hello i'm carl nasman. us vice president kamala harris expressed deep concerns over the humanitarian situation in gaza during talks with benny gantz — a key opposition figure and member of the israeli war cabinet. the white house said ms harris urged israel to take additional measures to increase aid flow to gaza and called for a "credible" humanitarian plan before any "major" military operations in rafah. mr gantz�*s visit has been criticised by some in benjamin netanyahu's government, who've said that as an opposition figure, any commitments he might make would not be binding. the meeting comes as a new round of talks is under way in cairo on a deal that would pause fighting and release israeli hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners. our correspondent wyre davies has the latest, from jerusalem one positive note from cairo is that they have gone into a second day with delegations from hamas, egypt, qatar, and the americans

talking about the stability of a six or seven week ceasefire in gaza. but, of course, israel decided not to send a delegation. israel's says the preconditions it insisted upon — that hamas should provide a list of the hostages who remain alive, and those who might be exchanged in a prisoner swap, or hostage swap, with the palestinians, that wasn't forthcoming. so israel has decided not to send a delegation to cairo. that has been criticised in many parts of the israeli media, and the israeli public, as an unsustainable position. that isn't to say that had israel gone to cairo, there would be an automatic ceasefire — there would be others stumbling blocks. hamas wants the withdrawal of israeli troops from populated areas of gaza and the citizens of gaza to be allowed to return to their home areas in northern gaza. and those are significant issues that israel might have objected to. meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in gaza is said to be increasingly dire.

the israeli attacks on positions, hamas, and other positions in gaza continue, and people continue to die. according to the hamas—run health industry, over 30,000 people have been killed in gaza, most or many women and children. according to the un and other aid agencies, the humanitarian situation, particularly in northern parts of gaza, is increasingly dire, with some people facing starvation with a lack of food, lack of basic medicine. the americans, the british, and other international countries and agencies are putting increasing pressure on israel and hamas to agree this ceasefire and for more aid to be allowed in. as we heard there, in gaza, israel and hamas continue to exchange attacks. the hamas—run health ministry says more than 30,000 palestinians have been killed since october.

although the bbc is currently unable to report from inside gaza, our special correspondent fergal keane sent this update from jerusualem. and just a warning his report contains some distressing images. a grief so calamitous it is deaf to the rumours of peace. this is the 150th day of war. and each day, the images of the grieving and of the dead are beamed to the world. this woman was sheltering with 45 family members when a rocket struck. seven were killed, including two children. a ceasefire might save the living. it won't bring back the dead. nawaf zre�*y has lived and worked among the dead since the war began. he is a shrouder. he cleans and wraps the dead for burial —

hundreds of them. "yes, but their families don't yet know they're dead." 30,000 deaths have created many widows and orphans. near rafah, they stay together, in a camp of the widows, within a larger camp. new structures are being built. the un estimates 3,000 women have been widowed by war. zahra al—ras, aged 26, has four children. one of them is disabled. another suffered severe burns.

her husband, mahmoud, was killed when he went to find food for the family a month ago. zahra found him dying in hospital. often these days there is nothing to eat. like the bereaved of all wars, this family clings to fragments of a world broken beyond repair. the children are zahra's life now, the living world she holds in her arms. fergal keane, bbc

news, jerusalem. i discussed the ongoing talks in both the us and the middle east, along with international aid efforts, with former us represenative jane harman. she also chairs the bipartisan national defence strategy commission. israel's request that the list of hostages who are still alive and the list of those who would be released and some specific terms about how many palestinian prisoners have to be released in exchange for one israeli hostage are reasonable requests. and they haven't been satisfied. so that is one point. but the other point at the air drops i think are a good thing — thanks tojordan for helping with that, thanks to egypt for helping and hosting some of the negotiations. the neighbours are now getting more involved.

and, as i hear it, they and the us are speaking with one voice about the need to reduce the impact on innocent civilians in gaza. but i would also say israel's demands at this point seem to me to be quite reasonable. haiti is under a state of emergency, and a curfew has been imposed, as gang violence risks spiralling out of control. in the past few days, armed gangs have stormed haiti's two largest prisons, freeing thousands of inmates. the united nations says gangs control more than 80% of haiti's capital, port—au—prince. gangs are demanding the resignation of prime minister ariel henry. when the attacks started thursday, mr henry was in kenya, pushing for the deployment of a un—backed police force. gang violence is not a new problem in haiti. but as the bbc�*s james landale reports, groups that once called each other enemies are now combining forces. gunfire. haiti has long been lawless and violent, but now

it's getting worse. in the capital, port—au—prince, people ran for their lives as what law and order there was broke down. thousands have fled their homes. powerful armed gangs already control much of the city, but yesterday they overran two prisons, freeing — it's estimated — about 4,000 inmates. some stayed behind to avoid the shooting. translation: the riot in the prison put our. lives at risk. we hid because there was a lot of firing. we were afraid for our lives. the government declared a state of emergency in the capital, with curfews in place, but they may be hard to enforce. the gangs, which so often fight each other, have come together to try to oust the prime minister, ariel henry. he was in nairobi trying to persuade kenya's president to send him police officers as part of a un security force. he is thought to be returning to haiti now.

but a notorious gang leader known as barbeque said the armed groups were united against the prime minister. translation: we ask - the haitian national police and the military to take responsibility and arrest ariel henry. haiti has long experience of dictatorship... i have been elected for president for life. ..but recent years have been particularly bloody. in 2021, the president was assassinated, leaving a political vacuum, largely filled with the gangs. killing, rape and kidnap are widespread. elections have been promised but not held, and it seems the gangs are losing patience. james landale, bbc news. a little earlier i spoke with harold isaac, an independentjournalist on the ground in haiti to get the latest from port—au—prince. hardold, thank you forjoining us. parts of haiti under a state of emergency. gangs now control large parts of the capital city.

can you just describe for us what life feels like right now in haiti? well, a bit suspended. since thursday, folks expected the week to be disrupted, but now we're a state of emergency and a curfew that is in effect right now. do you feel safe there? do people feel safe? well, it's a chequered reality, it's a chequered life. you need to figure out your commute, where you're going, how you're going, how you're coming back. you always need to be on the lookout. and try to stay put as much as possible. but, in reality, you are either in a situation where you are exposed to the direct reality, or you may be at risk of being exposed to the reality. we're hearing that gang leaders are calling for prime minister ariel henry to stand down. how stable do you think his

position is at the top of the government there in haiti? well, his situation is certainly complicated. i mean, haiti is currently facing both an institutional crisis and a constitutional crisis that has been aggravated since the death by assassination of the president jovenel moise in 2021. mr henry was tapped two days before the death of the president. he essentially inherited a situation which he had promised that he would essentially deliver on elections and retire, but that didn't happen. why is that? we have been hearing the elections have been delayed. i know there is some worry that this could be an attempt to hold onto power, but, on the other hand, this doesn't exactly seem like a perfect environment to hold elections in haiti. well, this is — this is part —

one of the big questions, one of the big issues, that the prime minister himself in his current standing would have two entities that could fire him — which is either the president or the parliament, and are both gone now. there is no president and the parliament's terms expired years ago. essentially he is caught in this sort of suspended situation and he basically plays on that and the security situation, to say, well, i'm unable to deliver on elections, but as soon as the situation in the security is restored, i will be able to have elections and hand over power. a few days ago haiti finalised the security deal with kenya that would send several hundred — up to 1000 police officers, to try to bolster the security situation there. what is the feeling on the ground?

how confident are people the plan could get things under control? the haitian government requested formally from the international community troops or police officers, specialised police officers, to come in since october, 2022. ever since, people have been expecting something to happen and we have been clinging on to any hope they could find. however, haiti had been in a situation since of international process to go gather support, funding, and the units that would be coming to haiti. this is as part of this process that ariel henry travelled to kenya last week to try to sign an agreement with the kenyan authorities to have kenyan troops, kenyan police officers being deployed in haiti. there seems to be a lot of power being consolidated by the gang leader, jimmy cherizier, known as barbecue.

what is he up to? well, essentially, jimmy cherizier — barbecue — is a former police officer and has been in the gang environment for the last few yea rs. the last time he made the headlines was in 2022, precisely in september and october where the country essentially grinded to a halt when he blocked access to the main oil terminal of the country for nearly seven weeks. and essentially bringing back cholera, putting the economy on its knees. and ever since, now, he claims, as of last week, that he has managed to unite all the rival gangs in the metropolitan area, with the objective to topple the current government.

thank you for taking the time to speak with us. thank you for having me. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at a major story in the uk. the british government has suffered five defeats in the house of lords over its plans to send some asylum seekers to rwanda. they relate to such issues as whether the country is safe enough for asylum seekers, among other matters. however, the government is likely to overturn these when it returns to the commons, as our political editor chris mason tells us. there is an expectation that a lot of these defeats in the house of lords will be overturned in the next couple of weeks when it returns to the house of commons. there is a chance that all of this, this possible act of parliament, becomes exactly that — the law of the land — before the month is out. the big question then is how long from then until planes are on their way to rwanda. it's been almost two years since ministers first announced

the plan to send some migrants to rwanda. they argued it would deter people from travelling in small boats to the uk. in november, the uk supreme court ruled that the plan was unlawful. no asylum seeker has yet been sent to rwanda. you're live with bbc news. back here in the us, the supreme court has unanimously rejected a colorado ruling that would have removed former president donald trump from the state's primary ballot over his role in the january 6, 2021 attack on the us capitol. the decision also applies to other states with similar challenges to mr trump's candidacy. the ruling says individual states cannot bar candidates for the presidency under section three of the 14th amendment in the us constitution. that provision prohibits anyone who previously pledged to support the constitution as "an officer of the united states" from returning to office if they betrayed their oath by engaging in insurrection. section three does not specify

who enforces it or when it should be invoked, but the supreme court's conservative majority said congress must act for it to take effect. they worked along, they worked hard, and, frankly, they worked very quickly, on something that will be spoken about 100 years from now, and 200 years from now, extremely important. essentially you cannot take somebody out of the race because an opponent would like to have it that way. that was donald trump reacting to the ruling earlier today. for more on the colorado ruling, i spoke with eric 0lson who was an attorney on the colorado case. he's also the former solicitor—general of colorado, —— he's also the former solicitor—general of colorado. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. i want to ask you what your reaction was to the ruling. did the supreme court make the right decision, here?

we're disappointed in the bottom—line conclusion that donald trump can be on the ballot, but we are heartened by the fact that not one of the nine justices disagreed with the findings of the courts below that found donald trump did engage in insurrection against the constitution and was responsible for the violence of january 6. many options were available to the court. donald trump urge them to reverse much of the work below. they took a procedural out, so we lost, but in a way that left intact many of the findings that we worked so hard to achieve below. many people found that very interesting that the nine justices of the supreme court opted to really stay away from the issue of whether or not donald trump committed an act of insurrection, even though, as you mentioned, the state of colorado found that he did. why do you think they stayed away from that argument? well, i think the easy answer is the facts are unassailable. it is unquestioned — his planning, his role,

his orchestration of the insurrection onjanuary 6. i have to say, of course, he hasn't been convicted, yet, of any sort of acts of insurrection, right? he hasn't been convicted, but a conviction is required under the 14th amendment. all that is we found is that he did engage in it, and the facts that he did engage in it were overwhelming. even though he had a full and fair opportunity to put on his side the case, the facts are clear. the supreme court also said it shouldn't be up to the state to determine whether or not a candidate should be on the ballot when it comes to considering an act of insurrection, but that it should be up to congress. what did you make of that? well, we disagree. our history here in the united states shows that the states have tremendous power under article two of the constitution to pick the presidential electors — the people who then select the president. we think the supreme court overlooked and ignored that rich history

in the united states. so we disagree with the decision, but, of course, we will follow it, as we all need to do in the united states, under the rule of law. we disagree with it, but we will implement a going forward. a statement was issued by the three liberaljustices on the court. was this, do you think, as unanimous of a decision as it is being presented, or is there a bit more dissent within the supreme court then we really think there might be? i think the court worked very hard to make this look unanimous. it was unanimous only in the conclusion. but the reasoning and the approach of different members of the court show a pretty significant division. i would actually say it's four of the justices with the three liberals — all the women — plus justice barrett, having a slightly different view than the five men who took the broader view. both the court's power, and questions before it is to what might happen in the future or in different legislations.

so there is a big division, even though the bottom line was unanimous. but again, even with that big division not a single justice disagreed that donald trump was an insurrectionist. i want to ask you, given your experience arguing a couple of cases in front of the supreme court, how do you anticipate justices will deal with the next issue when it comes to donald trump and his argument he should be granted full immunity from his actions as president? i think it's pretty clear — everyone agrees except for donald trump and his lawyers that the immunity that he seeks isn't available under the constitution. the interesting questions are twofold. first, what, if any, space

for immunity will they give at the us supreme court, and to how long will they take to reach a decision. they should hear in the colorado case that they can work quickly. we hope they do the same in the immunity cases. but i think, you know, donald trump has repeatedly taken very broad, very sweeping arguments to the court, and he has prevailed in any of them. none of the arguments he made in the insurrection case were adopted by the court. they adopted a very small piece of one argument. none of his broad arguments. i expect a similar outcome in the immunity cases. interesting to get your take on this, eric olsen, attorney on the colorado case, and former solicitor—general of the state of colorado. thank you very much forjoining us. i really enjoyed it. and one further note on donald trump's presidential prospects — our media partner cbs news projects he's won the republican caucuses in north dakota. that's just before, of course, super tuesday. let's turn to some important news around the world. france has become the first country in the world to explicitly include the right to abortion in its consitution. france's national assembly

overwhemingly voted 780 to 72 to enshrine women's guaranteed freedom to abort. the change was prompted in part by reproductive rights in the us where the right to an abortion was overturned by the supreme court two years ago. a us airman will be jailed for 16 years after pleading guilty to leaking 100 of classified files. 22—year—old airman first class jake teixeira was arrested in april 2023 after smuggling files out of an air force intelligence facility and posting them online. prosecutors agreed not to charge him with espionage. the philippines says one of its ships was damaged in a collision wiith a china coastguard vessel on tuesday. the philippines coastguard said the filipino vessel was conducting a resupply mission to troops on a remote outpost. china says it took measures against the ship's "illegal intrusion" in chinese—controlled waters. parts of the uk have been treated to one of mother nature's most awe—inspiring spectacles. the northern lights put on a show for sky—watchers from the highlands in scotland, aall the way down to cornwall on england's southwest coast. the bbc has been speaking to three photographers who captured the magic.

music: finlandia by sibelius i can describe it as seeing, like, pillars of — white beams shooting into the sky when it was at its peak storm — this was about 8:20pm last night — and i also seen pinks and greens along the horizon. i was just in awe. it was a mixture of screaming with joy and tears of joy as well. last night, ijust — i sat there watching people watch the northern lights, and it made me realise how many people actually are quite, quite into it, to be honest. it was — it was a great night.

we saw this amazing sight of a said, which is- a sub—aurora iron drift. it's a red tower that appears in the sky. i so to catch that and to find out that i've caught that i on camera and on a picture isjust fantastic. _ spectacular photographs there. stay with us on bbc news. hello. there may be a hiccup along the way, but by and large, for the rest of this week, it's looking better than it has done in recent weeks, with the tendency for most of us to be a good deal drier. things will become windier again as we go through the week — and that's because we're stuck in a bit of a tussle between high pressure building across scandinavia — high generally means dry weather — and low pressure out in the atlantic. and, whilst they try to get closer, high pressure will be the dominant feature. tuesday, however, will be a bit of a transition day of sorts. now, we start with a bit of frost across central, western england and wales, certainly frost free towards the east — and that's because we've got

a weather frontier which has become stranded as we go into the start of the day. cloud, outbreaks of rain, quite misty around hills and coasts, too. it'll sit there all day long around some coastal districts. it may brighten up a touch inland, chance of a few heavier showers and a rumble of thunder towards the far southeast, and some showers in the morning in northern ireland will work through into western scotland. elsewhere, most of you will be dry — the odd shower can't be ruled out, but it'll be quite pleasant in the sunny spells that develop. now, as we go through into tuesday night, that weather front is still there in some form. so plenty of clouds, still the chance of some light rain or drizzle, and a bit of a breeze blowing across the north and east of scotland, as we'll see through tuesday itself. but into wednesday morning, it's a case of the frost will be quite extensive again in western parts of england and wales, as well as western scotland, and maybe a bit in northern ireland. it's here we start wednesday with the sunshine. a few showers maybe towards the far west of cornwall later on.

always more cloud in northeastern england, eastern scotland, with the tendency for some drizzle on the hills. a brighter day and drier day for some other parts of eastern england, and temperatures creeping a little bit above where we should be for this stage in the year. now, as we go into wednesday night and thursday, high pressure builds a bit more and low pressure gets closer. we squeeze the isobars together more, so there'll be more of a breeze by the time we hit thursday. that will bring a bit more cloud across northern and eastern areas — the greater chance of 1—2 showers drifting in, as well. many, though, to the south and west will stay dry — and, because that wind coming in from the south easterly direction, it's these areas most favoured for the best of the sunshine. feeling a little bit cooler, especially in the cloudier spots, compared with wednesday. into friday and the weekend — a lot of dry weather to begin with, but there's a greater chance of a bit of rain developing here and there as we go into saturday and sunday. take care.

voice—over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. how do we make sense of the world we live in? many of us rely on a diet of news and information. evidence, facts, truths — we think of these as the building blocks of reality. but in a world in which it

is increasingly hard to distinguish the real from the fake, sometimes the most telling observations come from the writers of contemporary fiction — like my guest today, novelist and computer games creator naomi alderman. her latest story is an apocalyptic techno thriller. is the apocalypse that she imagines all too possible? naomi alderman, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. i want to start at the beginning. you were raised in a very traditional, observant 0rthodoxjewish community in north london where, i think it's fair to say, women and girls were expected,