hello, i'm sally bundock. a very warm welcome. we start in gaza — where the united nations has been working to shore up unrwa, its palestinian refugee agency, which has seen several nations suspend funding after israel claimed it found proof that unrwa staff took part in the hamas attacks last october. secretary general, antonio guterres, has been meeting representatives of more than 30 donor countries, to discuss contributions. the un says it is carrying out a thorough investigation — although it added that it has not yet received anything in writing from israel. the un's humanitarian co—ordinator for gaza says it's vital for unrwa to be able to continue with its work. there is no substitution for the humanitarian role it plays in gaza.

we need to remember given the totality of needs and the scale and complexity of the crisis that there is no substitution. there is no way any organisation can replace or substitute the tremendous capacity, the fabric of unrwa, the ability and their knowledge of the population in gaza. the palestinian representative at the un has called for unrwa to be defended, because it is the only organisation capable of helping the people of gaza. israel's government has accused unrwa of being a front for hamas — which several countries consider to be a terrorist group. the fighting continues in gaza — with several explosions heard in the southern areas around khan younis and rafah. the israeli army has confirmed it's been flooding tunnels in gaza with sea water to try to neutralise the threat posed by hamas and other militant groups. it said checks had been carried

out beforehand to ensure that groundwater was not contaminated. with me is mohamed taha from bbc arabic. joining me in the studio once again, good morning to you. if we start with antonio and all the effort made to bring funding back to unrwa, what hearing about that?- hearing about that? good morning. _ hearing about that? good morning, the _ hearing about that? good morning, the nosed - hearing about that? good morning, the nosed has l morning, the nosed has announced that they did not get any evidence from israel yet that about the claims that members of the unrwa were part of the october seven attacks. now the suspended money, the united states are working very hard with concerned countries to make sure that this money would be resumed. they said there is no alternative or aid in gaza, rather than unrwa and this money should be available

for refugees. it’s this money should be available for refugees.— for refugees. it's important to talk about _ for refugees. it's important to talk about the _ for refugees. it's important to talk about the significance - for refugees. it's important to talk about the significance ofl talk about the significance of their work in gaza but not in gaza either, it's injordan and other parts as well? gaza either, it's in jordan and other parts as well?— other parts as well? unrwa is servin: other parts as well? unrwa is serving more _ other parts as well? unrwa is serving more than _ other parts as well? unrwa is serving more than 5 - other parts as well? unrwa is serving more than 5 million l serving more than 5 million refugees injordan, syria, refugees in jordan, syria, lebanon, refugees injordan, syria, lebanon, the west bank as long as with gaza there is no other body that can serve this refugees. i heard clips from refugees. i heard clips from refugees in this country and they are saying that if the funding would stop that it means a killing for us, there is no difference between killing the palestinians in gaza and killing us gradually by not having funds by not having children going to schools and not having enough healthcare and so on and so forth. in healthcare and so on and so forth. . healthcare and so on and so forth. , ., ., �* , healthcare and so on and so forth. , ., ., �*, , forth. in terms of what's been auoin on forth. in terms of what's been going on overnight, _ forth. in terms of what's been going on overnight, of - forth. in terms of what's been going on overnight, of course | going on overnight, of course the fighting intensifies between the two. we are talking about titles being filled with seawater, what more can you

tell us? . tell us? the fighting is intensified _ tell us? the fighting is intensified around - tell us? the fighting is | intensified around khan tell us? the fighting is - intensified around khan younis, rafah and around the hospital again. striking use in gaza, the return of more than 100 bodies a dead bodies, palestinian dead bodies that were held by israel, they gave them to the palestinian red cross to be buried in gaza. they are all unknown bodies, gazan people gathered to bury them, they took photos of them in case they relatives would be able to identify them after the war. israelalso able to identify them after the war. israel also released some prisoners in this operation. this is coming all around the news related to a prospective truce in this fight.— truce in this fight. thank you so much _ truce in this fight. thank you so much for _ truce in this fight. thank you so much for bringing - truce in this fight. thank you so much for bringing us - truce in this fight. thank you so much for bringing us the l so much for bringing us the latest. from bbc arabic. meanwhile, in washington,

president biden says he's now decided how to respond to the drone attack by iran—backed militants that killed three american troops in jordan on sunday. they were the first fatalities among american service personnel stationed in the middle east, since the start of the war in gaza. mr biden says he holds iran responsible because it is supplying weapons to the militant group which the us believes carried out the attack. iran has denied being able to direct those groups. speaking outside the white house, the president said america is not seeking war with iran. so what could the us potentially target? here are the thoughts of a former cia operative in the middle east — robert baer. i think they will hit proxies in syria. that's the most cautious response. they could

hit them in iraq, they are connected. on the other hand be iraqis will give up and forcibly knows that out of iraq so that is one — and i agree that hitting iran is highly unlikely. for many reasons, one is the united states does not have the forces to go to war with iran, period. they don't have the forces to go to war against hezbollah. so president biden has no good options other than simple extracts. iran is clearly escalating as casualties go up in gaza. it is responding to gaza through proxies. the problem will be nosed that is the proxies, as possible deniability that they said they didn't do it and is no way to prove that iran was behind his attacks. on the other hand, the iranians can

hit anywhere from syria, lebanon, to iraq and that is why a long time ago i described iran as the regional superpower and i think it is. the uk government is today expected to publish the details of its deal with the democratic unionist party — which will restore the power sharing assembly in northern ireland. the dup leadership has already said there will be legislation to strengthen trading links with the rest of the uk, which were affected by brexit. the nationalist party, sinn fein, which will appoint the new first minister, says it is optimistic, and that the whole of ireland is about to experience a moment of very great significance. our correspondent tomos morgan sent this update from belfast. it's been almost two years since there was a functioning devolved government after that due people of northern ireland and executive from carrying on with their work. as they were

in dispute over the trade agreement with the uk comment. now it looks like the deal is in place and could pave the way for things to move forward and the significance of that will be huge, because for the past couple of weeks and months there's been so many protests with the gods and public sector pain people working in the public sector say they haven't had a page rise in a number of beers. the leader of the dp had said that such a pair had been a huge part of discussions with the uk government when they came to that agreement. over the last two years as they hasn't been a function devolved government here, it means wedding was in the nhs has risen considerably as well. the hope is they could be some sort of movement in terms of trying to get rid of that backlog. timeline will be of course, well, there will be all eyes on westminster today as the boat because there is a make sure the deal goes through with the view to power—sharing and working is getting back in place here by the end of the

week. here on bbc news we will keep your cross every development on that. now let's go to the united states. a judge in the state of delaware has annulled a $56 billion pay package awarded to elon musk in 2018 by his electric car company tesla. the lawsuit was filed by a shareholder, who argued that the figure was an inappropriate overpayment. thejudge agreed — saying the amount, the largest in corporate history, was "unfathomable". elon musk has posted about the decision on his social media site, x. he's also set up a vote on x, asking if tesla should change its state of incorporation to texas, the home of its physical headquarters. live now to los angeles and our north america correspondent peter bowes.

once again, peter, mask making the headlines. tell us about this, $56 billion. it is nice if you can get it? absolutely. very nice _ if you can get it? absolutely. very nice are _ if you can get it? absolutely. very nice are a _ if you can get it? absolutely. very nice are a colossal- if you can get it? absolutely. very nice are a colossal pay i very nice are a colossal pay package as you already indicated, the biggest everfor a ceo of a publicly traded company. it made him the richest person in the world. but clearly not everyone was happy and this lawsuit really shows the power of an investor. the shareholder that took him to court, questioning this, arguing that it was unfair to shareholders and there was a trial back in 2022 and we heard in that trial the members of the board in effect trying to justify what they did to, it seems were saying was to try and keep you on mask happy —— elon musk happy and dedicated to the company was running. the

tone and tenor of the judges decision and it is quite a long summary that she has written, suggest she feels the board is simply too close to elon musk and that they are in some ways beholden to him. it is true that some of the people on the board of longtime friends of elon musk, so it leaves the board in the position now that they are going to have to rethink that a package. there is a question over whether precisely this board can do that or whether it needs to bring in new independent members. it bring in new independent members-_ members. it will be very interesting _ members. it will be very interesting to _ members. it will be very interesting to watch - members. it will be very interesting to watch it i members. it will be very - interesting to watch it happens next. including whether tesla moves? . ., next. including whether tesla moves? , ., ., moves? yes, and there are alwa s moves? yes, and there are always repercussions, - moves? yes, and there are | always repercussions, aren't they? when elon musk goes on to his own social media site, x, as it is now and as you said, poses the question to his followers. should tesla change its state of incorporation to

taxes, home of its physical headquarters? having previously said never incorporate in a way. that goes against the conventional wisdom of a lot of business people, that delaware is considered to be a good state to incorporate in because of its tax laws that are quite different to some other states. elon musk goes his own way. he does indeed and we are keeping track of every movement, thank you so much, peter. we will have more on that in our business coverage in around 15 minutes. we will get another expert view on that extraordinary story. the protests by farming groups across europe are continuing. this was the scene in france, not far from a wholesale food market near paris. the french farmer's confederation has called for a blockade of distribution centres for grocery stores to protest over chains that sell agriculture products below cost, at farmers' expense. the french government has said it will not let that happen — but the prime minister,

gabriel attal, has called for france to be granted an exception for some regulations which govern agriculture. similar protests are being held by farmers groups across the european union — these pictures were filmed near rome. the demonstrators say they are facing too many new environmental rules, and cheap imports are undercutting their operations. and here in belgium, the farmers used their tractors to block roads leading to the country's second largest port, zeebrugge. local officials say they were only trying to block freight traffic — and cars were able to pass through. some of the protesters say they plan to blockade brussels on thursday — when eu leaders are due to gather for a scheduled summit. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news.

from today, pharmacists in england will be able to dispense prescriptions to patients for minor conditions, withou the need for a gp apppointment or referral. the conditions include sore throats, ear ache, sinusitis and uncomplicated urinary tract infections. nhs england says more than 90% of community chemists have signed up to the scheme. it's thought it will save gp surgeries around ten million appointments every year. the train driver's union, aslef, is staging a second day of strikes. two companies are affected today — the trans pennine express, and northern trains. there will be no services on either. further walk—outs, affecting other rail operators, will take place over the next week. the former first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, will appear at the covid inquiry in edinburgh today. the hearing is examining the scottish government's response to the pandemic. we'll bring you ms sturgeon's evidence throughout the day, here on bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. the bbc has released around 3,000 emails linked to its handling of the journalist martin bashir, who became famous after his interview with princess diana in 1995. an independent inquiry in 2021 found that he had been deceitful and had faked documents to secure the interview. the corporation has now been compelled to release thousands of pages of correspondence revealing how it dealt with it all. with the details, here's our media correspondent david sillito. they include an e—mail from earl spencer to the director—general, calling for an independent enquiry. it also has a discussion about a crucial missing note from princess diana, and also communications with martin bashir, conversations about his health, and also we hear from him, his view that this was

essentially all about professional jealousy. essentially all about professionaljealousy. at the heart of this is this is a freedom of information request, with the suspicion that the bbc was withholding vital documents in the run—up to this. the journalist behind it, and webber, who fought for the whiley says he's believes that the e—mail to share information has been kept from him. the bbc in a statement says any documents not released to journalists were made available in the subsequent and damning dyson enquiry. also worth noting the corporation has spent thousands in a court case trying to resist this release of further document saying they are largely irrelevant or legally privileged. to thailand now, where the country's constitutional court is due to issue a ruling in the coming hours on the opposition move forward party. the court will be looking at the party's campaign promise to amend the country's strict royal defamation law. if it finds it was unconstitutional, it could effectively disband the move forward party, which won the most number of parliamentary seats in thailand's election last year. our correspondentjonathan head has more from bangkok.

so for the second time in a week, the fate of thailand's most popular political party will be decided by the nine judges of the constitutional court. this time, the court will be ruling on a complaint filed last year that the party's proposal to amend the famously harsh lese—majeste law, the royal defamation law, amounts to an attempt to overthrow the entire political system in thailand and is therefore unconstitutional. if the court agrees, that would lay the party open to being dissolved and much of its leadership being banned from politics move forward has argued that the lese—majeste law is widely viewed as excessively harsh. for example, earlier this month, one man was sentenced to 50 years in prisonjust for a few social media posts, and that as a part of the regular penal code, it can be amended by parliament. indeed, it has been amended in the not so distant past. the issue is also one move forward cares about because some of its young first time mps are themselves facing lese—majeste charges. however, its proposal to amend it was used as a justification by the unelected senate last year for blocking move forward from forming a government.

as one senator put it to me, the lese—majeste law can't be viewed as like any other law precisely because it deals with the monarchy, which is officially viewed as a near sacred institution here. if the constitutional court does find against move forward, it will be adding that youthful reformist party scalp to a long list of other parties and leaders who have been marched off thailand's political stage, largely because they were viewed as a threat to the royalist establishment. jonathan head there in bangkok, and we're expecting that ruling to begin in about two hour's time. we'll bring the decision to you here, on bbc news.

a year ago, a woman claiming to be the missing toddler, madeleine mccann, went viral online. the young woman, who was living in poland, set up an instagram account called "i am madeleine mccann" and soon had more than a million followers. but it turned out she wasn't. whatjulia wandalt discovered instead was a whole new world of online anger and hate, directed at her. our disinformation and social media correspondent, marianna spring, has managed to track her down. the 21—year—old reveals, for the first time, her motives and regrets about becoming involved in one of the world's most notorious missing persons cases. julia wandalt from poland has gone viral this week, after saying that she's madeleine mccann. last year, tiktok users began speculating about an instagram account, called i am madeleine mccann, created by this woman, julia.

well, let's take a look at some of what you have posted to social media. any missing person case can spawn conspiracy theories, hate and impersonations on social media, seemingly none more so than madeleine's disappearance. julia's account was the most viral i'd seen, so i tracked her down to an address in poland. oh, yeah. ok, let's do that. after careful consideration and conversations with me, she agreed to tell her side of the story. i knew my goal. i knew my purpose because i wanted to know who i am. julia says a traumatic childhood left her with patchy memories. she thought she might be adopted, and then she came across the mccann case. she also discovered a physical similarity to madeleine, a rare eye abnormality. i think i can be this person, i can be this girl, but no one treated me seriously. when she went to authorities with her concerns, she says she didn't feel listened to. so she turned to social media instead.

her account soon had more than one million followers. some sent support, even gifts. others sent abuse. i knew that there will be people who will not believe me, who will hate me. but i didn't expect that i will get death threats. drjohn synnott has studied the obsessive online interest in the mccann case. he was not surprised julia's profile went viral. you have a scenario of somebody looking for something, somebody finding something, and then them believing or thinking that this is who they are. and then, ultimately, because of the nature of who she was claiming to be, that very quickly then takes a life of its own, out of her hands. eventually, a dna test showed julia was polish. she stepped away from her account and she apologised to the mccanns. those connected to madeleine's parents, who have been affected by some ofjulia's content, say they are willing to accept julia's apology and forgive her for the situation that unfolded online. according to the find madeleine campaign, kate and gerry mccann

do not use social media. social media can destroy you. that's the lesson julia has learnt. online, there don't seem to be guardrails to stop everyone involved being harmed. it's only offline where understanding seems possible. if you were doing it again, what would you do differently? i think i wouldn't go to social media because it can influence you in that way and it wasn't a good idea. marianna spring, bbc news. an australian state mp has accused a local news channel of misoygny after it edited an image of her to give her larger breasts and more revealing clothing. in a message on social media, showing the altered image and the real, one side by side, georgie purcell said she had "endured a lot" but did not expect to have her image photoshopped by a media outlet, adding that something like this would never happen to a male mp. georgie told her story to bbc news from melbourne.

look, i was confronted to see my body altered live on the news. i actually had just had a really catastrophic day at work and it only just made it worse. i think that many young women like myself struggle with negative body image, and we need to do better for women in public life, particularly with the emerging threat of ai and other forms of editing. i want to come to ai injust a bit. the renowned broadway actress, singer and dancer chita rivera has died, aged 91. rivera — who the new york times have called "electrifying" — started on broadway before she was 20 and continued all the way into her early 805, winning two tony awards along the way. she died in new york after a brief illness. rachel mcadam looks back on her life. # all the time there is...

known as a triple threat, chita rivera was a consummate singer, dancer and actress, repeatedly hailed by critics for her roles on broadway. trained in music and ballet from a young age, she was dancing on the new york stage before she was 20 and kept at it all the way into her early 805. the first to appear in the role of anita in the 1957 original production of west side story, it made rivera a star and earned her the first of many tony award nominations. after the enormous success of the leonard bernstein musical, she would go on to work with other legends, like choreographer bob fosse, again being the first to ploay the role of velma kelly in the 1975 smash, chicago. she was awarded the presidential medal of freedom, the highest honour the us can give a civilian. speaking some years afterwards, and while still performing,

she said, "i wouldn't know what to do if i wasn't moving or telling "a story to you or singing a song." "that is the spirit of my life and i really am so lucky to be "able to do what i love." chita rivera are there, who has died at the age of 91 years old. of 91 years old. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. a fairly potent area of low pressure is going to move to the north of the uk. it's been named storm ingunn by the norwegian metservice. the southern half of the uk is going to be bright and breezy on wednesday, but that storm will bring some strong winds and heavy rain across northern parts of the uk, particularly so for parts of scotland, where the strongest winds could reach around 85 mph. here's the storm system, you can see it developing here. it is moving well to the north of us. but just look at all those isobars heading our way through the day on wednesday. so that's the active front that's bringing the strong, squally winds and heavy rain. first thing, wednesday, i think temperatures are going to be nearfreezing,

perhaps even a little below through central parts of england and wales. but i think frost—free further north, where we've got the cloud, the winds — gales already during wednesday morning and the rain moving in. so that rain willjust shift its way gradually further eastwards across parts of scotland through the morning. this line here could produce some really heavy bursts, perhaps some hail and thunder, and those gusts of wind could reach 85, possibly close to 90 mph up towards the western isles. but widely, we're looking at gales across scotland, parts of northern ireland and northern england as well. so gusts 55, perhaps 60 mph across this zone, enough to cause some significant disruption, particularly when combined with the heavy rain. further south, across england and wales, you should stay dry for a good part of the day, not as windy as further north, but still blustery. 8 to 11 celsius towards the south, a touch colder in the north, with that fresher air moving in, and some wintry showers follow on overnight into thursday across the higher ground of scotland. but eventually the cloud and the rain clear away, so it's going to be another fairly chilly night, actually. we're likely to see a touch of frost in a few prone spots, certainly as we head on into thursday. but thursday does look

like a much quieter day, because we'll lose the tail end of that storm system, and this ridge of higher pressure builds its way in for thursday. so that's going to squeeze away most of the rain and it will bring lighter winds. still quite a breezy day across northern and western scotland, with some rain arriving later. best of the sunshine for central, southern and eastern parts of the uk, and here, temperatures perhaps down a touch on recent days, 9 or 10 celsius, so a slightly fresher feel to the weather. but then it looks like we see things turning milder once again. so looking ahead for friday, into the weekend, some rain in the north and the west, drier towards the south, but it is looking mild for all of us. bye— bye.

will take place over the next week.

live from london. this is bbc news. new post—brexit border checks are in place hitting food — plant and animal imports to britain from the eu. we assess the impact on trade. a usjudge blocks elon musk�*s tesla pay deal — calling the $56 billion package "unfathomable". so what now? markets are on fed watch asjerome powell and his team wrap up their first meeting of the year. so when will the us central bank start lowering interest rates?

two of the "magnificent seven" tech stocks reveal how much money they are making — alphabet and microsoft — with investors asking who is winning the ai race? hello, i'm sally bundock with all your latest business news. we start here in the uk where it's a brave new day for brexit. new border checks came into force at midnight — so are in place now at uk borders on imported food — animal and plant products from the eu. these include additional customs rules — more paperwork and in some cases physical checks — changes that echo what the eu has had in place for uk exporters for the past three years. the government acknowledges this rebalancing is likely to push up imported

food prices. the new border target operating model has three stages