it's a budget this week. and it's a record—breaking night at the brit awards as raye picks up six visors. best night of my life, hands down, without a shadow of a doubt. will it ever get better than this again? hello. we start this hour in the middle east. mediators have arrived in the egyptian capital cairo to try to agree a temporary ceasefire between israel and hamas. there are reports that hamas says a gaza truce is possible �*within 2a to 48 hours�* — if israel accepts its demands. a top us official says israel has �*basically agreed' to a framework for a six—week ceasefire. the official says it could begin immediately,

if hamas is ready to release the most vulnerable israeli hostages it holds. but one egyptian official says there are still �*technical�* issues to resolve, including agreement on the number of palestinian prisoners the israelis would be prepared to release in exchange. the us has carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid for gaza on saturday — with more than 30,000 meals parachuted by three military planes. inside gaza there's a desperate need forfood. the hamas—run health ministry has said 15 children have died of malnutrition and starvation in gaza's kamal adwan hospital — in the north of the strip. the head of the norwegian refugee council, jan egeland, who has visited the area, says there is now a famine in northern gaza. i think there is a famine in the north. yes. there is no other way to describe what has befallen on the 300,000 people who live in the ruins of the north and who haven't had really any aid for a very long time, because israel is not opening the border crossings from where we could have had hundreds and hundreds of trucks to feed the women, the children, the families, the innocent. i was there for three

days, two nights. i was prepared for nightmare, but it is worse. it's much worse to be there to meet with the thousands of people who are trying to take your hand, get your attention, and to tell you, "we're starving here, we're dying here." "we will be attacked here." "we have fled five times to reach rafah," which is the southernmost point in the little gaza strip, and they've been under bombardment, you know, every day since mid—0ctober. it's... it's beyond belief. 0ur correspondne wyre davies injerusalem gave us more details on the ceasefire talks. well, look, it's relatively good

news unconfirmed reports via the united states and also now from cairo seem to suggest that both sides, the israelis and hamas, and hamas, and knowledge that we could be close to some sort of truce, but that doesn't mean were over the line yet and we should not assume they will be a deal, because there are some key sticking points. 0n the israeli side, the main point for them is the hostages. they want to know which hostages hamas intends to release under the deal and also how many palestinian prisoners from israeli deals would be exchanging a release for that number. hamas has always insisted on previous occasions that israeli troops should withdraw from gaza and that gas on civilians should be allowed back, particularly to the homes or what's left of their home areas in northern gaza, so there are some significant sticking points and i don't think, as i said, we should assume a deal is in the offing just yet. but what's driving this, and this is

really important, is the increasing humanitarian crisis that you've been alluding to them in parts of gaza. there's increasing international pressure on israel in particular to allow the ceasefire to happen and in particular to facilitate more aid and the americans are very frustrated. 0ne and the americans are very frustrated. one of the reasons they took this unprecedented move of an air top, took this unprecedented move of an airtop, dropping took this unprecedented move of an air top, dropping about 30,000 food parcels in gaza, is because clearly not enough aid is able to get into gaza itself by road. there's a security situation in the north which led to what happened last week with 115 deaths, but also the fact that not many of the crossings are open, allowing more aid in, and i think the aid agencies and international governments clearly see that as a priority. the ceasefire, ac slayer, would facilitate greater aid into gaza itself. , . , itself. yes, yan edlund using the name famine _ itself. yes, yan edlund using the name famine in _ itself. yes, yan edlund using the name famine in the _ itself. yes, yan edlund using the name famine in the north. - itself. yes, yan edlund using the name famine in the north. the . itself. yes, yan edlund using the - name famine in the north. the north in particular, it is very hard to get aid in there, isn't it? yes, a

lot of peeple — get aid in there, isn't it? yes, a lot of people initially _ get aid in there, isn't it? yes, a lot of people initially with - get aid in there, isn't it? yes, a lot of people initially with the l lot of people initially with the israeli bombardment of northern gaza did move south but some people have gone back and a lot of people stayed there. within the facility, is in there. within the facility, is in the room, and supplies even in the south. there are crossings in the main crossing into gaza in the north if that was open and aid was allowed into gaza in the north it would help alleviate some of the problem is, the famine and malnutrition we had about from governments and aid agencies in particular so that is what is driving this and perhaps thatis what is driving this and perhaps that is what may get a ceasefire, however temporary it may be. that's what make get over the line. that was re what make get over the line. that was wyre davies _ what make get over the line. that was wyre davies in _ what make get over the line. that was wyre davies injerusalem. an israeli army spokesman says the military has completed a preliminary review into the incident last thursday in which dozens of palestinians were killed as an aid convoy arrived in gaza city. rear admiral daniel hagari says the review determined that forces did not strike the convoy, and that most palestinians

died in a stampede. you can see pictures now from the side. the idf says gazan civilians were trampled to death as they charged toward the aid convoy. mr hagari said the review found that israeli soldiers did — in his words — fire warning shots and respond toward several individuals who posed an immediate threat. palestinian officials have accused israel of a massacre, and there's been intense international pressure for a full and independent inquiry. yonahjeremy bob, a senior military correspondent forjerusalem post, gave his assessment on the intial findings of the israeli military review. so, look, obviously, iwasn�*t there. i can't tell 100% and we need to stay objective here. but the idf did release a lot of specific information.

they released videos, that does mean something to me. i look to the video is a number of times. i couldn't see, you know, 100 people trampling each other but i did see chaos. the idf also has admitted that basically there were three incidents, it wasn't one incident, there were three, and in the third incident idf forces did fire on the palestinians. we can get on that third incident about, you know, exactly what happened there. but for the idf... i always say, if somebody�*s willing to admit fault to some extent and they're giving you information, that gives them a certain amount of credibility. i have heard the reports of, you know, bullet wounds, but i haven't seen anything produced. i'm sure since the idf admitted that they said about ten palestinians were killed by bullets that there were at least that many. was it more than that? i would need to see evidence. but, look, let's step back and say, also, this is a horrible tragedy, however it happened. the main thing that needs to happen here is humanitarian aid needs to get in and it needs to be under the control of somebody other than hamas. that's part of what happened in the second incident. hamas forces fired on the humanitarian aid trucks

and stole the trucks. so part of what happened here was chaos, but part of what happened here was hamas upset with the fact that israel are trying to get the food directly to the palestinians and not in their control. of course, we don't have any independent confirmation of that happening and the palestinian officials are accusing israel of a massacre. do you think there is a way forward? are we ever going to find out the truth? there are calls for an independent international inquiry into what happened. it's going to be very difficult to find out 100% of the truth because you would need, you know, all the palestinians who were involved to come forward, you would need to be able to identify that they were actually the ones there, you would need to identify, you know, that the bullets came from idf bullets and not from hamas bullets. and if you saw the pictures of...i mean, there was chaos happening there. the chaos i don't think was planned by hamas per se. i think there are a lot

of hungry people. this is a tragic, problematic situation. so i don't think we're going to get to the bottom of it, but i think there should be an independent probe. we can find it as much about it as we can because at the end of the day, we want to prevent future incidents like this from happening and the more light that we shed on it, the more likely we can avoid this from happening again. yonahjeremy bob from thejerusalem post, talking to me a little earlier. to pakistan now, and shehbaz sharif has been re—elected as prime minister. it comes weeks after a controversial election marred by allegations of widespread vote—rigging. mr sharif was elected by 201 votes to 92, and will preside over a coalition that has shut out followers ofjailed opposition leader, imran khan. last month's election produced no outright winner. independent candidates backed by imran khan's party won the most seats, but failed to get a majority. 0ur bbc urdu news reporter in islamabad — sahar baloch — has more. he's returning as prime minister for the second time and it was quite a day today at the parliament because as soon as it was announced

by the speaker that shehbaz sharif was going to be the prime minister, there was an uproar by the opposition benches as well because they were not happy with the fact that shehbaz sharif has won again. so the speaker of the assembly basically announced that shehbaz sharif has gotten around 201 seats, votes, and his candidate, opposing candidate 0mer ayub has gotten only 92 votes. so let me give you a bit of a background also. this time, the general elections were quite contentious, as well. there were a lot of lot of allegations of fraud and rigging and everything, so pti—backed candidates in the parliament today, they were protesting the most about pm shehbaz sharif getting elected again. and you mentioned that there was that uproar. does that mean that the coalition that they've managed to bring together could be shaky going forward, or is it secure? well, so far, the coalition has been formed and it seems as if they are quite in agreement with each other, because if you even look

at the formation of the government, they have very understandably distributed different ministries amongst each other. it is only the opposition at the moment, which is basically led by imran khan's pti party, and also the pti—backed candidates in the parliament, who are actually creating quite an uproar because a lot of people — not onlyjust the pti but a lot of political parties in pakistan — are claiming and accusing the government of holding rigged elections, and a lot of fraud is being accused on them as well. so, right now, what we have to see is that, you know, if this polarised parliament is going to come up to the challenge and deliver what they promise to do earlier. and is imran khan's party — of course, he is still injail — likely to go forward with their protests over him being elected prime minister? well, right now, yes, they are protesting, and even yesterday, they were protesting out on the streets as well. so imran khan's party has been

protesting a lot for past 2—3 years only because they claim that imran khan has been alleging that he was ousted from the parliament due to, you know, some conspiracy by the united states. and then he later on changed his stance and said that it was actually the former army chief of pakistan who conspired against him. so since then, you know, he has been saying this, so his party is expected to protest even this election as well. so far, they are recording their protests on twitter and other social media outlets. sahar baloch talking to me earlierfrom islamabad. here in the uk, the chancellor says he wants to find a way to bring down the tax burden — but insists he'll do it in a way that's responsible. jeremy hunt will set out the government's tax and spending plans on wednesday — with growing calls within the conservative party to bring down taxes.

all that has changed, and why? largely because the treasury has less money to play with if it sticks to the rules it has set up for itself to manage the economy. in the one hand, conservative mps are putting pressure onjeremy hunt to cut taxes in a major way, but on the other hand, ministers like michael gove say he is begging the chancellor for more money for housing, grant shapps the defence secretary has written to the chancellor asking for more money for defence. this is what he said to laura kuenssberg this morning. we have always said and been clear that we will only cut was put down my taxes in a way that is responsible and prudent and may say the most un—conservative thing i can do would be to cut taxes by increasing borrowing, because that's just cutting taxes and saying future generations have to pick up the tax.

i wouldn't do that, but i do want, where it's possible, to do so responsibly to move towards a lower tax economy and i hope to show a pack in that direction but this would be a prudent and responsible budget for long—term growth, tackling inflation, more investment, more jobs and that path to lower taxation as and when we can afford it. now, though, we have to take everything at this stage a few days out from the budget with a bit of a pinch of salt. there is always expectation management because chancellors love to lower expectations so that they can pull a rabbit out of the hat at the a dispatch box on wednesday. so the chancellor not ruling out tax cuts but all the indications are that this is going to be a more limited budget that perhaps jeremy hunt had hoped for a few weeks ago. 0ur political correspondent harry farley. if you watching in the uk, we will have more of that interview that love can is they did withjeremy hunt a little later in this hour. —— more of that interview that laura kuenssberg date. final vote counting is taking place following iran's parliamentary elections.

unofficial figures put the turnout at about a0 % — which would be the lowest since the islamic revolution in 1979. iran's rulers had been pressing for high participation to help repair the regime's reputation, after nearly two years of protests sparked by the death in custody of the young woman, mahsa amini. 0ur correspondent caroline davies — who is in tehran — told us more about the turnout. the result of friday's elections are still not announced but, interestingly, some of the state newspapers here in iran had some of their own figures about turnout. these are all unofficial early indications of figures. but here it says that they believe that there's been a a1% turnout across iran. and here in the capital tehran, it's at 24%. now, if these figures are correct, a1% turnout across the country is historically low for parliamentary elections. sometimes, those turnout figures have been over 60%. but what has also been interesting about some of the reaction in the media here is the fact that over 25 million, they say, people voted. the papers are saying that

that is a win for the authorities, that it shows people are backing iran. now, it is very difficult to get people to talk to foreign media here about politics, particularly out on the streets in iran, but we were able to speak to a couple of people about what life is life here at the moment and what their concerns are. let's get some of the day's other news now. norway's king harald is flying home on a medical evacuation plane, after being discharge from hospital in malaysia. the king was hospitalised while on a private trip norway's king harald is flying home on a medical evacuation plane, after being discharge from hospital in malaysia. the king was hospitalised while on a private trip to the country, and received treatment for an infection as well as a temporary pacemaker. earlier this week the palace said that the king was doing well, but still required rest. delegates are beginning to arriving in china for the annual meeting of the national people's congress. the event will lay out the government's policy blueprint for the year ahead. high on the agenda is the economy,

with the ruling party being closely watched to see how they might revitalise growth. lebronjames has become the first player in nba history to reach 40,000 career points. he described it as "bittersweet" after his team — the la lakers — lost to the denver nuggets. the crowd gave james a standing ovation during a timeout and was presented with the ball he used to reach the milestone. let's return to the us where a massive blizzard is pounding parts of california and nevada. the snowstorm has closed major roads, shut down ski resorts and left tens of thousands of homes without power. the blizzard was especially severe in the mountainous sierra nevada region , people there have been warned of a �*high to extreme avalanche danger�*. earlier, we spoke to travel photographer dakota snider, who lives in mammoth lakes and who found himself in the middle of this blizzard. it is currently dumping snow still right now. this is...this has been a storm for the books, for sure. so, mammoth lakes, where i live up in the sierra nevada mountains,

and when people think of california, they don�*t often think of snow, right? however, where our ski resort town is at, we�*re up at like 3,000 metres, so we�*re super high up in elevation. and on average, most years we�*ll see somewhere around 1000cm of snow a year. so right around that 400 inch mark. i�*ve lived in these mountains for about ten years now, and this is only the second time i�*ve ever seen a storm warning of this blizzard type warning that we have right now, the second time in ten years. you know, as a professional photographer, it�*s one of those experiences where, you know, like, we wait for — especially one like myself, that takes a lot of weather content. i wait for moments like this and, you know, it�*s one of those things where i�*ll bundle up properly, go walking out of my house, take a lap around the neighborhood, you know, don�*t venture too far. one of the biggest things is, one, you don�*t want to put yourself in danger and, two, you don�*t want to put,

any other emergency services in danger. however, as a professional photographer, these are the storms that we dream of being able to capture. to northern ireland next. it was a month ago, that sinn fein�*s michelle 0�*neill became the first nationalist to be appointed first minister of northern ireland. it prompted increased speculation about the prospect of a united ireland. census data suggests there are now more people with a catholic background, than a protestant one. but polls suggest most voters remain against constitutional change. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page reports. northern ireland has changed — statistically, politically, and physically. lurgan is one of the towns which has grown amidst evolving population trends. the first irish nationalist to be mayor of the area in 1999 has seen a major difference. one of the big changes for me were there were absolutely no—go areas in terms of canvassing. there were areas where you just would have been frightened, quite frankly, to go into. that�*s no longer the case. 25 years ago, did a united ireland feel achievable at all, then?

many people wouldn�*t have thought of it ever being within reach within their lifetime, and i think now it is in our lifetime. the good friday peace agreement, which largely ended the conflict here in 1998, sets out a legal pathway to a referendum on irish unity. it says the british government shall call a referendum if at any time it appears likely that a majority in northern ireland would vote to leave the uk and join a united ireland. in the strongly unionist area here, people think the idea of breaking up the uk is far—fetched. there's no talk of that whatsoever here. what are people talking about? people are talking about affording the rates, affording their...shopping every week. some people look at the likes of census figures, election results, and say there is a move towards a referendum on northern ireland�*s status in the uk. what do you think about that? i don't think i'll see it in my lifetime.

i'm near positive i'll not see it. a relatively new dynamic is that almost one in five voters now support parties which are neither unionist or nationalist. polling also suggests a rise in people identifying as something between only british or irish. ok, so, we're going to take it from, "come out, come out, i "wherever you are," so can everybody this side go that way _ and everybody this side go this way? at this cross—community theatre group, actors think the future of northern ireland won�*t be decided just by issues of national identity. it is not a matter of, "oh, i grew up this way, so therefore "i have to go that way." or, "i know this person, so i have to go that way." i think it is much more, "i am interested in securing "a future for myself and family and friends." we need to stop thinking about the divide itself and thinking more about what we can do in the area we are in and how we can improve that. it's being able to identify we are i different in lots of different ways,

different in lots of different ways. it doesn't just come down - to whether you're irish or british. there's lots of things to mix up - and we need to appreciate everybody, for all of our differences and celebrate that. - no—one can be sure what scenes will play out in the coming years. the uk government says it sees no realistic prospect of a referendum, but others believe they can sense a shifting big picture. chris page, bbc news. lurgan. it�*s was british music�*s big night last night, with the brit awards. the singer songwriter, raye, swept the board at the event, making history by winning six awards — the most in a year. dua lipa won best pop act, while kylie minogue won the global icon award. 0ur music correspondent mark savage was there. she is real, she is raw, she is raye. this was raye�*s night. raw, she is raye. # a little context, if you care to listen...# the winner... ..raye. raye! two years after fighting for her freedom from a record label

that refused to put out her debut album, she swept the brit awards... what the hell is happening? i�*m an artist with an album of the year! ..and even brought her grandma on stage to celebrate. backstage, she came armed with all six of her trophies. my god! you�*re going to need two tesco bags. i know, i�*m going to need two tesco bags! do you know who got six in their entire career? who? michaeljackson. you know who else got six in their entire career? who? david bowie. you�*re equal to them now in terms of brit awards. what even? nah. yeah. best night of my life, hands down, without a shadow of a doubt. will it ever get better than this again? mate... tell me about your grandma, agatha. isn�*t she beautiful? she�*s amazing. listen, that woman raised me. my parents worked full—time, so she took me to and from school. she lived with us. she moved from ghana to raise me. ——she moved from ghana to come and raise us.

i owe her everything. but raye wasn�*t the only winner. dua lipa won best pop artist and opened the show with a spectacular performance of her new single, training session. # got me feeling pretty good...# # not the best idea...# sza won the best international artist award. chase & status celebrated their win for best producer with a performance of disconnect with becky hill. # can�*t get you out of my head...# and the show closed with a celebratory performance from kylie minogue. # i know you wanna take me home padam, padam...# she had been awarded the global icon prize, recognising 37 years of hits. amazing. there�*s a part of my brain that�*s kind of scanning the years to go,

"wow, how did i get here?" i mean, i�*m trying to compute it myself. it�*s not that easy. in a night where female artists dominated, closing the show with one of the trailblazers was a fitting end. kylie was brilliant. so was raye. you can get highlights from the brits on the bbc news website and app. it�*s worth having a look. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. some of our rain—sodden fields will get a little bit of respite later this week, a sign that things could turn a bit drier. and even today, drier than it was yesterday. fewer showers around and a little bit more sunshine. the big picture, though, does show a few complications as this weather front — which stretches all the way from the mediterranean to the north of scotland —

has been producing heavy rains, gusty winds in northern scotland. and it�*s very close to parts of eastern england, especially east anglia. still the chance of some rain falling from that across parts of norfolk and suffolk. come further west, well, the sunshine is a bit more there in abundance, but a few showers around western scotland, northern ireland and more especially south wales, south—west england and the channel islands. mainly of rain — a little bit of sleet over the hills. but for many of you, actually, it�*s going to be a shower—free day and it will stay largely dry and not as cold as yesterday. into tonight, lose the sun and the temperatures will drop quite markedly. some dense patches of fog forming, east wales and into parts of the midlands in particular, and a widespread frost tonight to take you into the monday morning commute. so a chilly morning out there, but it should be a bright one. changes afoot, though, towards the south—west as this next weather system pushes its way in. now, this will bring some wet weather, probably the wettest stage and wettest day of the week at the moment on monday. a dry start for many, lots of brightness, except where you�*ve got

those dense patches of fog for the morning commute. they will gradually lift and clear. rain, though, quickly spreads into the channel islands, south—west england and through much of wales morning and early afternoon. outbreaks of rain and strengthening winds to northern ireland too. many though across scotland away from the far northeast and of course much of north and eastern england will stay dry during daylight hours. and again, temperatures lift a little bit, but more breeze around that rain then spreads its way across other parts of england into southern scotland, it starts to fragment. and that�*s because we�*re going to see a battle this week between high pressure in scandinavia and low pressure in the atlantic. we�*re sandwiched in between. that means it�*s not going to be a completely dry week. certainly as we go into tuesday, still plenty of cloud around from that weather front on monday. a few showers but brightening up as we go through the day as high pressure starts to exert a bit more influence. still a few showers to come here — and, indeed, a few more showers throughout this week, but the general pattern is fewer showers, more, longer spells of drier weather. great news, of course, for the ground out there at the moment. and temperatures will liftjust a little bit above average,

and the nights still rather cool. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines... mediators start arriving in cairo to try to reach an agreement on a temporary ceasefire between israel and hamas. reports suggest that hamas says a gaza truce is possible �*within 2a to 48 hours�* if israel accepts their demands. meanwhile, the idf says a review into civilian deaths at a gaza aid convoy last week found that the army fired towards some individuals posing a threat — but that most were killed in a stampede. uk chancellorjeremy hunt has said

he wants to find a way to bring down the tax burden�*, ahead of the spring budget this week. jeremy hunt will set out the government�*s tax and spending plans on wednesday. and it�*s a record—breaking night at the brit awards as singer—songwriter raye picks up six prizes, including best artist and best album. she is the first woman to win songwriter of the year. the chancellor says he wants to find a way to bring down the tax burden — but has told the bbc he�*ll do it in a responsible way. jeremy hunt will set out the government�*s tax and spending plans on wednesday — with growing calls within the conservative party to cut taxes. he�*s been speaking to laura kuennsberg. i have always said, and we have been very consistent, we will only cut taxes in a way that was responsible and prudent. and if i may say, i think the most and conservative