this is bbc news, the headlines... king charles has begun treatment for cancer and is at home. prime minister rishi sunak says he is shocked and sad to hear of the king's cancer but thankful the illness was caught early. senegal�*s opposition has accused the president of staging a constitutional coup after parliament approved a delay of the presidential elections. back to the presidential elections. back to the future star michaelj fox is backin the future star michaelj fox is back in a document without has been nominated for several awards including best document react the baftas. —— best documentary at the baftas. let's return to our top story, and the news released by buckingham palace yesterday that

king charles has cancer. officials haven't revealed what type it is, or how early it had been detected. they did say it was unrelated to the enlarged prostate he had surgery forjust over a week ago. in the past, british monarchs have not chosen to share the diagnosis of any serious illness with the public. any constitutional issues that have arisen have been discussed behind closed doors. king charles has broken with that tradition, god save the king! # they dot the priest... he waited 73 years for thejob # they dot the priest... he waited 73 years for the job of his life. now 17 months in, king charles is already having to step back will stop his biggest challenge was of course his first, a royal transition after the death of the course his first, a royal transition after the death of the country's longest serving monarch, mourning his mother, touring the country, leaving herfuneral

his mother, touring the country, leaving her funeral procession his mother, touring the country, leaving herfuneral procession —— leading herfuneral procession, leading her funeral procession, providing leading herfuneral procession, providing stability in rocky political times and officially marking the start of his own reign. king charles has made up for lost time, already visiting germany, romania, france, can your country and the united arab emirates, to attend the kop climate conference after a lifetime interest in the environment. he has even appointed himself arranger of windsor great part. —— cop. his cancer treatment began on monday, possibly at the place was discovered during treatment for an enlarged prostate. it was the same hospital chosen by his daughter—in—law princess of and has previously been used by prince philip, princess margaret and ivan a young john of kennedy. the leading cancer centre at the clinic was opened by queen elizabeth in 2010. while the king will step back from public duties he will continue his weekly audience with the prime minister and with the monarch�*s

duties of state, which include granting royal assent to primary legislation of the uk, scottish and welsh parliaments and the northern ireland assembly, assenting to secondary legislation, approving certain public appointments, approving the appointment of ministers, authorising the affixing of the great seal of the realm to certain documents, like royal commissions to dissolve parliament, or letters patented to confer a peerage or ratify a treaty. use real the king and queen step down from the king and queen step down from the airlinerm — the king and queen step down from the airliner... buil— the king and queen step down from the airliner. . ._ the king and queen step down from the airliner. . .— the airliner... but since the reign of george — the airliner... but since the reign of george vi _ the airliner... but since the reign of george vi there _ the airliner... but since the reign of george vi there are _ the airliner... but since the reign - of george vi there are arrangements in place in law and case a monarchy is incapacitated. the pressure for reform came from the fact that the aeroplane princess elizabeth was just ten years old at the time. so, the 1937 regency act was born and can apply when the monarch is under the age of 18 or is out of the country or is incapacitated. one provision is for the monarch to

delegate certain functions to councillors of state, as queen elizabeth did, asking prince charles and prince william to attend the state opening of parliament in 2022. under legislation, counsellors are all members of the royal family, they are the partner of the monarch, queen camilla, plus the next four in line to the throne who are over 21, the prince of wales go the duke of sussex, the duke of york and princess beatrice. but in 2022, the royal household said only working royals would be called on to be counsellors of state, meaning three of them are effectively out of the picture. the same act in 2022 added the princess royal and the now duke of edinburgh. legislation is also in place for a regent to take the place of the monarch although this has not happened for hundreds of years. if there was to be a regency, and this seems highly unlikely at this point, the regent taking over the sovereign�*s duties is the next in

line to the throne, currently the prince of wales. but charles and william have no say. instead, the decision of whether a monarchy is incapable of carrying out their duties. five people. the partner of the king or queen, in this case queen camilla, representing the monarchy. the lord chancellor alex chalk and speaker of the house of commons lindsay hoyle to represent parliament. and lady chiefjustice of england and wales, dame street, and master of the commerce of geoffrey vos, to represent the law. the monarch does not need to agree with their decision. unfortunately for the king, a very private medical matter is notjust a public interest but public consequence. and he may be continuing with his duties of state but how will disappearing from public view affect his young reign? one of the monarch�*s strongest tools is their image and their presence. as the king's mother once noted, i

have to be seen to be believed. and of course we are going to continue covering that story throughout the day and there is much more on our website including a live page with updates. 8 million people on means—tested benefits are now receiving their final cost—of—living payment to help with high prices and bills. the £299 payment will go directly into bank accounts of those eligible before 22nd february without the need to claim. speaking to bbc radio this morning rishi sunak argued there was still lots of support for the people who need it. my first priority was to have inflation because i understood that cost of living was the most pressing problem faced by families and over the last year inflation has come down from 11% to full percent as measured by the office for national statistics. that as measured by the office for national statistics.— as measured by the office for national statistics. that is easing the burden on _

national statistics. that is easing the burden on the _ national statistics. that is easing the burden on the cost _ national statistics. that is easing the burden on the cost of- national statistics. that is easing the burden on the cost of living i national statistics. that is easing l the burden on the cost of living for families, we are starting to see mortgage rates come down and because economic conditions have improved, we have now been able to start cutting people's taxes. we we have now been able to start cutting people's taxes.- we have now been able to start cutting people's taxes. we can bring ou some cutting people's taxes. we can bring you some news _ cutting people's taxes. we can bring you some news from _ cutting people's taxes. we can bring you some news from the _ cutting people's taxes. we can bring you some news from the united - cutting people's taxes. we can bring i you some news from the united states now, a developing story, three people have been killed and more than 1 people have been killed and more than1 million are people have been killed and more than 1 million are without power as torrential rain continues to cause major disruption in southern california. it's the second major storm to hit the us state in days. three men were killed by falling trees in separate incidents. the rain has sent mud and boulders down hillsides in los angeles. flash flood warnings have been issued, advising people not it's the second major storm to hit the us state in days. three men were killed by falling trees in separate incidents. the rain has sent mud and boulders down hillsides in los angeles. it's the second major storm to hit the us state in days. three men were killed by falling trees in separate incidents. the rain has sent mud and boulders down hillsides in los angeles. flash flood warnings have been issued, advising people not to travel unless it is essential. a state of emergency has been declared in ten

of california's counties. this has been a tough day for our city, a tough day for angelenos, and i have spent time with our fire chief going around town, looking at some of the...what is really devastation for many homeowners and residents who have had to suffer from mudslides related to the storm. in the beverly crest neighborhood of los angeles, at least one home was completely demolished by a landslide. here's what one resident there has told us. oh, my gosh. it was like thunder like... makes whoosing sound and then the sound of trees snapping like twigs. it was just this house just completely disintegrating. senegal�*s opposition has accused the president of staging a constitutional coup after parliament approved a delay of the presidential elections. there were heated scenes in the senegalese parliament last night, with police appearing in the chamber. the opposition say some of their members were forcibly removed from the parliament building, to stop them from voting. our west africa correspondent mayenijones, in nigeria,

decribes some of the clashes about the presdential elecetions between protestors and police following the uproar in the senegalese parliament. it started over the weekend when the news first broke that the president was considering postponing these elections, many senegalese people are very passionate about their country's reputation for being a stable democracy and were looking forward to exercising their right to vote and so there was a lot of frustration when the president announced over the weekend that he was considering postponing the elections, and people took to the streets, a couple of opposition politicians were among some of the people that were arrested by the police. we saw more repeats of that yesterday, on monday, particularly outside of parliament where that broke were taking place. a lot of senegalese people saying that they wanted the elections to happen as scheduled but it seems that parliament has now decided that they will not be happening until december.— will not be happening until december. ., , december. you 'ust said, mayeni, that people — december. you 'ust said, mayeni, that peopte — december. you just said, mayeni, that people are proud _ december. you just said, mayeni, that people are proud of- december. you just said, mayeni, that people are proud of the - december. you just said, mayeni, that people are proud of the fact i that people are proud of the fact that people are proud of the fact that senegal is seen as one of the rare democracies in that region, so,

why did persident sall decide to postpone the elections? he why did persident sall decide to postpone the elections?- why did persident sall decide to postpone the elections? he has not tiven postpone the elections? he has not given much — postpone the elections? he has not given much explanation, _ postpone the elections? he has not given much explanation, the - postpone the elections? he has not given much explanation, the main | given much explanation, the main thing he said was that there had been disputes with members of the opposition who have been disqualified from running in the elections, so he says, in the name of kind of national unity, he wants to resolve those disputes before the elections happen, in order to avoid social unrest. now, the protest, arguably, it seems that his plan has not worked. his detractors say the reason he is doing this is because he wants to stay in power longer. it is something he denies but there was a lot of speculation last year because people weren't sure if he was going to run for a third term or not, he took a really long time to say whether he would, and when he did eventually, many people thought, this is a victory for democracy, in a region where there has been a number of coups, with four countries under military rule, so senegal was a rare example of a country where democracy was working, now all of thatis democracy was working, now all of that is up in the air. if democracy was working, now all of that is up in the air. i! it democracy was working, now all of that is up in the air.— that is up in the air. if it is up in the air. — that is up in the air. if it is up in the air, what _ that is up in the air. if it is up in the air, what does - that is up in the air. if it is up in the air, what does that - that is up in the air. if it is up i in the air, what does that mean that is up in the air. if it is up - in the air, what does that mean for the region given that it was one of those countries which was seen as fairly stable?—

fairly stable? this is a really delicate time _ fairly stable? this is a really delicate time for _ fairly stable? this is a really delicate time for politics - fairly stable? this is a really| delicate time for politics and democracy in west africa. and these coups seem to be multiplying, we are now seeing what is being described as a coup belt stretching from west africa, across central africa, as far east as sudan. so it is a really crucial moment for a lot of african countries, organisations like the african union and ecowas don't quite know what to make of it, and many people are looking to senegal to see if democracy can hold, and give perhaps hope for the wider region, and this has impacts beyond the region because west africa is one of the world's, has one of the world's, youngest, fastest—growing populations, a lot of young west african czar leaving the region to try and go to europe to look for better lives. so, it is really important for the international community that there is stability and political security here, so that they feel that development can happen and a lot of these young

people stay here and try and develop their countries. police have arrested and bailed a 22—year—old man on suspicion of assisting the alleged clapham chemical attacker abdul ezedi. he has been on the run since a woman and her two young daughters were injured in south london last wednesday. our home editor mark easton has the latest. a new picture of the afghan refugee who fled the scene of the clapham corrosive chemical attack. abdul shakoor ezedi, identified on london's southwark bridge at 9.50pm on wednesday night. but since then, nothing. ezedi's car recovered from the scene has been minutely examined by a forensics team. inside the vehicle, officers found ezedi's mobile phone, but while that helps provide evidence, it also means police are much more reliant on cctv footage to track their target's movements. it takes a long time to track cctv because you have to work out which way he's gone. hundreds and hundreds of hours

of cctv painstakingly gone through. we've got support and assistance from our counter—terrorism fugitive teams who are experts in this, along with our experts in specialist crime. so we are tracking him down and we will continue to do so. will you get him? i'm as confident as i can be, mark, that we will, yes. police are trying to work out the relationship between ezedi and the woman he attacked. she suffered serious burns from a powerful, corrosive alkali. still critically ill in hospital, unable to communicate, she has life—changing injuries to her face and is at risk of losing sight in her right eye. the two children are now out of hospital and being cared for, but the trail of their attacker has gone cold. in one of the most surveilled cities in the world, a man with a serious facial injury whose picture's been all over the media and apparently without access to a mobile phone

or cash, well, he's simply vanished. a 22—year—old has been arrested on suspicion of helping ezedi evade capture. but the met�*s specialist manhunt team says if he's alive and being supported, it could be some time before they finally get their man. mark easton, bbc news, scotland yard. here in the uk, the government has published its long—awaited disability action plan with 32 measures aimed at improving the lives of disabled people. they include more help for guide dog owners and resources to help councils create accessible playgrounds. our disability correspondent nikki fox has the story. you like it? i'm not quite sure how much i like it. this isn'tjust any playground. it's a brand new, fully accessible, inclusive playground in north london. with funding from barnet council, mums natalie and deborah also raised money to get this project off the ground. and deborah knows just how hard it is to find these kinds of places for young people like her son zack. to be sitting here now with it

existing, and i can now when i'm thinking at the weekends, what am i going to do with him? i can come to the park here, that's a joy. and to see other people in the same way, happily coming in, children of all abilities playing together, it's a marvellous thing and sadly this shouldn't be a marvellous thing. thisjust should be. for winnie, it opens up a whole new world. we could get winnie's mainstream kindergarten friends and her disability playgroup friends all together and have them all play here for a birthday party for her and no problems. it's playgrounds like this the government wants to see more of. it really will matter in disabled people's daily lives, but it's one pillar of a huge body of work which will make sure this country is the best place to be a disabled person. here in hertfordshire, the purple all stars are practising their next routine. this group of people with learning disabilities are passionate about helping others understand how to look after their health. and it's important because people with a learning disability are more likely to die from avoidable causes.

access by doctors who look after my health. they know what they want the action plan to tackle. we can be equal and together in our community. get myself a job, i need to try and build more confidence in myself to try like dealing with public. working out how much we've got to spend and how much is coming in and how much is coming out. i want everyone to be inclusive and look at us differently. - you know, like, we i are like anyone else. these are just some of the issues why charities want to see a more drastic plan. for disabled people who are going through a lot of challenges at the moment, whether that's a cost of living crisis, difficulties in employment, crippling social care charges, we wanted to see something a bit more transformational. the government says it wants to tackle the barriers that prevent

people from getting on in life. and labour has announced plans which would ensure equal pay for disabled people. nikki fox, bbc news. the former irish taoiseachjohn bruton has died at the age of 76. he was taoiseach from 1994 until 1997. he was leader of fine gael from 1990 to 2001. this family say he died peacefully in dublin following along. in the 1980s michaelj fox was one of the biggest names in hollywood with starring roles in the back to the future film series. in 1991 he was diagnosed with parkinson s disease, a fact he kept secret for seven years. he officially retired from acting two years ago because of declining health but now he s back in view in a documentary that s been nominated for a slew of awards including the best documentary prize at the bafta awards in london. tom brook went to meet him in new york. i was big. i was bigger than bubble gum.

the story of me, take two. michaelj fox has been picking up awards and doing interviews to support the documentary in which he appears. michael, good to meet you. how are you? the documentary is called still: a michaelj fox movie, which chronicles his life, his rise to major tv and film stardom in the 1980s, and his life after being diagnosed with parkinson's disease. i woke up and i noticed my pinky. parkinson's disease. it's not a portrait of a man full of self—pity. quite the contrary. i have parkinson's. i struggle with it. it's hard. it's annoying. it's a bit more than annoying, but it can be devastating for some people. the story is about resiliency and about hope. an incurable optimist meets an incurable disease. michaelj fox! i don't believe this. this is great. in 1989, two years before his parkinson's disease diagnosis, michaelj fox was on top of the world, a major tv and movie star. his huge following, with fans around the world, is quite phenomenal... i met him in california at the time when he was shooting back to the future 2.

in the documentary, his far—reaching success is presented as an epic moment before profound change. i can't explain to you how huge an explosion it was. big thing. and then shortly after, i got married, my father passed away, my son was born and i was diagnosed. and so, just crossed the threshold into adulthood and into challenges that i didn't anticipate. you were diagnosed with parkinson's disease, and you didn't reveal it publicly for quite some time, did you? i didn't know what it was going to do, i didn't know how it was going to manifest itself. and i didn't know what to expect. and no—one could really tell me what to expect. michaelj fox eventually became a big advocate for finding a cure for parkinson's, launching a foundation which has raised substantial sums for research. his optimism is very apparent in the documentary. to deny that part of me that wants to continue to go

on and do things is to quit. i won't accept that. he sees his disease as giving him the opportunity to do something for others. i would say it's a gift, and people look at me and say, it's a gift that keeps on taking, but it's a gift. and it opened me up to a whole different... i realised i had to turn it around and turn it into something and make it some positive thing that affected other people in a positive way. and so i started the foundation, but it took me a long time to get there. the documentary isn'tjust a chronicle of a man who's fought the physical effects of a debilitating disease. it's as much a portrait of psychological triumph to show, as michaelj fox puts it, that a devastating diagnosis may not necessarily be the ending, but the advent of a new beginning. tom brook, bbc news. peter butterworth was known

to legions of carry on fans for his comic turns in the hit film series — but before acting, he had played an extraordinary part in the second world war. newly released documents have revealed that he had been a code—writer, and even escaped a german prison camp, inspiring the classic film the great escape. david sillito has been speaking to his son tyler about the new discoveries. great escape theme. the national archive, and an exhibition of the documents telling the story of world war two's prisoners of war. you've got a photograph to show me here. including this newly discovered photograph which has hidden behind it a secret. underneath it — hidden letter. oh, this is writing? it is writing, it is indeed. the photo, sent by prisoners, had a secret message in minuscule writing, and the exhibition reveals more about the men behind all of this, including one

who went on to become a famous face in british cinema. if you're a fan of the carry on films, you'll recognise him — peter butterworth. welcome to paradise. here in carry on camping. and here, carry on up the khyber. don't worry, we'll save you some strawberry mousse! that's the new document that's been uncovered, isn't it? yeah, that's right. and for his son, tyler, the gradual release of his wartime records has been a revelation. that's his id paper, isn't it, from stalag luft 3? stalag luft 3 is a famous one, isn't it? yeah, it's, erm, of course, it's the one where the great escape took place from. and also? the wooden horse escape. the wooden horse, for those who've not seen the film, was another famous escape when they tunnelled under a vaulting horse. are you honestly saying that peter butterworth of carry on up

the khyber was involved in both the great escape and the wooden horse? yeah. - yes, he was. military, me? certainly not! he played the daftest characters. and here he is, part of m19? yes, well, that's the other side that nobody knew about. he was working for british intelligence, code writing. you're learning new stuff? yeah, yeah, all the time. here at the national archives, when they keep declassifying things, more things seem to bubble up. it's remarkable. did he talk about this to you? no, no, he didn't. he did suffer from what we all now call post—traumatic stress disorder. but i didn't know — obviously he never said this to my sister and i, but my mother told me about it, about things that happened, especially when they were married, right at the start of their marriage after the war, where he'd suddenly leap out of bed at night and throw himself on the floor and start hiding. and she had to barricade the bedroom door because the staircase

was outside, and he would have... and then he'd get back into bed and just go to sleep. my mother would lie there wide awake for the rest of the night. right, here we are, girls. and for fans of the carry ons, it's worth noting there was another prisoner in stalag luft 3 — talbot rothwell, who wrote the carry on scripts. the humour kind of had its kind of start in this place surrounded by watchtowers and guard dogs. but they worked out what made guys laugh. captain keen. and that was the funny thing. dad played these kind of bumbling characters that were always getting things wrong. and there's this complete flip side of this man that was totally focused, writing code, working with his friends who were tunnelling on the other side of the compound, of the north compound. repent ye, before it is too late! having been through what he'd been through, i'm not surprised he had all sorts of different things going on in his mind

and in his life. i mean, my mother told me that when they first bought the house that we grew up in, dad would religiously put on a dressing gown and walk around the garden in the morning, every morning, because he could. because here, he couldn't. those are the sort of things he brought back with him. but i didn't know about this until he was dead. you... so when he was growing up, dad was just an actor in some gloriously daft films. 50 years on, tyler now knows rather more about his famous father. david sillito, bbc news. a reminder of our top story. king charles has spent the night at home after beginning outpatient treatment. we can bring up our life page for you because you will see that we are going to have a your questions answered session at 12.30 with a live panel of experts, so

please keep watching bbc news. hello again. we're going to see some snow over the next couple of days and nights in some parts of the country. what's happening is we've got a weather front moving south bringing rain and behind it the colder air is digging in and you can see how today that cold air pushes further south, same overnight and into tomorrow. it's just the far south where we've got the milder weather. so this is the weather front producing some heavy rain today across parts of england and wales. ahead of it a lot of cloud, some drizzle, brisk winds. behind it brightening up, wintry showers across the highlands and across shetland in particular we're going to see some significant snow today and also gales, so that snow will be blowing. now the weather front continues to take its rain southwards through the course of the night, lingering in the far south—west. clear skies follow on behind and then we've got a plethora of snow showers crossing scotland, possibly into northern ireland. so that does mean we will see the risk of ice and also some frost

and some of those snow showers will be falling at lower levels. tomorrow then, we still have the weather front draped across the south—west. but there'll be a lot of dry weather, still a few wintry showers in the north but much lighter winds and it's going to be a cold day, especially noticeable across england and wales as we go back down into single figures. then as we move from wednesday into thursday, the weather front draped in the south—west starts to push northwards, bumps into the cold air in place and readily turns to snow. in the south, though, it looks very much like its going to be rain and blustery winds but you can see where we are expecting the snow showers to fall. now, the position and timing of this could still change but the met office have just updated a weather warning, it's a yellow weather warning. we've trimmed the southern extent of it and added northern ireland, so these areas prone to widely two to five centimetres of snow, ten to 20 on the hills and it's valid from 6am on thursday until 6am on friday, so if you are travelling, do bear that in mind.

what happens on thursday will have an impact on what happens on friday, where exactly this low pressure is. we think it's going to try and pull off in towards the north sea but the weather fronts wrapped around it bringing in sleet, snow and also some rain. further south we'll have some brighter conditions but still a few showers around and in the south we are in the mild air, ten, 11 and 12 but it will feel cold if you're in that snow.

we're live from buckingham palace. king charles has spent the night at home in london after starting treatment for cancer. this is the scene live at buckingham palace as the prime minister, rishi sunak, says he is thankful the illness was early. and i am in the studio in london. the us secretary of state antony blinken meets with the egyptian president as part of his latest push for a gaza ceasefire. and, three people have been killed and more than 1 and, three people have been killed and more than1 million and, three people have been killed and more than 1 million are without power as torrential rain causes disruption across southern california. welcome to bbc news. it is a relatively warm but windy day here at buckingham palace in the heart of london. the scene behind me is

thronged with tourists and well—wishers after