fire here that the farmers have set up this morning. benjamin netanyahu says an assault on rafah will go ahead. the un says that would be disastrous. an offensive on the city would not only be terrifying for more than a million palestinian civilians sheltering there, it would put the final nail in the coffin of our aid programmes. prime minister rishi sunak says comments by his former deputy chairman — claiming the london mayor, sadiq khan, was controlled by islamists — were "wrong" and "unacceptable". demonstrations take place outside the european union headquarters in brussels. the protests have been triggered by what the farmers say

are cheap imports from outside the eu, excessively restrictive environmental rules, and falling incomes. farmers are using their tractors to block the roads of the belgian capital. they also appear to have piled up tires near the eu building — which are now on fire. this comes as agricultural ministers from across the european union are meeting in brussels today — this is right in the heart of brussels. you can see the immediate future is this huge trafficjam because take a look at all these tractors that have been brought into the heart of the capital city today. they back all the way down as far as the eye can see and if you come along here you can probably hear on

the background some of the firecrackers that are going off. this white stuff on the floor has come from the water cannon that the police have been firing this morning, not at the farmers themselves but at the fires that have been started because of some tyres were set alight earlier on today. you can see a few fires have been set now. these are all big european institution building. let's talk to somebody who has come from the czech republic. we met about 20 minutes ago, can you explain what sort of farming you do and why you are here. we sort of farming you do and why you are here. ~ . ., , ., are here. we are farmers from the czech republic. _ are here. we are farmers from the czech republic. we _ are here. we are farmers from the czech republic. we produce - are here. we are farmers from the czech republic. we produce grainl are here. we are farmers from the i czech republic. we produce grain and cereal_ czech republic. we produce grain and cereal and _ czech republic. we produce grain and cereal and things like that. it's become — cereal and things like that. it's become harder to sell produce because — become harder to sell produce because of the imports notjust from ukraine _ because of the imports notjust from ukraine but— because of the imports notjust from ukraine but also from latin america and russia — ukraine but also from latin america and russia. the european union depends— and russia. the european union depends a — and russia. the european union depends a lot on farmers when it conres— depends a lot on farmers when it comes to — depends a lot on farmers when it comes to the environment and that drives— comes to the environment and that drives the — comes to the environment and that drives the cost up and it's really

hard _ drives the cost up and it's really hard for— drives the cost up and it's really hard for us _ drives the cost up and it's really hard for us— hard for us. what do you say to --eole hard for us. what do you say to peeple that _ hard for us. what do you say to people that for _ hard for us. what do you say to people that for a _ hard for us. what do you say to people that for a long - hard for us. what do you say to people that for a long time - hard for us. what do you say to - people that for a long time farmers about subsidies and support and this is causing disruption but also they shouldn't complain too much? it’s a shouldn't complain too much? it's a real tiuht shouldn't complain too much? it's a real tight bureaucracy. _ shouldn't complain too much? it's a real tight bureaucracy. it's - shouldn't complain too much? it's a real tight bureaucracy. it's really hard _ real tight bureaucracy. it's really hard for— real tight bureaucracy. it's really hard for farmers who actually work in the _ hard for farmers who actually work in the field — hard for farmers who actually work in the field and working stables and then they— in the field and working stables and then they fill in the form of the several— then they fill in the form of the several hours at the computer and nobody _ several hours at the computer and nobody actually reads it. this is one of— nobody actually reads it. this is one of the — nobody actually reads it. this is one of the problems. it's the same ievei— one of the problems. it's the same level of— one of the problems. it's the same level of subsidy as it was in 2014 and the — level of subsidy as it was in 2014 and the inflation since then has been _ and the inflation since then has been 30 — and the inflation since then has been 30 or 40%. everything has gone up been 30 or 40%. everything has gone up and _ been 30 or 40%. everything has gone up and it— been 30 or 40%. everything has gone up and it doesn't cover the costs any more — up and it doesn't cover the costs any more-— up and it doesn't cover the costs any more. up and it doesn't cover the costs an more. ., , , ., ., any more. that is the complaint, no additional funding _ any more. that is the complaint, no additional funding for— any more. that is the complaint, no additional funding for the _ any more. that is the complaint, no additional funding for the past - any more. that is the complaint, no additional funding for the past ten l additional funding for the past ten years. you can hear a lot of the bangs now and that is the smoke that is being generated by the fire. quite a bit of disruption here.

brussels is a city used to protests but this is quite considerable. you can see that there is another big pile of tyres that have been set up. the police also are pretty used to demonstrations of the scale but from previous experience this could go one of two ways. either it will peter out or it becomes bigger and we will see more activity throughout the day. quite a lot of disruption for now in the heart of brussels. tell us about that meeting of agricultural ministers in what is on the table and what the options are? it's interesting. you talk to some of the different farmers, some guys from germany and we were talking to a woman from france, they have all got different concerns. generally they don't like the way the european union has been implementing its green policies, they say they haven't been getting money to help them make the necessary adaptions and transitions. what we have today is a meeting of the agriculture

ministers in brussels. some of the farmers have been invited to talk to them and when you see these sorts of scenes outside that's probably why the politicians have done that. they want to take some of the heat out of the anger. we know over the weekend that president macron in france received a pretty frosty reception and i think this is something which is quite a big concern for a lot of politicians because the opinion polls to suggest that a lot of these farmers do have quite widespread public support. farmers do have quite widespread public supp°ft-_ farmers do have quite widespread public smart-— farmers do have quite widespread ublic su- -ort. . ., ., public support. what impact have the demonstrations _ public support. what impact have the demonstrations been _ public support. what impact have the demonstrations been having? - public support. what impact have the demonstrations been having? they . demonstrations been having? they have been taking place across europe for weeks. yes have been taking place across europe for weeks. , . ~ have been taking place across europe for weeks. , ., ,, for weeks. yes and i think the fact that some — for weeks. yes and i think the fact that some of _ for weeks. yes and i think the fact that some of the _ for weeks. yes and i think the fact that some of the farmers - for weeks. yes and i think the fact that some of the farmers have - for weeks. yes and i think the fact i that some of the farmers have been invited to discuss the future of policy, it shows that to an extent their voices are being heard. it remains to be seen whether the european commission for example which is the executive arm of the eu, it comes up with policy and implements it whether they take a significantly different approach. if

you talk to farmers they say is one thing after another, whether it's pesticides, subsidies being reduced or being told they can't farm certain fields within their properties. lots of people of different concerns. so trying to get a new arrangement which suits everyone is going to be extremely difficult. but we will have to see whether anything significant comes out of this meeting. all the farmers here realise it's not going to change overnight but it could well be that we see more of these demonstrations. you have all of these tractors that have trundled all the way from france, different parts of belgium and also further afield and this goes all the way back to the end of the street. i'm not sure how long they will be here for today but certainly they are out in force, much bigger than previous protests we've seen, and as you say this is something that has been replicated in other european cities over the past few weeks and months.

there is still quite a lot of activity on the streets of brussels with water cannons being fired and that heavy smoke very much in the air. now to the war in gaza. palestinian prime minister mohammad shtayyeh has handed his resignation to president mahmoud abbas. shtayyeh said "the next stage of the war and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the new reality in gaza and the need for a palestinian—palestinian consensus based on palestinian unity". the war in gaza has been raised by the un secretary general, antonio guterres, at the opening of the un's humanitarian council gathering in geneva. he was particularly concerned at any further israeli ground attack in the south of gaza. international humanitarian law remains under attack, - tens of thousands of civilians, | including women and children, have been killed in gaza. humanitarian aid is still completely insufficient. rafah is the core of— the humanitarian aid operation,

and unrwa is the backbone of that effort. _ an all—out israeli offensive . on the city would not only be terrifying for more than a million palestinian civilians sheltering i there, it would put the final nail- in the coffin of our aid programmes. 0ur correspondentjenny hill is injerusalem — she gave us an update on the palestinian government submitting it's resignation to president mahmoud abbas. well, mr shtayyeh says that new political measures are needed as he announced his resignation. what's important about this is really the context, the fact that talks are going on all the while behind the scenes about what gaza should look like, who should run gaza and how once this war ends. the us is very keen for a reformed palestinian authority, which is based in the west bank, to take on that role, but the important word there is �*reformed' and it's put a lot of pressure on the president, mahmoud abbas, to do so.

so a lot of analysts will look at today's resignation of the prime minister and perhaps see that as a step towards mahmoud abbas putting in place a more, as they call it, "technocratic" government, potentially with the aim of eventually being given the opportunity to to govern in gaza. what's also interesting about that, of course, is just a few days ago, the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, issued a very brief document outlining his plan for the day after the war ends. that made no mention of the palestinian authority having anything to do with government in gaza. so this is one of those developments which, at the moment it's interesting, but it has to be seen within that much, much wider context. thanks, jenny, on that. also, in the past few hours, the israeli cabinet are meeting to discuss their potential movements into rafah. they said, we understand, that they have come up with a plan, or the idf has come up with a plan,

to move civilians. do we know any more details about that? no, and that's what's so interesting about this. israel has repeatedly insisted that it's going to go into rafah, where it claims that there are still battalions of hamas fighters hiding among the civilian population. it's also repeatedly insisted that it will move civilians out of harm's way before that ground offensive begins, but we have had absolutely no detail on how it intends to do that. yes, you're right, ministers were given supposedly a plan by the israeli defense forces last night outlining what they're going to do, but we have no detail. it will be very interesting to see what they propose because aid agencies and foreign governments have all issued really deep warnings in recent weeks, saying that there are very few, if any, safe places left in gaza for civilians to go to. let's remember that israel initially told palestinian civilians that they should move from the north of gaza at the start of this

war down to the south. they told them to head to rafah and there are now well over a million people sheltering there right up against the egyptian border. there's nowhere else for them to go. the egyptian border is closed to them. you can look at a map of gaza and see that to the north and west of rafah there are some areas, it's open ground, no facilities for people, and aid agencies saying that people might go there, but there's not much space, very few facilities. it's worth pointing out that israel's bombardment of gaza continues. night after night there are airstrikes, as well as hunger and disease now posing a risk to civilians there. there have been more warnings about the lack of aid reaching people in gaza, with increasing reports of lawlessness in the areas where israel has carried out military operations. this was the scene in gaza city on sunday in the north of the territory, where aid agencies say they have been struggling to deliver aid for several weeks.

earlier i spoke to william schomburg, head of the sub—delegation in gaza for the international committee of the red cross. the situation today in rafah really lacks words. it can only be described as dire. everywhere you look out on the streets there are tents as far as the eye can see, housing families that have been forced to leave their homes. you see children running around barefoot, you see families desperately looking for enough food and water to drink. access to health care has become increasingly complicated as multiple health facilities, including hospitals, have been rendered dysfunctional as a result of the hostilities. the humanitarian needs are severe and growing. while there is a prevailing sense of anxiety as insecurity continues, just last night we heard several bombings across rafah and reports of continued fighting all over the gaza strip. you are in rafah speaking to us

from there right now. just paint a scene of what it's like when you step out of where you are right now. like i said, driving around the streets of rafah today, you see a heavily, overcrowded population that are stuck with nowhere to go. you see real difficulty in people trying to access for example clean water and people queueing up desperately in front of the few water trucks that are able to provide a limited quantity of clean drinking water for civilians to meet their daily needs. you have families queueing up outside of bakeries desperately trying to buy bread, which has become increasingly challenging. and like i already mentioned, you see that hospital, the few that continue to remain functional, overcrowded notjust with patients including very high numbers of wounded as a result of the fighting, but also as one of the few remaining centuries left

for individuals that have been forced to displace with nowhere else to go. we understand the israeli cabinet met this morning to discuss a possible evacuation plan. we don't have any details on that. but it seems that it has been approved, whatever that looks like. just tell us what the challenges would be of moving 1.5 million people out of that area. we are not even sure even where they would go. i wish i had a better answer to your question than the detail you already mentioned. it's not clear for anybody as to where civilians would go and i think that is obviously front and centre in the minds of everybody that i speak to hear who are deeply concerned and worried for the safety and protection of the families, to understand where they can possibly go to if the fighting were to intensify in rafah.

let's look at some other stories making news. a study by the resolution foundation has found people in their early twenties are more likely to take time off work because of illness than those in their forties. the think tank says mental health is of particular concern, with around a third of 18 to 24 year olds reporting they have conditions such as anxiety or depression. analysis by bbc verify of car insurance quotes in england suggests those for areas with the biggest population of people from ethnic backgrounds were a third more expensive than elsewhere. prices were higher in these neighbourhoods even when less diverse areas had similar road accident and crime levels. the insurance industry body said ethnicity was not a factor in pricing. rail services across sussex and surrey have been severely disrupted due to a major signalling fault. a power failure in the early hours of monday has caused delays and cancellations to southern and thameslink services. govia thameslink said it expected the disruption between east croydon

and brighton to continue until noon. you're live with bbc news. rishi sunak has described comments made by the mp lee anderson, about the mayor of london — as wrong and unacceptable. mr anderson, the former conservative deputy chairman said the mayor of london, sadiq khan, was controlled by islamists — and he lost the tory whip when he refused to apologise. mr khan, who represents the labour party, said the comments were islamophobic, anti—muslim and racist. speaking on bbc radio, the prime minister denied there is an islamophobia problem in his party. has the conservative party got islamaphobic tendencies, prime minister? no, of course it doesn't, and i think it's incumbent on all of us, especially those elected to parliament, not to inflame our debates in a way that is harmful to others. lee's comments weren't acceptable, they were wrong, and that is why he has had the whips suspended. how do you account for lee anderson's comments

and your decision to suspend him? as i said, clearly his choice of words wasn't acceptable, it was wrong, and that is why the whip was suspended, and words matter, especially in the current environment, where tensions are running high, and i think it is incumbent on all of us to choose them carefully. how frustrating is it that he hasn't apologised? look, the most important thing is that people realise that the words they use, in a situation that we are in now, while tensions running higher than i think any of us would like, and my priority is to try and take the heat out this situation. i think that is what everyone wants to see, and that is why words matter, and, his words weren't acceptable, they were wrong and that is why the whip was suspended. earlier i spoke with chief political correspondent henry zeffman — i asked him whether the prime minister's actions had taken the �*heat out of the situation' as intended. the prime minister's in yorkshire with his cabinet for a meeting which is meant to be about transport in the north and the midlands of england, but instead found

himself asked question after question about lee anderson's comments at the weekend. and i think the risk for the prime minister is that this does become, as the labour party is trying to make it, a broader question about the conservative party's attitudes towards islamophobia. rishi sunak today, as senior colleagues of his did at the weekend, swerved the question of whether lee anderson's comments were islamophobic. instead, he simply said that they were wrong. but he did harden the conservative party's stance a little. at the weekend, the party's position was that lee anderson had had the whip suspended and effectively been suspended as a conservative mp because he refused to apologise. but today rishi sunak said that lee anderson had been suspended because the comments were wrong, ie the apology is neither here nor there. and that's interesting because it suggests that any path back for lee anderson is much harder. earlier, we'd thought that perhaps if he just apologised today, he'd have the whip restored.

now that appears less likely to be the case. and so i think that is the prime minister trying to close down this problem a bit so that he can move on to talk about the things that he would like to talk about. i guess the difficulty for him is, well, what further can he do? because there are now wider accusations of islamophobia in the party, aren't there? there are. and those have bubbled away for a few years, including when borisjohnson was prime minister. actually, when borisjohnson was prime minister, the conservative party commissioned an independent investigation into accusations of islamophobia within the party. that came up with various recommendations but didn't say that they had an institutional problem. the labour party always argued that that investigation didn't go far enough, wasn't serious enough, didn't investigate the problem enough. but the conservative party say, well, it was independent and they followed the recommendations that they got. but look, i think that is the direction that rishi sunak is desperate for this not to go into. he wants to say that this is an isolated question around

lee anderson and specific comments about sadiq khan. it's worth noting, though, that lee anderson's claims about islamists controlling sadiq khan, while not supported publicly, at least by any conservative mps, do seem to feed into a broader sort of theme of conversation over the past week among conservative mps, which is concerns about islamist extremism forcing the house of commons to change its procedures. that gets into the debate we had last week about why sir lindsay hoyle, who's the speaker of the house of commons who presides over debates, made an extraordinary procedural decision to allow the labour party to have a vote on something to do with gaza. now that's all very technical, but the point i'm making is that these issues of islamist extremism, whether or not that exists to the extent to which it does exist and how it's affecting politics, notjust in the conservative party, but more general i don't think are going away, whatever happens with lee anderson.

rishi sunak will give more detail today of how money from the abandoned leg of hs2 will be spent in the midlands and north of england. the lines were originally due to run to manchester and also through the east midlands — but those legs were cancelled. the government says that 4—point—7 billion pounds has now been earmarked for local transport projects — to be spent between 2025 and 2032. earleir i spoke to, henry murison — the chief executive of the northern powerhouse partnership. i think if i'm honest i'm less than excited and the reason for that is what we in the north have been really waiting for is an announcement on the route of northern powerhouse rail, the line from where i am in manchester to manchester airport which would allow people in yorkshire where the cabinet are now to travel through to liverpool. that was put in real doubt by the cancellation of h is to one part of the former route has been safeguarded to enable route

east to west to be announced and that was the big announcement we were all expecting. what's happened todayis were all expecting. what's happened today is a re—announcement of money thatis today is a re—announcement of money that is already in the package so i think we are frankly a bit bemused as to why what the rail minister has been doing which is to get on with northern powerhouse rail seems to have played fiddle —— second fiddle to what seems to be a pr stunt to try and promote spending money on projects quite some time in the future but that all money that's been announced and was recycled from hsz but been announced and was recycled from hs2 but was recycled at the time of the cancellation. the h52 but was recycled at the time of the cancellation.— h52 but was recycled at the time of the cancellation. the prime minister sa s the the cancellation. the prime minister says the decision _ the cancellation. the prime minister says the decision to _ the cancellation. the prime minister says the decision to scrap _ the cancellation. the prime minister says the decision to scrap the - says the decision to scrap the northern leg of hedges two has already seen local authorities in the north get money from the end of last year for the north get money from the end of last yearfor certain the north get money from the end of last year for certain things, is that the case?— last year for certain things, is that the case? , ., , , ., that the case? the problem is that the prime minister _ that the case? the problem is that the prime minister has _ that the case? the problem is that the prime minister has identified l that the case? the problem is that the prime minister has identified aj the prime minister has identified a number of projects but what the prime minister didn't say on radio humberside or radio lincolnshire this morning, what he didn't say was

there hasn't been a penny saved from hsz there hasn't been a penny saved from hs2 yet because we are still spending a lot of money on phase one and nine of the significant spending on phase two which is the bit between birmingham and crewe and up to manchester had started yet. the prime list may have decided to put in a few potholes that he promised that when he was chancellor but it can't be many from hs2 because physically he hasn't saved a single penny at so how on earth could he have used that money. he is creating the impression he has cancelled her but he could have funded hot holes at any time. i think it's slightly misleading and though he has answered questions this morning and i will be going on radio humberside to try and correct the record because i think people across the north and decide —— deserve to hear both sides of the story. reuters is reporting russian

opposition politician alexei navalny was close to being freed in a prisoner swap at the time of his death along with two us nationals. maria pevchikh, a friend and ally of navalny, shared the news on youtube. with more on this, i'm nowjoined by vitaliy shevchenko, russia editor at bbc monitoring... tell us more about these claims. maria peptic is a key associate or was of electing a she was head of investigations. so a key figure in his entourage and she said that the night before alexi novelli died she had been told that negotiations were at the final stage potentially leading up to his exchange for a russian secret service assassin who is currently serving a life sentence in germany. in exchange russia was

to western powers presumably to american nationals and alexi noveul american nationals and alexi novelli. she described this as a result of an operation, a project, which was two years in the making and she said because vladimir putin was so opposed to exchanging alexi novelli was so opposed to exchanging alexi noveuion was so opposed to exchanging alexi novelli on setting and free he killed him. novelli on setting and free he killed him-— novelli on setting and free he killed him. ., ~ i. , . killed him. thank you very much. plenty more _ killed him. thank you very much. plenty more details _ killed him. thank you very much. plenty more details on _ killed him. thank you very much. plenty more details on that - killed him. thank you very much. plenty more details on that and l killed him. thank you very much. l plenty more details on that and all of our stories on the bbc news website. to stay with share on bbc news. the top business stories are coming up next. hello again. we've had some heavy rain and strong winds affecting some southern areas during the course of the early part of today. the rain continuing to pull away,

but what you will find is it will remain windy, a cold north—easterly wind, but for most it will be dry, with some sunshine and scattered showers. some of the showers being driven in and that wind will get across into the midlands and east wales, and the black circles represent the strength of the wind gusts. so temperatures today ranging from four in the north to ten in the south, but if you are exposed to the wind in the east, it will feel more like four or five against your skin. now heading on through the evening and overnight, there is the low pressure pushing away into the mediterranean. we have a ridge of high pressure across us, and then two weather fronts come in. as they come in, introducing cloud and some rain, the temperature will go up, but under clear skies we are looking at a widespread frost, these being the lowest temperatures of the night. so tomorrow we start with some fog through the vale of york, lincolnshire, the midlands, south—east. that will lift through the morning. our two weather fronts continue to drift steadily southwards, bringing the cloud and increasingly patchy rain with them, and behind them we are looking

at mixture of bright spells, sunshine and some showers as well. temperatures, 6 to about 10 or 11. moving then from tuesday into wednesday, our weather fronts eventually clear away from the south—east, it will be breezy in the north and we have got this next weather front coming our way. we start off with some fog in southern areas. a bright start, but as the weather front approaches the cloud ahead of it will build, then we start to see the rain coming in. that will be in the west initially, but it will push eastwards. temperatures 7—12 degrees. so from wednesday into thursday, you can see as our weather front pushes across, we are in this milder air, but then we have a cold front, so behind that the air starts to cool and it will cool further behind this weather front. so, as we head on into thursday, our weather front will bring rain from the west towards the east, still relatively mild ahead of it. but then the air turns colder behind and we will see some of the showers wintry in the tops of the mountains and our temperatures six

to eight in the west, but we are still looking at up to 11 in the south—east.

trade tensions — the us and china exchange a war of words as ministers gather in abu dhabi for the world trade 0rganisation conference. red sea crisis — a third of uk firms now say they are affected by the shipping disruption. welcome to world business report. we begin in abu dhabi, where ministers from around the globe are gathering for the latest world trade 0rganisation meeting. the director general, ngozi 0konjo—iweala, has kicked things off launching a $50 million fund designed to help female entrepreneurs in developing countries. she says the money is to enable women take advantage of the vast opportunities of global trade. but easier said than done — that trade is currently facing a great deal of pressure against a backdrop of war and growing economic divisions, not least between the us and china.

the us is accusing china of closed trade practices.