live from washington, this is bbc news. a member of israel's war cabinet hints at progress in ceasefire talks, even as the country's lawmakers reject the idea of a palestinian state. the unrest in gaza leads to scenes of upheaval in the british parliament. mps walked out in protest over a vote on whether to call for a ceasefire. and brazil's foreign minister opens the 620 meeting in rio by criticising the paralysis of the un security council, on the wars in gaza and ukraine. hello, i'm helena humphrey. we begin in the middle east. as international pressure mounts on israel to account for its actions in gaza, members of the israeli parliament the knesset, have overwhelmingly backed a resolution by prime minister benjamin netanyahu that rejects any unilateral recognition

of a palestinian state. netanyhahu's likud party says 99 out of 120 members voted to support the declaration passed earlier this week by the israeli cabinet. this could put netanyahu at odds with the position of us presidentjoe biden, who has repeatedly expressed his wish for a two—state solution to the decades—long conflict. the people of israel and their elected representatives are united today as never before. the knesset voted overwhelmingly to oppose any attempt to unilaterally impose a palestinian state on israel. such an attempt will only endanger israel and will prevent the genuine peace that we all seek. peace can only be achieved after we achieve total victory over hamas and through direct negotiations between the parties — direct negotiations without preconditions. and despite that hardline stance by israel's prime minister, the bbc�*s paul adams

injeruslaem says some developments provide hope that violence will de—escalate. after weeks of pessimism about the prospects for a deal to release the remaining 130 israeli hostages in exchange for a ceasefire and the release of palestinians held in israeli jails, there isjust a tiny, tiny bit of optimism in the air this evening following remarks by a member of benjamin netanyahu's war cabinet, benny gantz, who said, "there are attempts these days to promote a new outlier, indicating an intention to move forward". that is a little cryptic and does not sound to me as if anything is particularly imminent, but it is just a faint hint of optimism. you will recall that benjamin netanyahu has described the hamas demands for a deal as delusional and we don't know if those demands have changed, but there is still a process going on, talks in cairo

involving egyptian and hamas officials and a considerable amount of american diplomatic weight as well. the state department spokesman matthew miller has said in the last few hours, "we do think there is space "to reach an agreement here, we want to see an agreement "reached as soon as possible, ideally, before ramadan or even "maybe earlier than that." again, hard to read if these are real signs of optimism, but certainly not quite the bleak pessimism of recent weeks. in the meantime, we had israel's parliament, the knesset, endorsing the view of benjamin netanyahu and his cabinet that israel rejects what it calls international dictates about recognition of a palestinian state and israelis are conscious that countries like britain and america are talking about the possible unilateral recognition of palestinian statehood and pretty anonymously 99 votes out of the 120 member knesset parliament has said no to that.

paul adams reporting there from jerusalem. and with multiple developments taking place involving the israel—gaza conflict — i spoke to michael singh, managing director at the washington institute for near east policy and former senior director for middle east affairs at the white house national security council. thank you very much forjoining us again here on bbc news. today, in the israeli parliament, the knesset, they overwhelmingly opposed the natural creation of a palestinian state. when do you believe this leaves the united states, the biden administration when we know that that administration wants to see the two—state solution? i don't think it comes as a surprise to officials in washington. israeli the events of 7 october

and i think from the left to the right of the political spectrum they worry that steps like unilateral recognition of a palestinian state would be somehow a reward for the terrorism on 7 october. again, i think this is well known in washington, so this conundrum of how do you move forward diplomatically from here, in a way, which will satisfy arab governments, satisfy the people in the region, but also address israel because my concerns, this is essential conundrum for washington and it'll be a difficult path forward. let's talk more about the conundrum when it comes to the operations on the ground. president biden has said publicly that he thinks that the actions in gaza are, quote, over the top. do you believe that biden still has the ear of prime minister netanyahu in terms of any kind of influence here?

i think there is very close us and israel co—ordination on the immediate tactical issues on the ground and that includes the progress of the military campaign but also issues like humanitarian access and so forth. i think whether us and israel start to diverge is on what happens afterwards. this messaging you see from president biden, from the white house, can be misleading because there actually is quite a good understanding between the us and israel about the need both to sort of defeat hamas, however you define that, but also protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access stop whereas the divergence is about what will come next out of the campaign. there also appears to be divergence when it comes to that proposed operation on the ground in rafah in the south where we know many of those displaced palestinians have led you. —— fled to. the us yesterday put

forward a resolution cautioning against that. if israel does go ahead, could this then challenge that partnership? we've seen a narrowing of differences between the us and israel on this. the us position has been a rafah will endanger the 1.5 million civilians who are crowded in that area and there needs to be some sort of way to prevent or mitigate the civilian harm. what we've seen from israel since the us has mitigated those concerns is a similar message. prime minister netanyahu has had that before a rafah operation to go forward, the israel defense forces have to present a plan to move civilians out of that area. we also have a question of a hostage for prisoners swap, a hostage deal which is delaying a rafah operation and simultaneously the threat of a rafah operation is being used is leveraged to obtain a deal. there is some company

to diplomacy going on here and perhaps not as a us divergence as we would have had. le�*ts talk about the prospect video particularly when it comes to hostages. we know talks are ongoing in cairo, we had comments today from the spokesperson for the us state department matthew miller saying that his department thinks they could be space for an agreement on their release. what are your thoughts on that? obviously, it has been a difficult discussion in part because it is all done at arms length. we saw a couple of weeks ago a deal was close and we have not seen a great deal of progress since, but you've said the noises have got more positive in the recent days. the israelis have made clear that they would like to see a hostage deal before ramadan, marched out, and if there is no deal before then, perhaps a rafah operation will go

on regardless of the negotiations over that deal. israel is gonna put on hamas with the threat of the rafah operation to get the deal done. hamas for its part recognises that once those hostages are released, the protection from israeli military operations is probably gone and so hence the very fraught and difficult discussions being held. michael singh, managing director at the washington institute for near east policy speaking a short time ago. amid the ongoing violence in gaza, there were some extraordinary scenes in the british parliament on wednesday. mps began the day preparing to vote on calling for a ceasefire in gaza. but instead the house of commons descended into chaos as lawmakers argued about arcane voting procedures and how a vote could be held. 0ur deputy political editor vicki young has more.

there was confusion... there were angry demands for the speaker to explain himself... where on earth is the speaker of the house of commons? and how do we bring him to that seat?! ..and there was a walk out by the snp and conservatives, an unlikely alliance. chaotic scenes in the commons after mps had been debating one of the most serious foreign policy issues of the day. 0utside parliament, feelings were already running high... chanting: ceasefire now! ceasefire now! ..with hundreds of people queueing for hours to lobby their mps. today, the rules meant the only motion that was being considered was one from the snp, calling for an immediate ceasefire. lots of labour mps were tempted to vote for it, against their leader's wishes. but that all changed when the speaker, going against official advice, said this. i think it's important on this occasion that the house is able to consider the widest

possible range of options. i have therefore decided to select the amendments both in the name of the prime minister and in the name of the leader of the opposition. furious snp mps felt that was bending the rules to help sir keir starmer out of a sticky situation. and now we completely appear to be doing things in a way that has never been done before. can i ask for your advice, mr speaker? what is the point of an opposition day if it's going to be done like this? later, just before the votes were due to happen, the leader of the commons weighed in. the government will play no further part in the decision this house takes on today's proceedings. i would like to stress that the government's position on israel and gaza remains unchanged. by the time the votes on the ceasefire were being called, there was so much noise very few could hear what was going on. shouting drowns speech. the ayes have it,

the ayes have it. to the side, watching all this unfold, was sir lindsay hoyle, who had had no choice but to come back to apologise for the mess. i am honest to this house, i am true to this house, i believe in all members of this house, and i tried to do... i have tried to do what i thought it was the right thing for all sides of this house. it is regrettable, and i apologise. all this meant labour avoided another damaging rebellion over gaza, and they were happy to defend sir lindsay's decision. the speaker was rightly playing his role. he is there to protect the rights of all mps. he was wanting to ensure the widest possible debate. the serious issue of what's going on in the middle east was debated today. it was never going to change uk foreign policy, but several mps have said this was an embarrassing episode for parliament.

against the backdrop of political confusion and inaction, a uk—funded shipment of medicines, fuel and food was airdropped by thejordanian air force to northern gaza. 0ur correspondent, quentin sommerville, was on the flight, and filed this report. the men are just sitting appear, thejordanian air force crew. we're getting close to the drop zone over northern gaza. inaudible. the first time we are using the airdrop to get help to gaza, and the reason we're using that is there's no other way to get it the area. northern gaza was the most densely populated part of gaza. most of the people have been forced out, still about 300,000

palestinians are in desperate need. the un says there's too much violence, and can no longer get in properly into that part of the gaza strip. inaudible. they are about to open the doors, they will fly out, land into gaza, this is the most efficient means to get help into the people of gaza. quentin sommerville there. meanwhile, brazil's foreign minister has criticised what he called the paralysis of the un security council on the wars in gaza and ukraine as he opened a g20 meeting in rio de janeiro. the uk's foreign secretary lord david cameron also addressed the g20 group of foreign ministers, placing russia's war in ukraine top of their agenda. lord cameron urged the world to call out the illegality of putin's war and the quote murder of opposition leader alexei navalny. from rio, here's our south america correspondent, ione wells.

well, there was certainly a tense atmosphere at the g20 summit in rio today, and that's partly because of some of the differences of opinion in the room when it comes to russia's actions in ukraine. now, present at the meeting today was russian... russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov. i'm told that directly in that room, many of the other foreign ministers use the opportunity to call out russia both for the war in ukraine, but also for the death of the russian opposition leader, alexei navalny in prison. these included the uk, canada, france, germany, australia, among others. and i'm told that lord cameron, the british foreign secretary, used the opportunity to ask other nations in the room whether there was anything more important to them than sovereignty and the ability to not be invaded by another nation. he said that he hoped that this was a message that was particularly important to be heard by some of russia's allies who were also present in the room, including the hosts, brazil.

now, in response, sergei lavrov, i'm told, effectively continued to deny allegations of murder against alexei navalny, dismissing that as a fabrication. but certainly a tense finish, i think to the day that was meant to be an opportunity for these g20 nations to try and find consensus about how to tackle ongoing international tensions. ione wells reporting there from rio. now, as that g20 summit was getting underway, there was news that at least 60 russian troops were killed on wednesday after a training area in the occupied donetsk region was hit by two suspected ukrainian missiles. this week marks the two—year anniversary of russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine. here's a look at a map of ukraine right before the invasion. crimea, in red, was annexed by russia in 2014. and parts of ukraine, in yellow, were under the control of russian separatist groups. fast forward to today, and you'll see that russia now controls a swathe of ukraine's eastern—most provinces. on wednesday, president vladimir putin celebrated

russia's gains as he decorated soldiers for their recent capture of avdiivka, a key town on ukraine's eastern front line. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at a top story out of the uk: britain's king charles has revealed he has been reduced to tears by the messages of support from the public since he was diagnosed with cancer. he made the comments during a face—to—face meeting with the prime minister. it's the first time the public has seen the british monarch since his return to official duties. during the chat at buckingham palace, rishi sunak commented on how well the king looked. daniela relph has more. today was our first chance to see the king up close and at work since his cancer diagnosis. we also know that earlier today, the king attended a meeting of the privy council which is a meeting where he formally approves various bits of government business so, if we put all that information into the mix, the

audience and the privy council meeting, the king is coping very well with his cancer treatment. the king has stopped carrying out public engagements, as he receives treatment. but he's stll performing duties in his capacity as head of state, which includes regular meetings with the prime minister. you're live with bbc news. lawyers for the us government told the high court in london that the wikileaks founder julian assange was not acting as a journalist when he published hundreds of thousands of classified us documents. the us was presenting its case on the second and final day of a hearing that may be mr assange�*s last chance to avoid being sent to the us to face trial for espionage. the barrister representing the us argued that — unlike a journalist — assange published classified material indiscriminately, and chose not to redact people's names from the documents. assange�*s lawyers have said he's being targeted for his political views. assange did not attend the hearing — remotely or in person — because of ill—health. his father spoke to the bbc about his son's condition

and legal prospects. well, it's now 15 years and the un with torture and published his report 2019. 0bserving with two experts, doctors, that julian was suffering from the psychological torture after 7.5 years in the embassy. they are moving towards 15 years in one form of incarceration and another. i would think that whatever the us position they say well, this is enough is enough, it's got to stop, it doesn't help the us. it's the first amendment, it doesn't

help with the freedom of the press anywhere else in the western world, in fact, what happens in russia and in china, they give the example as that ofjulian's treatment every of julian's treatment every time ofjulian's treatment every time the matter of criticism of their publishing occurs, they say, well, what aboutjulian assange? assange has been in a british prison since 2019. he's wanted by the american authorities for disclosing secret military files in 2010 and 2011. if an appeal is turned down, assange could be extradited within weeks. let's turn to some important news around the world. the main hospital in alabama has paused in vitro fertilization treatments or ivf. that comes after the state's supreme court ruled that frozen embryos should be legally considered children. the hospital says it's concerned it could be prosecuted. last week, the state's justices ruled that any human life from the moment of

conception is sacred. images from bbc verify confirmed that a british ship attacked in the red sea by yemen's houthis is still above water. the houthis claimed earlier this week they had sunk the rubymar. in the last hour, us central command confirmed they conducted a series of self—defence strikes against houthi anti—ship missiles and an unmanned aircraft system. a major rescue operation is underway in southern venezuela, where a local mayor said 23 bodies have been pulled from rubble after an illegal gold mine collapsed. the incident happened in a remote jungle area in the stae of bolivar. there were believed to be some 200 miners working at the bulla loca mine when the collapse took place. authorities in mexico have declared a yellow alert after a volcano outside mexico city spewed a column of ash and gas three kilometers into the sky. that's nearly two miles. it has been erupting two to three times daily for almost a week. residents in the south of puebla have been warned to watch out for ash

falling to the ground. they've been advised to not approach the volcano. we want to bring you now the story of two strangers who wouldn't be alive without each other. dr nick embleton was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer in 2021, and needed a stem cell transplant. the young man who provided the treatment to save him says he's now been given a new purpose to live. our health correspondent sharon barbour went to see them meeting for the first time. for more than 20 years, they have saved the lives of thousands of the world's smallest patients. but in 2021, nick was feeling tired and increasingly unwell. and needed to see a doctor himself. just wondering — to see a doctor himself. just wondering what _ to see a doctor himself. just wondering what on - to see a doctor himself. just wondering what on earth could be going on, that stage, had no

what was about to unfold. the test showed _ what was about to unfold. the test showed he _ what was about to unfold. the test showed he was developing a rare cancer. i test showed he was developing a rare cancer-— rare cancer. i was fully aware that i might _ rare cancer. i was fully aware that i might die, _ rare cancer. i was fully aware that i might die, actually, - rare cancer. i was fully aware that i might die, actually, i. that i might die, actually, i felt sad for my kids, i didn't want my kids — i didn't want them to go up the rest of the lives without their that.- lives without their that. next only hepe — lives without their that. next only hepe of— lives without their that. next only hope of survival - lives without their that. next only hope of survival was - lives without their that. next only hope of survival was a i only hope of survival was a stem cell transplant. and so, the search began. with the help of the anthony nolan charity, a full match was found from a donor in germany. their details had to remain anonymous until now. ., y ., , had to remain anonymous until now. ., , .,, had to remain anonymous until now-— lovely i now. lovely to see you. lovely to meet yom _ now. lovely to see you. lovely to meet you. hi, _ now. lovely to see you. lovely to meet you. hi, annette. - now. lovely to see you. lovely to meet you. hi, annette. i'm| to meet you. hi, annette. i'm very overwhelmed. _ to meet you. hi, annette. i'm very overwhelmed. -- - to meet you. hi, annette. i'm very overwhelmed. -- hello,| to meet you. hi, annette. i'mj very overwhelmed. -- hello, i very overwhelmed. —— hello, i am nick _ very overwhelmed. -- hello, i am nick-— am nick. taken to the cancer cells have — am nick. taken to the cancer cells have all— am nick. taken to the cancer cells have all gone _ am nick. taken to the cancer cells have all gone and - am nick. taken to the cancer cells have all gone and so, i cells have all gone and so, when they — when they checked my blood now, i mean, all of those blood cells belong to

you. i would those blood cells belong to you. iwould be those blood cells belong to you. i would be dead if it wasn't for you.— you. i would be dead if it wasn't for you. thank you so much. from _ wasn't for you. thank you so much. from germany - wasn't for you. thank you so much. from germany to - wasn't for you. thank you so l much. from germany to make wasn't for you. thank you so - much. from germany to make his cancer centre _ much. from germany to make his cancer centre in _ much. from germany to make his cancer centre in newcastle. - cancer centre in newcastle. your cells kill the cancer. find your cells kill the cancer. and 24-year-old _ your cells kill the cancer. and 24-year-old recalls _ your cells kill the cancer. and 24-year-old recalls the - your cells kill the cancer. and 24—year—old recalls the moment he heard that the transplant had worked.— had worked. after that information, _ had worked. after that information, only - had worked. after that | information, only tears had worked. after that - information, only tears come out. i was on the way to my work and i had to park my car, and get out and needed fresh air. . , and get out and needed fresh air. ., , ., , , air. there was only, in this moment. _ air. there was only, in this moment, that _ air. there was only, in this moment, that we - air. there was only, in this moment, that we learn - air. there was only, in this - moment, that we learn something else. he told us that he previously tried to take his own life and how, in a way, nick had helped save him. i struggled my whole life since i'm 13, with struggled my whole life since i'm13, with mental issues. it's hard for me to find a way in life and my sense in life.

so, i did something right. tiara so, i did something right. two strangers _ so, i did something right. two strangers who _ so, i did something right. two strangers who now _ so, i did something right. two strangers who now have the same blood running through their veins. blood brothers and friends for life. sharon barbour, bbc news. truly a beautiful story. and before we go, beyonce is breaking new ground, this time in the country music world. her new hit texas hold �*em is the first song by a black woman to debut at the top of the billboard country chart. the achievement comes after a us country station last week had to reverse a decision not to play the song. the star announced her country album during the super bowl last week. it's a shift for the 32—time grammy—winner, better known for her hip—hop and r&b albums. thank you for watching. i'm helena humphrey. i'll be back in 30 minutes with more. stay with us here on bbc news. bye for now.

hello there. it looks like it's going to be very wet for the next 2a hours, particularly across england and wales. and that could exacerbate already existing flooding problems there. by the end of the week, as well, it'll be pulling colder air behind the low pressure. on thursday, things will be turning colder for all areas and any showers will have wintry elements to them across northern and western hills for friday and into the weekend. now, this deepening area of low pressure will move across the country, particularly england and wales, during the course of thursday — a squeeze in the isobars indicating gales for a time. and then you'll see the blue colours invading the whole of the uk behind the system, so it turns colder for all. but through the morning, there could be some issues with standing water, localised flooding as this rain could be heavy, squally, as it spreads across the midlands, southern and eastern england. maybe some rumbles of thunder on it, strong and gusty winds with that, too. but even as we move out of the morning into the afternoon, we could see another round of heavy rain spreading across central, southern and eastern england. it'll take its time to clear. elsewhere, it's a bright day —

sunshine, blustery showers, particularly across northern ireland and western scotland. and there will be some snow falling over the hills, even down to moderate levels across scotland through the course of the day. a blustery day for all areas, very windy with gales across the southeast. by the end of the day, that cold air will be pretty much across the whole of the uk. so we're looking at 4—8 celsius the high. so we've gone out of those double figure values that we've had over the past couple of weeks. it has been very mild indeed. now, as we head through thursday night, it looks like it'll stay cold. there'll be further blustery showers, wintry on the hills in the north and the west, and a touch of frost in places, particularly where skies are clear. so much colder night to come and a colder start to friday. we hold on to westerly winds, a few troughs enhancing the shower activity across northern and western areas, so plenty of showers rattling into scotland, northern ireland, western england and wales. a few getting in towards the east, but a lot of sunshine here. a blustery day to come for all.

there'll be further snow on the hills in northern and western areas. top temperatures, again, ranging from around 7—9 degrees for most. it looks like we keep hold of a ridge of high pressure through the course of saturday and sunday. low pressure just skirts past the south—west, so a bit of a question mark on that. but i think, generally, saturday and sunday, quite a bit of dry weather around some sunshine, a few showers — which will be wintry — over hills. nights will be cold with a touch of frost and mist and fog.

the ceo of nvidia says artificial intelligence is at a tipping point as revenues surged. and turbulent times for boeing. the boss of its 737 max programme leaves the company. we look at what lies ahead for the plane maker. hello and welcome to asia business report. begin with nvidia which has just reported its highly anticipated earnings for the final quarter of last year. the numbers did not disappoint, with revenue surging 265%. 0ur north american business correspondent has the latest from new york. nvidia is the leading chipmaker in the united states and the third largest company on wall street. so expectations for their

fourth quarter earnings had been skyhigh.