this is bbc news, the headlines... a us army logistics ship carrying equipment for a temporary floating port is heading to gaza, as part of plans to deliver humanitarian aid by sea. separately, a spanish charity vessel carrying 200 tonnes of food for gaza is preparing to set sailfrom cyprus. and as hunger stalks gaza, these are the latest pictures of an airdrop of aid over the besieged strip. the princess of wales thanks the public for their support as kensington palace posts the first official image of her since she underwent abdominal surgery. portugal votes for a new parliament, with neither the opposition centre—right democratic alliance nor the governing socialists expected to win a decisive majority. almost 11 million people are registered to vote. final preparations are taking place for this year's oscars — ahead of the stars hitting the red carpet later. christopher nolan's oppenheimer, which has 13 nominations, is expected to pick up

many of the top awards. the budget the government unveiled on wednesday has left the shadow chancellor with a major headache. jeremy hunt cut national insurance by 2 pence for the second time in six months, as well as stealing two of labour's revenue—raising policies. the party had planned to use these to fund breakfast clubs in schools and reduce nhs waiting lists, if it wins the next election. earlier, the shadow chancellor, rachel reeves spoke to the bbc�*s laura kuennsberg about how they plan to raise money now, and began by discussing her plans to create a national wealth fund. yes. we have committed to an extension of workers�* rights, including banning zero hour contracts, getting rid of fire and rehire and having a real minimum wage.

obviously, the low pay commission will set that, but this is a big extension of the rights of working people, because if an economy is not working for working people, it's not working at all. and at the moment, too many people are stuck in insecure, precarious work. we went into the pandemic with 11 million people having less than £100 worth of savings. that reflects notjust low pay, but also terribly insecure work for too many people. we do want to change that, but of course we'll work with businesses to make sure that our plans work for them as well, including, for example, probation periods and employment contracts. so, you know, we do want to make changes, but all of our plans are pro—business and pro—worker because the two things are the two sides of the same coin. but you've given a clear commitment on the record that you will have the full package in your manifesto. and that's interesting to hear. let's look then at the bigger picture. as you've already said, people know about you. you care about every single penny you've said already. if you do make it into power, you'll inherit the worst set

of public finances since world war two. you've also said many times you're not going to borrow money for everyday spending. you've also said you're not going to put lots of taxes up. now, let's be clear with everybody watching, that means that after the election, whoever wins, as sharon said, there's basically going to be no extra cash for public services or very little. and that means real terms cuts to some government departments. can you confirm today if labor wins the election, there will be real terms cuts to some government spending? well, it is clear that the inheritance that labour government would have if we do win the next election will be the worst since the second world war. and i have to be honest that we're not going to be able to turn things around straightaway, but we will get to work on all of that. and i have announced, laura, an initial injection of cash into our struggling public services. there's the commitments around reducing nhs waiting lists and breakfast clubs at primary schools.

you can't tell us how you spend... but also, laura, beyond that, we have said that we would extend the windfall tax on the big profits the energy giants are making, and we would invest that money in moving to the low carbon industries of the future. vat and business rates on private schools and putting that money into the 93% of children at state schools. properly taxing the private equity bosses to put more money into our public services. we're asking a really clear question here. can you confirm today that in the first couple of years of a labour government, some departments would face real terms cuts, because people want to know, and our viewers sometimes feel like you're not giving enough information. this is what one of them wrote in to say, john sinclair. he's asking, when will you come clean about how you'll deal with the abominable state of our national finances to support public services? so can you confirm today, if you want to be honest with people, that some government departments would face a real terms cut? well, at the moment, the government

have not set out their plans by individual departments, so we haven't got a spending review. i will do a spending review quickly if we win the election, but that's not something that's possible to do from opposition. but i do know that public services need more money. that's why we will make that initial injection. but remember also the office of budget responsibility�*s forecasts are based on the government's plans and the government's plans do not include our comprehensive plan to grow the economy. our national wealth fund is about bringing in private sector investment. that will mean more taxes paid. that will mean more money for public services. but that would take time. and this is the important thing here at the moment. and you explain this very clearly, that you want to stick to the same kind of spending rules that the conservatives do as well. you don't want to put up lots of tax and you don't want to borrow for the day to day. and that leaves some people wondering what the difference is between your plans for

the economy and the conservatives�* plan for the economy. i'd just like to play you a question from one of our viewers, ian, a voter who we met a few months ago when we spoke to lots of viewers in manchester. you can listen to this. i'm normally a labor voter and i'd like to know what the difference is between the conservative and labor's fiscal policy, as i'm not seeing a very clear dividing line, especially since... ian is a labor voter. he's asking you what's the difference? there's two clear differences. the first is the initial injection of cash into our public services by closing those tax loopholes and having a proper windfall tax those are crumbs. second, they're not crumbs, £1.5 billion for the vat and business rates on private schools, £7.7 billion over the course of the parliament by closing the loopholes, etc.. so those are not crumbs. that is real money to go into our public services that the conservatives aren't investing today. but second, in the end, you've got to grow the economy.

this is the point that andy haldane was making on your programme last week. we need to get people back into work, ensure that they've got the skills to succeed and boost productivity. and our plans are about doing exactly that. rachel reeves talking to laura kunessberg earlier. our political correspondent peter saull shared his analysis on the comments she made. polls suggests that rachel reeves may well be the next chancellor. so we all want to know exactly what she's going to do differently from jeremy hunt. now, labour does have, like the conservatives, pretty strict rules to keep tabs on government debt and borrowing, labour allow a little bit more room for manoeuvre in terms of borrowing to invest in long term projects. but, you know, she did acknowledge that things will not improve overnight. as we heard in that clip there. she also confirmed that her party remains committed to a series of reforms to workers' rights, such as banning zero—hours contracts. but rather than setting out a radical, fresh approach, i think her central political calculation is that she needs

to show to voters that she can be trusted with the nation's finances. and the budget that we had on wednesday from jeremy hunt did present her with some challenges because he adopted labour's plan to abolish the non—dom tax status, use some of the money from that to help pay for a cut to national insurance. that's something that she will not reverse. so she's now under pressure to say how she will pay for some of the other plans that labour has, if and when it gets into office. understandable, though, that she doesn't want to give too much away on that because there's the risk, of course, of the conservatives come and potentially borrow that idea too. also speaking on this morning's programme was the health secretary victoria atkins. she was asked about rishi sunak saying nhs waiting times were not good enough. we set this target because we get it. i use the nhs and proudly have done since the age of three when i was diagnosed with type one diabetes. i absolutely understand why people are so worried about this. we have set it as a clear priority

for the whole of government, but particularly obviously for my department. and although over the last three months we have seen waiting lists come down, of course we want to do much more. interestingly, we know that for the longest waits they are concentrated in just 15 trusts. and so as well as tackling the problem nationally, we have made concerted efforts to try to support those 15 trusts, to get those longest waiting patients looked at, looked after, so that we can reduce the lists in that way as well. do you agree with the prime minister that you have failed? yeah. well, we also acknowledge that as well as putting extra funding into dealing with the electives, we have a recovery plan that, as i say, we are making progress on. we have also got to acknowledge the impact that strikes have had — 1.4 million appointments cancelled in the last year. but against that background, nonetheless, the nhs has managed to reduce waiting lists over

the last three months, from fairly appalling, fairly appalling levels. and our viewers tell us that all the time. very much so. and i acknowledge that, which is why it is a priority. but one of the things that's curious about what's happened is, according to official statistics, the health service is still less productive than it was before the pandemic. now, in normal terms, that means essentially it's doing less and getting more money. what's gone wrong? not only are we investing record amounts, we have more doctors, more nurses, more midwives working in the nhs. and we're getting less? exactly right. which is why this wednesday the chancellor announced not just tax cuts for 29 million workers. he didn'tjust announce changes to the high income child benefit charge that will help nearly half a million families. he also announced a £31; billion productivity plan for the nhs because the nhs is our largest spending department in that regard. it's a critical and incredibly important public service.

and we know that whilst a strong economy helps pay for the nhs equally, a strong and productive nhs helps a growing economy. and so i'm really excited about these very ambitious plans to notjust gear up basic technology across our hospital trusts, to make sure that doctors and nurses are able to work with the best technology day to day. now, this week, germany faced uncomfortable questions after a security lapse allowed a top—secret military discussion to be intercepted and made public by russian state media. officers from the german air force were heard talking about weapons aid to ukraine. the conversation also included sensitive details about uk military activities. our analysis editor ros atkins explains. the uk's foreign secretary and germany's foreign minister met in berlin on thursday. at the press conference, one subject was certain to come up. i don't want to play into the hands of some russian narrative

about divisions between allies. we will not allow anyone to drive a wedge between us. we are talking a hybrid war here. journalists were asking about a recording of a conversation between german military officials that russian sources had leaked days before. in the leak, we hear a discussion of the war in ukraine, in particular about the implications if germany were to send its long—range taurus missiles to ukraine, something chancellor olaf scholz has ruled out. and one word has been used a lot to describe the leak. well, i think it is absolutely embarrassing that military top officials would not follow the procedures in order to conduct such calls. and it's notjust embarrassing. it raises questions about the west's strategy in ukraine and about the reach of russian intelligence. this leaked conversation involved four senior figures in germany's airforce, one of them was attending

singapore's airshow, he dialled into the meeting from a hotel there. this proved to be a miscalculation. germany's defence minister has highlighted how eavesdropping of hotels is widespread, and germany's ambassador to the uk has offered this advice. i think that's a good lesson for everybody, never use hotel internet if you want to do a secure call. germany's air force may be learning that lesson the hard way. the reason they were discussing these taurus missiles is that while germany has declined to send them, ukraine has repeatedly made the request. translation: we need long-range weapons because russia stands - at a distance that allows them to strike our people, while we cannot reply appropriately. it is true that russia's missiles can go further. at the moment ukraine has british and french, both with a range of around 150 miles. germany's taurus missile has a range of around 300 miles. it would give ukraine and many more options. but olaf scholz fears this

will escalate the war and that ukraine will need german personel to help operate the missiles. the leaked conversation discusses all of this, and makes reference to the uk already having forces in ukraine. this we already knew, because in february downing street confirmed a small number of personnel are in ukraine, though it did not say what they are doing. while reaction to the leak has continued, the kremlin has shared its thoughts on it. this suggests that within germany's armed forces plans for striking the territory of the russian federation are being discussed substantively and specifically. there is nothing in the leak that suggests this. germany has called russia's claim absurd and offered this assessment. this is a russian hybrid attack again, it is clearly the intention to destabilise the west. it was not a coincidence that this recording was published the day of navalny's funeral. if that is the intention, none of germany's allies have been critical, not in public at least.

but the former uk defence secretary, ben wallace, has concerns. he was in government during the majority of the war, and he has told the times, "we know germany is pretty penetrated by russian intelligence, so itjust demonstrates they are neither secure nor reliable. the german ambassador to the uk called those comments unhelpful. and while ukraine's allies seek to offer a united front, they know decisions about how to support ukraine are crucial, not least because right now for ukraine at best, the war is stuck. at worst, russia is getting the upper hand. last month, ukraine withdrew from the key town of avdiivka. it says it needs weapons and ammunitions. since the war began, germany has provided more military aid than any other country, bar the us. throughout the conflict, like ukraine's other allies, germany has had to decide what kind of military hardware it will provide. russia will want to influence these kind of decisions. the leaked german conversation may

be part of an effort to do that. the manner in which it has been exploited by the russians is an indication of russia's attempt to divide western support for ukraine and to intimidate the west, to play on the west's fears of escalation. this leak is another example of that practice. what the leak certainly confirms is that the west continues to grapple with the best route forward in this war. princess diana's brother, earl spencer, has said he was sexually abused as a child. he says he was targeted by a female member of staff at his boarding school, maidwell hall in northamptonshire. our correspondent, charlotte gallagher reports. what has earl spencer said? really distressing allegations from earl spencer. he said the abuse began

when he was 11 years old and a boarding school, he said a female member of staff who he describes as a voracious paedophile groomed him and other young boys. he said he was abused in his bed at night, in his dormitory. the 59—year—old also said the then headmaster inflicted brutal beatings on voice, and earl spencer believes the head teacher had sexual pleasure from those beatings. very serious allegations by the brother of princess diana. the serious allegations by the brother of princess diana.— of princess diana. the school has issued a statement _ of princess diana. the school has issued a statement this - of princess diana. the school has issued a statement this morning. what more can you tell us about that? ~ ., what more can you tell us about that? . ., ., what more can you tell us about that? ~ ., ., , ., ., that? we had a statement from the school and they _ that? we had a statement from the school and they say _ that? we had a statement from the school and they say it _ that? we had a statement from the school and they say it is _ that? we had a statement from the school and they say it is sobering i school and they say it is sobering to learn of earl spencer's experiences and other expenses at the school. it added the allegations of sexual abuse have been referred to the local authority designated officer. the school added that almost every facet of school life

had changed significantly since the 19705 had changed significantly since the 1970s and at the heart of those changes was the safeguarding of children and the promotion of their welfare. and the school is urging any four people who had similar experiences to earl spencer to get in touch with the police.— experiences to earl spencer to get in touch with the police. thank you very much- — in touch with the police. thank you very much- -- _ in touch with the police. thank you very much- -- any _ in touch with the police. thank you very much. -- any former- in touch with the police. thank you very much. -- any former pupils. l police say a man arrested for crashing the gates of buckingham palace has been sectioned under the mental health act. the car crashed into the gates of buckingham palace in the early hours of saturday morning. armed officers detained the man and he was taken to hospital. there were no reports of any injuries. the incident is not being treated as terror—related and the man has been released on bail as inquiries continue. a group of mothers have gone on hunger strike to raise awareness of parents who are skipping meals to feed their children. the six members of the campaign group mothers

manifesto will protest outside parliament until thursday. emma hopkins is the organiser and spoke to the bbc. we hopkins is the organiser and spoke to the bbc. ~ ., hopkins is the organiser and spoke to the bbc-— hopkins is the organiser and spoke tothebbc.~ ., �*, to the bbc. we felt on mother's day, there is something _ to the bbc. we felt on mother's day, there is something very _ to the bbc. we felt on mother's day, there is something very poignant - there is something very poignant about mothers and what we stand for. we stand for care and nurture and mothers will go to great lengths to protect and look after their children, howeverthey protect and look after their children, however they are not able to. we are here at stand in solidarity and to highlight the reality of what so many mothers and people are facing right now. the fact we are going on a five day hunger strike, fact we are going on a five day hungerstrike, people fact we are going on a five day hunger strike, people are skipping meals daily, not eating for days and thatis meals daily, not eating for days and that is in the uk. fine meals daily, not eating for days and that is in the uk.— that is in the uk. one of your science i _ that is in the uk. one of your science i read _ that is in the uk. one of your science i read a _ that is in the uk. one of your science i read a story - that is in the uk. one of your science i read a story of - that is in the uk. one of your science i read a story of a - that is in the uk. one of your i science i read a story of a single mother of two children about how she is struggling. can you tell us some of the stories you hear? that is struggling. can you tell us some of the stories you hear?— of the stories you hear? that is someone _ of the stories you hear? that is someone in _ of the stories you hear? that is someone in totnes _ of the stories you hear? that is someone in totnes and - of the stories you hear? that is someone in totnes and she - of the stories you hear? that is someone in totnes and she is l of the stories you hear? that isj someone in totnes and she is a of the stories you hear? that is - someone in totnes and she is a young mum with two children, and she told us she is having to skip meals and that her eldest son is not believing her any

more. that is really typical of the situation that some people are facing. the amount of women that are having to skip meals to feed their children are not eat for days. our calls to action from this government is that no child in the uk should go hungry and this has to include that universal nutritious free school meals, all state schools, including teenagers, they need to eat. that we have universal basic income that meets people's essentials. you are meetin: meets people's essentials. you are meeting with _ meets people's essentials. you are meeting with mps _ meets people's essentials. you are meeting with mps on _ meets people's essentials. you are meeting with mps on tuesday. - meets people's essentials. you are. meeting with mps on tuesday. what are you hoping to get out of that meeting? indie are you hoping to get out of that meetin: ? ~ ., .,, are you hoping to get out of that meetin: ? ~ . .,, ., are you hoping to get out of that meetin. ? . ., ., , ., . ., meeting? we are hoping to have more conversations. — meeting? we are hoping to have more conversations, get _ meeting? we are hoping to have more conversations, get more _ meeting? we are hoping to have more conversations, get more support, - conversations, get more support, start to build the campaign and i think this is especially because we have the elections and people are wanting to do what people want, so hopefully we can amplify the voice of many people in this country who are struggling.

the government has issued a statement in reponse to the hunger strike saying. . .. voters in portugal are electing a new parliament today. sunday's snap election was called after the socialist prime minister, antonio costa, resigned over a corruption investigation involving some of his staff. both the governing socialists and opposition centre—right democratic alliance are looking to claim a majority. a close result could give the far—right chega party powerful sway — though the democratic alliance leader has ruled out forming a coalition with it. our reporter alison roberts has more from lisbon.

the socialist party is defending its record of eight years in power, the last two of those with a majority of its own in parliament. although portugal's economy latter expanded more than most in europe, there are a lot of problems. a big squeeze on public spending, as the government is trying to reduce public debt and that has led to cuts in the health service and education, and a wave of strikes which are not over yet. against that backdrop, the centre—right democratic alliance have been leading in the polls in recent days, and then the d is the issue of the prime minister antonio costa resigning because of an ongoing investigation into regularities in government contracts, although he is not to suspect himself. that has given ammunition to the far right, the chega party which looks set to double or possibly triple its vote since last time in 2022 and claiming it is the champion are against

government corruption. after years of negotiations, the world—famous speedboat bluebird — which broke seven world water speed records — has returned to its spiritual home in england's lake district. a team of enthusiasts has spent 17 years painstakingly restoring the craft, which crashed on coniston water in 1967. our reporter adam powell has the story. killing donald campbell as he tried to set a new world record. our reporter adam powell has the story. a fond farewell from the team that painstakingly rebuilt bluebird. north shields was where the wreckage of donald campbell's famous speedboat was brought after it was recovered from the depths of coniston water. but after a legal battle, k7 was handed over to coniston's ruskin museum and its journey to its forever home began. the bluebird wing of the ruskin museum has been open since 2010 and it's been a bit like a ring without a diamond. north east engineer bill smith

found, then recovered bluebird in 2001. he and his loyal band of volunteers have spent a big chunk of their lives rebuilding the jet—powered speedboat. i've always described this as a diving job that got out of hand. that's my short version! so, yeah, i did geta bit involved in the end, yeah. everyone's very proud of their work and everyone wants to clap their work off the premises and be very positive because this space you're standing in now, which is empty, will be full next week with something else. this is the end of an era and the start of a new one. for the last 20 years, bluebird has been rebuilt here in north shields. now, it's been transported over cumbria to the lake district and coniston. donald campbell died injanuary 1967 attempting to break his own water speed record, pushing the boat beyond 300 mph. at a more sedate pace,

it was a journey of around 120 miles on the back of a flatbed truck. in 2018, the rebuilt bluebird ran again on loch fad on the isle of bute. bluebird'sjet engine has been removed, yet the ruskin museum say they hope to one day run bluebird again on coniston. i said to brian, my partner, "i will never live long enough to see this day" and if it hadn't been for the museum and their tenacity and doggedness to see this through, i don't think i would've lived long enough to see this day. bagpipes skirl. cheering and applause. they came out in force to celebrate bluebird's return to coniston. the expectation about what happens next to this iconic speedboat is building. adam powell, bbc news. ijust i just wanted to ijust wanted to keep back to

jerusalem and show you some live pictures, this is a shocked looking towards a mosque ahead of ramadan, is real increasing security in jerusalem in preparation for the muslim holy month. thousands of police have been deployed in the old city where tens of thousands of worshippers are expected daily at the mosque. the third most sacred place in islam. there had been hopes the ceasefire could be agreed in gaza before ramadan, that has not happened. that is the live view of the mosque injerusalem. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello. for many of us, the weather has been one of cloud and rain. it has felt decidedly chilly. temperatures will climb through the week ahead with some further bouts of rain at times. low pressure has been dominating through the weekend, that low centre to the south of us,

cloud swirling around in this type of cloud has been producing some outbreaks of heavy and persistent rain. the rain was slowly but surely peter out as we head through the night, the heaviest bursts will ease but it will stay quite damp and drizzly with some areas of mist in the hills, and any spells could fill in with patchy fog as well. monday morning quite murky start, clearing eastwards, other weather systems waiting out west. for many of us not a huge amount going on apart from some cloud, mist and mac. some brighter spells, especially for wales and the south—west of england. this area of low pressure may bring some rain perilously close to the east coast of england and this frontal system will bring rain across northern ireland and into western scotland, temperature six and lyric, 12 degrees in plymouth. introducing this weather system such

as its way in from deep west, this first pulse of wet weather bringing rain across southern england. we will see more rain getting into northern ireland, perhaps west wales and south—west scotland as we head towards the end of the afternoon. temperatures are beginning to creep upwards, went coming from the south or south—west, upwards, went coming from the south orsouth—west, highs upwards, went coming from the south or south—west, highs of 8—13 . a sign of things to come. the middle of the week these frontal systems wriggle around but will shift northwards, some outbreaks of rain yet, but a feed of mild air starts to set itself up, the south—westerly winds bringing in mild, warm feel to proceedings. there will be some sunshine to the second half of the week and into the weekend that some rain at times, those temperatures to around 16 or 17 degrees. goodbye for now.

live from london. this is bbc news. the us and jordan airdrop more aid into gaza, as a us army ship carrying equipment for a temporary floating port heads to besiged strip. this as a spanish charity vessel carrying 200 tonnes of food prepares to set sail from cyprus as part of a new maritime aid corridor. the princess of wales thanks the public for their support as kensington palace shares the first official photo of her since she underwent surgery. and hollywood is waking up ahead of the biggest night on the entertainment calendar — it's the 2024 oscars. will christopher nolan's oppenheimer win big? we begin with efforts to get vital aid into gaza, where the un says children are already starving to death. the us and jordan have parachuted more food into the besieged enclave.