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 i and, three people have been killed and more thani million and, three people have been killed and more than i 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 the news was released by buckingham palace at 6pm last night that king charles has been diagnosed with some form of cancer. it is not a prostate cancer, but it was diagnosed and detected during a routine procedure for an enlarged prostate, a benign prostate. doctors now say the king will be receiving treatment for cancer here in london in the coming weeks and months. we are not sure exactly how long that will take, but buckingham palace have confirmed that the king will step back from most public engagements. however, private engagements including state administration and his weekly meetings with the prime minister, rishi sunak, for example, will carry on. the prime minister spoke to the bbc earlier today and he said he was grateful and glad that the diagnosis, the cancer was in his words, caught early. our royal correspondent daniela relph reports. this was the last time we saw

the king in public — on sunday, going to church with queen camilla on the sandringham estate in norfolk. just 17 months into his reign, he now faces a serious health challenge. just over a week ago, the king left this private hospital in central london, where he'd spent three nights being treated for an enlarged prostate. we now know, during his stay here, cancer was discovered. in a statement, buckingham palace said... although open about his diagnosis, the type of cancer the king has will be kept private — as will the nature of his treatment. all of his public engagements

have been cancelled. his son, the duke of sussex, is expected to visit him this week — travelling to the uk from his home in california to see his father, who contacted prince harry personally with news of the diagnosis. it is the first time harry has seen the king since the coronation. in times of crisis, families do come together, and i think everyone will be happy to see that. ithink, you know, there is a sort of sense of business as usual going on — that's very much a message that sort of the palace is trying to put out. but if, along the way, we can see some bridges being built, then that's got to be a good thing. but it will now be down to other working members of the royal family to pick up some of the king's work. his wife, queen camilla, has done a number of her own engagements in recent weeks, but may now find herself doing some of her

husband's duties, too. it will be the same for the king's son, the prince of wales — who himself has been away from royal engagements for almost a month, following his wife's stay in hospital after surgery. he is due to return to public duty tomorrow in windsor and london. this is going to be a testing time for the king and the wider royal family, as they balance personal, private challenges with the need to continue with public duties. daniela relph, bbc news. world leaders have been sending messages of support for king charles throughout the last few hours and they include the us president, joe biden, and the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau. the archbishop of canterbury also said that he was praying for the king, and of course, rishi sunak, who earlier on today spoke to bbc five

live and was asked for his reaction to the news of the king �*s health. well, like everyone else, shocked and sad and just all our thoughts are with him and his family. and you know, thankfully this has been caught early and now everyone will be wishing him...that he gets the treatment that he needs and makes a full recovery. that's what we're all hoping and praying for, and i'm of course in regular contact with him, and will continue to communicate with him as normal. practically speaking, what does it mean for the day—to—day running of the country? and that will continue. we'll crack on with everything, but he'll be in our thoughts and our prayers, and many families around the country who are listening to this will have been touched by the same thing and they know what it means for everyone, so we willjust be willing him on and hopefully we can get through this as quickly as possible. buckingham palace has confirmed that the king will now step back from

public royal engagements. he will maintain, though, the workload privately, including as i mentioned earlier, his weekly meetings with the prime minister, rishi sunak. but this also means that other members of the royal family will now be stepping up to take over some of those roles and they include queen camilla, prince william, whose wife kate herself had been hospitalised for two weeks and she is now at home convalescing, and will be at home until at least after easter. the duke of edinburgh, prince edward, and of course the princess royal, princess anne, will also be taking on some responsibilities as the king takes a step back from those public royal engagements. so, what does this mean for the royalfamily question mark i'm joined now by our royal correspondent charlotte gallagher. talk to me a little bit about what this means for the day to day. as i mentioned there, the royals close to the king, the working royals as we call them, they will now have to step up and increase their workload to make up for the king taking a step back. particularly prince william and

queen camilla. they will probably take on more of the duties and any other senior roles, and for prince william he will probably have expected a bit more time away from public duties, given that his wife, the princess of wales who was in hospital for two weeks, and she the princess of wales who was in hospitalfor two weeks, and she has now at home recuperating but of course they have three children that need looking after. but he will be back doing public duties tomorrow. he will be in london and windsor. queen camilla has already been out and about this week and she will be doing more public visits, meeting crowds, the thing that the king actually really enjoys. we saw in the run—up to the coronation with people queueing up at the mall, he was going into the crowd, shaking hands and taking photos. for him, it is probably frustrating that he will be confined to essentially doing paperwork, signing documents, having those weekly meetings with the prime minister, as he has outpatient treatment for this cancer. prince harry and prince andrew, non—working royals, they will not be doing any official business. prince harry, we

know, is coming back to the uk to see his father and we believe he may be in the uk as soon as today because his father macro car was spotted in a airport in los angeles. their relationship has been strained, between the king, prince william and prince harry, and people hope that there could be a positive from this diagnosis with the family getting back together again. we have heard that prince _ getting back together again. we have heard that prince harry _ getting back together again. we have heard that prince harry has _ heard that prince harry has apparently been seen leaving los angeles airport on his way to london. how significant is it that he is coming, you know, it seems as soon as he heard the news? i he is coming, you know, it seems as soon as he heard the news?- soon as he heard the news? i mean, he is probably _ soon as he heard the news? i mean, he is probably incredibly _ soon as he heard the news? i mean, he is probably incredibly worried - he is probably incredibly worried and when you are so far away from family and friends and you hear news like this, it is more worrying because you can't be near them, you can't hug them or talk to them in person and he has obviously thought he wants to be with his father, with his family, and be with him as he undergoes this treatment. we heard today that rishi sunak said thankfully the cancer had been caught early, but anyone who has gone through cancer treatment, or knows someone who has, knows just

how punishing it can be, and how much you need the support of your friends and family around you. thank ou, friends and family around you. thank you. charlotte- _ friends and family around you. thank you, charlotte. our— friends and family around you. thank you, charlotte. our royal— you, charlotte. our royal correspondent, charlotte gallagher. let's talk a bit more in detail about what this tells us about the king �*s way of ruling, of being king. you know, many people have noticed it is a bit of a departure from how things have been done in the past in terms of the british monarchy. tesco live now and speak to caroline ashton, a royal commentator. thank you forjoining us. let me ask you first of all, this is a different way of doing things, a much more open way of talking about your health in terms of how king charles has approached this, as many people are saying it is the right way to do it. i absolutely agree with you, but think of the other side of the coin. if they had not been open about this, and in this social media dominated world, and he had been spotted going for regular treatment at a hospital, well that would not have been a good

way forward. personally, i think way forward. personally, ithink this way forward. personally, i think this has been managed really, really well. the last optics we had of him, the last picture, is a smiling king waving and going to church, following his usual routine and that is the image we will carry with us as he retires from the public gaze for a while and undergoes what i'm sure will be a gruelling set of treatments. we all know that cancer treatments. we all know that cancer treatments are exhausting and tiring, so his schedule will be tailored to take that into effect. don't forget, he is the oldest monarch we have ever crowned and had the longest wait to become monarch. there's a lot going on here, and i suppose his vulnerability, something i noticed that the coronation, where he knelt with his back towards us before he was anointed, so we wish him well and hope that as the prime minister said, him well and hope that as the prime ministersaid, he has him well and hope that as the prime minister said, he has a speedy recovery. it minister said, he has a speedy recove . , , minister said, he has a speedy recovery-— minister said, he has a speedy recove . , , ., , ., recovery. it is interesting that you mentioned — recovery. it is interesting that you mentioned the _ recovery. it is interesting that you mentioned the last _ recovery. it is interesting that you mentioned the last time - recovery. it is interesting that you mentioned the last time we - recovery. it is interesting that you mentioned the last time we saw l recovery. it is interesting that you l mentioned the last time we saw the king in public, and that was as he was leaving church. you are right,

he was waving and smiling. he looked relaxed and happy and that really tallies with what buckingham palace have said, what kind of message they are putting forward. they have called this, they said he remains positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duties soon. one wonders whether that message that he gave us, that a subtle message whilst leaving church on sunday, was want to make us feel reassured about the future. , ., , , ., future. yes, absolutely. i mean, he is a thinking — future. yes, absolutely. i mean, he is a thinking man. _ future. yes, absolutely. i mean, he is a thinking man. he _ future. yes, absolutely. i mean, he is a thinking man. he tends - future. yes, absolutely. i mean, he is a thinking man. he tends to - is a thinking man. he tends to breed, so we have to remember that for him this battle, as with all people given this rather terrible diagnosis, it is a mental battle that goes on, as well as a physical battle. i am sure having the framework of his traditionaljob at the red boxes, those boxes of government documents, things he had to read and sign and look at everyday, they are a bit like a scarlet thread that runs through the lives of all monarch. his meetings

with the prime minister. we have today that means the king can continue to function, even though he is not visible to us. indeed, surely like all people undergoing treatment, he deserves a privacy. as for people saying, we should have been told what kind of cancer, i disagree. it is enough to know that he is undergoing treatment and i think the underlying message here is that cancer, a word that actually covers many different kinds of diseases, is no respecter of rank. king, commoner, queen. it attacks them all. the vulnerability of of us to this is very strong here. and think of all the other people, as i did yesterday, who would have been receiving that diagnosis. they certainly will be feeling at one with the monarch, who is determined to carry on leading butjust not from the front for a while. caroline, good to talk to you and

thank you for taking the time to talk to us. it is interesting what caroline said there about the cancer diagnosis. it's important to underline to people at home that there are estimated to be 3 million people who are living with cancer at the moment in the uk. it is a sadly common illness to get, but i know that cancer charities have been talking in the last few hours and saying that they are very pleased with the idea, or the decision of the king, to go public. they believe this will raise awareness of cancer and potentially cause many people to come forward for diagnosis and treatment. as caroline was saying, there are positives to be gained from this diagnosis. i will bring you more on this story will stop back to you in the studio. and of course there will be more updates from charlotte gallagher there as well, and there is a global reaction on our bbc website where we have a life page for all the updates as they come in.

let's look at the middle east now. the us secretary of state antony blinken is in cairo as part of his latest push for a gaza ceasefire and to calm wider middle east tensions. this is his fifth visit to the middle east, and it began in saudi arabia, where he held talks with the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman. they discussed efforts to achieve an enduring end to the conflict. meanwhile, the israeli defence minister, yoav gallant, has warned hamas fighters who are hiding in rafah, that they would meet their end there. hundreds of thousands of palestinians have fled to the southern city, which borders egypt. mr gallant claimed that half of hamas's fighters had been killed or seriously wounded in israel's offensive. our correspondent nick beake who's injerusalem, has more on the negotioations for a ceasfire. from the americans' point of view, they see getting a ceasefire as being crucial, notjust for the 2 million people of gaza, but also crucial in terms of dialling down the temperature here in the middle east, of easing some of the tensions that have been exacerbated over

the past few months. and that is why he's in egypt today. he will also be in qatar and those two countries have been crucial figures in trying to get some sort of lull in the fighting. we know there were discussions in paris about ten days ago involving the officials from egypt and qatar, also the israelis and the americans. and the point we are at now, we're waiting for hamas to say something and basically tell us what they think about the framework that has been put forward. it seems like there is no sign of an imminent breakthrough in terms of a peace deal happening, a lull in the fighting, but we have seen before that quite often this stuff that happens behind the scenes can move quite quickly, but no imminent sign of a real breakthrough at the moment. meanwhile, nick, there is still the war going on and these comments that roav gallant has made about such a focus on rafa, that does present risk for the the palestinians

who are sheltering there. yes, rafa of course is a place right in the south of gaza on the border with egypt and it is a place where people were told to go to by the israelis as fighting has raged all through the gaza strip. we know that some 80% of the population of gaza have been displaced, lots of people leaving behind communities that have been annihilated by the fighting. and so there is concern, specifically from the united nations, about what could happen if rafah were to be the focus of a really big israeli operation. the israeli military and top officials and politicians here are saying that that is where they're going to be heading next. we'll have to see whether that is a message that they want to send out to hamas, that there won't be any let—up in the fighting and the intensity of their attack. the israelis say they're targeting hamas leadership and the fighters. but the difficulty is, you can't have a ceasefire if the fighting is raging, so we'll have to see how those two

contradictory things play out over the next couple of weeks or so. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making the news here in the uk. eight million people on means—tested benefits are now receiving their final cost—of—living payment, to help with high prices and bills. the £299 will go directly into bank accounts of those eligible, before the 22nd of february, without the need to claim. no further payments of this kind are scheduled, and charities are urging the government to consider more support. the energy giant bp has revealed its profits halved last year because of lower oil prices. it has reported profits of £21; billion for the fourth quarter of last year which lift its 2023 profit to a total of £11 billion. but that was down from its

record profit in 2022 of £22 billion. britain and france are hosting a two—day conference in london to tackle the spread of cyberattack tools and so—called �*hackers for hire'. the conference aims to reach an international agreement to deal with the growing challenge of commercially available tools to hack into phones and steal information from computers. you're live with bbc news. tuesday marks the anniversary of turkey's deadliest earthquake. president erdogan is visiting the affected area. the earthquake a year ago, killed more than 53,000 people in the south—east of turkey. save the children says that one—third of those displaced are still homeless. aid organisations say substantial rebuilding remains to be done — with 85% of infrastructure, including schools and hospitals destroyed in the worst hit areas, like hatay province. and, 12 months after the disaster, debris is still being cleared, and many families are still living in tents and containers.

anna foster has this report. mohammed lost everything on the night of the earthquake. his parents, his home and his right arm and leg. a year later, he's active and full of energy. luckily, he's too young to remember much of the ordeal he went through. mohammed was the much loved first and only child of hasar, a pharmacist, and ahmad, who was an engineer. they fled from syria to turkey to escape the war. on the early morning of the 6th, mohammed and his family were asleep in their flat on the third floor of the building. and when the earthquake happened, the power of it destroyed the whole thing. each of those floors collapsed down into the one below, leaving just a huge pile of rubble. and mohammed was only found by rescuers five days later, wrapped in his father's arms.

since then, he's had hours of operations to try and repair his broken body. without a family, a succession of activists have taken care of him. right now, he's with jummah haidar, a doctor who works in a refugee camp. translation: there are some difficulties. sometimes he gets angry and cries, then starts banging his head on the floor. but in general, he is a social kid. he behaves the same way anyone his age would. he sleeps and plays like any other child. mostly he crawls on his arm and leg. his struggle will grow with him when he sees people walking on their feet while he only has one or using their arms while he can't. mohammed has just one surviving relative, his aunt manal, who was in saudi arabia when the quake happened.

but local turkish laws mean she struggled to take him out of the country or return herself to look after him. and that makes his future an uncertain one. the city of antakya where mohammed lived was one of the worst hit areas. 85% of its infrastructure was destroyed. homes, schools, hospitals gone. the clean—up is still going on. more than 300,000 new homes were promised, but less than a quarter have been built. the government says the scale of the task is making reconstruction slow. a year after the earthquake, mohammed remains a young boy surrounded by tragedy, a small example of the devastation that's still felt here every day. anna foster, bbc news, southern turkey.

now to the war in ukraine. conscription has recently been on ukrainians minds ? the army is short of soldiers, and people are divided over what to do about it. ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60 can t leave the country because they could be called up to fight ? and a new law is being prepared to close any loopholes. bbc newsnight�*s mark urban has the story. protestors shout. mothers and wives are marching in ukraine... they chant. ..calling on the government to send home hundreds of thousands of soldiers who've been fighting for nearly two years. yaroslava says that if her country is to win, fresh troops must replace those who've already given so much. we all understand that it will be a very long war. our soldiers who are fighting for two years, they deserve the time to be replaced by another one. and also, one of my goals also is to win in this game, and we cannot win with harmed

and tired and exhausted soldiers. so far, this is a small movement but it comes at a time when ukraine's generals and government are in dispute about how many people the army needs to conscript to fight during the coming year. people shout. on social media, campaigners share scenes of the public turning on soldiers who are looking for those dodging military service. this is happening as ukrainian mps are debating a bill to sort out military manning. this question...are for president, for parliament, for government and so on. i think sometimes we are trying to avoid these questions, and that's why this issue started to be very sensitive. the army has said it wants 500,000 new soldiers to replace the fallen, commemorated here, allow them to send home the battle—weary and to form new units. but parliament and government have

been reluctant to call up that many, fearing it will hit the economy and prove unpopular. so, in the end, generals always want numbers which impress people. but the most important element is different, the most important element is that as long as the people of ukraine believe that this country has to be defended, we will keep fighting. and as of now, i see the polls and i see the people want the country to continue defending itself. this is the place in boryspil, a suburb of kyiv, where local men are received for military service. the colonel running it explains the system, which still is largely paper—based and which thousands who don't want to serve are successfully dodging. he's hoping the new law will allow

them to summon recruits online. but the new law on military service hasn't been passed yet, let alone gone into effect, leaving questions about how many of the troops the ukrainian army needs will actually be available. so, the government has ended up with hundreds of thousands of exhausted soldiers who can't yet be demobilised and a need for hundreds of thousands more to replace them and maybe even expand the army. and without a solution to that any time soon, it will limit what they can do in the 2024 military campaign. it's just one of the reasons why president zelensky wants to reshuffle the army leadership. mark urban, bbc news, kyiv. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello again. there's some snow in the forecast for some of us in the next couple of days. what's happening is we have a weather front moving south bringing rain and behind the cold air is digging in and you can see throughout the day that the cold air pushes further south same overnight and into tomorrow, just the far south we have got the milder weather. 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 and behind it brightening up, wintry showers across the highlands and across shetland in particular we are going to see some significant snow today and also gales, so that snow will be blowing. the weather front continues to take the rains southward through the course of the night, lingering in the far south—west. clear skies follow on and then we have a plethora of snow showers crossing scotland and into northern ireland. we have the risk of ice and also frost and some of those snow showers will be falling at lower levels.

tomorrow we have the weather front draped across the south—west, but there will be a lot of dry weather, still a few wintry showers in the north but much lighter winds and it will 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 across the south—west bumps into the cold air in place and readily turns to snow. in the south it looks very much like it is going to be rain and blustery winds but you can see where we are expecting the snow showers to fall. the position and timing of this could still change but the met office has just updated the weather warning to a yellow weather warning. we have trimmed the southern extent of it and added northern ireland, so these areas are prone to two to five centimetres of snow, ten to 20 on the hills and it is valid from six in the morning on thursday until six in the morning on friday. if you're travelling, bear that in mind. what happens on thursday will have an impact

on what happens on friday, exactly where the low pressure is. we think it will try to pull off into the north sea but the weather fronts wrapped around it bringing in sleet, snow and also some rain. further south we will have some brighter conditions, but still a few showers around and in the south that we are in the milder air, ten, 11 and 12 but it will feel cold

better news in the pipeline? bp's annual profits plunge 50 % — as it struggles with lower oil prices and costly green investments. but the last three months are better than expected plus — europe's battle for net zero. brussels sets ambitious targets to reduce emissions — but will eu member states get on board? welcome to world business report. $13.8 billion, that's how much bp made last year. a huge number, but down 50% on the year before. the number came as the firm reported results for the last three months of 2023,

and they were much better than expected.