hello. 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 to have 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 said it was vital for unrwa to be able to continue with its work. there is no substitution for the humanitarian role that is played in gaza. we need to all ramp up given the totality of needs and the scale and the complexity of the crisis.

but there is no substitution. there is no way any organization 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. meanwhile, 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 ground water was not contaminated. let's get more on this with our middle east correspondent nick beake. what are the un saying about these

allegations by israel about some unrwa staff being involved with hamas and the impact the suspension of aid from some countries as having? of aid from some countries as havin: ? ~ . ., ., ., having? we have had a “oint statement i having? we have had a “oint statement from i having? we have had a “oint statement from the h having? we have had ajoint statement from the various| having? we have had ajoint - statement from the various forces of the united nations agencies and they have described the allegations against some members of staff as being horrifying, the allegation that has come from israel that some members of the united nations agency propose a new refugees were actually involved in the hamas attacks of october the 7th. but at the same time the senior united nations officials are saying the whole organisation shouldn't be punished for that and that is because they say they are the only organisation thatis say they are the only organisation that is in a position to help the 2 million palestinians in gaza who they say desperately need assistant, whether health care, food, getting supplies of fuel to them. of course israel says the evidence it has put

forward suggests unrwa shouldn't have any role in the future in gaza, but it is not fit for purpose, it is pretty complicated. if you look at what is happening with the us, america saying unrwa is the only organisation that is able to look after people but it is the biggest earner, the united states, and it has for now suspended its funding so very situation, top un officials warning of catastrophe if the funding isn't extended and they are saying they will have to cease operations after the end of february if no more cash comes through. another development is president biden saying _ another development is president biden saying he — another development is president biden saying he will _ another development is president biden saying he will decide - another development is president biden saying he will decide how i another development is president. biden saying he will decide how the us will respond to a drone strike that killed three american troops in jordan at the weekend at a us base there. what of the us government been saying about that? the american resident been saying about that? the american president has — been saying about that? the american president has said _ been saying about that? the american president has said he _ been saying about that? the american president has said he has _ been saying about that? the american president has said he has decided - president has said he has decided what the action shall be but he hasn't revealed the action that the

americans will be taking. the wider context here is that the biden administration notably the secretary of state antony blinken has said the middle east faces its greatest moment of peril, danger for at least 50 years and that is why the americans say they don't want to inflame tensions for a wider conflict but at the same time they say they will respond to the attack at the weekend in which three american service personnel were killed. we don't know what form that response will take. some suggestion there may be a rainy groups that could be targeted in this. we know some republicans, hawks in washington are saying iranian soil should be targeted. that seems very unlikely. today we have how does this escalation of words continues some response coming from terror and the iranian capital, the iranian revolutionary guards, the powerful force saying they will respond to any threat from the united states.

that is an indication of how the temperature has raised over the past three months or so. the american saying they don't want this escalation of further conflict but everyone very mindful ofjust how we brough the atmosphere can be in this part of the world just right. for part of the world 'ust right. for now, part of the world 'ust right. for now. thank _ part of the world 'ust right. for now, thank you. _ pakistan's former prime minister imran khan and his wife bushra bibi have been sentenced to ia years in jail in a case related to the illegal selling of state gifts. the sentencing, at a hearing in islamabad, comes a day after mr khan was handed a ten—year jail term in another case in which he was convicted of revealing state secrets. earlier we heard from our pakistan correspondent caroline davies with the latest from islamabad. over the course of two days, two very significantjail sentences for imran khan. this particular case has been referred to as the tosha khana case. now, this is an accusation that imran khan has now been found guilty of purchasing state gifts, but undervaluing the value of those gifts and then selling them on for a profit.

notjust imran khan, but his wife bushra bibi as well. both of them have been sentenced today to ia years in prison. they have also been both told that they will be barred from holding any form of public office for ten years and being given a fine of about 1.5 billion rupees. now, that is about $5.3 million or £4.2 million. as you say, this comes off the back of a previous conviction yesterday, a previous sentencing of ten years for imran khan and his former foreign minister, shah mahmood qureshi. that was on a different case, that was relating to revealing state secrets and damaging diplomatic relations as well. and the backdrop, of course, catherine, to all of this is that we are less than two weeks away, in fact, a week and one day away from pakistan's general elections. these sort of cases, these cases have been ongoing against imran khan for several months. this has all been taking place

inside the jail premises, adiala, because in august imran khan was convicted of a previous crime. he was then imprisoned and he has been in prison ever since then as well. despite the fact that that initial sentence has since been suspended, he's been kept in prison. he has now been told that he will be there for ten and then ia years. we understand that those jail sentences will run together at the same time. so that means he will be in prison, according to this sentence, for ia years. the uk government is today expected to publish the details of its deal with the democratic unionist party — which aims to 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.

trade between northern ireland, the rest of the uk and the republic of ireland was straightforward before the uk left the european union. all parties were in the eu and shared the same trade rules. however, when northern ireland left the eu, a deal was required to allow trade to continue with the republic of ireland — that was the northern ireland protocol. to avoid disruptive border checks on the irish border, the protocol introduced new checks on goods coming into northern ireland from the rest of the uk. that meant no hard border in ireland — but pro—british unionists felt the arrangement caused delays and weakened northern ireland's role in the uk and refused to support the arrangement — until the latest compromise. live now to belfast and political analyst dr clare rice. good to have you on the programme. we don't know the details yet and we are hoping we will hear them today when they are published. do you

think they are likely to go far enough to convince all unionists to accept this deal?— enough to convince all unionists to accept this deal? insured know. we already know _ accept this deal? insured know. we already know the _ accept this deal? insured know. we already know the dup _ accept this deal? insured know. we already know the dup earlier - accept this deal? insured know. we already know the dup earlier this i already know the dup earlier this week held meetings with its own internal party members. we know the details of that meeting were leaked, content of those details have been questioned by the parties themselves however. it is pretty obvious from looking at what is going on both within the dup and more broadly across unionism that there are some serious issues, divisions regarding the different perspectives on this particular deal. not everyone knows the content of the deal at this stage, it is with the dup and uk government so it is later today we will be able to see what the devil of the detailers and where those divisions may or may not be able to yield across unionism. what divisions may or may not be able to yield across unionism. what happens and with regards _ yield across unionism. what happens and with regards to _ yield across unionism. what happens and with regards to that _ yield across unionism. what happens and with regards to that given - yield across unionism. what happens and with regards to that given the i and with regards to that given the leader of the dup seem to accept them and said that power—sharing

will be restored, does he need the support of everybody in the dup, how does it work?— does it work? ideally that will have been the case _ does it work? ideally that will have been the case but _ does it work? ideally that will have been the case but i _ does it work? ideally that will have been the case but i think— does it work? ideally that will have been the case but i think reports i does it work? ideally that will have | been the case but i think reports we have heard so far, rumours as opposed to hard facts at this stage, is that there was sufficient support within the dup for sirjeffrey donaldson the party leader to feel he could come forward and say he would be happy to return to power—sharing. that doesn't mean there is a totality of support or unanimous support within the party. we know the ricin. it will be a very difficultjourney we know the ricin. it will be a very difficult journey for we know the ricin. it will be a very difficultjourney for sir we know the ricin. it will be a very difficult journey for sir geoffrey johnston to navigate that going forward particularly in the event of a general election which we know is forthcoming in the next year or so. that is a very difficult terrain for the dup is a party to navigate but more so as a party within unionism trying to navigate that going ahead will be even more difficult. it this will be even more difficult. if this deal is agreed — will be even more difficult. if this deal is agreed it _ will be even more difficult. if this deal is agreed it looks _ will be even more difficult. if this deal is agreed it looks like - will be even more difficult. if this deal is agreed it looks like it - will be even more difficult. if this deal is agreed it looks like it is i

deal is agreed it looks like it is going to be, it will result in the first sinn fein first minister michelle o'neill setting. how big a deal is set for northern ireland? it deal is set for northern ireland? if is deal is set for northern ireland? it is a historic moment regardless of what anyone's political perspective is, the first time a nationalist will hold this position. it is also the first time there will be a nationalist leader of the opposition in northern ireland, so there is a whole host of first—time forays are coming with the restoration of the assembly as we expect within the coming days. there is a very symbolic difference in the way northern ireland, the leadership will be presented going forward, but it is always important to stress the position of first minister and deputy first minister is actually a shared office in northern ireland, only a semantic difference in the title above. it is how the parties due to leaning those two titles that will have a key part in presenting how that relationship works going forward. ., . , , how that relationship works going forward. ., ., , ., how that relationship works going forward. ., ., , forward. politics is important is but what matters _ forward. politics is important is

but what matters to _ forward. politics is important is but what matters to the - forward. politics is important is but what matters to the people forward. politics is important is i but what matters to the people of northern ireland is their lives and how their lack of a sitting government for two years has impacted on them, what is the general reaction in northern ireland to announcement of the steel? it is fair to say there _ to announcement of the steel? it 3 fair to say there has been general optimism, i say that in that everyone has a sense of relief that finally things are coming to a conclusion after almost two years. there have been a huge swathes of strikes over the last number of months, more so this week here in northern ireland, so with a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel that is something to be optimistic about but we are all bruised from the political process here in northern ireland and we know nothing is done until everything is done so it is a matter now ofjust waiting until the details are published later today, the assembly is recalled at the speaker is elected, ministers are elected and things get going again, i think it will be a degree of scepticism and a bit of unease until everything is actually firmly in place but certainly there is a lot more to be a perisic about to than there was a few days ago. a perisic about to than there was a few days age-—

few days ago. speculation it could all ha- ten few days ago. speculation it could all happen very — few days ago. speculation it could all happen very quickly. _ few days ago. speculation it could all happen very quickly. thank- few days ago. speculation it could | all happen very quickly. thank you forjoining us. we will keep you across all the developments on that 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 farmers' 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. local officials say they were only trying to block freight traffic —

and cars were able to pass through. some of the protestors 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. a scheme begins today in most pharmacies in england which will allow people to get advice and treatment for seven common health conditions without the need to see a doctor. the list includes sinusitis, earache and shingles. treatment may be an over—the—counter or prescription—only medicine. it's estimated it will save gps around ten million appointments a year. labour says it has no plans to reinstate a cap on bankers bonuses, if it were to win the next election. the eu—wide policy was scrapped last year under the liz truss government. the shadow chancellor rachel reeves told the bbc the financial services sector was one of the uk's greatest assets — which the party would �*unashamedly champion'.

sir lenny henry has announced this year's comic relief in march will be the last year he'll host the television fundraiser, after nearly a0 years at the healm. the comedian co—founded the charity with richard curtis in 1985 — and co—hosted the first show three years later. you're live with bbc news. a judge in the us state of delaware has annulled a $56 billion pay package awarded to elon musk by his electric car company tesla in 2018. the lawsuit was filed by a shareholder, who argued it was an overpayment. the judge agreed, saying the amount, the largest in corporate history, was "unfathomable. " elon musk posted about the decision on his social media site x, saying, "never incorporate your company in the state of delaware." adding, "i recommend incorporating in nevada or texas if you prefer shareholders to decide matters." 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. with more details here's our north america correspondent peter bowes. this ruling resulted from a lawsuit brought by one of tesla's shareholders back in 2018 after elon musk had been awarded this $55.8 billion, to be precise, pay package, a colossal pay package. it made him the richest person in the world. it was unprecedented for a ceo of a publicly trading company. it resulted in a trial in 2022, during which we heard from the directors, essentially trying to justify what they had done, arguing that it was necessary to ensure the continued dedication of elon musk towards the electric car company. mr musk himself spoke at the trial, saying that the money would be spent on interplanetary travel to get humanity to mars, and tesla would play a role in that.

now clearly the judge wasn't buying this, ruling that this sum of money was indeed excessive and that it should be rescinded. now, at one point in her ruling, she suggested that those directors might have been, or perhaps were, starry—eyed over the superstar nature, the superstar appeal, of the company's ceo. we haven't heard from elon musk directly addressing this ruling, although he did post on x, the social media company that he also owns, he said, he wrote, "never incorporate your company in the state of delaware," which really goes against the conventional wisdom here that delaware is in fact a good place to incorporate because of its tax laws. other reaction, well, perhaps most significantly, the share price at tesla has dropped in recent hours. this may not be the end of the matter. elon musk could appeal to delaware's supreme court if he chooses.

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 wandelt 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 wandelt 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 moreso than madeleine's disappearance. julia's account was the most viral i'd seen, so i tracked her down to an address in poland. 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 1 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 lessonjulia 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 a bad 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 onlyjust 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 have accepted nine's apology. i guess my position on this is complex. i'm satisfied with every other way that they have dealt with this scenario, and they did apologise to me unreservedly. however, i'm not sure i totally buy their reasoning behind it. i'm not an expert in photo editing and i won't claim to be, and have left that narrative up to the people who know it best. however, i do think there's questions raised now that adobe have responded and said at the very least it would have required human intervention, and ijust hope that they have learnt a lesson from this. what concerns me the most is that our laws, notjust here where i am in victoria or in australia, across the entire world, is that al is moving at such a rapid pace that our laws are not equipped to deal with it. obviously this has happened to myself. this week, it's happened

to taylor swift. but my biggest concern is that it will happen to other women who don't have a public profile, who are without a voice to call it out, and people will think these images are real. it's very, very damaging. we have done a lot of work to stop image—based abuse and image—based exploitation of real images, and we've done some work here in victoria around so—called deepfake pornography, but this is moving at a pace that i don't think we've kept up with and we need to seriously consider how we're going to. songs by artists including taylor swift, the weeknd and drake are set to disappear from tiktok. universal music is planning to pull millions of its tracks from the platform, after talks about payments broke down. universal accused tiktok of "bullying", saying the company wanted to pay a "fraction" of the rate other sites do. tiktok, which has more than one billion users, said universal was presenting a "false narrative and rhetoric". the contract is due to expire today.

the sky in shetland was lit up last night as europe's biggest fire festival — the up helly aa — got under way in lerwick. women and girls were able to join the main "squad" at the head of the torch—lit procession for the first time in the event's1a3—year history. the annual event sees people celebrate shetland's norse heritage. females had traditionally been restricted to participating as hostesses. this involved organising the all—night parties that take place in community halls across the shetland capital. but organisers agreed to lift the gender restrictions for the main torchlit procession last year and allowed females to take part. the decision followed a campaign

dating back to the 1980s. a torchlit procession takes to the streets, with a ship dragged to a burning site before being set alight and the torches thrown into the galley. stay with us here on bbc news. hello again. our weather north to south is quite different today. if we start in the south, it was a cold start to the day, some frost around as well. but essentially it's going to be a bright and breezy day. but in the northern half of the country, northern england, northern ireland and scotland, we're looking at gales, even severe gales across the far north of scotland, including the northern and western isles. and with this weather front, we're going to see a period of heavy rain sinking south. it's all connected to this deep area of low pressure named by the norwegian met service as storm ingunn.

effectively, it's a weather bomb. so what's happening through the day is the rain will continue to sink southwards. where you see this green line, this is where the heaviest rain is likely to be, getting through scotland and northern ireland. but the wind will be a feature, widespread gales across scotland, severe gales across the western and the northern isles and the far north of scotland. we could have gusts in excess of 85 miles an hour. we're also looking at gales across northern england and northern ireland. here you can see gusts a0 to 60 miles an hour as we go through the course of the day. some disruption is possible with that combination of the wind and the rain. but come further south, it's a blustery day, variable amounts of cloud, some brighter, sunny skies and milder conditions than in the north. because behind this front we pull in cooler air with the showers wintry in nature down to about 200 metres in the highlands. now through this evening and overnight, the band of rain sinks south, the weather front weakens, the rain becomes more intermittent. there'll be a lot of clearer skies. still showers continuing in scotland and northern ireland. still very windy in the north, just not quite as windy

as during the day. and it's going to be a cold night. too windy for frost in the north. we might see the odd pocket in prone areas in the south. that weather front connected to the storm moves away quickly with high pressure building in tomorrow. but we also have a weather front waiting in the wings. so it's a cold start to the day. a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine around. but the cloud will build across northern ireland and northern england and also scotland, with some rain coming in from the west, and that's going to be pushing north eastwards. later, too, we could see a bit more cloud coming into the south—west with some drizzle. then as we head on into the weekend, end of the week and the weekend, well, it's the north and the west that's prone to seeing wind and rain at times. drier and brighter in the south and east.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the un secretary—general meets donor countries to try and raise money for the palestinian refugee agency which israel says has been working with hamas. a thai court has ruled against a proposal by the country's most popular political party to amend the harsh royal defamation law. the uk government is expected to publish the details of its deal with northern ireland's democratic unionist party, which will restore power—sharing in stormont. scotland's former first minister

nicola sturgeon is expected to face questions about lockdowns and missing whatsapp messages at the uk's covid inquiry today. a court in thailand has ruled that a proposal by the country's most popular political party to amend the royal defamation law violated the constitution. the move forward party won last year's election on a platform which included revising the lese majeste law, which imposes harsh jail terms for perceived insults to the thai crown. but conservatives did not like the plan and the party's attempts to form a government were blocked. the court's verdict means move forward may now being dissolved, and its leaders banned from politics. live now to jonathan head in bangkok. first of all, explain in more detail what this law means and why this party wanted to change it. its a

what this law means and why this party wanted to change it.