rishi sunak visits stormont to meet political leaders to mark the return of power—sharing in northern ireland. the us says strikes on iran—linked targets are just the beginning — as america's top diplomat heads to the region again. chile's deadliest forest fire on record claims at least 112 lives — the president warns the figure is likely to rise. taylor swift! cheering. and taylor swift makes history at the grammy awards becoming the first artist ever to win best album four times. hello. i'm anjana gadgil. the british prime minister, rishi sunak, and the irish prime minister, leo varadkar, are in northern ireland to mark the return of the power—sharing government in the region.

mr sunakjoined ministers at the executive round table this morning, sitting between the new deputy first minister, emma little—pengelly, and first minister, michelle o'neill. the irish taoiseach leo varadkar has also arrived at stormont. the assembly reconvened on saturday, exactly two years after the democratic unionist party walked out in protest against post—brexit trade agreements. our correspondent charlotte gallagher gave us this update from stormont there has been a lot of comings and goings at stormont here this morning. firstly, rishi sunak, the british prime minister, he arrived around 8.00am, was met by chris heaton—harris, the northern ireland secretary, and the speaker of the newly—formed assembly. edwin poots, made his way into the building behind me to meet with parties to discuss issues. one thing we know they're going to talk about is money. as you've hinted there, parties

here don't agree on many things and that's partly why the assembly collapsed for two years, but one thing they do agree on is that northern ireland needs more money. they've been offered about £35 billion for public services here, but all the politicians say that's just not enough to tackle things like hospital waiting lists, which are the worst in the uk, education and also public sector pay. so they'll be asking rishi sunakfor more money. they'll also be talking about various issues within the uk. they could also talk, of course, about the prospect of a border poll here in northern ireland, about the chance of northern ireland and the republic of ireland reuniting — essentially becoming one island. it's a nationalist first minister now, michelle o'neill. she wants ireland to reunite. she thinks that could happen within the next decade. unionists here, of course, unionist politicians do not want that. but that is something that could be discussed with rishi sunak today. also today, leo varadkar, the irish prime minister, or taoiseach, he arrived. he's holding talks with politicians

here discussing various issues. there's not much actual work going on here today. it's a lot of chats, a lot of photos, a lot of handshakes. but it's hugely symbolic to see stormont back up and running after two years of political chaos. essentially, there were many times where we thought we'd never get to this point. i've stood outside these buildings many times and just said, nothing's happening, and we don't expect anything to happen in the weeks, the months to come, and now to see politicians back doing theirjob is a huge moment for people in northern ireland and what they'll be hoping is it doesn't collapse again and they end up in the same situation that they've been in for the last two years. and charlotte, you mentioned there that michelle o'neill is the nationalist first minister now and that there are some challenges presented with that. but what's the language that's been coming out of her speeches the last few days? she's been really at pains to say that she is first minister for everyone in northern ireland, notjust nationalists who want the north of ireland to unite with the republic of ireland,

but also for unionists who want northern ireland to remain part of the united kingdom. she says she is here to serve every single person in northern ireland. however, what she did say was she talked about what she called a �*decade of opportunity�*, and within that she meant essentially having a border poll within the next ten years about the north of ireland joining the republic of ireland, something obviously that upsets unionists. they don't want that. they want to remain part of the united kingdom. so on one hand, she's saying, look, i am the leader for everybody here, but on the other hand she's really stressing, obviously, her nationalist background and the fact that sinn fein, her party, wants tojoin with the republic of ireland. there's something else that's slightly unprecedented about her, as well. hasn't she built bridges with the royalfamily? she has indeed. she went to the king's coronation, which many people didn't think would happen, but she went to the king's coronation. when king charles came to northern ireland after his mother, the late

queen elizabeth, died, she met him, she expressed her condolences and she talked about what the queen had done for the peace process here, because the late queen elizabeth did come to northern ireland. she shook hands with martin mcguinness, a famous nationalist politician here. she met with nationalists whose backgrounds are very different. they don't agree with having a royal family that has any influence in northern ireland. so that you do see now those cross—community links, people making the effort with each other that you didn't see 30, 40, 50 years ago. so michelle o'neill very keen to stress, as i said, that she is for all people in northern ireland. some people, though, they still won't agree with that, they still won't see it like that. they will see her as a nationalist politician for nationalist voters here. we have updates on our website with all the latest four events in stormont today. next to the latest in the middle east, where the united states military says it's conducted more

air strikes on houthi missiles in yemen — it's the latest action targeting the group backed by iran. us central command said it struck missiles which were preparing to launch against ships in the red sea. the british prime minister, rishi sunak, said thejoint air strikes were in "self defence", and that the houthi attacks on shipping had put lives at risk, and were having economic consequences. all this as america's top diplomat — us secretary of state antony blinken — embarks on his fifth trip to the middle east in the last four months. tensions with iran — who support the houthis — are rising. and washington has also accused tehran of having its "fingerprints" on the drone attack that killed three us soldiers at a military base in jordan last week. the white house has warned that its retaliatory air strikes on targets linked to iran, in iraq and syria, are just "the beginning, not the end" of its response. iran denies involvement but its affiliate, the islamic resistance in iraq, has claimed responsibility. antony blinken is due

in saudi arabia around now. i've been speaking to our middle east correspondent, hugo bachega, who told us more about the issues he'll be discussing. he is facing the challenges related to the situation in gaza and also growing american involvement in hostilities in the region. so, at the top of the agenda will be those difficult talks for a deal in gaza that could see the release of at least some of the hostages who remain in captivity in gaza — more than 100 hostages who were kidnapped during the hamas attacks. at the same time, a pause in hostilities to allow more aid to get to civilians in gaza, much—needed aid for the palestinian population of gaza. at the same time i think he will be hearing concerns of some in the region that the latest american actions are, you know, resulting in even more violence. we have seen that there have been american air strikes against iranian interests in iraq and syria over

the weekend in response to the deadly attack on a us base injordan a week ago. also this american—led campaign against the houthis who are also supported by iran continues. the americans say the strategy here is to try to reduce the ability that the houthis have to continue to attack commercial vessels in the red sea. these attacks have caused major disruption to international trade. so it is a very complicated situation for the americans and i think the strategy here by the biden administration has been to use calibrated attacks to send a message, but at the same time to try to avoid an escalation of this crisis and an escalation with iran. right. so far, the response from iran and its proxies in the region has been muted. perhaps this could be an early

indication that iran might have decided to de—escalate, rather than respond to those attacks. hugo, you mentioned the united states�* growing involvement in the region, you're in baghdad, how has iraq reacted to those strikes in iraq and syria? there has been some strong reaction from the iraqi government, the authorities here saying that the air strikes the americans carried out against those positions used by these iranian—supported groups in the country were a violation of the iraqi sovereignty. again, i think they are making the case here that negotiations need to take place for the end of the american military presence in the country. around 2,500 american troops remain here in iraq, basically training the iraqi army. i think lots of people here are concerned about what is happening

but i think people are still waiting to see what is going to happen next. the americans are saying that the attacks that happened on the weekend were just the beginning of this response to those attacks that were carried out by iranian—supported groups. in other words, they're saying that more attacks are likely to come. i think many here are still waiting to see what is going to happen, not only in relation to those american air strikes, but also the possibility of any retaliation from those groups supported by iran. authorities in chile say wildfires raging in the centre of the country have now killed at least 112 people. an official said there were still a0 active fires across chile. earlier, the president warned that the number of people confirmed dead was likely to rise significantly. emergency teams have been struggling to control the fires, which have spread rapidly across the valparaeeso region.

the forest fires are thought to be the deadliest ever recorded in chile. the government is investigating whether some blazes were started deliberately. the forest fires are thought to be the deadliest ever recorded in the country. henna hundal is a delegate to the un climate change conferences. she told us that these fires have been devastating. in situations like these, the one known is that there is so much unknown and more information will be made available hour by hour. it was announced initially that there were 99 deaths accounted for, but now that number has risen to 112. there is an estimate of between 3,000 to 6,000 homes that have been destroyed. in the valparaiso region, which is a very important port city, officials have said that hundreds of millions of dollars�* worth of damage has been created. so, it�*s a devastating situation all around. there are reports of medical students being recruited to help serve in temporary field hospitals. so, there is a lot of devastation ongoing, and president boric has

said that a disaster of this scale has not been seen since the 2010 earthquake that hit chile, so it�*s a really unfortunate situation. i think that the international community will be receptive to supporting chile as they try to battle these wildfires. we sawjust last month columbia was also dealing with their share of fires and their president actually put out a call for international aid and we saw chile at that time, peru and the united states and canada come to support. so, i think if and when president boric needs the help, there will be the international community to do so. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let�*s look at some other stories making news here in the uk... a man has been bailed in connection with the death of a grandmother who was killed after being attacked by dogs. esther martin was fatally injured inside a home injaywick, near clacton—on—sea, on saturday afternoon. a 39—year—old—man — arrested on suspicion of dangerous dog offences — has been released on conditional police bail until march.

a report by medical research leaders has warned that urgent action is needed to tackle a decline in the health of children under the age of five. the academy of medical sciences says increasing obesity and declines in most childhood vaccination rates are the leading reason for hospital admissions of children. schools in england will be able to apply for grants to get electric vehicle chargers installed — and then sell the energy back to motorists. the department for transport says the initiative could help boost revenue, while encouraging drivers to make the switch from petrol and diesel cars. the large hadron collider is the world�*s biggest atom smasher — but as it turns out, it�*s not big enough. the european centre for particle research, cern, is unveiling details of a new particle accelerator today, something three times larger and twice as deep. 0ur science correspondent

pallab ghosh has been to switzerland to find out why they need an upgrade. wow. welcome to the large hadron collider. it�*s huge! it�*s massive. i can tell you after ten years working here, coming through this tunnel nearly every day, i still get that sort of wow as i look at all of it. this experiment has been going on for more than a decade. it�*s made some important discoveries, such as a particle called the higgs boson. this is one of the detectors that discovered the higgs 12 years ago. it was an incredible scientific achievement. but the lhc was built to do much more than that. it was supposed to discover brand—new particles that would change the theory of physics. it hasn�*t. so in that sense, it�*s failed. and that�*s why they need

a larger machine. the plan is to build what�*s called the fcc — the future circular collider — next to the existing accelerator. it�*ll be at least twice as deep and measure nearly 91 kilometres — that�*s around 56 miles. inside, particles will travel much further than they currently do. they�*re pulsed by an electric field and stronger magnets, which make the particles collide with much greater force and, hopefully, revealing far more. there are so many outstanding questions in fundamental physics today and, in our knowledge of the universe, its structure and its evolution, for which we have no answer. and so we need more powerful instruments to be able to address those questions. thousands of scientists here are hunting for the tiny breaking in here because we saw some

pictures of leo varadkar, the taoiseach arriving. did he get into the car? we might have missed him but you still get to see beautiful pictures of stormont. as a historical day so take a good look. he is in the car right now and there with prime minister rishi sunak to mark the end of a two year political deadlock in stormont as a fully functioning government returns to the region, power—sharing returning to the region. leo varadkar is living there in that car and this follows the first meeting of the executive there in belfast. a reminder that this is after two years ago the democratic union party walked out in protest against

post—brexit agreements but now michelle 0�*neill becomes an historic first minister there in northern ireland. and the deputy first minister of the northern ireland executive. we will keep bringing you updates, more on our website on our live page and of course the day is not over. it is rishi sunak�*s seventh visit as prime minister but the first as a fully functioning government there in northern ireland. here in the uk, a reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a man suspected of carrying out a chemical attack on a mum and her daughters in south london. police say they believe people who know where abdul ezedi is have yet to come forward, as a nationwide manhunt enters its fifth day. a woman who rescued one of the daughters during the attack has spoken to the bbc

about the moment she intervened... and ijust ran outside. and as soon as i ran outside, it was like, "whoa, what am i stepping into?" it was like, shock. the first thing i saw, ijust kind of froze and it was kind of hard to take in what i�*d just seen. and then, obviously, once i gathered kind of what was going on, it was like straight away, i need to call the police. i need an ambulance, i need police. he�*s running down... he�*s getting away. and if it wasn�*t for the neighbours and everyone that was there on that night, it would have gone a whole lot worse. i held on to the girl the whole time, trying to keep her still in case she had a spinal injury, in case she had severe something on her brain. ijust kept her calm, kept talking to her, kept trying to keep her awake. to el salvador next. nayib bukele has claimed victory in the presidential election, even though no official results have been released. he has been credited with sharply reducing the murder rate.

last year, it fell to its lowest in three decades. but he�*s faced criticism over human rights violations and the methods used to tackle violent crime. here�*s our latin america correspondent, will grant. he�*s claimed victory, that it�*s a huge margin. he�*s saying that he�*s got somewhere in the region of over 85% and now that the partial results are coming in, it looks like, with a quarter of the votes counted, he does have somewhere in the region of 1,100,000 votes and his nearest challengerjust 911,000, so with his estimate of somewhere in the region of 85% of the vote he�*s probably not wrong, once all of the votes are tallied. he�*s also saying that they�*ve taken the legislative assembly, the national assembly, by a huge margin — all but two seats, he�*s saying. that one we definitely need to wait on all the official results to be in from all over the country, but certainly it looks like it�*s been a very, very good night for him. el salvador has been plagued by two main drug street gangs for many, many years.

the ms—13 and the 18th street gang controlled whole swathes of the country, entire communities here in san salvador. they submitted the population to intimidation, murder, rape, constant gang violence, internecine violence between the two gangs and all of their different splinter groups. some time in 2022, mr bukele launched what he calls the �*state of exception�*, and it was a huge clampdown. some 75,000 people have been arrested. in amongst them, according to human rights groups, are many thousands of innocent people, people who had no clear affiliation to gang crime. but certainly it has changed the face of el salvador. gang crime is at a negligible level now. of course, as we�*ve seen in the vote, the populace and the electorate are very, very thankful for that, that radical and quite draconian method of dealing with the gangs.

voters in paris have approved a plan to triple parking fees for people from outside the city, if they drive suvs in the french capital. the rules will affect internal combustion or hybrid vehicles weighing over one point six tonnes and electric vehicles weighing more than two tonnes. hugh scofield reports from paris. (tx sot hugh scofield reports from paris. anne hidalgo, the socialist mayor of paris, has got what she wanted. she�*s got this vote in favour of a big, steep increase in parking fees for people who come into town with suvs. suv is a very, very vague notion. but what it means is basically heavier vehicles, and it�*s done on the basis of the tonnage of the vehicle. and there will be a list of vehicles which qualify for this higher fee and others that are less heavy, which don�*t. it was a vote. 55% of those who turned out were for this increase. so, quite a tight vote. 45% were against it. and on a turnout, which was tiny, and that�*s going to be key.

this is the second time this has happened. a year ago, you may remember anne hidalgo, the mayor, organised a referendum very much like this on stopping e—scooters. and again, a tiny turnout. but she got what she wanted. she predicted that there would be enough people who were angry enough to turn out and vote in favour of what she wanted and she got it. she calculated again this time that most parisians would be in favour of this, and they are — or they don�*t care. so it means that coming up soon, this big increase will will be enacted. it means that if you come into paris with one of these heavier vehicles, you�*ll pay up to 225 euros for six hours�* parking. there�*s about £190. that�*s about £190. crucially, it doesn�*t affect people who live in paris themselves, who have suvs. they will have their on—street parking and that is unaffected. so it�*s not parisians themselves who�*ll be affected, but people from outside paris, the outskirts of paris, the banlieues, who come in bringing their suvs. and of course it is all

about reducing emissions, sending out a signal that cars should not be big, heavy things, but should be getting lighter and to make the place safer, the city says, because these heavier vehicles do have a much worse track record in accidents. taylor swift made history at the grammys overnight as she became the first artist to win album of the year for the fourth time. it was also a big night for other female performers, with miley cyrus and billie eilish both taking home top prizes. 0ur correspondent was on the red carpet and sent us this report. it�*s the 66th annual grammy awards. and tonight, we�*re coming to you live from the city of los angeles, where the local population has just survived the unthinkable — rain. as a storm battered la, there was shelter for the stars on the red carpet. while, inside the arena, the awards rained down for female artists. ijust won my first grammy! miley cyrus picked up two grammys,

giving the crowd a little more than they bargained for. thank you all so much. i don't think i forgot anyone, but i might have forgotten underwear. bye. billie eilish. and the barbie movie took home a win tonight with billie eilish given song of the year for her hit from the film�*s soundtrack. # i used to float. # now ijust fall down. # i used to know...# taylor swift for midnights. but it�*s taylor swift who keeps on breaking records. and, as she made history by becoming the only artist to win best album four times, fans were in for a much—anticipated announcement. my brand—new album... cheering. ..comes out april 19th. cue swiftie hysteria! a strong showing for women in the big categories is a significant moment for the grammys, which has faced criticism for overlooking some female artists in the past. and this year is a memorable

one forfemale artists across several generations. # moons and junes and ferris wheels#. this was a moment many fans never thought they�*d see. joni mitchell performing for the first time at the grammys at 80 years old. # ..way that you feel... a remarkable comeback after almost losing her life to a brain aneurysm. # when i'm vulnerable. # he's straight talking to my soul. with major wins and powerful performances, this was a grammys in which women were well and truly centre stage. emma vardy, bbc news, los angeles. power—sharing in northern ireland finally 0n on our website there are more updates. keep watching as we will have plenty more to come on the

power—sharing arrangement in northern ireland. thank you for watching. power—sharing in northern ireland finally resumed on saturday — for the first time in two years. public sector pay and nhs waiting lists could be top of the agenda for the executive in stormont. sara girvin has been talking to students in belfast to hear their thoughts on the new devolved government. it�*s almost like you�*re ashamed to be from here sometimes just because of the way that the government get on like children. people say to themselves, "0h, government won't last long, and probably in a year or two's time there'll be another problem for them to kick up a fuss about." personally, i don't want to have to leave here. i i want to actually work and try to make this . place work for everyone. this is northern ireland�*s first planned integrated school — set up in the 19805 specifically to educate catholics and protestants together. politics students there have been following the events of the past week closely. the dup and other political parties are still getting paid for not

doing theirjob properly. what�*s it like being a young person in northern ireland? as mad as it looks, people watching on the news, we all do lead normal enough lives here — or at least normal for us. these young people are part of northern ireland�*s future, but is northern ireland part of theirs? i would love to say that i�*d love to live here for the rest of my life. if northern ireland became more open and the political system became better here, i would come back. apart from its quirks, i do love living here. but, realistically, looking at the political situation, i don't really see it getting any better. it�*s sometimes shameful to say, "oh, i�*m from northern ireland," especially as a politics student. when you talk to others — like when you go to england, if you talk to people who study politics, they go, "oh, northern ireland, we hear you�*re a bit of a...bit of a loose cannon." do you find, as a teenager, those kind of old sectarian divides — catholic/protestant, unionist/nationalist — i mean, does that affect your life? i�*m ashamed to say i probably do think about that. i think that�*s sort

of embedded in all of us here, sort of a wee tiny bit. but it�*s just sort of something automatically that seems to come with living here and we just do it so naturally, unfortunately, and, you know, it shouldn�*t be like that. and hopefully in generations to come, it won�*t be like that. in the next decade, where do you see northern ireland? is it inside the united kingdom or as part of a united ireland? i don't think there will be a united ireland, and i'm not too sure if there'll be a united ireland in my lifetime. i think that there, you know, will be motions to maybe move towards one, but i think that we should remain a part of the united kingdom. 100%, i do believe there will be |a united ireland in my lifetime. | because when you look at the current situation that we've had _ for the last two years, and over the last iooi years of partition — _ partition has failed everyone. the past week has seen massive political change in northern ireland — the return of devolved government, and the first nationalist first minister in the shape of sinn fein�*s michelle 0�*neill. it�*s truly historic and, as someone who would come from — who would be a republican themselves

— it�*s truly amazing to see that we�*re really making progress. if you could give a message to politicians in northern ireland, what would it be? you're voted in to represent your constituents and to represent your country. do the job. the point that you're there is to solve problems, not create them. for me, it�*s aboutjust making sure that you�*re delivering for normal people and making sure that people can stay here and be able to live good lives. the message from these young people is clear, but are politicians in northern ireland listening? sara girvin, bbc news, in belfast.

fuelling the war in ukraine — russian oil is getting into the uk despite sanctions, according to research seen by the bbc. plus, charging ahead! uk ev sales hit one million injanuary, but the industry calls for more incentives to encourage drivers to make the switch. welcome to world business report. to electric cars now because the uk registered its one millionth battery electric vehicle last month, according to car industry figures. a jump in sales to fleet buyers, who operate company car schemes for example, helped the uk market reach the key milestone in january,

but behind the headline number it�*s not all good news as