that comes as israel orders a plan to evacuate rafah in the south of the gaza strip, ahead of an expected ground invasion. and although the votes continue to be counted in pakistan both candidates have claimed victory in thursday's general elections. hello. i'm carl nasman. we start with a number of developments coming out of the middle east. on friday, israel intercepted dozens of rockets fired from lebanon. the iran—backed hezbollah movement said the strikes were in response to attacks in its south. meanwhile, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu ordered the military to plan civilian evacuations from the city of rafah, ahead of an expanded offensive in its war in gaza. of the nearly two million people who live

—— of the nearly two million people who live in gaza, more than 80% are now displaced. the majority have gone to rafah. palestinian authorities say that two years ago, rafah�*s population was an estimated 260,000 people. it now stands at 1.4 million. rafah is the last major city israli troops have yet to enter. the announcement drew international concern, with un chief antonio guterres calling it alarming, writing on x that "such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences." the white house warned it would not support operations in the city, calling an unplanned invasion a disaster. 0ur international editor jeremy bowen has this report, and a warning —

it has some distressing images from the start. israel bombed rafah again. a family ran to get medical aid for a child who was already dead. round 1.2 million palestinian civilians have crammed into rafa h. this man said thousands more would be killed, if the israelis moved their troops in. "the kids can't sleep," he said. "they are terrified and so are adults." hunger and illness are spreading in makeshift camps flooded with pools of sewage. the lines of plastic tents go on for miles. the aid operation is led by unrwa, the beleaguered un agency for palestinian refugees. it says an israeli offensive into rafah would have terrible consequences. —— such a military operation would add an additional apocalyptic layer in the gaza strip. apocalyptic? that is a very strong word. it's a strong word, but if you talk about already 5% of the population having been either killed or injured and then you conduct a military operation in this place, you can only add an additional disastrous layer of tragedy, and this needs absolutely

to be avoided. unrwa has sacked a dozen employees israel says took part in the october 7 attacks. after four months of war, the stresses are very evident. there are the very serious allegations hanging over this agency, unrwa, who are the main provider of humanitarian aid to the people of gaza, and there is israel's seeming determination to extend the military offensive into the town of rafah, despite the opposition of its most important ally, the us, who say that innocent civilians have suffered enough. those comments will only deepen the suspicions of unrwa among government supporters, like this retired general the former deputy head of the armed forces. unrwa is a terrorist organisation. we will find a way with our civil administration to give the people medicine, food, etc.

that is an occupation. the other possibility is to give it back to the hamas and unrwa, and to face again another seven 0ctober. we will never agree to it. he went off to join protesters, mostly religious nationalists, whose views on gaza are shared by many, if not most israelis. urging the government to ignore its critics, including the world court, which is investigating plausible accusations it says of genocide in gaza, as well asjoe biden. one of the placards said "it's simple — them or us". jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu remains adamanant the war can only end if hamas is eliminated, and that means eliminating four hamas

battalions in rafah. earlier, my colleague sumi somoskanda spoke to former israeli defense forces spokesman liutenant colonel jonathan conricus about israel's strategy. it is an interesting move politically driven from the us perspective. those of the restrictions and limitations that existed before that the us has on providing military aid, so don't really think there is anything new of substance. of course, the declaration is of importance and is well abides by international law and israel has been providing tens of thousands of trucks going into gaza of humanitarian aid. added it would be difficult for israel to sign off on it. you said it came _ israel to sign off on it. you said it came about - israel to sign off on it. you said it came about because of political pressure. there are a lot of those of congress concerned about the israeli military operation in gaza. if you look at the numbers, more than 27,000 killed. right now,

— according to the hamas run health ministry, so hamas officials. about 1.7 million people displaced. aid organisations have said the flow of aid hasn't been forthcoming and has been enough to make sure that people are supplied. to make sure that people are su lied. , ., to make sure that people are su--lied. , . , supplied. there is a problem with aid- _ supplied. there is a problem with aid. one _ supplied. there is a problem with aid. one problem - supplied. there is a problem with aid. one problem is- supplied. there is a problem| with aid. one problem is that hamas is stealing it, harbouring it for themselves, or selling it at horrible, three or 400% price. in gaza, to gazans. even when it is labelled "intended for aid, not to be sold". yes there are problems, but israel has been providing both egypt first and now through israel, 136 israelis are being held in gaza and humanitarian aid is going on. yes, the hostages are inside gaza get israel is still providing humanitarian aid. many in israel including families think that that is an absolute travesty. the other

-iece absolute travesty. the other iece of absolute travesty. the other piece of information - absolute travesty. the other piece of information of- absolute travesty. the other piece of information of news that we saw is the prime minister ordered and evacuation of rafah, where many went to at the side of the occupation. where are the gazans supposed to go to? where are the gazans supposed to no to? ., , , where are the gazans supposed toaoto? ., , , ., to go to? ideally they would have gone — to go to? ideally they would have gone where _ to go to? ideally they would have gone where israel- to go to? ideally they would l have gone where israel would have gone where israel would have asked them to go in the early stages of the walk when i was still in uniform. to early stages of the walk when i was still in uniform.— was still in uniform. to rafah? no, to a humanitarian - was still in uniform. to rafah? no, to a humanitarian zone - no, to a humanitarian zone which is realised to have in the north—eastern part of khan younis where hamas doesn't have infrastructure. that is where israel is to have a humanitarian zone. nearly 2 million people? _ humanitarian zone. nearly 2 million people? much - humanitarian zone. nearly 2 | million people? much better than being — million people? much better than being in _ million people? much better than being in rafah - million people? much better than being in rafah and - million people? much better| than being in rafah and khan younis. if unrwa had agreed to actually create a humanitarian zone there which israel said "we're not going to strike there because hamas has no infrastructure there, so it would the safest place to be" — arguably much better than being

in rafah. ., , the view from the israeli side. we have also had palestinian reaction to those plans to move people from rafah, including from noura erakat — a human rights attorney and a palestinian american professor. as much as it isn't surprising because israel has made its intent clear, it's war cabinet has made its intent clearfrom the very beginning, in the first week of october seven, it told us that its goal is to de— populate gaza. they have equated the decimation of hamas, which they can't achieve militarily, with the depopulation of the entire gaza strip. we have seen a pattern and practice of that. they moved below the line from the north, moved into khan younis, didn't provide them so quarter, they have now removed them to another area they have been provided so quarter. there are now 1.5 million of the 2.2 million in the gaza strip, in rafah, that are told that they do not have safe quarter. there is a pattern and practice

indicating that israel is aiming to depopulate the gaza strip in the name of decimating hamas. it's emerged that some israeli soldiers have been posting content online showing palestinian detainees which legal experts say could be in breach of international law. bbc verify�*s merlyn thomas has more. since israel's military response to the october 7 attacks, our investigation has found several videos on social media sites like tiktok and youtube all leading to the accounts of israeli soldiers. this is the front line of israel's war with gaza. solders have been documenting their time in an active warzone, posting content on social media. some of those videos show palestinian detainees. we've identified several of the soldiers uploading these videos and the locations they were posted from in gaza.

this is one of the videos we've analysed. it was uploaded onto youtube by an idf soldier. detainees stripped to their underwear in a sports stadium in northern gaza. some kneeling and blindfolded. one of the soldiers in the video is a lieutenant colonel, which we identified by the insignia on his uniform, suggesting he is aware that filming is taking place. he also uploaded another video where a soldier is seen interrogating a man stripped to his underwear and bleeding. he is then walked through the streets of gaza barefoot. the idf said the soldier who posted the video has been fired, and that the detainee has been released. we've shown this footage to human rights experts, who say the filming of detainees and publication of such videos may breach international law. warfare in the information age gives us unique access to the front line. but for some, this conflict is simply a backdrop for their social media content. we asked the israel defence force for its comment about each of these incidents, but it hasn't come back to us yet. to pakistan, where candidates

backed byjailed former prime minister, imran khan, defied expectations in thursday's election. while votes are still being counted, mr khan's candidates have so far secured more seats in the national assembly than those backed by nawaz sharif, also a former prime minister. from lahore, our pakistan correspondent carrie davies reports. celebrations on the streets of lahore. imran khan's candidates have won more seats than anyone else this election so far. but his supporters think they should have won more. accusing the other side of vote—rigging, which they deny. there are complications. because the election commission doesn't recognise khan's party, all of his candidates ran as an independent, and other parties are already talking about trying to absorb them. if in a few weeks' time, we suddenly hear that you have left the independence group and you're part of a party,

what should we think? it would be the last day of my life. i mean, i cannot even think of, conceive of such a thing. i have said that all these votes, they have not been casted for me, they have casted for imran khan. celebrations on the other side, too. nawaz sharif�*s party were thought favoured by pakistan's powerful military establishment. normally, that would mean they won. this gathering has political speeches, there's been music, there's even been fireworks. it feels like a victory parade, but the election results aren't finalised. sharif�*s party have fewer seats than khan. they need alliances. translation: as we don't have a majority to form - a government on our own, we are going to invite allies to come and join us and form a coalition government.

not to be outdone, an ai version ofjailed imran khan was released by his team, claiming victory. wranglings and deals are still to be done. pakistan has voted — who will rule is still far from clear. caroline davies, bbc news, lahore. it's carnival in brazil the annual festival that sees millions of travellers to the country. the party has been soured by an unwanted guest. hundreds of party—goers have flooded the streets of rio dejaniero by a surge in dengue fever. 53 people have died from the mosquito—borne disease, prompting a public health emergency.

—— rio dejaneiro despite. on friday, brazil became the first country to provide a new vaccine against it — though it will initially only be given to children aged ten and eleven. despite the rise in cases, residents say they're not shying away from the big party. it isn't easy, but what we can we do? we canjust care it isn't easy, but what we can we do? we can just care about the water, our houses, but here at carnival, it isn't a big problem, because it isjust about the party, and the mosquitoes — what can we do about it, right? the party goes on. russian president vladimir putin's highly anticipated interview with conservative us media personality tucker carlson aired on thursday. the interview, which was recorded tuesday, marks the first time the russian leader has agreed to an interview with a western media outlet since he launched his full—scale invasion of ukraine. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg says president putin revealed nothing new. hard—hitting it wasn't. are we having a talk show or a serious conversation? laughter but it was the first time vladimir putin has sat down with a western media personality since his full—scale invasion of ukraine.

and he used the tucker carlson interview to send a message to the west. "stop arming ukraine, you won't defeat russia." translation: wouldn't it be better to negotiate - with russia, make an agreement, already understanding the situation that is developing today, realising that russia will fight for its interest to the end? i'll give you these documents. 0ne bizarre moment. a present from putin — some 17th—century documents and a lecture on 1,000 years of russian history. judging by how often his face is on russian tv, it's little surprise the kremlin chose tucker carlson for this interview. the conservative commentator from the us is a controversial figure. much of what he says matches the kremlin's anti—liberal world view.

most americans have no idea why putin invaded ukraine. ahead of the interview, tucker carlson claimed that since the russian invasion not a single western journalist had bothered trying to speak to putin. wrong there. in december, i spent four hours trying, and failing, to ask president putin a question. and the kremlin has turned down several bbc bids for an interview. for president putin, this was a platform for transmitting to the west his narrative on the war in ukraine. according to that narrative, russia is completely innocent here, the war is the fault of the west, and for more than two hours he was able toe do that pretty much unchallenged. —— to do. this guy is obviously not a spy — he's a kid. but tucker carlson did ask about evan gershkovich, the respected us reporter jailed in russia on espionage charges. president putin hinted that moscow would be interested

in an prisoner exchange, swapping mr gershkovich for a russian assassin convicted in germany. but no questions on war crimes, or domestic repression in russia. instead, two hours of the world according to vladimir putin. steve rosenberg, bbc news. well, meanwhile, the war in ukraine is reaching a grim two—year anniversary at the end of this month. russia and ukraine have launched fierce counter—offensives against one another, and yet much less land has changed hands this second year compared to the first. the bbc�*s analysis editor ros atkins has been looking at three locations on the front line and what they tell us about the conflict. it's almost two years since russia's invasion of ukraine, and the war has all but ground to a halt. this is the front—line a year ago marked in blue. this is the front—line now. it's hardly moved. in 2022, the first year of the war, 130,000 square kilometres of territory changed hands between russia and ukraine. in 2023, it was 900.

and this isn't through a lack of trying. last year, there was a major counteroffensive from ukraine, and russia has made moves, too. but a breakthrough hasn't come. and to understand why, bbc verify�*s looked at three locations. they're all on the front—line. first, robotyne. it's a small village that was retaken by ukraine last summer. it's important because it's close to russia's supply line to crimea. russia annexed crimea in 2014. it's a vital location on the black sea. but while ukraine retook robotyne, it hasn't been able to advance, which highlights our first reason the war isn't moving. one of the things that has been underestimated are russian defences. so i think underestimating those defences has been one part of why there hasn't been a major breakthrough. the white lines on this map show russia's multiple defences south of robotyne.

these include anti—tank defences known as dragon's teeth and landmines, too. the depth of russia's defences is one of the reasons the war has slowed. another can be seen in the village of krynky. it's in territory controlled by russia on the eastern side of the dnipro river. and after months of trying, ukrainian forces managed to cross the water and take part of krynky. but again, they struggled to push on. not least because technology is dominating. both sides are using weaponised drones known as uavs. this ukrainian video shows a russian soldier being monitored by a drone and then attacked. russia uses drones extensively, too, just as both sides use artillery extensively. and all of this technology is shaping the war. the impact on restricting movement, pinning troops in place, of the large volumes of artillery fire, particularly now from the russian side,

with ukraine getting increasingly short of that ammunition, but also lots and lots of sort of first—person uavs, is making it very hard to generate offence momentum without huge casualties, the strength of the weaponry, the strength of russia's defences. those are two reasons the war slowed. 0ur third location is avdiivka. it's a town close to the russian—held city of donetsk, and there's been fierce fighting there for months. it's mostly held by ukraine. but again, progress has been elusive, not least because of how many troops russia has. translation: every day there are new forces, - regardless of the weather, regardless of anything, of losses. and the losses are very heavy. the us estimates that 13,000 russian troops were killed or wounded just in this part of the front line between october and december last year. russia is able to sustain these losses in part because prisoners, such as these men, are being released en masse to fight. russia's ability to continue

despite these losses of men and equipment is one factor in avdiivka. there's another two. translation: we don't | have enough ammunition, u nfortu nately. we are outnumbered in everything. more broadly, ukraine's defence minister says a shortage of ammunition is a very real and pressing problem. and this lack of ammunition connects to a final factor — the decline in military aid from the west. this month, the eu signed off $53 billion worth of military aid. last month, the uk pledged £2.5 billion worth. that's over $3 billion. but in washington, new funding is yet to be approved, and as a whole, western military aid dropped sharply in the later months of last year. if that continues, the war may start moving again, but not as the west would want. it's really critical that western leaders understand that they need to act quickly to stop this becoming a scenario where, far from a stalemate, the russians

are actually starting to really make offensive progress again. maybe the us will deliver new funding, but underneath this issue, there's an uncomfortable truth. even if the money is there and even if you ramp up the production, it doesn't mean that you can outcompete russia at this stage. all of which means that ukraine, at vast cost, is pursuing a victory which, for now, appears out of reach. but it fights on. this year's super bowl will see the kansas city chiefs take on the san francisco 49ers in las vegas on sunday. but while there is the usual excitement about the game, the half—time entertainment — many pre—game headlines are about a celebrity who may not even attend. 0ur north america correspondent nomia iqbal reports. it's one of the most watched sporting event in the world. more than 1.5 million people tune in to the super bowl every year.

but the person dominating the headlines isn't in the football line—up or even performing at half—time. the romance of pop icon taylor swift and football superstar travis kelsey means it might as well be renamed the taylor swift bowl. if you think she was dominating the grammys, wait till next sunday. betting on the game, i'd say, of course, bet on taylor swift. in kansas city it is the perfect collision of the two things they love, taylor and football, for this family. four—year—old ella is a dedicated swiftie. tell me about what you want to be when you grow up. i want to be taylor. you want to be taylor? yeah. ijust think she is

wholesome and she really does seem like a genuine person and that she just loves her fans a lot as well. she has always been this huge star, but then i think, you know, by her being in kansas city and going to the chiefs games, it made her a more relatable human. the taylor swift effect is in full force, notjust in kansas city but across the country. i love it because i love taylor swift. her current music tour is already boosting the us economy by billions, and some believe she is getting new fans interested in the nfl. you know, we were able to double sales from last year, and it was bigger than any time the chiefs won the super bowl. but the swift effect doesn't stop at music and football — one of the words most prestigious universities is analysing her impact. we've got an announcement. we've come to harvard to find out why students think she is worth studying alongside some of english literature's greatest writers. we should offer courses organised around songwriting as an art form.

and so as a part of the goal of this course is to recognise taylor as a major songwriter and see why the songs work as they do, but another part is to say, "hey, this is connected to wordsworth." a great opportunity to not only study her songwriting but her media influence on how she has had such a great impact on our generation and the generation she grew up with and having such a massive impact on the world. but with all that power there are questions of whether the pop star can politically enthuse the country. she hasn't endorsed anyone for the us election — yet. # you need to calm down # but at the moment for most people it is really just about the music. oh, and the football. nomia iqbal, bbc news, kansas city. tennis with bringing in a new generation of football fans just in time for the super bowl. i'm carl nasman. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. there's still plenty of standing water from the heavy rain on thursday coupled with a snow melt, of course.

here's a flooded park in warwickshire as captured by one of our weather watchers. bright skies, but lots of water on the ground, and there are still a number of flood warnings in place across england and wales. the good news is it should be a much drier weekend of weather, but with low pressure still close by, we're still likely to see some showers and indeed some longer spells of rain here and there at times. now, you can see on the pressure chart here that warm front just pushing northwards across the north of scotland. this is where the colder air is being displaced to, but still some snow falling on the tops of the hills towards the far north of scotland as we head through the rest of the night. we'll still see temperatures here dip below freezing. but this is generally how we're starting off on saturday morning. it's a colder, drier start to the day across the south of england and wales. some patches of mist and fog here, some hill fog further north where we'll keep all of that low cloud in that now milder—feeling air. so still some strong, gusty winds across the far north of scotland. elsewhere, the winds are lighter, still some wintriness for caithness and sutherland. but further south, there'll be lots of cloud for northern ireland, though, northern england, much of england and wales. in fact, there will be some sunshine developing —

watch out for some showers towards the west, maybe. and these will be the temperatures to end the afternoon. it's turned a lot milder now across scotland, 12 celsius in the south of england. low pressure approaches the far southwest, the winds will pick up here, some showers and some longer spells of rain just creeping into the south—east of england and east anglia as we head towards the end of the day on saturday. that area of low pressure is set to spin its way further northwards towards parts of eastern scotland as we head through the day on sunday. so it's always going to be cloudier towards eastern coastal areas with, again, some outbreaks of rain at times, a good scattering of showers further west, but also some brighter skies. the winds picking up and temperatures a little lower for many towards the south, but, of course, higherfurther north. now, as we head into monday, we're back to more northwesterly winds. the air is going to feel colder, and some of these showers could turn out to be a little wintry, particularly over the higher ground towards the north and the west, feeling a little chillier for most with a bit of added wind chill to factor in as well. but by the time we get to tuesday and wednesday,

those temperatures will be picking up again with some milder air, an atlantic influence, and there will be some more showers in the forecast at times.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines

and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. in september 2014, 43 students disappeared from passenger buses in the mexican town of iguala, guerrero. translation from spanish: they were in police custody and then they're just gone. the federal government took charge of the case. police started finding many places with clandestine graves. it was just horrifying. just three months after the disappearance, the government announced they had solved the case.

we were analysing the evidence. it wasjust not matching the official story.