live from washington. this is bbc news. buckingham palace reveals king charles has been diagnosed with cancer. the king will pause public duties while undergoing treatment. america's top diplomat returns to the middle east to try to broker another ceasefire and hostage deal between israel and hamas. the visit comes as the us strikes more iran—backed houthi targets in the region. plus, researchers at the world's largest particle accelerator in switzerland want to go bigger. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. king charles has been diagnosed with cancer and will postpone public—facing duties. buckingham palace says the king, who is 75 years old, began treatment on monday and that he remains "wholly positive about his treatment". he is set to continue his state duties, meeting weekly with prime minister rishi sunak, who wished the monarch

a "speedy recovery". the cancer was idenitified during the king's recent hospital treatment for a benign enlarged prostate. the palace has not said what type of cancer the king has, only that it is not prostate cancer. our royal correspondent daniela relph is at buckingham palace with more. it came as a shock and many of the well family will have to step up as the king stepped back from royal duty. there was little sign yesterday of the announcement about to be made. the king was pictured on the sandringham estate in norfolk walking to church with queen camilla. he was thought to be recovering after a hospital stay. exactly a week ago today, the king left a private hospital in central london, where he had spent three nights being treated

for an enlarged prostate, and we now know during his stay here, cancer was discovered. in a statement, released at six o'clock this evening, buckingham palace said... although open about his diagnosis, buckingham palace says the form of cancer the king has will be kept private. as will the nature of his treatment. all of his public engagements have been cancelled. last week, the queen was asked how her husband was recovering from his prostate condition during a visit to a new cancer support centre at a north london hospital. she said he was doing his best. the king's condition means

royal duties will have to be picked up elsewhere. with the prince of wales and others taking on some of the king's engagements. prince william himself has been away from royal duty for three weeks, following his wife's stay in hospitalfor surgery, but he returns to work this wednesday. queen camilla is central to this and also the princess royal is crucial, and the duke and duchess of edinburgh will be stepping up. it's a slimmed down monarchy but it is a team and it will have to regroup and adapt. the king will have a visitor this week too. it's understood the duke of sussex will be travelling to the uk from his home in california to see his father who contacted him personally with news of his diagnosis. it is the first time prince harry has seen the king since the coronation. this is a testing time for the king and the

wider royalfamily. as they balance personal, private challenges, with the need to continue with the public duties. it's not the first health problem the king has had in recent years. it's been a week since the king left hospital after undergoing the procedure for an enlarged prostrate. in 2020 and 2022, he caught covid twice, but only experienced mild symptoms. in 2008, he had a minor surgery for a growth on the bridge of his nose. and in 2003, he underwent a routine surgery for a hernia. news of the king's health has led to an outpouring of support from world leaders. us presidentjoe biden said: australia's prime minister anthony albanese said on x:

canada's prime ministerjustin trudeaux and french prime minister emmanuel macron also separately came out with well wishes for the king. for more on the story, i spoke to autumn brewington, former washington post editor and royals newsletter writer. it's beenjust nine months since king charles�* coronation. how unusual is it to see this type of turbulence? especially after such stability during the elizabethan era? there was such stability. it's not just that this is unusual early in a reign, it is unprecedented. really unusual for the palace to be so forthcoming about a health diagnosis like this. they were forthcoming about the fact the king was being treated for an enlarged prostate. however they haven't released information about the type of cancer that he was diagnosed with. correct. they said they are not going to say, at least right now, what type of cancer it is and what type of

treatment, which i think could lead to a lot of confusion. you saw a lot of questions immediately today. it was noted this is not prostate cancer, that it was spotted during treatment for the benign enlarged prostate. when,generations ago, the king had cancer and people but the fact we are being told the king has cancer two generations ago, the king had cancer and people were not told. i believe the king himself had not been told by his doctors. so it's quite a change in two generations. so they are being transparent about one aspect, in the other, they are respecting the king's privacy, it would seem. which is a tricky position when you are talking about a head of state. to tell people it's cancer, but not to tell people what the prognosis is, what stage it is, those things could be really reassuring to people, to know this is something he could fight or perhaps not something

expected to keep him out of the public eye for long. he is stepping back from public commitments, carrying out private duties only. it is expected prince william would have to step up and other members of the family. what do you think we are going to see there? that is one of their challenges right now. most of the working members of the royal family are in their 50s or older. the royal with the most public engagements last year the royal with the most public engagements last year was princess anne, the king's 73—year—old sister. his 76—year—old wife will be expected to do more. william is now 41, a2. the picture at the coronation, it was really a group of octogenarians. except for prince william and his wife, who has also been in the hospital recently. exactly. the princess of wales recently had abdominal surgery and was expected to be recovering until easter. so she is sidelined from royal

duties for the next two months. william had been expected to take more time off, but it was announced just before the announcement about the king's cancer that he would be coming back to public duties, because they need all the people they can call in right now. what about seeing harry going over to visit his father? this would be the first time they see each other since the coronation. i think that is one of the real reminders. just the fact this is a health issue is a reminder. even though we talk about important aspects of state, there is also a family at work here. family dynamics. that's kind of one of those things people could read into, the fact harry is going swiftly to the uk. he could want to be close to his father, it could be out of concern for the type of cancer, we just don't know right now. we have seen this outpouring of support internationally from world leaders, sending well wishes the king.

especially during the coronation, we ask about the importance of the monarchy. what do you think that tells us about the relevance of the royals notjust in the uk but also abroad? i think one of the former archbishops of canterbury put out a statement today talking about the importance of the monarch as symbolic of stability and unity. i think it's a reflection of how people feel either about the king himself or the person in that role. if this is something that leads people to rally nationally and internationally, the sovereign of britain is generally the most well known in the world... the queen had more than 70 years on the throne so it was very easy for people to know her, but king charles was also the longest waiting king in waiting. it's been quite a while that he has been waiting for the throne.

it shows the power that this still holds. really interesting to get your take. thank you so much forjoining us. and you can get more on this story by heading to our website or the bbc news app, where you can find our latest reporting on king charles. us secretary of state antony blinken arrived in saudi arabia on monday. it's his fifth visit to the middle east since the conflict between israel and hamas began. officials say mr blinken met with saudi arabia's de—facto ruler, crown prince mohammed bin salman, for about two hours. mr blinken did not comment following the meeting, but it is believed that humanitarian aid to gaza, negotiations for a possible ceasefire and a hostage deal between israel and hamas were discussed. mr blinken�*s stop in saudi arabia is the first of five, with stops in israel, egypt, qatar and the west bank expected. the trip comes as the us said it carried out a strike in, quote, "self defence" against two houthi explosive surface vehicles. those are drone boats or ships. it come after strikes

against houthi missiles in yemen on sunday, in another us—ukjoint operation. for analysis on mr blinken�*s trip, i spoke to barbara bodine, former us ambassador to yemen and current director of the institute for the study of diplomacy at georgetown university. we have seen further strikes, as the us says, in self defence. after that, the houthis say they will continue to retaliate. what is your sense? are these strikes achieving the intended goal of degrading the houthi capabilities? i think they probably are. the latest round of strikes was at a0 targets and it has been going on for some time. the houthis have a finite amount of weaponry. it will degrade, it will be slow. one of the other elements is going to be able to intercept any resupply.

but it will have a degrading... what it probably will not have is any dissuading power over the houthi. the houthi will continue this until they have their last missile to fire, and i think we need to understand that. will they continue to get restocked and supported by iran as well? i would expect that they are going to have attempts to resupply them, absolutely. if you remember, at the beginning of all of this, the us navy intercepted a ship with an iranian resupply... i would be very surprised if the iranians are not trying to resupply them now. we're going to be playing this for a long time. i would note that, in the senate bill which includes aid to israel,

ukraine and our border, the administrationjust added $2.44 billion for red sea security. so a very clear signal that we know this is going to be a long game. the iranian foreign minister saying the strikes are malicious and compromise the region's safety. . . 0man is a partner of the us in the region. what do you make of that? i think it is the sort of statement 0man would be making. they are very focused on anything they can do to de—escalate. i think there is a concern that many of us share that this ratcheting up, with various iranian proxies and partners, particularly in iraq and syria, and the retaliation necessary

following that, is that this could spin out of control. that is not to say... interestingly, 0man did not say, america, please stop doing this. it was a signal to all sides to be very wary of further escalation. and the possibility of an inadvertent major escalation in the region. inadvertent ma'or escalation in the region.— the region. that risk is very hith. the region. that risk is very high- the — the region. that risk is very high. the secretary - the region. that risk is very high. the secretary of- the region. that risk is very| high. the secretary of state antony blinken is in the region for the fifth time, the first since the us launch these strikes. he says he saw the need for a need to push for the ceasefire in the israel gaza war. what does he need to do to get momentum behind that? i think the major players in this are going to be qatar and egypt

trying to get a ceasefire, a six—week pause, whatever length, whether it's a form formal ceasefire, to get the humanitarian assistance back in and get the hostages released. that's going to be the immediate focus. if we can work with our partners in the region to de—escalate that conflict... do you think the secretary of state will be able to achieve that? i state will be able to achieve that? ., �* ~ ., that? i don't know if he can achieve it _ that? i don't know if he can achieve it on _ that? i don't know if he can achieve it on this _ that? i don't know if he can achieve it on this trip, - that? i don't know if he can achieve it on this trip, i - achieve it on this trip, i think is going to keep travelling to the region until he does. we know there are various arab partners who want this to happen. we are working with the israelis, for them to agree to a ceasefire. this has been an all hands on deck effort. i don't know when it will be achieved. but i know the effort will continue until there is some sort of

de—escalation in gaza, with the israeli operations, and with the release of the hostages. thank you so much forjoining us on bbc news. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. the british pm rishi sunak and the irish prime minister leo varadkar have visited stormont to mark the return of power—sharing. mr sunak said the new deal would protect northern ireland's place in the union, and the return of devolved government was a cause for optimism. a 22—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of assisting the alleged clapham chemical attacker. the metropolitan police said a man was detained on suspicion of helping the attacker, abdul shokoor ezedi, who is still at large. police are appealing for any information on his whereabouts. prime minister rishi sunak has been criticised by opposition parties for a bet over his rwanda policy. asked by talktv�*s piers morgan if he would bet £1,000 for a refugee charity that

deportation flights would take off before the next election, the pm shook hands with him. labour said it showed he was "totally out of touch with working people". the snp has reported mr sunak for a potential breach of ministerial rules. you're live with bbc news. britain's africa minister tell the bbc there is "every danger" ethiopia will be engulfed with famine unless action is taken to prevent it. the warning is echoed by regional leaders and international charities who say the world is ignoring a humanitarian crisis triggered by war and drought. some ethiopian officals say their country is a victim of climate change, others claim political turmoil in the area. the un head in ethiopia said the world was distracted by the wars in gaza and ukraine. an ethiopian official says at least 400 people died in the tigray and amhara regions northern regions of due to drought—induced starvation

over the past six months. the government said the warning was exaggerated but acknowledged that drought was seriously affecting several areas. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, james landale, travelled with uk minister andrew 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. tsega 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 breast milk. that's why the baby has developed malnutrition. ijust 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. there, with the africa 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. these are for children... mr mitchell promised £100 million more in uk aid, 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. well, 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, or a potential famine, for me, is purely academic. what transpired in 1985, for example, would pale in comparison. dawn, and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill- of night on the plain outside korum, it lights up- a biblical famine. 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, at the same time, we call all the stakeholders

to do theirshare. 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. let's turn to some other news around the world. us senators have unveiled a bi—partisan plan to combat illegal immigration at the country's border with mexico. the 120—billion dollar deal would also provide new aid to ukraine and israel. republicans had insisted on tougher border policies for any further military assistance to those countries. illegal crossings are at record levels. but house republican leadership

has already rejected the plan, saying it will be "dead on arrival". three people have been killed in california, as torrential rain inundates the region. more than a million remain without power. forecasters have warned of flash fooding and landslides. the white house says president biden pledged federal support to california governor gavin newsom and la mayor karen bass. chile has begun two days of mourning for the victims of recent wildfires. more than 120 people are known to have died and hundreds more are still missing. the fires started on friday in the coastal region of valparaiso. firefighters are still tackling dozens of buyers. —— dozens of fires. 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 — something three times

larger and twice as deep. it's one of the world's biggest scientific projects. wow! welcome to the large hadron collider. it's huge! it is 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. so the plan is to build a more powerful machine, in two stages. by the mid 2040s they will be colliding electrons together with much more energy, to produce lots and

lots of higgs bosons. then, in the 2070s, much heavier protons will be smashed together, in order to discover brand—new particles. the head of cern says the initial £12 billion price tag is worth it. there are so many outstanding questions in fundamental physics today, and in our knowledge of the universe, its structure and its evolution, from which we have no answer, and so we need more powerful instruments to be able to address those questions. some scientists say that there are other better options, such as a straight line accelerator. so first of all, a linear machine could be done stage by stage, and second, the cost profile would be rather different, so the initial stage would cost less, and third, because the tunnel is shorter, you could do it quicker. but cern wants

a circular collider, because it's more powerful. it will have to convince european governments that if they fund the research, this time they really will discover the particles that will solve some of the greatest mysteries of our universe. pallab ghosh, bbc news, cern. before we go. a swiss pianist is taking his work to new heights. pianist alain roche was hoisted by a crane 10 metres, about 33 feet, off the ground with a grand piano in munich to perform as part of an art project. it's part of an evolving musical performance planned for 182 days until the summer solstice. sounds of nature feature heavily, roche says, in his piano compositions. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello there. monday was a day of significant contrasts across the country. mild, dry, but windy across england and wales. pretty wet across northern and central scotland. in fact, highlands seeing over five inches of rain since sunday. and this very slow weather front will gradually drift its way steadily southwards through the day on tuesday. behind it, introducing colder air all the way down from the arctic. that could have an impact later in the week. but tuesday will start off with rain sinking south out of northern ireland into northern england, gradually pushing its way down into wales and the midlands. ahead of it, it stays blustery, cloudy but mild. behind it, quite a clearance, crisp with some sunshine coming through. a few scattered showers turning wintry with elevation. 1—5 celsius generally in scotland, 7—9 celsius under the rain, but still double digits, 12 or13 celsius ahead of it. now, that frontal system will continue to bring some rain steadily south and then pushing that colder arctic air pretty much right

across the country. the exception is the far southwest. but wednesday will certainly be a brighter day. more sunshine coming through. largely dry with a few scattered showers continuing to be wintry, with elevation in scotland. here we'll likely see temperatures 2—4 celsius, but generally around 2—9 celsius. milder in the southwest, and that weather front then tries to squeeze back north into that colder air. and that is going to potentially have quite an impact, as it bumps into the colder air on the leading edge, we could see some snow for a time. favoured spots at the moment look likely to be across wales, the midlands and stretching up into the north of england. to the south of that, it will always stay as rain. but the met office has issued an early yellow warning — be aware that there could be some impacts with some snow through the midlands, north wales and northern england. two centimetres widely at lower levels, maybe a little more with any elevation. so we'll need to keep an eye on that on thursday.

it looks likely that scotland will stay in the colder, brighter, sunnier conditions, and to the south we're likely to continue to see rain. it may well stay relatively mild down to the south as we move into the weekend, but still noticeably colder the further north you go. keep watching the forecast. take care.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. there are plenty of reasons to fear that 2024 could be defined by escalating conflict. it is tempting to give up on the institutions and individuals focused on conflict resolution, on reconciliation between enemies. but would that be premature? well, my guest isjose ramos—horta, president of timor—leste, leader of a successful liberation struggle and advocate for international peace and justice. are there lessons for the world to learn from his extraordinary life?