensive. teachers haven't had a pay increase for three year, they really have waited long enough. they have watched teachers wages grow far ahead oaf wages in northern ireland. that is one priority. parents hope that financial hope with childcare available in other parts of the uk will now

be signed off. families here have been watching developments elsewhere in the uk, in england we have seen record investment in childcare and the extension to 30 hour scheme, it is considerably more than families can access in northern ireland. the dup walked out of power—sharing in 2022 in protest at trading arrangements brought in after brexit. the party says those arrangements saw northern ireland treated differently from the rest of the uk. it has been negotiating with westminster for measures to remove economic barriers but the dup leader says enough progress has been made. i believe that what we have delivered is significant, and on the basis that the government continues to deliver, then we will be in a position to convene a meeting of the assembly and proceed with the restoration of the political institutions. the uk government will publish the details of the deal tomorrow, and is expected to bring legislation by thursday. the secretary of state for northern ireland says he hopes to finalise the deal soon.

i believe that all the conditions are now in place for the assembly to return, and i look forward very much to the restoration of the institutions at stormont as soon as possible. the assembly may be recalled as early as friday or saturday, but whenever the power—sharing institutions return they will do so with a nationalist first minister in the shape of sinn fein�*s michelle o'neill. it will be the first time in northern ireland's existence that the top job will be held by a leader who wants a united ireland. i am glad we are getting to a juncture where power—sharing maybe possible again. i believe in power—sharing and i believe in life you get much more done when you work together as opposed to working apart. after two years of uncertainty, frustration and division, it looks like the stormont stalemate will soon be at an end but it is not done yet, so people in northern ireland must do what they have done for nearly two years — wait.

live now to our correspondent tomos morgan who's outside stormont. we heard in that report it is not yet a done deal, but there must be relief after these two years of frustration and division. that finally there seems to be some significant progress.— finally there seems to be some significant progress. yes, that will be what many _ significant progress. yes, that will be what many people _ significant progress. yes, that will be what many people are - significant progress. yes, that will| be what many people are thinking, that there is some progress in this deal has been in placejust waiting and there will be that vote tomorrow in westminster in the hope is the power could be resolved here by the end of the week. i think there has been a huge amount of frustration from the public in northern ireland this is taking quite so long in some sectors of the population. there has been so many strikes of the past few weeks, and year that there will be the hope that that could be relieved. sirjeffrey donaldson saying today that public—sector talks were a huge part of the

conversations that he had been having with the uk government and that he was hoping that there could be some discussion about money coming from westminster to try and resolve some of those pay disputes as far as they could go. so some relief, but there is still some way to go. all eyes tomorrow will be on westminster. to go. all eyes tomorrow will be on westminster-— to go. all eyes tomorrow will be on westminster. you talk to their about the -a westminster. you talk to their about the pay deals — westminster. you talk to their about the pay deals that — westminster. you talk to their about the pay deals that they _ westminster. you talk to their about the pay deals that they finally - westminster. you talk to their about the pay deals that they finally have l the pay deals that they finally have some sort of resolution, it is very easyin some sort of resolution, it is very easy in times like this for us to get caught up in all of the politics of it, but we need to remember that northern ireland have not had a functioning government for two years. if it does finally get back around that table, there is a lot of work to do, is there not? yes. around that table, there is a lot of work to do, is there not?- work to do, is there not? yes, it will be in — work to do, is there not? yes, it will be in a _ work to do, is there not? yes, it will be in a very _ work to do, is there not? yes, it will be in a very different - work to do, is there not? yes, it will be in a very different form i work to do, is there not? yes, it| will be in a very different form as well because, as it was mentioned, this will be the first time in a century that there will be a nationalist first minister, how will that change the makeup of how things are done? obviously, the way things work here, that there is a kind of balance between the first minister

in the deputy, the deputy will be a unionist member probably someone from dup, so it will be different dynamic. as you mentioned already, this will be some sign of relief and hope to hear that things can move forward. we had heard from the member in that piece there that so many members in the public sector have not had a pay rise for three or four or five years so they will be looking for that as the first call for things to be changed here. as he mentioned as well, previously, without this functioning government, the functioning executive for the past two years, it has meant that certain areas of the default government have not really been pushed forward and things have been lacking behind such as the nhs the backlog there has increased enormously in northern ireland. some people will be hoping that things like that can slowly now be resolved as the default government finally gets back on track. i

as the default government finally gets back on track.— as the default government finally gets back on track. i know you will kee us gets back on track. i know you will keep us up-to-date. _ gets back on track. i know you will keep us up-to-date. worth - gets back on track. i know you will keep us up-to-date. worth sayingi keep us up—to—date. worth saying that on the bbc news website, a life pages up and running with all the details as they emerge about potentially what could be involved that deal. a deal be assumed that is now done, the details we do not yet have, but we are hearing that sir jeffrey donaldson from dup saying staying in northern ireland will not need checks or customs decorations and that was one of the big sticking points as post—brexit treating arrangements were considered so check out the website for further details. let's turn to the middle east now, the us presidentjoe biden says the us has decided how it will respond to an attack on a us base injordan that killed three us soldiers. the drone strike was the first time us soldiers were killed by enemy fire in the region since the israel—gaza war began in october. speaking as he left the white house mr biden cautioned against a wider war in the middle east, but did not give further details

about how, or when the us would respond. the us has previously promised a "very consequential response". response as well from the israeli side. saying they do not want to turn hospitals into battlefields coming from the chief staff general. this really chief of general staffs saying they'd determined that in today or lebanon to become a cover for terrorism. today or lebanon to become a cover forterrorism. relating today or lebanon to become a cover for terrorism. relating to forces earlier in the day. earlier, undercover israeli forces — disguised as medical staff — shot dead three palestinian militants at the ibn sina hospital injenin in the occupied west bank. cctv footage from the hospital shows an armed undercover unit diguised as medics and civilians making their way through a corridor.

one of the men who was killed was a member of hamas. the israeli military claims the men were planning an imminent attack — and using the hospital as a hiding place. tensions have soared in the west bank since the attacks on october the 7th, with near daily israeli arrest raids and clashes with palestinians. our middle east correspondent, lucy williamson, reports. a building with a mission to heal the sick. visitors with a mission to kill. israeli forces, in headscarves and medical coats, filmed on security camera, at the heart ofjenin's iba sina hospital. guns in one hand, handbag, baby cot in the other. here to assassinate a patient and his two companions, fighters with armed palestinian groups. translation: at dawn today, | a military operation was carried out inside the hospital. three people were martyred, including a patient who was injured

a month ago and was being treated in the rehabilitation unit. they targeted his room, and all the occupants were killed. on the third floor, they killed basel ghazawi in his bed as he slept, his brother mohammed shot in a chair. both fighters in jenin�*s resistance groups. a third man, mohammad jalamana, was a key hamas figure, wanted by israel, who says he was armed with this gun, and hiding in the hospital, and that the group had been planning an imminent terrorist attack. israel has also targeted hospitals in its war with hamas in gaza, arguing that hamas makes them legitimate targets by hiding there. and today, more detail from israel's government on its accusation that the un's palestinian refugee agency is a front for hamas, and that some of its staff took part

in the 7th october attacks. six unrwa employees infiltrated israel in the attack. not only does the evidence show that unrwa staff were involved in the massacre, they were also directly implicated in holding hostages once they were in gaza. israel says the agency, its shelters, schools and food aid should be defunded. aid workers say gaza's humanitarian crisis is already slipping out of control. miriam and her seven children are living without a proper tent or food on a beach at the southern tip of gaza. a roadside cart for sweets now beach side housing for a baby. adults and infants alike, dependent on others for food and shelter, dependent on others to stop the war. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. meanwhile, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has said that israel won't pull its troops out

of gaza or free thousands of palestinian prisoners, dampening hopes of a possible new ceasefire deal in gaza. translation: we will not withdraw the idf i from the gaza strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists. none of this will happen. what is going to happen then? only absolute victory. no more fighting rounds, no more exchanges of blows, no more operations. absolute victory, no less than that. i am committed to this. our fighters are committed to this, and the absolute majority of the people are committed to this. and we will not settle for anything less. bill roggio, a former us solider and editor of american news website long warjournal, gave us his analysis. i asked what he made of the comments

of president biden and what a us response could look like. i suspect what we're going to see is limited strikes targeting the militias and possibly targeting some iranian assets in iran or syria. the administration and if you listen to officials, john kirby, a spokesman for the national security council and others, the secretary of defense lloyd austin, they continually say that they don't want to escalate. that we're not at war, that we don't seek a wider conflict. and this is ironic, given that there's been over 160 strikes against us forces in iraq and syria, as well as houthi missile and drone strikes against ships including us and british warships in the red sea. the war has widened. the iranians and their proxies have widen this war. the administration believes they can keep it contained. they believe they could de—escalate the situation.

but every time they say this, the militias continue to escalate. and it was a matter of time before the three americans were killed. i suspect the administration will be satisfied with limited strikes. this will not deter the iranians and their proxies. it will not de—escalate the situation. the administration doesn't understand what deterrence actually means. yes, and i want to talk about that, because it's an important distinction, isn't it? you know, the fine line between what is a proactive strike and what is simply to maintain a deterrence. and you're saying there that iran will not be deterred by the level of strikes that the us is currently committing to, even though there has been a massive increase in attacks by other forces on american interests abroad. particularly if these attacks occur against the militias, the iranians are more than willing to..the militia leaders

themselves, more than willing to sacrifice hundreds of their fighters and equipment that could easily be replaced in order to achieve its goal of driving the us from the region of the us, forcing the israelis to a peace agreement or to cease fire with hamas. i'm going to say this as someone who is highly skeptical, given watching two decades of the us at war in the middle east — the us has not committed it failed in afghanistan, it's failing in ukraine. given how the lack of action has not prevented the houthi strikes, i could go on and on about the failures of not just this, but previous american administrations. the only thing that really would deter the iranians at this point is hitting the iranians themselves hard at home, hitting key facilities, particularly of the islamic revolutionary guard corps. the iranians fear destabilisation inside their country. my problem is, is i don't trust this administration and those involved in it to conduct an operation like this in order to restore deterrence.

editor of the long warjournal speaking to me a little earlier. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the serial killer nurse lucy letby has lost the first stage of the process to appeal her convictions. in august, she was found guilty of murdering 7 babies and attempting to kill another six at the countess of chester hospital in 2015 and 2016. she was sentenced to a whole life prison term. lucy letby applied to the court of appeal for permission for her case to be heard there. her application was reviewed by a single judge who has denied her that permission. she now has 14 days in which to decide whether to apply again. a man armed with a crossbow has been shot dead by police in south—east london. the met said the man, who was in his 30s, was trying to force his way into a building in the surrey quays area. the nhs app has been updated for users in england.

the new features include a prescription tool with a digital bar code that can be used in pharmacies without the need for a paper prescription. nhs digital says the app will also show average local hospital waiting times for patients who require non—urgent treatment. you're live with bbc news. pakistan's former prime minister imran khan has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, after being accused of leaking state secrets. his party says the decision is a mockery. imran khan is already serving a three year term, after being convicted of corruption. our correspondent caroline davies reports from islamabad. his face is on the election posters, but imran khan is already behind bars. the former prime minister has not been seen in public since he was jailed almost six months ago. this is the closest we have got to imran khan, the outside of adiala jail. all of his court appearances now happen inside the four

walls of the prison, and the verdict today suggests he will not be appearing in public any time soon. today's conviction is about this rally. in march 2022, mr khan appeared on stage waving a piece of paper he said showed a foreign conspiracy against him. he did not say the name of the foreign power but was heavily critical of the united states. prosecutors argued this was leaking state secrets and damaging diplomatic relations. the latter can lead to life imprisonment or the death penalty. the trial lasted several months but the results came fast today, taking even some of his legal team, outside giving a press conference at the time, off guard. translation: just now we have heard that imran khan _ and shah mahmood qureshi were sentenced to ten years in prison. imran khan's sister said outside islamabad high court that they will appeal. translation: do i look worried? no. this is a fight.

imran said this is aboutjustice, that is why he is injail. they will not break any law, they will stay put and fight all the cases. people should not turn to violence, we will use the legal ways to fight this. pakistan is about to go to the polls, imran khan was already disqualified. there are candidates standing supported by his party, but will the verdict today break their and their voters' morale, or boost it? caroline davies, bbc news, rawalpindi. hong kong is to introduce national security laws, which will augment the measures introduced by beijing in 2020. the territory's chief executive, john lee, said four new offences would be introduced, including that of insurrection, though he said those who criticised his government without criminal intent would not face punishment. he said the legislation was needed to counter threats, which were both external and internal. our bbc news chinese correspondent martin yip, explained

what's behind this legislation. john lee's government claims that if they don't bring in this legislation, hong kong would face what he called a real threat to national security to china, which would then threaten hong kong's internal security as well. that's what he kept saying this morning, and he made reference to threats from british intelligence agencies as well as the united states cia for their recent comments that they would step up their activities against china and hong kong in terms of surveillance. he kept emphasising the threat from foreign governments to threaten china's national security, in his words, very real. france's president, emmanuel macron, has called for the european union to control ukrainian agricultural imports — amid angry protests by farmers who are blocking motorways into paris. speaking during a visit to sweden, mr macron said he would ask the eu

to have �*clear measures�* on imports from ukraine. france is the latest eu country to see widespread protests by farmers, after demonstrations in poland and netherlands. they're angry about increased competiton from ukraine, and what they say are unreasonable environmental measures. earlier i spoke with our correspondent, bethany bell, who is in paris and has been spending time with the protesting farmers just outside the city. the government is struggling to try and meet the demands of the farmers here in france. today there was a big speech in parliament by france's new prime minister, gabriel attal, who said that farmers were the pride and strength of france, and he said he was working towards a solution for them. but there's been disappointment for many of the farmers who listened to that speech today saying

that they found his proposals vague. mr attal announced an emergency fund for wine industry in one area of france and he promised to work on the eu level to deal with issues such as fallow land. and we also heard today from france's president, emmanuel macron, who said that he would be meeting with the head of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, later this week. but this is all at the moment a difficult problem for the government. the anger of the protesters is very marked. i've been out with some of those protesters. they're blocking major motorways coming into paris. and many of them say that they'll stay there as long as it takes for some more of their demands to be met. and bethany, those other demands, they're notjust about competition from imports, are they? it's about falling in incomes, rising bureaucracy.

now, the government says there may be announcements on additional support tomorrow. we don't have any details on that. butjust looking at a quote here is that they simply want to stop food deliveries to supermarkets because we cannot go on having cheap farming. "we need to be able to make a living from our trade." and that speaks there to those demands for for rising incomes and a cut in bureaucracy. yes, it was interesting. one of the protesters that i spoke to last night was saying that farmers need to be able to live from their work. and he said at the moment that just wasn't happening. and he said there are real double standards that he said in france, people are held to extremely high standards when it comes to food production. but then there are all these cheap imports of food from countries, including in the eu, where there are not such high standards. cher�*s request for a temporary conservatorship over her son

elijah blue allman has been turned down by a judge in the us. she filed for the order last year due to her son's alleged substance abuse and mental health issues, but a judge said he had proved "he has managed his finances" and "has remained drug free". a conservatorship is normally granted by a court for individuals who are unable to make their own decisions and can be used to manage a person's financial and personal affairs. a recent case involving britney spears, whose conservatorship ended in 2021, drew lots of media attention. there could be some spectacular images to show you within the hour. celebrations are under way in the uk's northermost town tonight. the spectacular up helly aa event in lerwick a little earlier.

the annual event celebrates shetland's norse heritage, and a day of events will culminate in the burning of a replica viking galley tonight. it always is spectacular. these are held across shetland betweenjanuary and march, low record, the most spectacular and largest of them all. torches lit and 46 squads making their way through with a brass band. you are watching bbc news. we are going to stay on these pictures just to show you what we are expecting. all taking place between seven and eight o'clock. our correspondent is there. that's hand you over to lewis. 3 there. that's hand you over to lewis. �* ., ., ., ., 4' there. that's hand you over to lewis. �* ., ., ., ., «a, lewis. a lot of hard work and craftsmanship _ lewis. a lot of hard work and craftsmanship goes - lewis. a lot of hard work and craftsmanship goes into - lewis. a lot of hard work and craftsmanship goes into it. . lewis. a lot of hard work and l craftsmanship goes into it. the design has been the same since 1949, seen dimensions, but the colour

scheme, specific colours and designs change every year depending on who is in charge. those are the kinds of decisions that are made by the chief, the head of the festival. a bit of a word on kaiser, essentially a disguise and dressing up and that is a lot of what is a part of this fire festival because not only do you have the squad which is the group of 60 or so who will be dressed in the breaking out forts, but everyone else involved, a0 odd other squads. but everyone else involved, a0 odd othersquads. —— but everyone else involved, a0 odd other squads. —— viking outfits. all people in local groups, and all dressed up in all sorts of things we wait to see what kind of costumes and disguises we see in the next hour or so. we have a little flavour of it earlier on because there is a juniorfire festival of it earlier on because there is a junior fire festival here as well

with a junior chief from the school children and we saw them for reading through the streets and they had the marching band and the bagpipes and a galley as well, a smaller replica and that is what was burned at half past five local time just a couple of hours ago. behind there, they were children carrying their torches, a light on fire, the the torches, a light on fire, the the torch is not the children. some characters and lots of animals and monsters and we wait to see what the grown—ups have got in store. there is a lot of grown—ups involved. 9a0 odd people involved in these various squads. these groups. and there is a lot of work that goes into not only the main group, the main squad the

jarl squad but with the other groups making their way across with the torches. this is an annual festival here in the wreck but as i mentioned, but it doesn't spread in between january and march throughout every single year. —— larry to usa to us a few minutes away from the formal start. as you can see, it is very, very dark. we will wait now, in the blackness, and the darkness for the signal of what is to come.

louis, thank you very much. when we see the darkness to be replaced by the spectacular images of fire. if you want to continue watching that you want to continue watching that you can do so on the bbc news website and also on the bbc iplayer, a dedicated stream showing some pretty impressive images from there. this is bbc news. the headlines... president biden says he's decided how to respond to the drone attack that killed three american troops injordan, but cautions against a wider war in the middle east. at bbc verify, we've been looking at new analysis that shows that more than half of gaza's buildings have been destroyed or damaged since israel launched its offensive in gaza. elon�*s brain claim — could a new microchip help people control electronic devices with the power of their mind?

and mps are warning that misogyny and discrimination is "endemic" within the music industry. let's return to the middle east now, and for weeks, aid agencies have been warning of the huge scale of destruction in the gaza strip, but no journalists have been allowed in independently. now bbc verify — working with academics who've used satellite radar mapping analysis — can show the extent of israel's military strikes. they've found that more than half of gaza's buildings have been destroyed or damaged during the war with israel. bbc verify�*s merlyn thomas has more. more than half of gaza's buildings have been damaged or destroyed since israel launched its retaliation for the hamas attacks of 7th of october. that's according to new data. now, take a look at this map of the gaza strip. this is from the 12th of october, just a few days after the war began.