live from london, this is bbc news. syrian state media says at three people have been killed in an israeli strike on an apartment block in damascus. these are the latest pictures from the scene. the test launch of an unarmed trident missile — which holds the uk's nuclear warheads — fails, for the second time in a row. spanish farmers take their tractors to madrid's streets, joining colleagues across the eu in protesting against rising costs. hospitals in england could introduce martha's rule from april — giving easier access to an urgent second opinion, if a patient�*s condition gets worse. hello, i'm azadeh moshiri, welcome to the programme. we start with reports

coming in from syria. state media there say at least two people have been killed, after several israeli missiles hit the kafr sousa district in syria's capital, damascus. the neighbourhood is known to host several security agencies and was targeted in an israeli attack in february last year. our correspondent, jenny hill, is injerusalem with the latest. in the last half an hour or so, syrian media outlets are now saying three people have been killed in what they believed to have been an israeli strike on this district. you will have seen the pictures of the apartment block which appears to have been targeted. syrian media sources are saying that this particular building has been, in the past, frequented by senior iranians and hezbollah figures. we don't have very much more detail than that at this stage, certainly nothing from the israelis, who as you say, did almost actually a year ago exactly to the day target

this particular district, killing five people and reportedly iranian military experts. we will have to wait to see if there is any word from israel. the israeli troops have also not responded to accusations from the medical charity, doctors without borders, who say that overnight, two family members of their staff were killed and six other people injured in a strike on the place where they were sheltering, quite close to the city of khan younis in the south of the gaza strip. we have contacted the israeli authorities for a comment on that and are still waiting to hear from them. in the meantime, the bombardment of gaza has continued overnight. we know that the israelis have continued to strike targets around khan younis. but in gaza city, which is in the north of the strip, they have now told people in two particular neighbourhoods, in the centre of the city, to leave immediately for their own safety. meanwhile, there is still that

warning about an offensive in rafah and there has been some movement when it comes to un draft resolutions and vetoes, can you give us an update on that? yes, there has been a lot of outrage overnight from countries including china that the us vetoed a draft resolution put forward by algeria, calling for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. this comes amid huge international concern about the human cost of israel's military operation in response to the hamas attacks of october the 7th. worth pointing out, the uk abstained on that vote. the us and uk both say that actually what they would rather have as a temporary ceasefire and that is something which the us has proposed as an alternative draft resolution. they want israel, they want that resolution to call on israel to impose a temporary ceasefire as soon as is practically possible.

they are israel's closest ally, the us. they are increasingly alarmed at what is happening in gaza and they're particularly concerned about that planned ground offensive in the southern city of rafah, which at the moment is sheltering well overi million displaced palestinian civilians. their draft resolution also calls for restraint and calls on israel to rethink that plan at the moment, saying any ground offensive there would not only cause further harm and further displacement of civilians sheltering there, but would also jeopardise peace and security in the region. that's what has happened overnight at the un. we don't actually have a timetable for the us draft resolution. we expect it will be talked about in the coming days. in the meantime, israel has shown no sign of bowing to any of that international pressure, insisting that if hamas does not return its hostages within the next three weeks, it will go ahead with the attack on the southern city of rafah.

jenny, the us when it vetoed that resolution from algeria said it was concerned that it would jeopardise negotiations for a ceasefire, but has there been any word on progress on those diplomatic talks or negotiations? any word we have received has been pretty pessimistic. the qataris have been really driving those talks had said they were not looking good at all. having said that, the political leader of hamas is in cairo today for talks with an egyptian minister and the us has now despatched its senior middle east adviser to hold talks. expected in egypt today reportedly before moving on to israel later in the week. so there is certainly movement behind—the—scenes. whether it will result in the kind of arrangements whereby some kind of temporary ceasefire, release of hostages can be brokered at this stage remains to be seen.

that was jenny hill that wasjenny hill injerusalem. melanie ward is chief executive of medical aid for palestinians and told me the latest on the humanitarian situation in gaza. conditions in rafah, as across the whole of gaza, are absolutely desperate but rafah is particularly serious so overcrowded and this is because early on in this war, the israeli military told palestinians in gaza to move to the south, encouraged them to move to the south and particularly to rafah in the belief this would be a safe place to be. so there are overi million people crowded into gaza right now. there's not enough shelter for them. we as humanitarians are unable to provide the right kind of shelter because it's almost impossible to get the right amount of aid supplies in. people are crowded into the streets, they are fashioning shelters out of anything they can find. in some cases, the israeli military have removed the tent poles so people are trying to build tents out of pieces of wood, pieces of nylon. they're not weatherproof.

the vast overcrowding means that prices of anything available have rapidly shot up and there's not enough food to start with. so my own staff don't have enough to eat. they and their children have all lost weight. because of the unhygienic conditions, children have lice and things like nappies are as expensive as $40 or more for a packet. so people cannot afford these things. right. conditions are absolutely desperate and everyone is terrified about an offensive on rafah. where are they supposed to go? there is nowhere that is safe to go. apologies for interrupting, i just want to flag we are showing some pictures on air right now. the world health organization and un doctors were given access by the israeli army to the nasser hospital complex and that is of course after an israeli raid there and one un doctor actually called it

a death zone and right now in those pictures, we can see doctors evacuating patients by torchlight. could you tell us broadly what the healthcare system actually looks like right now in gaza? there are no functioning hospitals left in gaza. this is the most dangerous place in the world to be a civilian. almost 30,000 people killed, over 70,000 injured and there is not a single functioning hospital because health care has been systematically dismantled. asa as a reminder, the israel defense forces has told the bbc it does not attack hospitals but rather enters specific areas to neutralise hamas�* infrastructure. melanie ward was talking about the consequences of the war on the health care system there. more reporting and analysis on our bbc news website and app, so you can find out more there. now, a test firing of a trident

missile from a royal navy submarine has failed — and for the second time in a row. the ministry of defence has insisted that the system used to carry britain's nuclear warheads remains "safe, secure and effective." from outside the ministry of defence, our news correspondent louisa pilbeam told us more about it. this is a concerning incident and it's embarrassing for the ministry of defence and for the uk government here. that's because this is the nuclear capability of the uk. it's the most powerful weaponry that the country has. its last line of defence in order to protect itself. things have not go well in terms of these tests. what we know is that this test was carried out at the end of last month on the east coast of the us and a royal navy submarine launched a missile, a nuclear missile, that was unarmed for this test. and this was meant to be launched into the middle of the atlantic, in between brazil and the west coast of africa but it actually ended up going into the sea right

by the royal navy submarine. so a complete disaster in terms of that test, but the ministry of defence here, i have spoken to them this morning and they had said to me that this was an anomaly, as they're calling it, in terms of the test. they're basically saying that if this was an aerial situation, wouldn't have happened. they say it was "event specific". they say they are no implications for the reliability of the wider trident missile system. the trident system is the uk's nuclear missiles, those submarines that are dotted around in secret locations around the world and as you mentioned, it is the second time that this has happened. the first missile went off course, that was also unarmed, as they are in these situations, but it is embarrassing because it's the way that the uk's defence is portrayed to the world.

but as i say, the ministry of defence, they're saying that this was a test that meant that it is only in terms of... it's not a real situation, basically. they're saying this was a specific incident that happened within this test environment and that we shouldn't be worried in terms of the uk for our safety. hamish de bretton gordon, a former british army colonel, and a chemical and nuclear weapons expert, told me more about how this information can affect the government. it is certainly embarrassing. this sort of information should never be in the public domain. i gather the ministry of defence will be looking at how it leaked out. also, thejournalists who published the story need to think about whether it was in the best interests of this country, because nuclear deterrents is all about perception and if putin now believes that the british

nuclear deterrent doesn't work, then that will guide his thinking. i also find it rather strange that the person responsible for the defence of britain, the defence secretary grant shapps, who was at the bottom of the ocean in recent days, when the threat of russia has never been higher and the middle east is about to explode but when it comes to the reliability of trident, it is an old weapon. 30 years old. it is due to be replaced fairly soon but probably as politicians and others can't comment, when you fire inert missiles and inert weapons, there are always intrinsic problems that you never get with the real thing. when you consider a vanguard submarine has 16 trident nuclear missiles on it, each one probably has a warhead with about 100 kilotonnes, which would flatten moscow, actually, this is a embarrassment rather than detriment to defence in this country.

but it sort of underwrites, we have heard a lot about the beleaguered british army and the ministry of defence short of funding. it really underwrites that, with the threat so high at the moment, that you clearly described in the middle east, and we know what is happening in ukraine as well, it is essential our defence is up to defending this country and the nuclear part of it is key to that. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. thousands ofjunior doctors across wales have begun a three—day strike in their latest action in a pay dispute. the strike means thousands of appointments and operations have been cancelled. it is the second walk out by doctors since january, who said they have effectively lost about a third of their pay in the last 15 years. the doctors�* union, the bma, says the welsh government's offer of a 5% increase is the worst in the uk.

hundreds of people have been forced to leave their homes in plymouth after what's thought to be an unexploded second world war bomb was discovered in a garden. police say a 200 metre cordon could be in place for up to 36 hours, while bomb disposal experts try to make the device safe. actor ewen macintosh, best known for playing keith in classic british comedy the office, has died at the age of 50. the series�* co—creator ricky gervais has paid tribute to macintosh, writing on x platform, previusly known as twitter, that he was "an absolute original." you're watching bbc news. supporters of pakistan's former prime minister, imran khan, have described their political rivals as thieves for agreeing to form a government. after long negotiations, asif ali zardari, from the centre left pakistan people's party and shehbaz sharif from the centre right pakistan muslim league party, have reached a deal to set up a coalition.

independent candidates loyal to mr khan — who's currently in jail — won the most seats in this month's elections, but failed to secure a majority. they say the vote was rigged. the deal between the two parties means shehbaz sharif is likely to be prime minister for a second time. 0ur south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan, told me more about that coalition deal. both of these main political parties in pakistan have been negotiating for the past ten days to reach a deal on forming a coalition government after the elections on the 8th of february resulted in a hung assembly. basically, nobody got a majority. according to this deal, shehbaz sharif, the younger brother of the former president, will be the prime minister candidate and asif ali zardari, one of the senior leaders of the pakistan people's party, will become president. this is all happening at a time when

supporters of the former prime minister imran khan have been alleging a massive state state staged electoral fraud. alleging a massive state state staged electoralfraud. they want alleging a massive state state staged electoral fraud. they want a majority of seats. they say that they won even two thirds of the majority but the government and election commission strongly denied these accusations of vote tampering. so that leaves us with these two parties, they came second and third. so what the supporters of mr khan say is these parties have been rejected by the people in early elections earlier this month, so how can they have a legitimate government? so even though these two parties canjoin a government? so even though these two parties can join a government, whether it will be stable, that will be a big question.— whether it will be stable, that will be a big question. there has been at least one senior _ be a big question. there has been at least one senior civil— be a big question. there has been at least one senior civil servant - be a big question. there has been at least one senior civil servant who - least one senior civil servant who has resigned over their own claims that this vote, these votes were rigged, can you tell us more about that? ., rigged, can you tell us more about that? . ., , ., , rigged, can you tell us more about

that? . ., , , ., ., that? that was a very sensational claim by one _ that? that was a very sensational claim by one of— that? that was a very sensational claim by one of the _ that? that was a very sensational claim by one of the senior- claim by one of the senior government officials. he was talking about how this election was rigged in particular constituencies that created a lot of headlines in the pakistani media over the weekend. since then, the government, as well as the election commission, have strongly rejected those allegations but again, it goes back to these allegations made by supporters of mr khan. this will continue to haunt both the government and the election commission, because pakistan needs a stability at this time, when the inflation is around 28%. there is increasing militant violence in the north—west of the country and then the cost of living crisis is affecting people. so everyone wants to see a government in pakistan, even though the military is also backing this new arrangement. but the people, they want to see the economy grow, their problems being solved and they don't want this political instability to continue.

but that is why supporters of mr khan say you are not respecting the people's mandate and we will not accept this government, so this will continue for a while. at the same time, it is imperative on the pakistani parties to provide this economic stability to people to solve their problems. farmers are protesting across the european union, saying they're facing rising costs and taxes, red tape and competition from cheap food imports. and today, spanish protesters are taking their tractors onto the streets of madrid. farmers complain of what they call "suffocating bureaucracy" drawn up in brussels. let's speak to our correspondent, guy hedgecoe, in madrid. ican i can see there is a lot of activity behind you, what are we expecting today? behind you, what are we expecting toda ? , . , ., behind you, what are we expecting toda ? , ., , ., ., today? these farmers who are here in central madrid _ today? these farmers who are here in central madrid right _ today? these farmers who are here in central madrid right now, _ today? these farmers who are here in central madrid right now, most - today? these farmers who are here in central madrid right now, most of - central madrid right now, most of them arrived by bus this morning. but there are several hundred tractors which have been outside the

city overnight and i are driving into central madrid as we speak. although there are some reports that the police are stopping at least of the police are stopping at least of the tractors, so we don't know how many are going to arrive in the centre. but the aim of these protesters, they say, is to bring madrid to a standstill. so central madrid to a standstill. so central madrid where i am is pretty much at a standstill. the traffic is not circulating and the outskirts of the grid are also being disrupted as well. later on, protesters plan to go to the agriculture ministry, not farfrom here. most of go to the agriculture ministry, not far from here. most of them will be walking up there but at least some tractors could get up to the ministry itself is that we can hear the honking behind you and we have been hearing that for quite a few weeks across europe.— been hearing that for quite a few weeks across europe. these are not the only farmers — weeks across europe. these are not the only farmers protesting - weeks across europe. these are not the only farmers protesting these i the only farmers protesting these days. what are the bigger concerns they have across europe? i suppose

they have across europe? i suppose the bi est they have across europe? i suppose the biggest concern _ they have across europe? i suppose the biggest concern they _ they have across europe? i suppose the biggest concern they have - they have across europe? i suppose the biggest concern they have and l the biggest concern they have and one which they share with their european counterparts are the european counterparts are the european farming regulations which are in place. farmers here say they are in place. farmers here say they are too strict, particular with regard for example to environmental controls. they say they are much too strict and create red tape, they push up the costs for farmers and their countries from outside the european union don't have to observe such strict regulations and are able to undercut spanish and other farmers. that is the claim they make. what they want to see is much more flexibility from the european union on the controls that are in place for them and tighter controls for countries outside the european union, for example, north africa or elsewhere, countries elsewhere in the world. those are the main broad complaints they have but there are a range of other complaints as well. thank you so much. di will be outside there throughout the day for us with more updates. —— guy will be

outside. well as we mentioned, farmers are protesting all over the world for various reasons and in india, police have fired teargas on them. it comes after they resumed their march on capital after four rounds of talks with the federal government failed to end the deadlock. authorities have thrown up barricades to keep protesters away from delhi, but they were preparing to push past barriers using bulldozers and earthmovers. we can get some of the day�* at the news now. two men have been charged with murder in connection with the shooting at a super bowl victory parade inthe us state of kansas last week. police say the violence, which left one person dead and 22 wounded, was sparked by an argument involving the pair. two teenagers have already been charged with separate offences, including resisting arrest and breaking gun laws. american prosecutors say a longtime fbi informant charged with lying about corruption allegations involving president biden has russian intelligence contacts. alexander smirnov is accused of claiming bribes were paid

tojoe biden and his son. an american youtuber who gave harsh parenting advice to millions of followers has been jailed for child abuse. ruby franke had already admitted starving and torturing her six children. she's been given a prison term of up to 60 years by a court in utah. herformer business partner, jodi hildebrandt, received the same sentence. the former president of honduras, juan 0rlando hernandez, has appeared in court in new york at the start of his trial on drug—smuggling charges. mr hernandez is accused of being the key player in a group which trafficked about 500 tonnes of cocaine into the us. he denies wrongdoing. the nhs in england will begin to introduce martha's rule from april — giving access to rapid critical care reviews if a patient�*s condition worsens in hospital. the scheme is named after 13—year—old martha mills, who died from sepsis when doctors failed to respond to her parents' concerns.

0ur health correspondent, sophie hutchinson, reports. it was in 2021 at king's college hospital in london that martha's parents went through the agony of watching their daughter deteriorate while their concerns were ignored by staff. she'd fallen off her bike, injured her pancreas and developed sepsis. but she never received the life—saving treatment she needed. merope mills, her mother, has fought hard for this initiative, martha's rule, and says it will save lives. since martha's death, i've said to people who've gone into hospital, if you're worried, if you think something is going wrong, you should scream the ward down because that's what i didn't do. and i regret it, i will regret it for the rest of my days. but the very existence of martha's rule says you don't need to scream the ward down. what you need to do is call this number because you've got martha's rule.

martha's rule will be an escalation process in england, which will allow patients, families and nhs staff to call for a rapid review from an independent critical care team 2a hours a day if they want an urgent second opinion. nhs england says at least 100 hospitals, that's two thirds of those with critical care units, can now apply for funding for awareness schemes, which may include printing posters and information leaflets. but questions remain about whether the initiative will be standardised across hospitals and if it will continue to be called martha's rule. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. for uk viewers, you can listen to martha's mother talking about the new rule on bbc radio 4's today programme in a few minutes timejust after 10:30am. a treat for beatles fans because it marks 60 years since their first single was released in the united states and it kicked off the

worldwide phenomena known as beatlemania. now the group are being honoured with their own bio pics, all four of them. the oscar—winning do director sam mendes who made sky foreland 1917 will do director sam mendes who made sky foreland1917 will be making four separate teams about their meteoric rise from the perspective of each member. a pioneering european satellite is set to fall back down to earth later today. the second earth remote sensing satellite, described as one of the "grandfathers of earth observation", has been gradually descending since it stopped operating in 2011, and will finally fall into the earth's atmosphere some time today. the european space agency say most of the two—tonne satellite will burn up on the way down. there is more in all of those stories on our website, as well as the bbc news app. please stay with us here on bbc news. there is plenty more to come.

hello again. the weather today is pretty wet and windy. all of the rain will be pushing northward and eastward throughout the day. behind it, we are looking at a mixture of bright spells and some showers but some of the showers will be heavy and thundery. and we are looking at strong winds and we can use the same forecast for tomorrow as well. this is the rainfall accumulation chart, where you see the dark blues, this is where we could have rainfall up to 50 millimetres. in south wales, up to 50 millimetres. in south wales, up to 70 millimetres of rainfall in the next couple of days. this is the track it has been taking, pushing northward and eastward. severe gales across the northern isles, brightening up behind it but still a lot of showers and some of those heavy and thundery and wintry on the hills. these black circles you can see represent the strength of the wind gusts, is widespread gales.

temperatures today above average for the time of year, 7—13 degrees but when you add on the strength of the wind, the showers and all the rain, it will feel cooler than that. through this evening and overnight, a band of rain pushes across the english channel and areas adjacent to it and a new active weather front bringing in heavy rain, potentially thundery with some hail and some wintry showers down to 200 metres in the highlands. a cold night in the north, milder in the south. that is how we start tomorrow, with the weather front continuing to drift eastwards. it is bringing rain with it and around it, still in the mild airfor a time it and around it, still in the mild airfora time but it and around it, still in the mild airfor a time but as the it and around it, still in the mild air for a time but as the weather front pulls away, all of us will be in the colder air. here is the weather front continuing to drift southwards and eastwards. behind it, some brighter skies, some showers, some brighter skies, some showers, some of those wintry on the hills and western areas and we are still looking at gales through the english channel. it will also be windy across east anglia. but look at the

difference in the temperatures. 4—8 north to south, compared to the double figures we have been used to a plate. moving on into friday, still a lot of dry weather around but also still a good scattering of showers and because we are now all in the colder air, what you will find is a lot of those showers will be wintry on the hills, almost anywhere in the uk, temperatures 6-10. anywhere in the uk, temperatures 6—10. then into the weekend, it remains unsettled. there will be some rain at times, possibly some showers but equally, some dry conditions, too.

this is bbc news, the headlines... syrian state media says at three people have been killed in an israeli strike on an apartment block in damascus. these are the latest pictures from the scene. the test launch of an unarmed trident missile, which holds the uk's nuclear warheads, fails for the second time in a row. rivals of the imprisoned former pakistani prime minister imran khan agree to form a coalition government, his supporters call them thieves. and the beatles are getting a fab four films made about them, a biopic for each member. parliament will vote later today on the call

the appeal continues for wikileaks founderjulian assange