i don't believe that lee anderson said those remarks intending to be islamophobic. donald trump moves closer to the republican presidential nomination with a big primary win in south carolina. it's his fourth consecutive victory. and oppenheimer is the big winner at the screen actors guild awards— it nets the top prize of best cast, as well as best actor for cillian murphy. hello. i'm lauren taylor. deputy prime minister oliver dowden has refused to be drawn on whether comments by the former conservative mp, lee anderson, were islamophobic. mr anderson was suspended from the party on saturday because he refused to apologise for saying "islamists" had "got control" of mayor of london sadiq khan. our political correspondent georgia roberts explained the situation the conservatives were facing

following mr anderson's comments. the conservative party continuing to face pressure over those comments lee anderson made, that both opponents and senior figures within the party described as islamophobic. speaking to laura kuenssberg this morning, the deputy prime minister oliver dowden refused to say he thought the comments were islamophobic made by lee anderson or that they intended to be. let's listen. well, that's why the prime minister took action. he gave lee anderson the opportunity to apologise, he didn't take that opportunity. words matter. he didn't choose his words correctly and, having failed to apologise, the prime minister took action and removed the whip. i think that was the appropriate course of action to take. do you agree, though, that the remarks were | islamophobic, anti—muslim? i don't believe that lee anderson said those remarks intending to be islamophobic. oliver dowden also said lee anderson would have kept hisjob if he had

followed party orders to apologise. the prime minister rishi sunak has so far not commented specifically on lee anderson's comments. he has put out some words this morning talking about the dangers of a divisive politics and the polarisation and extremism seen he says recently amid concern about the nature of some pro—palestinian protests across the country as the conflict in gaza goes on and after a week of fractious scenes in westminster in the commons. those scenes were something the shadow international development secretary lisa nandy was asked about, and about the fact that the speaker, linsey hoyle, unusually gave labour a vote on their amendment to an snp debate on the gaza conflict and there were accusations labour pressured the speaker to allow this unusual break with convention in orderfor him to head off a labour party rebellion.

let's listen now to what lisa nandy said about those concerns. can you guarantee to our viewers this morning that no one - from the labour party was involved in a conversation or passing - a message to the speaker suggesting that hisjob might be on the line - unless he did what labour wanted? yes, i believe that i can. i have had numerous conversations as you can imagine with my colleagues, with keir starmer, with the chief whip, with david lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, over the last few weeks and months, since the 7th of october unfolded. frankly, the idea that you would threaten the speaker of the house of commons is for the birds. now, it was the snp who proposed the gaza conflict as a topic of debate that saw the chaotic scenes we saw, that saw them walking out in protest at the speaker's decision, as well as some conservative mps. next week, they hope to bring

the issue to the fore again in parliament given what happened this week. the speaker had said they could have another debate on this. we will see negotiations on how that pans out this week but certainly there will be a lot of hope that we don't see a repeat of the scenes we saw, that saw plenty of mps saying parliament had not been shown in its best light. we have had a statement from the prime minister, the tweet that rishi sunak picked out. it prime minister, the tweet that rishi sunak picked out.— sunak picked out. it talks about that are democracy _ sunak picked out. it talks about that are democracy cannot - sunak picked out. it talks about| that are democracy cannot paint sunak picked out. it talks about - that are democracy cannot paint with the threat of intimidation or fall into camps that hate each other. there is no mention of islamophobia. meanwhile, the muslim council of britain says it welcomes the withdrawal of the conservative party whip from mr anderson, but said it is concerned the action was only taken because he refused to apologise, rather than because of the nature of his remarks. the secretary general of the council zara mohammed has called for an investigation

into what she calls in "the structural islamophobia" within the party. writing to the conservative party chair, she said... and the scottish national party says it will push for another commons debate on gaza following last week's chaotic vote. there was uproar in the commons when speaker sir lindsay hoyle allowed mps to vote on a labour amendment to the snp's ceasefire motion. it meant the snp motion was not voted on, causing the party to call for sir lindsay to quit. donald trump has easily beaten nikki haley in the south carolina republican presidential primary — despite it being her home state. the 20—point margin was mr trump's fourth consecutive win. will vernon reports. # i'm proud to be an american #. another victory, another landslide. donald trump didn't even mention his

republican rival tonight. he's already got his sights set on the presidential election in november. we're going to be up here on november 5th and we're going to look atjoe biden and we're going to look him right in the eye. he's destroying our country and we're going to say, "joe, you're fired. get out. get out, joe. you're fired." this is yet another resounding win for donald trump, who is steam—rolling towards victory in this primary contest. here in south carolina, mr trump was looking to bolster his position as the undisputed, unassailable front runner in this race, and that's exactly what he's done. y'all are a rowdy bunch. despite trailing trump by a wide margin, nikki haley was defiant, vowing to continue her campaign. there are huge numbers of voters in our republican primaries who were saying

they want an alternative. i said earlier this week that no matter what happens in south carolina, i would continue to run for president. i'm a woman of my word. i think that she's a great proponent for women and women's rights, - and i think that it's really important for our- generation to support her. she'll bring normalcy to america and to the world. defeat here will be a personal setback for mrs haley. she was born in south carolina and served two terms as state governor. the two most disliked i politicians in america? trump and biden. i have a different style and approach. on the campaign trail, she has portrayed herself as the younger, more stable alternative to both donald trump and joe biden. in nine days' time, over a dozen states will hold their primaries, but with his huge lead in the polls, donald trump's supporters say this race is effectively over. will vernon, bbc news,

columbia, south carolina. our reporter helena humphrey has been following events at the nikki haley campaign headquarters in charleston, south carolina. taking to the stage here in charleston, south carolina, nikki haley insisted that she is a woman of her word and that she will continue on in this race, going to michigan and then on to super tuesday, despite the fact there is no clear pathway ahead for her to secure the nomination. there is, however, for donald trump. in fact, he could have the nomination wrapped up by march. in his victory speech on saturday night, he did not even mention nikki haley by name. instead, he took aim at president biden. he said he wished that the general election was just around the corner. instead, he will have to wait until november. but certainly, his campaign is seeing a boost in momentum. what he did not say out loud is the fact that he is having to face some 91 criminal charges, some four criminal cases, the first one with regards

to hush money payments, moving forward on the 25th of march. nikki haley's campaign will be watching that, hoping that it is their outside chance of having any hope of securing the nomination. going into this race, nikki haley's chances were slim. now they are razor—thin. 21 people have been arrested in anti—government protests in the israeli city of tel aviv. demonstrators were demanding the release of the hostages and the resignation of the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. officers used water cannon to break up the demonstration. israel's main opposition leader has criticised the police for their suppression of the protests, calling it dangerous and anti—democratic. qatar will this week host mediated talks between hamas and israel, aimed at finalising a truce agreement. that's according to reuters news agency, quoting egyptian security sources. the report says representatives will then travel to cairo to discuss the timing and execution of any deal — including the release

of hostages. on saturday, israeli media reported that talks in paris had reached the "outline of an agreement" for a pause in the fighting and the release by hamas of the remaining hostages. the un says the growing number of israeli air strikes in rafah is making aid operations there more difficult. it's paused aid deliveries to northern gaza. but the israeli army chief of staff said on a visit to gaza that there should be no let—up in the fighting, so pressure could be maintained on hamas. john lyndon is the executive director at the alliance for middle east peace. he gave me his analysis of the talks in paris. it looks like we have an agreement on the terms of a six—week pause in fighting, the return of 35 to a0 hostages, prioritisation for women, children, the sick and the elderly, and the release of 200 to 300, i've heard, palestinian prisoners held in israeli captivity, many of them called security prisoners, have blood on their hands essentially.

those broad terms had not been fully agreed on the previous round, and the hope is now israel has dispatched a delegation to qatar to talk about those details, we may be moving towards an agreement if we can get both hamas and the israeli government to sign off on the details. in the meantime, israel is saying it's pressing forward with plans on an assault on rafah even though it is facing pressure from the us and other allies not to do so. is it part of maintaining pressure on hamas? how do you view it? i hope it's part of a negotiating tactic, pressure on hamas to agree to the deal and we see with this six—week pause if it is secured, an off ramp diplomatically to get the hostages back and the prisoners released and the fighting paused and to find another dynamic that can expand that cessation of hostility and to diplomatically work on some of the underlying issues. as most international observers, most governments closest to israel have said, an operation in rafah right now, 1.5 million people displaced,

terrible humanitarian conditions, it is very hard to understand something like that could not be a catastrophe. how much is a factor with benjamin netanyahu's plans for a post—conflict scenario in gaza be? is it something they will take into account? is it being kept separate? i think it's beginning to leak a little bit more in, we saw the release of very broad principles, i guess, from prime minister netanyahu of the day after the post—war settlement, which is very much inconsistent with what the international community has been saying and what palestinians have been demanding. i think some of this has now been integrated into a wider negotiation, i think the international community led by the us has been very clear on some principles that run directly in contrast to what prime minister benjamin netanyahu has said about the security presence, no real role for the palestinian authority, although they are not mentioned by name and his broad contours that were released this week. i hope again if we have that pause,

if we have humanitarian aid enter, if we have diplomatic space opening up, the substantive conversation over what has to happen after this, to make it the last israel—gaza war, that becomes a priority and you can show palestinians that there is a non—violent diplomatic path towards self—determination, for israelis, a path toward security, and that will be engineered by diplomatic engagement by both parties, underwritten by the international community who need to engage, the arab countries have stepped up, the europeans, the united kingdom united states, and a role for a single society, we have two very traumatised populations after the explosion of violence, i would encourage international governments, diplomats who are looking at these broad issues, issues of governance, to also think about an ambitious strategy for engaging the hearts and minds of israelis and palestinians and to build from the bottom up some of the routes that any successful diplomatic process is going to require.

ukraine has criticised its western supporters for failing to live up to the commitments they have made about weapons deliveries. the defence minister, rustam umerov, said the promised assistance has been slow to reach them. there have been reports of shortages of ammunition and other materiel, and of russian invaders advancing on parts of the long front line. the situation's been worsened by the latest package of us military assistance being stuck in the house of representatives because of republican opposition. commitment doesn't constitute delivery. 50% of commitments are not delivered on time. so which means that in the mathematics of war, we look to the enemy, their economy is almost 2 trillion, they use up to 15% official and unofficial budget for the war which constitutes over 150 billion us dollars. so, annually, it's officially. so basically, whatever

commitment that doesn't come on time, we'll lose people, we'll lose territory. the uk and us have launched another round ofjoint missile strikes against houthi targets in yemen — in response to further attacks on cargo ships in the red sea. the defence secretary, grant shapps, says the uk has a duty to protect lives — but the houthis have vowed continued defiance — warning its attacks on shipping will continue until israel ends its assault on gaza. simonjones reports. take off for what the uk and us are calling the latest necessary and proportionate strikes against houthi targets in yemen. four raf typhoon fighter jets were involved using precision—guided bombs at two sites to take out drones said to be used by the houthis for reconnaissance and attack missions against shipping.

the us hit a further six locations. in the capital of yemen, sanaa, smoke could be seen billowing into the night sky. in a joint statement, london and washington said... a week ago, this british—owned ship, the rubymar, was struck by houthi missiles, forcing the crew to abandon ship. and this us—owned cargo vessel, the sea champion, delivering humanitarian aid to yemen, came under attack. the houthis, who control large swathes of yemen, have been targeting vessels they say are linked to israel and the west in response to the war between israel and hamas. yemen has a key strategic position in the middle east, especially when it comes to global shipping.

the red sea route typically looks like this. it's one of the busiest in the world, transporting 15% of traded goods, largely from east to west. but because of the houthi attacks, many major shipping firms have diverted around southern africa. it takes ten days longer and hugely increases costs. a houthi military spokesperson said what he called the escalation by the uk and us would be confronted with more military operations against hostile targets in the red sea. but the uk is warning it won't hesitate to take further action if it's needed. the defence secretary, grant shapps, said, "it is our duty to protect lives at sea and preserve freedom of navigation." but, so far, the threat from the houthis has not been neutralised, with 45 ships targeted since november. simon jones, bbc news. liberal democrat leader sir ed davey

has admitted he "probably should have said sorry earlier", in relation to his role in the post office scandal. sir ed served as post office minister under the coalition government from 2010 to 2012. here's what he told laura kuenssberg this morning when asked about the scandal yeah, i probably should have said sorry earlier on but it is a huge scandal. our hearts go out to those hundreds of sub—postmasters and their families who were treated appallingly. the key thing now is to make sure that those exonerations happen quickly, that they get the compensation quickly, and they get to the truth with the inquiry. i have two sub—postmasters in my constituency, one who was in prison for 16 months, one who, frankly, it has really affected his health. i am going to fight for those and join others in making sure the government gives the sub—postmasters the fair deal they deserve. the family of russian opposition leader alexei navalny say they do not yet know whether the russian authorities will attempt to interfere in their funeral arrangements.

his body has been handed over to his mother, according to a spokesperson for the family. mr navalny died suddenly in prison last week. his mother had previously said the official death certificate presented to her claimed her son had died of natural causes. here's our russia editor steve rosenberg. alexei navalny�*s mother had spent a week trying to persuade the authorities to release her son's body so that she can lay him to rest. she's finally succeeded. in a post on social media, a spokesperson for the late opposition leader announced that mr navalny�*s body had been handed over to his mother, and this regarding the funeral, "we do not know if the authorities will interfere to carry it out as the family wants and as alexei deserves." alexei navalny was vladimir putin's most vocal critic and he became russia's most famous prisoner.

in this penal colony beyond the arctic circle, he was serving a 19—year prison sentence on charges widely seen as politically motivated. this is where he died. in a video message, his widow, yulia, had accused president putin of killing her husband and of holding his body hostage. the kremlin has previously described claims that it was behind mr navalny�*s death "obnoxious and unacceptable". at moscow's main cathedral, people queued to pay their respects to alexei navalny. for in the orthodox faith, the ninth day after death is a significant moment. outside, there were police checks, officers demanding id from some of those who'd come here. and across town, more flowers. there are no details yet of when or where mr navalny will be laid to rest.

the last thing the authorities will want is for his funeral to become a very public display of support for the man who had challenged the kremlin. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the eiffel tower in paris is due to reopen to visitors today after management announced a deal had been reached to end a six—day strike. unions had said there was insufficient investment in the globally recognised landmark. it is the second such strike at the landmark in the past three months, as paris looks ahead to hosting the olympic games this summer. let's go back to the us — to alabama, where we've been hearing more reaction to a controversial ruling affecting ivf treatments. a reminder — last week, the state's top court ruled last week that frozen embryos have the same rights as children, and people can be held liable for destroying them. at least three clinics paused ivf treatment in the wake of the ruling. on friday, the alabama attorney general said it had no intention

of prosecuting fertility clinics. our north america correspondent nomia iqbal has more. there has been huge reaction by politicians across the country to this ruling, but it is actually local lawmakers here who are under pressure by constituents to come up with a solution. republicans say they will introduce a proposal that protects ivf treatments. democrats have put forward a bill which effectively pauses the ruling and allows treatments to continue as before. i have been speaking to alabama house minority leader anthony daniels. i think it is important that people across the world weigh in on this issue, that alabama has an opportunity to right this wrong. but putting the pressure on alabama so that other states don't follow suit because other supreme court may want to... other lawsuits will be filed to address this issue and we want to make certain

that we are able to get the train back on track. if we are unable to do that, it will have a very wide domestic approach that is not going to be good for families and future families in america. you think that what is happening here in alabama could go beyond the state's borders? oh, i do, i do. it depends on which... you know, the reason we are talking about it and where we are talking about it, i think it could have those implications. those other countries and other places that consider themselves to be truly conservative could follow suit. have republicans been saying anything to you behind closed doors that they are not saying publicly? absolutely, that has been the case. i have heard from at least three individuals that are in very prominent positions that have voiced their concern and have heard from their constituents. in fact, many of the calls are coming from areas where... as you know, this

process is not a very... it is not an affordable process. and so in many instances, many of the individuals making calls are from their districts, districts that have more resources than others, with a higher income class. and therefore, they are receiving these calls from their constituents and so they are being pressured to really address the issue fairly quickly. oppenheimer was the big winner at the screen actors guild awards in los angeles — a ceremony that's seen as a good predictor for the oscars. cillian murphy and robert downey junior took home best actor and best supporting actor — and the film won best cast in a motion picture. there were also prizes for the holdovers star da'vine joy randolph for best supporting actress, and lily gladstone for best actress in killers of the flower moon.

injapan — for the first time women havejoined hadaka matsuri —— or the �*naked festival'. it's an ancient japanese ritual that's meant to bring good luck and drive away evil spirits. despite its name, the women wore purple robes, and chanted excitedly, while they carried a large bamboo trunk as an offering. but they didn'tjoin the festival's main event, where a large group of nearly—naked men clash to drive away evil spirits. and before we go...let me show you these pictures from china. cities across the country have been lit up to celebrate the traditional lantern festival. each year it falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month, marking the end of chinese new year celebrations and symbolising the coming of spring. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. it was a cold and locally foggy start for many this morning. temperatures fell in parts

of aberdeenshire as low as minus eight degrees, but there was a widespread frost for many, the exception down towards the south—west. i'll come on to that injust a moment. but we had some glorious sunshine. despite that chilly start, a lovely morning across frinton—on—sea in essex. by contrast, into the south—west, more cloud, stronger winds and some rain arriving with this area of low pressure. just fringing with parts of south wales, as well. as we go through the morning and into the afternoon, that rain is going to continue to slowly drift its way eastwards, maybe bringing more cloud into the london area during the afternoon, but it should stay dry. further north of that, sunny spells will continue and any showers will be very isolated indeed, perhaps most frequent to the far north—west of scotland, with highs of six to ten degrees. that rain will continue to move its way across channel coasts overnight. the heaviest of the rain south of the m4 corridor. it will take its time to ease away from the kent coast by dawn on monday morning. that cloud and rain will prevent temperatures from falling too far, so a frost—free start for much of england and wales.

we'll have clearer skies further north and west, so here a light frost is likely. but the difference with monday, once that rain has cleared away from the extreme south—east, is the wind direction — a brisk north—easterly, particularly across central and southern england. we could see gusts of winds up to 30mph to 40mph in places and that will make it feel noticeably fresher. a lot of dry weather and, again, some sunshine coming through, with highs of seven to ten degrees. as we move out of monday into tuesday we're going to see some wet and windy weather pushing in to scotland. that will drift its way across scotland, northern ireland into northern england and wales by the end of the afternoon. ahead of it we are likely to see quite a lot of cloud developing, as well. by tuesday, brighter with a few scattered showers out to the far north—west. that front will clear slowly but surely as we move out of tuesday. it will not bring that much in the way of rain to the south—east and this brief ridge of high pressure will build before more

fronts wait in the wings. it is going to be a changeable week ahead, really. at times we will have some brighter weather, followed by rain and then the brighter weather returns.

this is bbc news, the headlines. senior conservatives have been drawn into an argument over islamophobia,

after the conservative mp, lee anderson, said "islamists" had "got control" of the mayor of london. the deputy prime minister refused to say whether the comments were islamophobic. donald trump is one step closer to the republican presidential nomination, easily beating rival nikki haley in the south carolina primary. the former president won his opponent's home state with a 20—point margin — making it his fourth consecutive victory. israel's main opposition leader criticises police for suppressing anti—government protests. demonstrators had been demanding the release of hostages held by hamas, the resignation of prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and early elections. oppenheimer is the big winner at the screen actors guild awards. it takes the top prize of best cast, as well as best actor for cillian murphy. after the october 7th attacks, israel pledged to "eliminate" hamas,

which the uk and us consider a terror organisation.