live from london. this is bbc news northern ireland's devolved government is restored after a 2—year hiatus. sinn fein�*s, michelle o'neill makes history as stormont�*s first irish nationalist leader. i will serve everyone equally and be a first minister for all. for all of you were british in unionist, your cultures, your traditions are important to me. us air strikes on sites linked to iranian—backed militias have drawn condemnation from iraq, syria and iran. a third successive week of protests against the far—right in germany. more than 100,000 people demonstrate in berlin. and british scientists and engineers arrive in antarctica, to test a new drone that will help forecast the impact

of climate change. we start in belfast on a historic day, as a devolved government has been restored in northern ireland, with its first irish nationalist leader. michelle 0'neill was elected first minister of the devolved government. her party, sinn fein, hopes to one day unite northern ireland with the republic of ireland. sinn fein became the biggest party during elections 2 years ago. it is also two years to the day that the assembly at stormont last met, after the main unionist party — the democratic unionists — walked out of the power—sharing agreement over post brexit trading rules. 0ur political editor, chris mason, reports from belfast. good morning, stormont! stormont sits back up and running today, we've been running the past two years. limbering up and under way —

park runners here first thing pounding around the stormont estate. and the politicians are back, too. whoo! and it's notjust you guys rattling around here now. no, there's going to be a few others rattling around. so there's going to be quite a number in the house, i believe, today. but they're welcome tojoin the park run. good to see them back? erm... we'll see. to be confirmed, still. so you thought you'd run at stormont today because the politicians are back? yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. hopefully a wee bit more conversation going forward. arriving here not long later, today's headline maker michelle 0'neill, walking towards a place in northern ireland's history as the first nationalist first minister. the assembly is back and now with the first minister who speaks in english and irish. she speaks irish today opens the door to a future, a shared future. i am honoured to stand

here as first minister. michelle 0'neill pledged that she would work for everyone in northern ireland. with all those colleagues of a british, of a unionist tradition who cherish the union. this is an assembly for all — catholic, protestant, and the centre. 0n northern ireland's violence murder known as the troubles, a notable apology for all deaths. we must never forget all those who have died or been injured or theirfamilies. i am sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict, without exception. history can at once be national, however defined, and deeply personal. and this is an historic day. and it does represent a new dawn. for the very first time, a nationalist takes up the position of first minister. that such a day would ever come was unimaginable to my parents' and grandparents' generation.

northern ireland's first and deputy first ministers have equal legal powers, but sinn fein won more seats than the second biggest party, the democratic unionists, at the last elections. so the dup take the deputy position. michelle is an irish republican and i am a very proud unionist. we will never agree on those issues, but what we can agree on is that cancer doesn't discriminate and our hospitals need fixed. there is widespread support here for the return of devolution, but it's not universal. some unionists think the dup should not have come back because some eu rules still apply in northern ireland. of all those attempts to spin defeat as victory, this is a climb—down of monumental proportions. the business of governing, deciding, scrutinising resumes again here. chris mason, bbc news in belfast.

0ur ireland correspondent chris page told us more about the process that is taking place. yes, for a group of politicians want northern ireland to stay in the uk to share power with those want northern ireland to leave the uk become part of another country, that is never going to be an easy relationship and it's proven year at stormont over their head of the new sharing coalition, the first nationalist or the position, michelle o'neill and emma little—pengelly, of the democratic unionist party, as the deputy first minister. those positions are, in fact, legally equal, both those ministers cannot operate in isolation from the other. 0ne can't make a decision without the say—so of the other. but in a place where the identity of northern ireland, its place in the uk is disputed, titles and symbolism do matter. and that is why the fact that it's now a sinn fein politician who has the title of first minister

certainly is significant. the fragility of the arrangement has been made very apparent in the lasst couple of years, hasn't it? it certainly has. the last collapse lasted for two years and there was another three—year suspension not long before that. in all, northern ireland has been without a regional government for five of the last seven years. understandably, there will be people here who are sceptical. they say, look, is this really the end of stalemate at stormont or is the start of stability? end of steel made at stormont or is the start of stability? but the strategy amongst ministers in the next few days as they are briefed on the decisions that they will have to make will be to try and put up a united front and focus on those issues if they can come together,

not about whether or not northern ireland should be in the uk or not but improving public services and bringing down hospital waiting times, which are the longest in the the uk by far. giving help to working parents for the cost of childcare and it is those policies that will be the focus. we can expect a flurry of news releases, news conferences, ministerial visits, over the next coming days as the ministers looks to establish themselves in their roles. russia has called for a united nations security council meeting after the united states hit more than 85 targets in iraq and syria, which it says had links to iran. it's in retaliation for the killing of three american soldiers injordan by iran—backed militia last weekend. white house national security spokesmanjohn kirby said three facilities were hit in iraq and four were hit in syria. the us said iran s islamic revolutionary guards corp quds force and affiliated militia groups were struck. an iraqi government spokesperson bassem al—awadi says us strikes hit locations in the iraqi towns of akashat and al-qaim. 16 people were killed and 25

injured in the strikes, according to iraqi officials, while a british—based war monitor says at least 20 were killed in syria. from the capital baghdad, here's hugo bachega. explosions the american strikes came in the middle of the night and there was no surprise. for days, us officials had said they would act and that iranian personnel and interests would be targeted. this video, broadcast on syrian state tv, claims to show the aftermath of one of the attacks. in iraq, the morning revealed some of the damage. 85 targets were struck in iraq and syria, locations america says have been used by iran's revolutionary guards and the militias it supports. it's a calibrated action with, crucially, no attacks inside iran. this was about degrading capability, taking away capabilities

by the militant groups. these responses began tonight, they're not going to end tonight. the us is responding to a drone attack on a us base injordan last sunday, which killed three american soldiers. the us said iranian—backed militants were to blame. president biden had been under pressure to give a strong response. in announcing the attacks, he said, "the us does not seek conflict "in the middle east" but he warned, "if you harm an american, we will respond." it's too early to say how effective the american strikes will be. officials say this is just the beginning. iran, iraq, and syria have all condemned the attacks. now, the question is how or if iran and its proxies will respond. the uk said it supported the us right to defend itself. from belgium, an appeal for restraint. it's a huge concern and so we ask

for restraint and we ask for dialogues and diplomacy. it's the only way that we can calm down the situation. but in gaza, the war that has exacerbated tensions across the region continues. talks for a ceasefire between israel and hamas are under way, the main hope to help avert even more violence. hugo bachega, bbc news, baghdad. for more on this, i spoke earlier to our correspondent basheer al zaidi — who is in baghdad. he explained the response from the iraqi government. they've called for the coalition, the state administration coalition which is an umbrella

for all political powers to meet tomorrow in an urgent meeting to discuss what they call the emergency development and referring to the us air strikes also, the iraqi parliament has called for an emergency session as they describe statements in order to discuss the us air strikes and renewing the call for the iraqi government to speed and fast track talks with the international coalition to end its presence in the country. the situation is slightly opaque. there is dialogue there has been dialogue between dc quite clearly in baghdad not only that, iraq has very limited autonomy over these groups. indeed.

it has been back and forth in that work frame and we are talking about the coalition here in iraq and it's about the debate by some political powers looking at the us forces and occupation forces political powers looking at the us forces and they are occupation forces in they said this is against the sovereignty of iraq and they have the upper hand and when it comes to use of power in the iraqi territory. the iraqi government seems keen on getting involved with a serious dialogue and negotiations with the international coalition and they started that and the dialogue committee sessions held a couple weeks ago.

today, these air strikes added momentum to these talks and we saw that coming from the iraqi government and its statement from other politicians who are, kind of, renewing on that point to be taken seriously and as soon as possible by the iraqi government. so, it is a matter of waiting to see what is going to come up from the iraqi political powers after their meeting tomorrow. 0ur north america correspondent will vernon is following the story from washington. i asked him what the us government makes of the response it received to its attacks. i think these are the responses that washington would've expected. remember, this retaliation was in response to something that happened nearly one week ago, last sunday was when the drone was smashed

into the us base injordan and killing three service members and wounding dozens of others. the us released several warnings and has been talking openly about how it will respond and even when, saying it will be the next few days be spread over several days there was really no surprise when this happened and even mutterings here that perhaps, president biden waited too long and there was too much warnings and telegraphing when you broadcast the plans ahead of carrying them out. there's been especially from republicans that this took too long, republicans often criticised president biden for being too soft on iran, former president donald trump who's expected to be the republican presidential nominee, he often criticisesjoe biden over

iran and said he would never have during his watch. there has been criticism but we will have to see what further action is taken by the us the next few days. other official steps that we should expect more of the strikes. meanwhile, antony blinken is on a mission to the region for the next few days what you think he hopes to achieve? in the us secretary of state is on another middle eastern diplomatic tour and he will be meeting with key regional leaders and the main thrust of that visit and discussing a pause in fighting and perhaps the release of dozens of hostages. these are very delicate operations and with these strikes, i think that is another reason why the us is so desperate to avoid a direct military

confrontation or in general, a cycle of escalation in the region as a result of that because these a cycle of escalation in the region as a result of that because these are delicate, tense and there's a greater prize for the white house and not something they would want jeopardised. let s get some of the day s other news now authorities in chile say at least 19 people have been killed and more than a thousand homes destroyed in forest fires in the val—para—ee—so region. a state of emergency has been declared. a heatwave is sweeping through central areas of chile, including santiago. three people were injured in a knife attack at a major train station in paris. one person was seriously wounded, and two others were slightly hurt at gare de lyon this morning. french police say the suspect, a malian national, is in custody, and they have ruled out a terror attack. argentina's security minister says criminal

proceedings will be launched against protesters who vandalised public buildings and fought with police. they were rallying against the approval of a package of economic changes to allow the privatisation of most state—owned companies and slash public spending. senegal�*s president macky sall has postponed this month's elections following complaints after dozens of candidates were barred from standing. the two—term president, who is not seeking re—election, has not set a new date. amid controversy, a constitutional council had prevented several hopefuls — including some high—profile politicians — from running. mr sall said "these troubled conditions could gravely hurt" the ballot. mass demonstrations against the far—right afd party have taken place in towns and cities across germany for the third weekend in a row. in the biggest protest in berlin, an estimated one hundred and fifty thousand people rallied outside the german parliament building — the reichstag. that's fifty thousand more than organisers had expected.

several nearby rail and metro stations had to be closed. the rallies were in response to revelations afd leading figures participated in a meeting with extremists, where plans were discussed to deport people with non—german backgrounds. 0ur correspondent damien mcguinness is in berlin. this is the third weekend in a row mass demonstrations have been held in towns and cities right across germany. they're being held by all sorts of groups, from environmentalists, trade unions, political parties, even a group called grannies against the far right. what they all have in common is they are protesting against right—wing extremism after reports of a secret meeting in november attended by the far—right party, the afd, at which a plan was discussed to deport anyone with non—german heritage outside of germany. it would affect millions of people,

a very radical plan which is not going to happen but it shocked the whole nation. sparked these mass demonstrations. as a result, over the last few weeks, the afd seems to have slipped in the polls to just over 20%. it could be because of these protests putting off some people or it could be because of other far—right parties and anti—migrant groups are being set up, undermining support for the afd. either way, afd leads have come out fighting. they say they have been victimised by mainstream german politics and media and they hope that actually these politics will boost their support by playing into this narrative they often use that they are being victimised by the rest of german society. police have searched five properties in london and newcastle as they hunt for the man suspected of throwing a corrosive substance at a woman and her children in south london. the metropolitan police are urging abdul shokoor ezidi to turn himself in. they released body camera vision of the hunt for him today. he was last seen boarding an underground train at king's cross

station on wednesday. rail passengers are facing another day of disrupted train services in the latest 24—hour strike called by the train drivers union aslef. there are no services on avanti west coast, east midlands, west midlands railway and london northwestern. passengers are advised to check updated timetables before they travel. a team of british scientists and engineers with the british antarctic survey has arrived in antarctica to test a new drone. it could tell us more about how climate change is impacting the region. it s been designed to withstand harsh weather and could travel to remote parts of the continent. 0ur climate and science reporter georgina rannard reports. scientists are fighting to understand how climate change is altering antarctica. decades ago, they travelled by foot and paw, before taking to the air. but now, they need technology that works whatever the weather. this could be the answer — a new drone, tested not in antarctica but in eryri —

also called snowdonia. we have a 700 litres payload bay. is that in here? yeah, i can show you. can we open it? wow! it's kind of like opening a car boot? yeah, pretty much. most of the sensors are actually going to fitted in here. it increases safety because you don't have a pilot on board, which means that you can bring this aircraft to more remote locations. it's been designed to basically withstand harsh environments and challenging conditions. researchers have used drones before. but this autonomous drone can fly 1,000 kilometres and uses a fraction of the fuel a traditional plane uses, so it's also better for the planet. also going to antarctica is scientist tom jordan. he is of the continent before, but now he needs more data. he'll use radar on the drone to draw a picture of what's under the ice

sheets to help predict how fast they could not. so, the spiky bits in the middle, this is actually a mountain range about the size of the european alps. and, looking around, you can see other areas which look suspiciously smooth. actually, they're not smooth at all — these are gaps in our knowledge, sojust gaps in the map. it'sjust that no—one has ever been there to make these measurements. this drone won't stop the ice melting. but the knowledge it gives us will help us prepare for our planet's future. georgina rannard, bbc news, eryri, north wales. tom reed is one of the engineers and autopilot lead who designed this drone for the british antarctic survey. he told me about its capabilities. it was designed as a cargo aircraft. fundamentally, we intended to put lots of stuff in there and take it for long distances. that lends itself to fitting scientific sensors and payloads in it to carry out this mission on the antarctic survey. obviously, you don't fly it around randomly. there is a plan.

what are you looking for? are you given instructions at the beginning of the day as to where to go with it? absolutely. the various science payloads all have a particular area of interest we would like to capture data on. ultimately, the scientists define a goal and as the operators of the aircraft, we create a route and a plan for the aircraft to execute that. upload that onto the aircraft for take—off in the execution is fully autonomous. we're monitoring it, checking on the data and the health of the systems but there is no continuous intervention required from us. the carbon footprint is much smallerfrom having to physically having to go there ourselves, it's important work to monitor climate change. absolutely, yeah. in terms of carbon footprint, we burn around 30 times less fuel

than a conventional crude aircraft. and with the drone, we're able to fly in more challenging weather. exposing the crew to traditional aircraft to risk. we can do the same missions at a lower carbon cost, but we can unlock new missions that were previously out of bounds. just to due to risk appetite from the crew. it is bright and sunny there but i assume it is not always like that. absolutely not. we are here in the antarctic summer—autumn time and at the moment, it's a few degrees above zero, light winds and it's a beautiful, sunny day but even in the time we been on the station so far during set—up work, we have already seen some pretty adverse conditions, some very strong winds, snow showers, etc. this is amplified later into the antarctic winter.

what's it like living there? the research station is a fantastic place, actually and in terms of daily life here, it really is an excellent landing pad to conduct science activities from. in terms of facilities available, the runway and all of the experience, tools, and laboratories we can access in order to conduct our science, it's been fantastic. an exciting opportunity. exactly. how long can you be there at any one time? our mission is around six weeks and this is looking at really identifying the optimal missions for the drone and the optimum usage for the science.

stay with us here on bbc news hello. despite the sunshine we've seen across scotland and northern ireland, it was a slightly cooler day than friday when we had temperatures up to 15. that's what we've seen further south today. and that milder air is nudging its way northwards. blustery still and some more rain to come. this is the weather front that's been straddling the uk. that chillier air to the north with showers milder to the south. but you may have noticed behind there's another weather front on the way. so still a continuation of those heavy showers with some hail, some thunder and lightning and gale force winds in the north. a lot of cloud further south as we go through the night. misty and murky over the coast and the hills and bits of drizzle. but the main rain's coming back in later in the night to western scotland and northern ireland. that's really the main player

for the next couple of days, particularly for western, central, and southern scotland. we could see a good couple of inches of rain, even at lower levels towards the central belt, but over the hills double that. so, it's likely we'll have some flooding impacts, ithink, with that amount of rain in such a short space of time. but also it's a wetter day for parts of northern england, for northern ireland, cloudier, as well. and further south, i think we'll have a bit more cloud than today, but it's still mild. the winds are picking up a notch, though, overnight, so i think slightly windier again tomorrow. still that risk of gales in the north. now, they may ease a little as we head into monday, but only temporarily. and then by that stage we've got that rain bumping into the colder air further north and we could have a spell of snow over the hills and then into the northern isles potentially on monday. but to the south, we've still got that westerly breeze, still the high pressure influencing our weather here so keeping it largely dry, still quite a lot of cloud, though, because we're pulling in all that wind off the atlantic. so, moisture laden.

but the wettest weather by far will still be in the north, hence the risk of some flooding. to the north of that, we've still got that cold air. but for most parts of the uk, once again, the start of the week very mild. fog around the coasts and over the hills, which is very typical with this sort of wind direction. now, by tuesday, ourweatherfront does start to push a little bit further southwards. and behind it, there's some colder air. but that cold, warm air battle is going to take place across the uk, we think, during the week and eventually it looks like it'll get colder towards next weekend, but that's a long way off. and in the meantime, in between, we're going to see some wetter weather. the warnings, as ever, are on our website. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... northern ireland's devolved government is restored after a two—year hiatus. sinn fein�*s michelle 0'neill makes history as stormont�*s first irish nationalist leader. us air strikes on sites linked to iranian—backed fighters draw condemnation from iraq, syria and iran. authorities in chile say at least 19 people have been killed and more than 1,000 homes destroyed in forest fires in the valparaiso region. a state of emergency has been declared. a heatwave is sweeping through central areas of chile, including santiago. former pakistan prime minister imran khan and his wife are jailed for seven years, after a court declares their marriage illegal. and british scientists and engineers

arrive in antarctica to test a new drone that will help forecast the impact