live from london, this is bbc news. the eu says a maritime aid corridor from cyprus to gaza could start operating this weekend to try to ease the humanitarian situation there. meanwhile, the united states says it could take up to 60 days for a temporary port to be built, as the un warns a quarter of people in gaza are on the brink of famine. in england, the health ombudsman says cancer patients are being put at risk because the health service is overstretched and understaffed. and from hard working gun dogs to primped to perfection poodles, the international dog competition crufts builds up to the best in show this weekend.

hello. i'm catherine byaruhanga, welcome to the programme. we start with the situation in gaza. and a ship carrying humanitarian aid is expected to set sail to the territory from cyprus this weekend, as part of a planned maritime aid corridor. it's a joint operation between the eu, us, uk, and united arab emirates aiming to bring supplies from cyprus to the coast of gaza. the un says a quarter of gaza's population is on the brink of famine, and children there are starving to death. organisers hope the plan could allow large amounts of extra aid, but say it will be complex and continue to press israel to allow more deliveries by road. the eu's ambassador to the us told the bbc a little more about the plans

for the maritime corridor. hopefully the pilot, the first to try to get aid happening over the weekend, but it takes some time to make sure that it's not only once in a time, but it is sustainable way to provide aid for the people in gaza and palestine to make sure that we alleviate, ease the situation in the region. cyprus, for a long time, have been a part on the way to the region, so hopefully this could really help because five of the eu member states are on board and we see it as the possibility to increase the aid and have a possibility to provide it as soon as possible. israel welcomed the initiative and urged other countries to join it. however, the leader of the aid agency refugees international told the bbc that while welcome, the maritime route was unlikely to be able to deliver anything like enough food.

meanwhile, the us has given more detail on its plans to create a temporary pier to bring supplies to the shore in gaza. the operation aims to enable large ships to deliver food, water, medicine and temporary shelters. the us military say it could take up to 60 days to complete the port, and needs more than 1,000 personnel to build it, but none would go ashore. here's pentagon spokesman patrick ryder. importantly, importa ntly, there will importantly, there will be no us forces on the ground in gaza. finally, in terms of timing, we are working to set this up as quickly as possible but we expect it will take several weeks to plan and execute. 0nce operational, the actual amount of aid delivered will depend on many variables and will likely scale over time. however, we expect that deliveries could provide more

than 2 million meals to the citizens of gaza per day. meanwhile, there are reports that five palestinians were killed on friday after being hit by an airdropped aid package that failed to deploy its parachute. the bbc has not been able to independently confirm the claims, but this footage from social media, verified by the bbc, shows aid being dropped on friday and a number of parachutes failing to open. the us says it's aware of the reports and expressed sympathy to the families of those killed, but said us airdrops were not responsible. with me is mohamed taha from bbc arabic. so, mohammed, welcome to the programme. there are a lot of developments over the last few days, different countries trying to use the sea now as a route to get aid into gaza. —— mohamed. tell us what we stand

on this this weekend.— on this this weekend. everyone is optimistic — on this this weekend. everyone is optimistic about _ on this this weekend. everyone is optimistic about this - on this this weekend. everyone is optimistic about this sea - is optimistic about this sea corridor that is planned to be done by international effort, but, as the eu said, this will not be enough to provide enough aid to the people who are starving in gaza. now we're seeing day at least 20 people dying from malnutrition and from lack of food in gaza and this is unlikely to provide them with what they need as we approach the month of ramadan after the only two days, we saw the failure of parachuting that happens, we saw firing on refugees who are queueing to get aid around about in gaza. so, actually, rushing to get the aid, whether by air, whether by queueing to get the aid, orwaiting on whether by queueing to get the aid, or waiting on the sea is causing even more death to the palestinians.—

palestinians. and we see that the uae. _ palestinians. and we see that the ms, the _ palestinians. and we see that the uae, the united - palestinians. and we see that the uae, the united arab - the uae, the united arab emirates, isjoining this initiative along with the eu, the uk, and the us. generally, in the region, was a different countries people's views on getting aid into gaza? actually, the view is there is no way to provide enough aid to gaza unless israel would allow unlimited access to aid trucks by land to get into gaza. this is the view of the countries in the region. this is the view of josep borrell, the top eu diplomat, that he said this maritime route would not provide enough and the air dropping also is causing threats and is not enough and unless unlimited land access would happen this problem would continue. and this land access wouldn't happen without a pause in fighting or ceasefire. so this is the _

in fighting or ceasefire. so this is the situation in the west bank, the other palestinian territory, continued reports of violence there. , , , , there. yes. this is causing also lots _ there. yes. this is causing also lots of _ there. yes. this is causing also lots of threats - there. yes. this is causing also lots of threats in - there. yes. this is causing also lots of threats in the l also lots of threats in the west bank because normally israel would allow worshippers to cross from the west bank to jerusalem to do the night prayer during the month of ramadan. benjamin netanyahu, the israeli prime minister, said he is willing to allow palestinians to cross during the first week of the month of ramadan, but an incident happened last night where seven israelis were injured in an incident and the rising tensions there because of approval of more settlements in the west bank and israeli incursions, arrests, and operations there causing tensions, so we don't know how this situation would progress across the month of ramadan.

mohamed taha, thank you so much forjoining us on the programme.- forjoining us on the programme. let's speak to jean—michel grand, executive director of the humanitarian charity action against hunger uk. he is based here in london. thank you forjoining us on the programme. just tell me your thoughts about this effort to set up a maritime aid corridor to gaza from cyprus.- to gaza from cyprus. good morning- _ to gaza from cyprus. good morning. first _ to gaza from cyprus. good morning. first of - to gaza from cyprus. good morning. first of all, - to gaza from cyprus. good morning. first of all, as i to gaza from cyprus. good. morning. first of all, as you said, the situation is extremely critical, all are in need of food, especially the northern part of gaza, which is completely cut off. and it is extremely difficult, almost impossible to access the northern part of gaza from land, by the aid agencies. so any possibility to get any form

of assistance delivered to this population who are at risk of famine is welcome. however, it should not be at the expenses of the countries who try to uplift the blockade of aid, especially the road. let's not forget that the road, gaza is only a 25 mile long strip, so thatis only a 25 mile long strip, so that is a0 kilometres of road between rafah, the border, to gaza city in the north and so the effort should be that there is much more traffic allowed to deliver aid as well. find is much more traffic allowed to deliver aid as well.— deliver aid as well. and 'ust tell us a fi deliver aid as well. and 'ust tell us a bit i deliver aid as well. and 'ust tell us a bit more i deliver aid as well. and 'ust tell us a bit more abouth deliver aid as well. and just l tell us a bit more about those challenges were trying to get aid across gaza by road and what challenges there might be for any aid that arrives on shore, how easily would be then to distributed across gaza? if

we start by the largest, the seaport, which are mentioned, as i said, we welcome the initiative, but there is some concern like the airdrop is about how we're going guarantee that we can provide quality and dignity in the aid delivery, and equity, how is it possible to guarantee that the population are going to come and receive aid is going to receive it. we have seen so many incidents where people have been killed. so the delivery is one, the distribution is a bigger concern. forthe distribution is a bigger concern. for the moment, there is very few if any humanitarian organisations present in north gaza who would be able to do it in full safety. so that is what one concern is about. 0nce in full safety. so that is what one concern is about. once it's done, how are the most vulnerable people going to be guaranteed that they are going to receive food, which is not the case with the airdrop.

airdrop is a first in, first served. so i think there is delivery and distribution that is a big concern whether their system and we need to welcome it. it means we need to guarantee security and safety for people who are going to receive as well as humanitarian organisations who should be able to be present and to deliver. ,, ,, �* deliver. crosstalk. apologies _ deliver. crosstalk. apologies for - deliver. crosstalk. - apologies for interrupting, just want to get this point across, because this weekend marks the start of ramadan, and a question about the families in gaza, what are you hearing about how people are able to prepare for this holy month? its, prepare for this holy month? major concern is survival, so how are they going to get food when there is absolutely no meat, no eggs, no cheese, no sweets, nothing in the market?

nothing available. so the only thing they can find is a bit of the rice, wheat, canned food. but the food is very, very expensive and people every day, thatis expensive and people every day, that is their nightmare, the nightmares of mothers and fathers about how they're going to feed their families, so they are skipping meals, they are reducing the food, they are even using animal food that they are grinding to try to make flour, so that is the daily struggle of getting access to food has to be addressed and there is no other solution than a ceasefire, and the lifting of the blockade so that aid can be delivered at scale and safely throughout all of gaza. , . ~ . scale and safely throughout all of gaza. ., ~ . , ., of gaza. jean-michel grand, thank you — of gaza. jean-michel grand, thank you so _ of gaza. jean-michel grand, thank you so much - of gaza. jean-michel grand, thank you so much for- of gaza. jean-michel grand, l thank you so much forjoining us here on bbc news. thank you so much for “oining us here on bbc news._ thank you so much for “oining us here on bbc news. thank you very much- _ now to news here in the uk, there's a warning that cancer patients in england

are being put at risk. the health ombudsman says an overstretched, understaffed health service with exhausted workers faces "unsustainable pressure". recent analysis by the bbc suggested cancer waiting times in england last year were the worst on record. rob behrens now says there needs to be "concerted and sustained action" from the government to allow nhs leaders to put patient safety first. a fertility clinic in london has had its licence to operate suspended due to "significant concerns" about the unit. the homerton fertility centre has been told it must not start new procedures, but can continue to see existing patients. the clinic said there had been three separate cases of errors in the freezing of embryos. the bbc understands as many as 150 embryos could have been affected in incidents involving up to a5 patients, although this has not been

confirmed by the trust. the duchess of sussex has criticised the "seemingly endless toxicity" of social media, revealing she was targeted with "bullying and abuse" while pregnant with her and prince harry's two children. meghan was the keynote speaker on a panel marking international women's day at the south by southwest festival in texas. she said she now keeps her distance from such comments for her well—being, saying people have "forgotten our humanity" in certain parts of the media and online spaces. the bulk of the bullying and abuse that i was experiencing in social media and online was when i was pregnant with archie and with lily and with the newborn, with each of them, and you just think about that and

to really wrap your head around why people would be so hateful stop it is not catty, it is cruel. let's turn to the war in ukraine now and the risk of the conflict spilling over into europe. the prospect of a second trump white house is still very much alive and the french president, emmanuel macron, has in recent days again spoken about the prospect of greater european involvement in the war. former trump advisor and foreign affairs specialist fiona hill spoke to victoria derbyshire and vitaly shevchenko on the bbc�*s ukraine podcast and gave her take on the impact a potential second donald trump presidency could have on the war in ukraine. in your view, does a trump presidency make the likelihood of a ukrainian defeat in the war more likely? it of a ukrainian defeat in the war more likely?— war more likely? it is if everybody _ war more likely? it is if everybody is _ war more likely? it is if everybody is just - war more likely? it is if. everybody is just waiting around for the united states, but i think this part of the

discussion is downwind, macrocosmic speech is one thing, but action should have been taking sa. to be honest, if i were in europe and was trying to manage this, i would have been thinking about all of this right from the get go, from after the annexation of crimea, the implications of european security and then thinking this was just about territory, a territorial dispute for the territory like crimea and donbas, where predominately russian speakers were and people have more an event affinity towards russia than elsewhere in ukraine, but certainly after february of 2022 the should have been these kinds of debates, because this is about european security and i think a problem has been europeans have been relying on the united states for too long. fiona hill also looked at the threat posed by russia to european security and whether macron is trying to fill a potential void left by the united states.

macron is certainly trying to deliver rhetorically with very bold statements, as you are pointing out, but, you know, action is needed. he is talking about something in many respects in that speech that seems, you know, close but so far off, where we are in the here and now of a hot war, the biggest land war in europe since world war ii, with millions of refugees and this is a full on crisis and the whole of european security is at stake, which he points out. and you can find ukrainecast and listen at any time on bbc sounds. to haiti now, heavy gunfire has been heard near what remains of the presidential palace in the capital, port—au—prince. there are reports armed gangs who control most of the city have once again invaded the international airport. a state of emergency and night

time curfew have been extended for another month. haiti's main port has also announced that it is suspending operations due to worsening security conditions following acts of sabotage and vandalism. it's after heavily armed criminal gangs took control of most of the capital, including attacks on the main airport, preventing the prime minister, ariel henry, from returning from abroad. haiti has suffered years of instability and escalating violence since the assassination of president jovenel moise in 2021. campaigning in portugal for sunday's snap election has ended, with neither of the two major parties appearing set to gain a majority. 0pinion polls give the opposition centre—right democratic alliance a marginal edge over the governing socialists.

a close result could leave the far—right chega party in an unprecedented role as kingmaker. the election was triggered when the socialist prime minister, antonio costa, resigned in november after his chief of staff was arrested during an anti—corruption investigation. next to nigeria. more than 280 school pupils have been abducted in the northwest town of kuriga in kaduna state. reports say students between the ages of eight and 15 were taken, along with a teacher. the abductions have been blamed on ansaru, a breakaway faction of the islamistjihadist group boko haram. victims of kidnappings usually pay a ransom to secure their freedom. a controversial law passed in 2022 made it a crime to make ransom payments, with a potentialjail sentence of at least 15 years. but many victims feel they have no choice but to pay. 0ur west africa correspondent

mayenijones has this report. this has become an all—too—familiar sight — desperate parents begging the authorities for help. 280 children, some as young as eight, were dragged out of their morning school assembly by armed men and were taken into a nearby forest. some managed to escape, but hundreds are still missing. their parents are beside themselves. "please come and help us," this mother says, "where is the president? "where is the governor? "our school children were taken away. "seven children from one family were all kidnapped." this latest attack has shocked the community of kuriga — so many taken, so young. translation: we are ordinary civilians, what can we do? - they're treating us like we're worthless. we plead with you in the name of god, do something to secure the release of our children.

the local governor is promising to bring every child back home. we are sending a strong message to the mothers and we made it clear to them that one of the most important roles of the government is to ensure that we protect the lives and properties of our citizens. but many say nigeria's government is failing to do this. it's the second mass abduction in less than a week. across the country in the northeast, the residents of the state of borno have been terrorised by islamist militants for 15 years. 2 million have fled their homes to live in camps and fortified towns protected by the army, but beyond the gates, the gunmen are in control. 150 kilometres down this road in the region of ngala, dozens of internally displaced women and children were abducted last week. we can't get there because the area still has a heavy presence of boko haram militants. although the authorities

have worked hard to make this area a lot safer than it was ten years ago, large swathes of borno are still too dangerous to access. in april 201a, boko haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from the town of chibok. the group said it was against western education. many of the girls were forced to marry their captors. now boko haram is splintered and weakened. these days, kidnappings of children in nigeria are often motivated by money, with ransom demands for their release. abduction, kidnapping, became a way of getting money. even in the capital now, we have up to three kidnappings per weekjust to have quick access to money. no word yet on the fate of the children now in the hands of the armed gangs and there is little sign that the government here has the power to rescue them or to bring their captors to justice. myenijones, bbc news. counting is set to start later in two referendums on changing

issues around family and care in ireland's constitution. voters were asked if they wanted to expand the definition of family to include those not based around marriages. and they also voted on whether to remove a reference in the constitution to the role of women in the home and replace it with one recognising care provided by family members. the votes took place on international women's day, with results expected later. weather experts say the mainland united states has just experienced its warmest winter on record. the national oceanic and atmospheric administration says the average temperature across the a8 contiguous states was three degrees celsius warmer than the historic average. eight states across the upper midwest, great lakes, and northeast saw their warmest winters ever. ice coverage on the great lakes reached a historic low last month.

and day three of international dog show crufts kicks off today. thousands of dogs are competing to become the best in show for 202a. on the agenda today, is more heelwork, a jumping competition and a golden retriever display. rachel mcadam has more. one, two... we are now halfway through the world's biggest dog show. more than 18,000 competitors flocked to birmingham on thursday for crufts, the four day long show that attracts owners from across the globe. on sunday, one dog will be crowned best in show. but before that the dogs will take part in a variety of challenges and presentations in a bid to take home the trophy. crufts was first organised by donald glover charles croft in

1891, making the event older than the modern olympics. it originally started as just a dog or —— joe originally started as just a dog or ——joe ford derius, but today dogs of all shapes, sizes, and breeds take part, from schnauzer is to dalmatians, retrievers to boodles. of the first couple of days the dogs have been taking part injumping and agility tasks, as well as freestyle he'll work and obedience challenges. some very well—behaved pups from the west midlands police. they made an appearance on friday. there are more than 200 breeds taking part of this year, somewhat more high maintenance than others, but they will be putting the best poor forward until the winner is crowned on sunday. rachel mcadam, bbc news. and you can go to the bbc website, that is bbc news .com, where you can find all of the

latest headlines. you are watching bbc news with me, stay with us, we will have more news after the headlines shortly. hello there. there was a lot of dry weather around on friday, but cloud varied quite a bit from place to place. southern england had some lovely sunshine, with temperatures reaching 12 celsius in hampshire, 13 celsius in wiggonholt, in sussex — which was the warmest spot in the country — whereas eastern scotland, with all this cloud around, temperatures struggled to around six celsius. we also had something called the helm wind that blew across northern england. this is the uk's only named wind — prevailing winds 20—30mph across northern england. but look at that, 71mph up over the top of great dun fell, and those strong, gusty winds were pulled down into the eden valley, with gusts reaching 55mph there. that is the helm wind, the uk's only named wind. now, at the moment, we've got still a lot of cloud across the country, still with gusty winds — that's keeping the temperatures up at around a—5 celsius as we head into saturday. but the weekend really is dominated by this area of low pressure to our south. these weather fronts get a little bit closer and start moving across the uk as we head through the weekend, so there will be some

rain at times. now, the greatest risk of seeing some rain, really, saturday morning will be southwest england, wales, northern england. through the day, we'll see some thicker cloud push into northern ireland and scotland, bringing the threat of some rain, as well. the rain is likely to be quite light and patchy. eastern coasts of england and scotland will stay cold, with that chilly north sea wind. but there should be some hazy sunshine for the midlands, east anglia, and south east england — and that will boost temperatures to around 13 celsius. on into the second half of the weekend — well, generally speaking, we're looking at further outbreaks of rain coming up from the south. this time, the will be a bit more extensive, and it'll be a bit heavier, as well. there'll be a few places that dodge the downpours — maybe south west england and southern wales doing ok. generally, temperature's a little bit lower and, on the whole, below average for the time of year, but feeling particularly cold around those north sea

coasts once again. into next week, well, the weather becomes quieter for a time, but then we start to see some weather fronts move in off the atlantic from the west. and so, there will be something of an east—west split, i think, for eastern areas. computer's probably a bit pessimistic, really — there will be some days that are dry and generally bright, probably tuesday and wednesday not looking bad at all. whereas across the western side of the uk, yes, you are more likely to see outbreaks of rain, and the rain will be quite heavy at times, especially towards southern wales and south west england.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the eu says a maritime aid corridor from cyprus to gaza could start operating this weekend to try to ease the humanitarian situation there. it will be a joint operation between the eu, us, uk, and united arab emirates. meanwhile, the united states says it could take up to 60 days for a temporary port to be built, as the un warns a quarter of people in gaza are on the brink of famine. in england, the health ombudsman says cancer patients are being put at risk because the health service is overstretched and understaffed. the situation in haiti continutes to deteriorate. heavy gunfire has been heard near what remains

of the presidential palace in the capital, port—au—prince.