"nothing can be ruled out". the prince of wales unexpectedly pulls out of a memorial service for his godfather due to a "personal matter". and the man who led the campaign for justice for sub postmasters caught up the in the horizon it scandal has called for the system for paying compensation to be sped up we keep coming back to this time after time after time, pay people. there's a lot of distractions, a lot of things thrown up all the time, butjust get up, pay people. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan, welcome to verified live. there are growing concerns that hamas may reject the terms of a gaza ceasefire deal, drawn up in paris over the weekend. the group is still studying the draught framework.

the deal would include a pause in all military operations for a0 days, before the start of the proposed framework would also lead to the exchange of hostages, and the entry of several aid trucks into gaza every day. president biden had said a pause in fighting could begin as soon as monday. the talks will try to reach a ceasefire agreement that can be implemented before the start of ramadan, on the 10th of march. the draught framework would include a 40—day pause the scramble to survive. hungry crowds gathering on the beachfront in gaza city after hearing aid lorries were heading there, loaded with flour. translation: there is no food for my children, no bread, - we have been eating leaves of trees, eating the food of this donkey. my leg is broken and i still came forflour. after nearly six months of a brutal war, gazans fear the world has forgotten them. translation: look at us - through the eyes of mercy, people. for the sake of islam, show the starvation.

they are carrying a martyr on a donkey cart. we don't have value any more. we don't have any value. nobody is looking at us. but international negotiators are pushing for at least a pause in the fighting. on the campaign trail, in the jarring setting of an ice cream parlour, president biden was upbeat when asked when a new ceasefire in gaza might come. well, i hope by the beginning of the weekend. i mean, the end of the weekend. my national security adviser tells me we are close. we're close. it's not done yet. my hope is by next monday we will have a ceasefire. on the ground, though, the war rages on. israel's military releasing pictures of some of its latest strikes against hamas. since the deadly october 7th attacks, it said its aim is to destroy the islamist group. today, qatar, a key mediator with hamas, says there has been no

breakthrough yet in talks on a new ceasefire deal that would see israeli hostages being released. the main sticking point is that israel will only agree to a truce, while hamas is demanding a complete end to the war. now, as the humanitarian crisis worsens, jordan is resorting to airdrops over gaza. this was its biggest so far, including some british aid. experts say more effective deliveries are desperately needed to reach some 2 million people. but that will require fighting to stop. in the last few momentsjoe biden has been speaking to congressional leaders in the white house. both ukraine and israel. i leaders in the white house. both ukraine and israel.— ukraine and israel. i think the consequences _ ukraine and israel. i think the consequences of _ ukraine and israel. i think the consequences of inaction - ukraine and israel. i think the consequences of inaction in i ukraine and israel. i think the - consequences of inaction in ukraine

every day, it's dire. i've been speaking to some of our g—7 partners, they are very concerned. also we need to, in terms of supplemental we need to deal with the israeli portion, that contains a significant portion having to do with humanitarian assistance. and we have to replenish the air defences for israel and we have to work on making sure they don't face the threat from, they can't face the threat from, they can't face the threat from, they can't face the threat from what's going on in the middle east, notjust from hamas but from iran. presidentjoe biden there.

the kremlin has warned that this action would not be in the interest of the west. for more, i spoke earlier to our correspondent in berlin, jess parker. that is the established position, one that emmanuel macron has raised eyebrows and caused some alarm in germany. he'd been meeting with other eu leaders, talking about support for ukraine which of course principally focuses from an eu perspective on economic support but

also nations provide military aid as well, and in fact germany is the one that provides the most military aid in europe, emmanuel macron started talking about the possibility of sending troops to crane. let's have a listen to his comments. translation:— a listen to his comments. translation: , , , , translation: there is no consensus toda to translation: there is no consensus today to send — translation: there is no consensus today to send ground _ translation: there is no consensus today to send ground troops - translation: there is no consensus today to send ground troops in - translation: there is no consensus today to send ground troops in an - today to send ground troops in an official, endorsed and sanctioned manner. in dynamic terms, nothing should be rolled out. we will do whatever it takes to ensure that russia cannot win this war. but as you were reflecting there, it isn'tjust olaf scholz who's been quick to say it won't happen. there have also been comments from madrid to that effect, from italy as well, from hungary, though that would not be a surprise, given prime minister viktor orban�*s prior positions on the war in ukraine and the russian invasion of ukraine. it is a slightly unfortunate mismatch in terms of communication, particularly between

france and germany, europe segre two biggest powers, i do sense a bit of france and germany, europe's two biggest powers, i do sense a bit of irritation here in berlin that emmanuel macron has made those remarks because as i mentioned before, germany's ukraine's biggest backer, behind the united states, france lags behind that, so one diplomat i was speaking to earlier felt that emmanuel macron was talking tough without actually supplying as many weapons as we were marking that second anniversary of russia's invasion, zelensky says he still needs more military hardware to continue ukraine's fight? certainly. and of course there is debate going on in europe at the moment, or discussion, about what europe needs to do to ramp up arms manufacturing, notjust for ukraine but of course there is pressure on nato countries, members of the military alliance, to reach that 2% of spending gdp

target, if they haven't already. actually, here in germany, they are set to reach that this year for the first time since the 1990s. so germany has been on quite a journey in that regard. and a lot of people, of course, looking to the us elections later this year. there are nerves, frankly, about a potential trump re—election are nerves in europe about what that could mean for the nato military alliance, but i spoke to the boss of germany's biggest arms manufacturer here who said it would take about ten years for europe to probably be able to defend itself and to providing support in terms of military aid, so a wide recognition by many european leaders that more needs to be done but there's more to go. thank you for speaking to us. the prince of wales, prince william, has cancelled an official engagement — because of a "personal matter". he was due to be at a memorial service for his godfather,

king constantine of greece, at windsor castle. a little earlier i spoke to our royal correspondent sean coughlan. the service went ahead, but without prince william, it would have been a surprise, he was due to be a central figure in the service, he was due to do one of the readings in his name was still in the order of service, but as you mentioned, at very short notice we heard that because of a personal we don't know, really, what personal matter stopped him coming along, what that actually means. but we know that the noise, the mood music from the palace is reassuring and they have said that there is no cause for alarm and this is not a matter of undue concern. they also said that his wife, the princess of wales, is continuing to do well. she is recovering after abdominal surgery which took place earlier this year.

but i think because there had been so many royal health stories and worries about royal health, with the king's cancer foremost in mind, that people are rather sensitive to this. but his absence so far has been described by the palace is something that should not be a cause of undue concern. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the uk covid inquiry has resumed and, over the next three weeks, will focus on the response of the welsh government to the pandemic. the hearings are being held in cardiff. the inquiry covers decision—making during the pandemic by the uk government and the devolved governments in wales, scotland and northern ireland. the government is considering a new tax on vaping in next week's budget. the treasury believes it could raise half a billion pounds a year. currently, vaping products are subject to vat — but unlike tobacco, they are not subject to a separate levy. last month, ministers announced plans to ban disposable vapes. the owners of a pub,

which was known as the wonkiest in britain before it was destroyed by fire and demolition, have been ordered to rebuild it in its originalform. the eighteenth—century crooked house pub in central england was a popular attraction, with visitors who came to see the distinctive leaning building. five people were arrested after it was damaged by suspected arson last year. you're live with bbc news. the spiralling cost of living in nigeria, africa's largest economy — has prompted a two—day strike by trade unions there. inflation is at almost 30% while the local currency, the naira, is rapidly depreciating. the african development bank is warning that conditions are ripe for social unrest. our west africa correspondent mayeni jones is in nigeria and shared this update on the ongoing strikes. thousands have gathered on the streets of lagos but also the capital abuja to ask the government

to improve the economy. they want the minimum wage to increase but they'll say the price of basic goods have become too expensive average nigerians. this crisis started in may last year when the new president at the time announced he would be removing of fuel subsidy. this is important in a country were a lot of food is carried over routes to market, but also are a lot of business rely on petrol generators to function. that meant the price of basic things such as rice, vegetables and oil has skyrocketed. food inflation is that over 35% already this year. many nigerians who had been making good living before this, earning a salary, are unable to make ends meet. protests are meant to continue on wednesday. we've already seen protests in the north of the country, weeks ago. the government is keen to send a message it has got things handled,

that these policies are needed for the long term, that the fuel subsidy was not sustainable in a country like nigeria. but many nigerians want to know, what are they going to do right now? regionally we are seeing similar protests in countries like guinea and chad, west africa suffered a lot in the aftermath of both the global pandemic and the war in ukraine, and they are concerned that if the economic woes continue increasing it could destabilise an already fragile region. the former chairman of britain's post office, henry staunton, has said he's the victim of a smear campaign, after his public argument with the business secretary, kemi badenoch. giving evidence at a hearing into the horizon �*computer scandal�*, mr staunton said he thought more could be done to speed up compensation to sub—postmasters, who had wrongly been prosecuted after the computer system made it look as though money was missing from their branches. here is some of what henry

staunton had to say. what happened to these poor postmasters and their families is a tragedy and a scandal. they have been failed time and time again by a whole host of british institutions who were supposed to be there to protect the citizen, and ensure fair play. we all know that there was inaction all around by the judicial system, the government, whitehall and particularly inside the post office until the itv drama, mr bates versus the post office, and there was a rocket then put under things. the secretary of state, senior civil servants and officials are asking us to believe that everything was going swimmingly all along. when it damn well wasn't. the hearing also heard from three former sub postmasters, including alan bates — founder of the justice for sub—postmasters alliance

and focus of the itv series mr bates vs the post office. he pushed the government to speed up compensation, saying not enough progress had been made. we keep coming back to this time after time after time. pay people. there's a lot of distractions, a lot of other things are brought up, thrown up all the time butjust get on and pay people. everyone keeps referring to the scheme, understandably, as a compensation scheme but it's not. if not, its financial redress. this is money these people are actually owed and they've been owed it for years. compensation sounds, it's like, something to benefit at the whim of the government. let's get it right and really push forward on that aspect of it. i'm joined by our business correspondent, ben king. {iii i'm joined by our business correspondent, ben king. of course this was a hearing _

correspondent, ben king. of course this was a hearing into _ correspondent, ben king. of course this was a hearing into the - correspondent, ben king. of course this was a hearing into the question j this was a hearing into the question why it took so long for people like mr bates for redress. when a high court victory in 2019, more than four years lady were still wrangling about how the compensation has been paid to so few people. proceedings today were rather overshadowed by the testimony of henry staunton, the sacked former chair of the post office. who has been involved with a war of words with kemi badenoch, the business secretary, over exactly whether he was told to go slow with compensation payments to some postmasters, to save the government money. now, one of the reasons we are being told he was sacked is because he was involved in claims over bullying, and he told the mps today that in fact there bullying complaints amounted to one paragraph of an 80 page dossier compiled by the former head of hi and the former

executive nick reed. he said nick reed had discussed resigning with him four times partly because of this issue but also because he was unhappy with his pay. now, this brought the members of the committee to almost to a standstill, they were kind of flabbergasted by this revelation. and one of them even, jonathan gullis, described the situation as a complete and utter shambles and mr reid didn't disagree with that. so this has brought a new and extraordinary twist in a long—running compensation saga which looks like has a long way to run still. {371 looks like has a long way to run still. _, , , looks like has a long way to run still. , , , ,, still. of course, there is pressure on the government _ still. of course, there is pressure on the government to _ still. of course, there is pressure on the government to speed - still. of course, there is pressure on the government to speed up l still. of course, there is pressure - on the government to speed up those compensation payments, too. though some postmasters. we've been hearing a little bit from number ten this afternoon, what more have we heard? inevitably, the government had to respond to this. number ten said it still has confidence in mr reid and

the department for business, for its part, says it's a rare aware of the investigation into mr reid and it will await the outcome. it reiterated the reasons they had sacked mr staunton. intent to bypass the formal investigation to appoint a new director to the board. so this was a war of words that i think still has a long way to run. ok. was a war of words that i think still has a long way to run. ok, ben kin: , our still has a long way to run. ok, ben king, our business _ still has a long way to run. ok, ben king, our business correspondent, | king, our business correspondent, thank you for bringing us up—to—date on today's proceedings. the bbc has issued an apology for the way it handled a complaint about the news presenter huw edwards. allegations about his behaviour were made in may 2023, but did not reach senior managers untiljuly. the bbc says the complaint was not �*escalated quickly enough�* and it has now changed its processes. all were allegedly shot dead last week in sydney. a police officer who

had been a relationship with mr byrd until late last year has been charged the murders of both men�*s. sam atkinson sent us this report from cynthia. —— sydney. after two days of searches elsewhere, officers moved their focus here on information provided by the main suspect. mr byrd�*s former partner headed himself in last friday and was charged with two counts of murder. police have said for over a week that they feared the worst for mr baird and mr davies, the discovery of the bodies today perhaps comes as no huge surprise, but officers said they hope at least brought some solace to their friends and family. jesse baird was a former tv presenter. his partner, luke davies, worked for the australian airline qantas. describe their

killing as domestic violence rather than a hate crime, and thanks to the community for helping with the investigation.— investigation. every piece of information _ investigation. every piece of information has _ investigation. every piece of information has been - investigation. every piece of. information has been valuable. investigation. every piece of- information has been valuable. and getting to this point today. and it will continue. figs getting to this point today. and it will continue.— getting to this point today. and it will continue. as news spread that the bodies had _ will continue. as news spread that the bodies had been _ will continue. as news spread that the bodies had been found, - will continue. as news spread that the bodies had been found, more| the bodies had been found, more people arrived at the home where the two men are believed to have been killed. some laying flowers, others shedding a tear. this woman had known mr davies for years. she didn�*t want to speak on camera, but told me herfriend was a didn�*t want to speak on camera, but told me her friend was a wonderful soul. that he�*d been found gave her peace. now she said, justice must be served. the deaths have prompted organisers of this weekends gay lesbian mardi gras this weekend, not to take part in the parade. this will help give the lg pdq plus community give space to grieve. not everybody agrees with it. state police commissioner said

negotiations are continuing but whatever the outcome, one of the biggest celebrations in the city�*s calendar will be tinged with grief. it might be a good idea to brace yourself for this one. researchers have discovered that a tiny, transparent fish known as a danionella cerebrum can make a sound as loud as a jackhammer. the creature, which isjust over a centimetre long, uses its muscles to drum out a 140 decibel rhythm on its swim bladder. in the waters close to the fish this is as loud as a gunshot. let�*s have a listen. loud, raspy buzzing earlier i spoke to lead author of the study, verity cook, and i asked her to explain a little more about how such a small fish makes such a big noise.

the swim bladder is a chamber of gas inside the fish used to control it and the fish have these specialised muscles and inside the muscle there is a rib and a piece of cartilage and when the muscle contracts it pulls on the rib, and then the cartilage is shot out so you can imagine it like hitting a drum, so you hear this buzzing sound that we heard earlier. how did you find out about the noise? it�*s a nice story. we have used high—speed video recordings, and you can see what is going on inside their bodies, so we recorded videos up to 8000 frames per second and when you slow them down you can see the swim bladder being compressed by the cartilage movement. what is the point in terms

of knowing about this? in our lab we are mainly focused on neuroscience and because the fish are so small and transparent we can use special microscopes to see inside the brain and see what is going on at a neuron level. because they communicate with each other acoustically we can gain insights into acoustic communication and the underlying networks making this happen. do we know why these tiny fish make this huge sound? because they are so small, if they make a sound they become very vulnerable, so when they are by themselves they don�*t make sounds, only when they are with other fish. so we think it is a communication signal and only the males make sounds. we think it is probably to do with aggressive behaviour and also with males and females, may be courtship or a mating ritual. are these the loudest fish in the world? or are there others? there are many loud fish, actually.

the loudest i have ever come across is the black drum which can make sounds at 180 decibels at a metre away. but this is two metres large. so this is the loudest fish at this size that we know about. you were just walking past a fish tank and you noticed the noises? there are some hobby aquarium people who reported that the fish made sounds, and we could hear them walking past the tanks, so we have microphones you can submerge into water to record high quality recordings and then to discover the mechanism we used specialised cameras where you can record very fast frame rates.

we are hearing that the german union verity is calling on lufthansa employees to strike from one state figure the 28th to friday 1st of march. the union been demanding that lufthansa offers a higher wage for thousands of the german ground crew, before it agrees to a fresh round of pay talks. that�*s coming into us now, and also another update coming into us from russia, and that is a lawyer who represented the late opposition leader alexei navalny is reported to have been detained in russia. sources say vesely duke cough has been held on administrative charge for violating public order. we�*ll have more in both of those stories, stay with us. it was a very pretty start ahead of

a working weather front bringing thickening cloud and outbreaks of rain. here are those weather fronts pushing southwards and eastward, fragmenting, patchy rain, really, clearing quite quickly this evening and another warm front approaching northern ireland�*s okra cloutier, breezy are here and also milder into tomorrow morning but still a touch of frost possible across england and wales underneath largely clear skies at least for part of the night, we�*ll see some fog patches developing as well. the generally unsettled theme is set to continue as we had through the rest of this week. won�*t be raining all the time, changeable in terms of temperature, too. milderfeeling air changeable in terms of temperature, too. milder feeling air despite the cold start on wednesday with this warm front. that will bring some outbreaks of rain across western scotland, the rain is likely to pep up scotland, the rain is likely to pep up for some time, heavier downpours across many western areas of wales and southwest england, it takes some time before he gets to east anglia, it could stay dry here for much of the day. late brightness across

eastern areas of northern ireland, we can seat 13—14 start celsius milder feeling air and we can seat 13—14 start celsius milderfeeling air and a we can seat 13—14 start celsius milder feeling air and a south westerly wind blowing throughout. the milder air here on wednesday, marked in yellow. it�*s been swept further eastwards by these cold fronts, so cold, wintry conditions develop from the west as we had through thursday. we�*re likely to see some early outbreaks of rain, across central, southern england, flood warnings in place could add to the problems. brisk winds across northwest of scotland come up possibly severe gales here for a time, pushing these showers eastwards. snow levels are expected to drop through the day, gradually turned cold and we could see some wintriness perhaps over the scottish hills and through the mountains and over the tops of the tenants by the time we get to the end of the day. and there�*s not much improvement on friday either. the first day of the meteorological spring, lower pressure dominant, brisk winds toward the eastern coastal areas as well, longer spells of rain and

wintriness above 2—300 metres, the southern opulence, penance and higher ground in northern ireland will feel very springlike.

growing concern hamas may reject the terms of a gaza cease—fire deal.

chris and joe biden said falls infighting could begin as soon as monday. study shows chemotherapy and radiotherapy and cancer survival rates in the uk are lagging behind comparable countries. and researchers have discovered by the roots tiniest fish is just over a centimetre long and makes us sound as loud as a jackhammer. straight to the sports centre and get a full round—up. manchester city continues the defence of their triple when they take on looting and the fa cup and the busy week for pep guardiola possible aside, and followed by a champions league knockout against copenhagen. unsure whether he will return to the starting line—up with 41 games for city last season including the fa cup in champions league finals and started only 19 matches in this campaign and only seven in the league. the

matches in this campaign and only seven in the league.—