this is bbc news, the headlines: america's top diplomat visits the middle east for talks — after the latest round of us strikes on iran—linked targets in the region. a deadly combination of war and drought leaves ethiopia's tigray region facing famine — we have a special report. taylor swift! and taylor swift makes history at the grammy awards becoming the first artist ever to win best album four times. becoming the first artist ever to win best album four times. an update from the metropolitan police who are investigating the chemical attack in south london from last wednesday, they have said early this morning a 22—year—old man was arrested for assisting an offender

and the police are searching for abdo is a:d., the man in the picture, after the attack in clapham last week —— abdul ezedi. a22—year—old man has been arrested and was taken to a police station where he was interviewed before being arrested on bail. they have also given an update on the woman who was injured in the attack, there was a woman and two young children who were targeted and they say the woman has facial injuries which will impact herfor the rest woman has facial injuries which will impact her for the rest of her life. she remains sedated and in hospital and in a critical but stable condition. talking about the facial injuries, they say she will have them for the rest of her life, and they say the injuries of the children were not as serious as they initially first thought but they are

still recovering from their ordeal. they gave more details about cctv and sightings possibly of abdul ezedi. images showing him in the suffolk area at 9:50pm on wednesday night —— southwark. he had been seen at tower hill underground station earlier that day. the met have had information from hundreds of people from london and across the country, contacting them following the appeal for information and we heard they will be a reward of £20,000 promised for information which led to the arrest of ezedi. these are trying to establish how long ezedi and the woman had known each other —— police are trying to establish. they had confirmed he is not the father of the young children who were hurt in

the young children who were hurt in the attack. they will release the new images from cctv that i mentioned very shortly and we will bring you that as and when we get it but the main use is to say a man has been arrested for assisting an offender. time for a look at the business news now. millions of barrels of fuel made from russian oil are still being imported to the uk — despite sanctions imposed over the war in ukraine — according to research seen by the bbc. a "loophole" means russian crude is refined in countries such as india — which has not sanctioned russia — and the products are then sold to the uk. it's not illegal and does not breach the uk's russian oil ban, but critics say it undermines sanctions aimed at restricting russia's war funds. my rosener leads the ukraine project at the charity global witness — which is behind some of the research.

she told me about the implications of the loophole. what the loophole does is, it means that countries like india and china and turkey which are importing millions and millions of barrels of russian oil, which they then process into fuel products like diesel, jet fuel and gasoline. and those products are then sold on to the west to countries that directly embargo russian oil. this means that western countries like the uk are still linked to supply chains that are fuelling kremlin revenues through these oil purchases and that uk flights and cars are still running on products that are derived from russian oil. how much money is that putting into the war chest for moscow, given that there is a reliance and some countries still continue to trades with russia in oil, that is funding the war, isn't it? yes, absolutely.

kremlin is spending historic amounts on the war in ukraine. our research shows uk imports ofjet fuel and diesel through the refining loophole in 2023 alone was worth at least £100 million to the kremlin in direct tax revenues. that is not the value of the oil itself, that is just the tax the kremlin extracts on the oil exports. that is equivalent of 5.2 million barrels in 2023 that the uk imported. it underlines how complicated global supply chains are and how lacking in transparency, i guess, in some respects. it is very difficult to work out and follow the route of where the stuff comes from and ends up. absolutely, but there is an easy solution to this problem. to close the refining loophole and strengthen our oil sanctions. the us is already ahead on this.

the uk can ban imports from refineries that are importing russian crude. we have been able to trace these refineries and there are only a handful of them in india and turkey that are importing these huge volumes of russian oil. over in the united states over 60 representatives in congress have introduced a bill that would ban imports to the united states of refined products that are derived from russian oil. the uk government should follow suit and close this loophole, to strengthen sanctions and make sure that the intention of the original embargo is upheld and we are not unintentionally sending money to the kremlin that is funding this war in ukraine. clearly, this oil is needed — those refined products are being used, particularly in things like aviation. if that source was to be switched off, are there alternatives? there are. but importantly what this would do

is dis—incentivise refineries that previously didn't import any russian oil. before the war they hardly imported any russian oil. so they could make the decision whether they want to do business with the west or with russia. furthermore, we have seen that when the eligible pool of buyers for russian oil is limited it puts downward pressure on the price of russian oil, which would mean cheaper russian oil and also less profit for the kremlin. 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 — sales of electric cars to private individuals are continuing to struggle.

earlier, i spoke to the chief executive of society of motor manufacturers and traders, mike hawes. 0bviously, evs have been on the market for about a decade now and it's taken us that long to get to a million. now, we need to accelerate that progress and hopefully we can get to the next million in more like two years rather than ten or 20. but what we're seeing in the market at the moment is that it is the business buyer, the fleet buyer, who is buying these vehicles because they've got the tax incentive to do so. for the private buyer, the government pulls what used to be an incentive — which used to be about £5,000 — pulled it about 18 months ago. so what we're asking for is actually the government needs to stimulate the private consumer, because if you're going to hit net zero, you have to decarbonise road transport. that means everyone has to make the transition. how do you incentivise the consumer? because there are concerns, aren't there, about things like range anxiety, whether people will be able to get where they want to get to? and also the cost is coming down, but range anxiety and charging facilities, charging infrastructure is still an issue, isn't it? it is.

i mean, all the surveys of people considering making the choice, and the majority of drivers are considering making that change. they do cite the high purchase price. and it is a new technology. invariably, new technology is more expensive. efficiencies of production scale are going to try and drive that down. but the input, the raw materials are still very expensive, hence that need for some sort of private incentive. the other barrier is charging, "will i have the confidence wherever i go to be able to charge?" it's being rolled out on the strategic road network. the motorways are getting much better. 0n street it's sort of playing catch up and we need to build ahead of demand so that everyone is confident that when they make that switch that they will be able to charge wherever and whenever they like. and it's notjust those with driveways who are able to make the shift. to turkey now where it's more bad news on the cost of living as inflation jumped again last month. consumer prices rose by 6.7% injanuary — significantly faster than the just below 3% in december.

all of which puts inflation at 65% for the year. the latest uptick is being put down to a government mandated minimum wage increase. all food for thought for the new central bank governor who took up office over the weekend. earlier i spoke to victoria craig who's in antakya — the region hit by that devastating earthquake almost a year ago. a whole lot of work ahead. and that's one of the things people i've been speaking to today are quite upset about because the president last year following the earthquake said he would rebuild the entire southern part of turkey, devastated by the earthquakes, within one year, but if you look behind me you can see in this city, antakya, which is in the wider hatay province, the most hurt of the turkish provinces, there is a long way to go, it has been a year—long clean up effort, let alone reconstruction, and there is finally a bit of building going on but for the most part it has been rubble clearing

for the last 12 months. so people here are very eager to see a return to normality. but certainly, hundreds of thousands of people still living in temporary tents and containers, even 12 months on. so rebuilding is still a massive challenge yet to come. and all of this rebuilding needing to happen in a year when it has been pretty difficult economically — we know inflation has been sky—high and the central bank governor, the new one, has a realjob on his hands to stabilise things. i wonder what is top of his to—do list? there are so many pressing issues. indeed. the to—do list must be growing by the day. inflation does not help things. as we saw, when president erdogan was re—elected last may, one of his biggest tasks was to get the economy back on a normal track and to get inflation down, it had topped out at 85%. he put in place a new finance minister and a new central bank chief, the central bank chief

that he installed stepped down over the weekend, at 10:30 at night on a friday, and within two hours the president had reappointed someone else to lead the charge and the big question was, is this a signal that president erdogan has lost confidence in the economic turnaround effort that the central bank chief and the new finance minister had put in place for the last six or seven months? those are the top business stories. around the world and across the uk. going missing — for carers whose loved ones have dementia, it's a nightmare. kate has direct experience. just over a year ago, john went looking for her when she was out. fortunately, she'd signed up to avon and somerset police's dementia safeguarding scheme just five days before. i was very relieved when when he came back because you get that that rising

panic, you know, when you're trying to keep calm. but thankfully, the general public and the safeguarding system with the yellow tag sort of, you know, helped. so you can't walk past somebody in the street and it just pick up. you have to get really close like you would if you were paying for something in a shop. and then when the wristband is tapped, you can immediately call the wearer's next of kin to help reunite them as quickly as possible. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. antony blinken is on another tour of the middle _ antony blinken is on another tour of the middle east after the us carried out more _ the middle east after the us carried out more strikes yesterday. this the middle east after the us carried out more strikes yesterday.- out more strikes yesterday. this is what the strikes _ out more strikes yesterday. this is what the strikes have _ out more strikes yesterday. this is what the strikes have been - out more strikes yesterday. this is | what the strikes have been achieved so far. .,, ., ., . what the strikes have been achieved so far. ., ., . ., ., so far. those attacks on houthi taruets so far. those attacks on houthi targets by _ so far. those attacks on houthi targets by the _ so far. those attacks on houthi targets by the uk _ so far. those attacks on houthi targets by the uk and - so far. those attacks on houthi targets by the uk and us - so far. those attacks on houthi targets by the uk and us have| so far. those attacks on houthi - targets by the uk and us have been

continuing, the drone strikes on friday night, the us launching its own last night, as well, we have been looking at the impact of the strikes but also the impact of those houthi attacks on vessels. let's begin in november, in this area off the coast of yemen, this is where houthis have been launching attacks, backed by iran, and the first few mostly here the red sea, many are neara mostly here the red sea, many are near a pinch point. this is an example, when houthis seized a cargo ship and released this footage, and the us and uk launched air strikes after the initial attacks on the 11th of january, and there was a second set on the 22nd and over the weekend there were more. this video verified, shows air strikes, and the uk defence sector derry said the strikes would further degrade the abilities of the houthis. 0n strikes would further degrade the abilities of the houthis. on sunday the us said they targeted missiles

are prepared to launch against ships in the red sea but data shows that houthi attacks have continued in brazen attacks, certainly after the initial strikes from the us and uk, and they started to move south into the gulf of aden. a tanker with links to the uk was set on fire after being hit by a missile. in the three weeks before the first us and uk strikes, there were six attacks on ships, and in the three weeks since the action began, there were nine. no houthi strikes on ships have been confirmed since last thursday but it is too early to be sure if things are changing. this is the impact, a lot less traffic going through the red sea and the volumes falling 30% since mid january. if you look at the red here, vessels are sailing around africa and that takes a lot longer. it is also more costly and this shows the increased costly and this shows the increased cost for transporting freight and it has shot up, and those growing costs will have an impact here and they

could mean higher costs to customers. nick eardly there. there is "every danger" ethiopia will be engulfed with famine unless action is taken to prevent it. that's the warning today from the uk government's africa minister. andrew mitchell's concerns are echoed by regional leaders and international charities who say the world is ignoring a humanitarian crisis triggered by war and drought. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, james landale, travelled with mr mitchell to ethiopia and sent this exclusive report. once again, hunger is stalking ethiopia. the babies in this hospital in the northern tigray region are all acutely malnourished. their mothers little better. sega is 23. herfour—month—old son has been malnourished since birth. her family's crops failed and there was no food to be had. "even when i was pregnant, i was not

eating a balanced diet," she said. "i was not producing enough breastmilk. "that's why the baby has developed malnutrition. "i just didn't have enough to eat at home." we travelled north across the parched ethiopian highlands that have suffered from successive droughts that many attribute to climate change. this is not where the malnutrition is... there, with the african minister, andrew mitchell, we visited a clinic where anxious mothers queue to get their children assessed for malnutrition. this is a largely forgotten crisis. it's hard for the media to get here — fighting makes some areas inaccessible for charities, and the world's attention is elsewhere. but, once again, women are queuing up with their children who are hungry, some are starving, desperately in need of help. mr mitchell promised £100 million more in uk aid to help millions of mothers like these get better access to health care. but he said the international community had to do more.

there is clearly a risk of famine if we don't now take action. and there are serious indicators of the danger of famine. but, if you ask me, "is there a famine taking place now in ethiopia?" i say, "no," and we have the power to stop it. but is it a famine? aid workers are cautious. regional leaders have no doubts. the one thing i know is that thousands of people, who would otherwise have been able to feed themselves are not in a position to feed themselves, and they are succumbing to death because of starvation. whether you call it famine or a risk of famine ora potentialfamine — for me, it's purely academic. what transpired in 1985, for example, would pale in comparison michael buerk: dawn, and as the sun breaks . through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside korum, it lights up a biblicalfamine. this is what he's talking about. the famines of the mid—1980s reported so powerfully by michael buerk for the bbc. but the government in ethiopia

disputes such comparisons, saying the country is a victim of climate change. there is a drought. no famine. the government is responding very seriously, but we call on all the stakeholders to do their share. the problem is that about a million people in tigray are internal refugees, living in camps like these, with little hope of returning to homes still occupied by armies. in ethiopia, you have several overlapping crises at a time, so we have drought, people recovering from a two—year conflict, rising inflation, an upsurge in the cases of disease. without more support, the future for these children could be bleak. james landale, bbc news in northern ethiopia. you can read more about his report on the bbc news website.

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 science says increasing obesity and declines in most childhood vaccination rates are the leading reason for hospital admissions of children. for more on this, let's now go to aberdeen to speak to professor steve turner, a consultant paediatrician at royal aberdeen children s hospital and president elect of the royal college of paediatrics & child health. talk us through what is going on. good afternoon. this report saddens but does not surprise me. the report highlights a number of important things that are affecting children in the uk, and first of all, the number of children who are dying in infancy is going up. secondly, the number of children who are becoming obese is going up. and the third, and many other things, that is the

burden of mental health which is going up. these are things which we have noted for some time and we have worked with the governments across the nation is to get sorted out but sadly, we are not seeing any movement forward and these are sad stories, preventable stories, and it is the responsibility of everybody, local government, national government, families, schools, doctors, nurses, the responsibility of everybody to listen to this. how much did the _ of everybody to listen to this. how much did the pandemic and the fallout from that and the cost of living crisis play a part in this? they have not helped but the problem has been ongoing since the dawn of the century, in 2017 we had the state of child health which identified before the pandemic, before the cost of living crisis,

that mental health and infant mortality and a lot of other things were going wrong, so these things, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis have clearly not helped but these are long—standing problems that as a society we have not tackled, and if we don't, they will become more of a problem and if they become more of a problem and if they become a problem in childhood, children very rapidly become adults, so we are looking at an increasing burden of morbidity from obesity and mental health and many things and that will not help the mortality rate of the older population. in response to this issue, this report, the government said the health of children is a priority and it quoted the measures it is introducing to reduce sugar in food and that investment has been put into mental health and also dentistry. what do you take from that explanation? you

mentioned mental health. is more money needed? it is mentioned mental health. is more money needed?— mentioned mental health. is more money needed? it is more than 'ust more money. — money needed? it is more than 'ust more money. we i money needed? it is more than 'ust more money, we need i money needed? it is more than 'ust more money, we need to i money needed? it is more than 'ust more money, we need to do i money needed? it is more than just more money, we need to do things| more money, we need to do things differently, as a society we need to do things differently, and 15% of 15—year—olds have anxiety or depression and the nhs is not set up to manage that volume of work so this is something that schools are working already hard on and parents and young people themselves can help as well butjust pouring money is not going to stop the problem. we have been pouring money into this for a long time. we need to do things differently and be aware of children when we are building roads and we are putting in chip shops and building paths we need to be aware of, what is this going to impact on children? at the moment as a nation, as parents, we are proud and we would do anything for our children, but as a nation i'm not sure that we do as much as we can. in but as a nation i'm not sure that we do as much as we can.— do as much as we can. in terms of how they compare _

do as much as we can. in terms of how they compare to _ do as much as we can. in terms of how they compare to other - do as much as we can. in terms of. how they compare to other countries, comparable countries, where are we? it is not good reading. you can make numbers say what you want, you can say we are doing better than some countries but fundamentally if you look over time and take infant mortality which is a sad number, the number of children per thousand who do not live to their first birthday, it is something that can be measured across many countries and in 2000 we were doing 0k compared to other european countries but sadly we are now lagging behind and mortality of children across the uk is rising relative to the rest of europe, so things are not good and it is likely that obesity and mental health, these are all going the wrong way across the uk in terms of comparison with europe. across the uk in terms of comparison with eut°pe-_ with europe. professor steve turner, thanks forjoining _ with europe. professor steve turner, thanks forjoining us. _

with europe. professor steve turner, thanks forjoining us. now _ with europe. professor steve turner, thanks forjoining us. now it - with europe. professor steve turner, thanks forjoining us. now it is - thanks forjoining us. now it is time for a look at the weather. hello there. whilst we saw a bit of sunshine here and there, on the whole it's been a cloudy start to the new week and particularly grey and gloomy across northern parts of scotland, with persistent thick, low cloud bringing a lot of rain, actually — there's been over 100 millimetres of rain in the highlands on that slow moving weather front bringing that band of thicker cloud. the weather front will take rain southwards over the next few days, followed by colder air from the north. at the moment, that colder air is in the far north of scotland. away from here, we're still in very mild air and those temperatures won't change a great deal, actually, overnight. we've still got a brisk south—westerly wind bringing in all the cloud, a little drizzle. the main band of rain pushes a bit further south across scotland, allowing northern areas to see a few wintry showers, some clear spells, icy conditions as we see a touch of frost. quite a contrast here with those temperatures that we start tuesday with across england and wales. the main rain band sitting across southern scotland

and northern ireland in the morning pushes southwards, takes some rain into northern england and wales, heavy over the hills. sunshine follows to the north and we've got a few wintry showers coming in to northern parts of scotland. it will feel chillier across scotland and northern ireland and northernmost parts of england. but ahead of the rain in southern england, where it's still dry, cloudy and very mild, temperatures are 13 or 1a degrees. but even here we'll get some rain overnight as that weather front pushes its way southwards. it allows that colder air to move down across more of the country and there will be a frost in many places early on wednesday morning, but hopefully some sunshine, as well. the far south of england, through the english channel, still cloudy, a bit of rain at times. across northern scotland we're looking at some snow showers even to low levels. it's going to feel cold here. typical temperatures on wednesday will be six or seven degrees. there's a weather frontjust hanging around in the english channel by the end of wednesday. as we head into thursday, it's going to move northwards again as this big area of low pressure comes in from the atlantic. that wet weather moving northwards is moving into cold air, so we may well see rain across the far south

of england and south wales, but a mixture of sleet and snow as you move further north. there is a warning out for thursday and thursday night, we're widely looking at two to five centimetres of snow in this area. it is a yellow warning from the met office. it's still a long way ahead and the details could change, as well.

live from london. this is bbc news. police in south london hunting for the alkali attack suspect abdul ezedi have arrested and bailed a 22—year—old man on suspicion of assisting an offender. i will remind anybody if they are helping, assisting him in any way they are potentially committing offences. america's top diplomat visits the middle east for talks — after the latest round of us strikes on iran—linked targets in the region. the british and irish prime ministers meet northern ireland's political leaders in stormont as power—sharing returns after a two year stalemate. hello, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them.

the metropolitan police have given an update on the manhunt for the man