mr sunak says he accepts the donor's apology. also tonight — we speak to a 19—year—old israeli about his ordeal as a hostage at the hands of hamas. injerusalem, a 12—year—old palestinian boy accused of being a terrorist is shot dead by israeli forces. even less love than usual for school dinners — one headteacher apologises over the state of their meals and pupils agree. when i'm eating, like, i taste more fork and cardboard than the actual food. a rare glimpse of life in the no—man�*s land between north and south korea. and the spice girl mel b on finding herself penniless and moving back in with her mum. i'm all about girl power, yet look at what i'm just leaving, which was a complete girl—powerless situation.

and on newsnight at 10.30pm — we'll go deeper behind the headlines and speak live to key players on today's big stories. plus, a first look at tomorrow's front pages. good evening. the prime minister is resisting pressure for the conservatives to return £10 million donated by the businessman frank hester, who allegedly said the mp diane abbott made him want to "hate all black women" and should be shot. rishi sunak told the commons that the alleged remarks were racist but that mr hester�*s apology for making rude comments should be accepted. this evening, diane abbott attacked both the conservatives and labour for their response to the controversy. here's our political editor chris mason. will you give the money

back, prime minister? the big questions ringing in the ears of rishi sunak today... would the party take more money from mr hester? ..after a morning in which two senior conservatives answered these questions rather differently. i would think about the company i kept and i would give that money back. i have to give you my view, rather than what the party should do. but i have thought about how i would handle that situation. if today, mr hester said "i would like to give - you another 10 million", would you take it? - on the basis that we don't believe mr hester is racist, yes. we now come to questions for the prime minister. - how low would he have to sink, what racist, woman—hating threat of violence — would he have to make, before the prime minister plucked up the courage to hand back the £10 million that he's taken from him? mr speaker, as i said, the gentleman apologised, genuinely, for his comments, and that remorse should be accepted. and look carefully at

what is happening on the back row on the right—hand side. diane abbott is standing up, again, and again and again, hoping to be called to speak. the gentleman in question apologised for being rude. he wasn't rude, he was racist, he was odious, and he was downright bloody dangerous. the prime minister had repeated that frank hester had apologised and that should be accepted. again, diane abbott stands up. again, she isn't called. in november, the prime minister accepted a non—cash donation to the tune of £15,000 from frank hester for the use of his helicopter, so will he reimburse him, yes or no? no, mr speaker, and i'm pleased that the gentleman is supporting a party that represents one of the most diverse governments in the history of this country, led by the first british asian prime minister in this country.

as question time ended, look at keir starmer, heading, alongside many others, to see diane abbott, who i reckon had stood up 37 times to catch the speaker's eye, without success. the office of the speaker said there wasn't enough time to call her. so tonight, she wrote an article for the independent instead. she said frank hester�*s alleged words were... she claimed the conservative party was a source of whipping up racism — an allegation they vehemently deny. she also criticised labour, claiming its leadership response to all this was disappointing, and said in the recent past that there had been shocking levels of racism and sexism from within the labour party directed at her, and there had been no apology. as for those big questions at the start of the day

for the man who lives here, including, "will the conservatives return the £10 million donation?", the answer tonight sounds like this — "no." chris is with me. has this caused damage to both parties? ina sense, in a sense, it has. particular awkwardness for the conservatives, but it's not without difficult questions for labour because diane abbott is suspended from the parliamentary labour party over allegations of anti—semitism that she has apologised for. it's a reminder of their recent embarrassments on that issue and something of an explanation for her criticisms of labour. for the conservatives, there is exasperation from many tory mps. a lot of them think the prime minister should have labelled these alleged remarks is racist so much quicker and that if he had, they believe the whole thing might have blown over much more quickly. they hope this is now going to peter out. let's see. there is a

determination at the centre of the party to keep hold of this donation of £10 million, but there is an awkwardness internally around that. another example of that today, the scottish conservatives saying that the party should carefully review the party should carefully review the donations that it has received from mr hester. so you can hear the awkwardness that.— from mr hester. so you can hear the awkwardness that. in gaza, the un agency for palestinian refugees says that a member of staff has been killed and 22 injured after a food distribution centre was hit by israeli forces in rafah in the south. israel has so far not commented. the stated aim of israel's offensive in gaza — after it was attacked last october — is to destroy hamas and to free the 130 or so hostages who remain there. today in a uk broadcast exclusive, our special correspondent lucy manning has been speaking to one hostage —19—year—old itay regev — who was freed from gaza three months ago.

itay regev is free, but all he thinks about are the hostages he left behind. the teenager was at the nova music festival with his sister maya and friend 0mer when hamas attacked. translation: we started hearing shooting, and terrorists were - surrounding the whole party area. lots and lots of people started running in all directions. i hear shooting going past my head. i heard people screaming. i saw people falling down. a lot of bodies. we were confronted by a van of terrorists spraying our car with bullets without any mercy. i got shot in my leg. my sister also got shot in her leg seconds after me. this, the moment they were tied up and taken.

translation: we entered gaza, | and the terrorists started shouting and screaming and celebrating. it was as if it was a big party. itay says they were taken to a house with a shaft, then through a tunnel and driven to a hospital. translation: they threatened my life. | they looked at me doing this, that they are going to kill me, that they are going to behead me. i still had a bullet in my leg. they put the forceps into my leg. they pulled out the bullet without anaesthetic. they told me to keep quiet because if i won't keep quiet, they'll kill me. it was a day that i thought i wouldn't come out of alive. i came to terms with the fact that i wasn't going to live. i see my sister, maya, injured and crying. maya also said her goodbyes and told me if i come out of this alive, to tell our parents that she loves them.

what were the conditions like where you were being kept? translation: you don't really know if you're - going to wake up in the morning, if a missile is going to fall on you, if they're going to come in with a kalashnikov and start spraying us with bullets. the conditions are very, very difficult there. sometimes no water, and the hunger was very, very difficult. hamas wants a total ceasefire and the withdrawal of the troops for the hostages to be released. do you think that israel should agree? translation: i think we should do anything we possibly can _ to get them out of there, whatever the cost. we need to do anything that will bring the hostages out of there. you can't put a price on it. it's people's lives. itay says he must now shout out in the name of all the hostages

who can't be heard. translation: i was there for two months, and every day _ felt like an eternity. to be there for five months, it's horrible, and they are really going through dreadful things and dreadfulfeelings. in november, maya was released and reunited with herfamily and is learning to walk again. itay was freed a few days later. 0mer, theirfriend, and around 130 others are still held. itay says the world has forgotten the hostages. lucy manning, bbc news. meanwhile injerusalem, israeli security forces have shot dead a 12—year—old palestinian boy they accused of being a terrorist. rami halhouli was one of six palestinians shot dead by forces in occupied eastjerusalem and the west bank yesterday. the shooting happened at the shuafat refugee camp here in occupied east jerusalem, which is home to about 16,000 people. the boy was playing with a firework with friends in front of the family home.

israel's national security minister hailed the officer who shot him as a "hero and a warrior". from eastjerusalem, here's our senior international correspondent orla guerin, and a warning — her report contains scenes some may find distrssing. how was another palestinian child shot dead? rami al—halhouli lived and died in the shadow of israeli watchtowers. his home was here in eastjerusalem, sealed off by walls and fences and israel's occupation. his family say he loved school and wanted to be a pilot. last night, rami was playing with friends, holding a firework. a shot rings out. gunshot. rami is dead on the ground

with a bullet to the heart. his father, moussa, was there in seconds, struggling to hold back his mother. today, moussa is mourning his youngest child. "he used to help everyone," he tells me. "all the neighbours." but then grief overwhelms him. this is the street where his son died. standing here, it's hard to imagine how rami, a 12—year—old boy with a firework in his hand, could have been any kind of threat to the border police who were down the road, beyond that high wall, with the fence at the top, heavily armed and well protected.

this was rami's friend who was by his side when he was killed. were you afraid they might shoot you, too? "i was afraid i would be shot or killed or badly injured," he says. "and if i were shot, they would take me and torture me." israel's far right security minister, itamar ben—gvir, was backing his men today. "i love you guys," he says. but he was avoiding our questions. why did you congratulate the police officer minister for shooting the child ? what evidence is there that the child was causing anybody any harm? do you have any evidence? minister, witnesses say the child was just setting off a firework in the air. translation: you say

he's a 12-year-old. - i say he's a 12—year—old terrorist. a 12—year—old who endangered one of our officers. the officer should be commended, not investigated. i will take steps to get him an award. back at the scene, mustafa tells me he witnessed the killing from his window. "he wasn't holding an m—16 or a bomb or an rpg," he says. "he was a child playing. how come a sniper shot him? "was itjust because he's palestinian?" and what future for the next generation, growing up under israel's watchtowers? orla guerin, bbc news, eastjerusalem. the uk economy picked up injanuary, raising hopes that it could be

on its way out of recession. it grew by 0.2%, boosted by sales in shops and online, and more construction activity. dharshini david joins me now — so this is some good news, finally? we are desperate for a glimpse of better times after a tough period, and looking at those figures today, we did get some signs that there could be a short lived recession because the economy expanded by 0.2% but i always turn up with a view caveat and even that modest growth came at a price because retailers, to get a boost in sales, slashed prices quite drastically to off—load leftover christmas stock, and on top of that those figures are subject to change. it is a tentative first step but we need to see the growth figures for february and march before we can say for certain we have turned the corner and emerged from recession, and in the meantime a reminder of why this matters, if

we look at another set of figures, if you take into account inflation and population growth, we are worse off by £140 compared to just a couple of years ago. the good news, prospects are improving because wages on average are outpacing inflation and also there are industry cuts possibly looming as well but —— interest rate cuts. but growth on average has been a fraction of what it was prior to the 2008 financial crisis so potentially we are losing out on thousands of pounds. how we crank up the dial, and enjoy the economic heatwave, we have not cracked that one yet. thanks forjoining us. president biden and donald trump have both passed the thresholds to clinch their parties' nominations for november's presidential election. it means the next election in eight months' time will be the first presidential rematch for 70 years. our north america editor sarah smith has the latest.

voters in states from hawaii to mississippi sealed the deal for both presidential candidates, as they've now secured their parties' nominations, setting up one of the longest campaigns in modern history. breaking overnight — it is official, president biden and donald trump set for a 2024 rematch. the stage is officially set, trump versus biden, as the president heads to battleground wisconsin today. we will be back here - on the dan o'donnell show. it's classical conservatism and contemporary style. i we are partisans for truth here! wisn listeners in wisconsin get a daily blast of nonstop high—energy right—wing rhetoric from a host who makes it very clear who he wants to win the white house. where trump is the sun— and everything else in the political solar system revolves around him in some wax _ six months ago, he told me he had doubts about trump's electability. i we need to be focused primarilyl on who can win a general election.

and that's not donald trump? i think he is going to have the most difficult path out of anyone, yes. i now he thinks circumstances have changed enough to allow a trump victory. you think he can win the presidential election? 0h, absolutely. despite all those republicans who say they will never vote for donald trump? yes. despite all of that, i mean, i honestly believe that - trump is the prohibitive favourite right now. - in 2020, trump didn't lead in a single swing| state poll, not one. he is now leading in all of them. traditional republicans in this swing state should be delighted that their candidate is ahead, but there are quite a number of conservative voters hoping wisconsin backs...joe biden. and you won't be voting for donald trump. why not? because the man is a menace. so what will you do with your vote? i will probably vote forjoe biden, actually. really, you would vote for a democrat? yeah. it will be really difficult,

and we can debate policies and we can debate whether or not joe biden is a jerk or whether or not he's old. but in the end, what is the most important thing that we have to worry about in this country, and that's defending our constitution. this is one of the few states that will decide the election. wisconsin backed donald trump when he won in 2016 and joe biden in 2020. each time, it was less than 1% of the vote that made the difference. and this year's election will probably be won or lost by the very smallest of margins. sarah smith, bbc news, milwaukee, wisconsin. it's the jacket potato that's become a hot potato in one school in southampton. the headteacher of redbridge community school has apologised to parents over the state of the school meals their children are being served, sharing this picture on social media. in a letter to parents about the school's catering company — jason ashley asked, "how difficult is it to bake a potato?" zoe conway has been finding out.

is it chicken or is it turkey? it's got about the texture of a rubber. what are those hard lumps? i taste more fork and cardboard than the actual food. so, like, i feel if ijust put some salt and pepper on this fork, i would enjoy it more. the pupils of redbridge community school often struggle to understand what's even in their dinner. n-s cow. — iwouldn't even say it's warm. and yeah, the potato... what did you get? it's rock solid on that side. it's cold, isn't it? they don't really want to eat it and they've had enough. some kids, they might not have enough money to get a proper meal when they go home so they're relying on this meal to keep them going throughout the day. the headteacherjason ashley is also fed up. in a letter to parents, he said he wouldn't allow his own children to eat it.

the school says it's had numerous meetings with the caterers to try to improve the menu. it's sad, actually, people have to witness this, and it's something that morally we're now obliged to draw attention to. i mean, when you've got students coming up to us at break times and saying that the fork with some seasoning would be more edible than what they're eating — that's a sad state of affairs. the caterer, chartwells, has apologised, saying it's committed to working with the school and implementing an action plan. i'm going home hungry. zoe conway, bbc news. the bbc has secured rare access to a tiny village in korea's demilitarised zone ? that's the strip of no—man�*s land separating north and south korea. the zone was created in 1953 at the end of the korean war, when the communist north

was separated from the south. the zone stretches across the peninsula and is two and a half miles wide. but a small community of south koreans were left inside the zone in the village of taesung, guarded day and night by hundreds of soldiers. it has a parallel village in the north. our seoul correspondent jean mackenzie spent time with the us—led coalition army that runs the village. we pass through checkpoint after checkpoint on ourjourney into the heart of the demilitarized zone, the strip of land separating north and south korea. freedom main, this is freedom 6, over. but beyond the barbed wire sits a deceivingly peaceful village where a tiny community of south koreans live in the shadow of their enemy, north korea, closely guarded by an elite battalion of soldiers. like many of the villagers,

mrs kim was born here before korea was even divided. she's now offered some serious perks to convince her to stay. she doesn't pay taxes or rent, and with extreme isolation comes an abundance of land to farm. "one day when i was gathering acorns, north korean soldiers came too close", mrs kim tells me. "i started screaming. it was so scary". the village of taesung was established at the end of the korean war as a symbol of peace aong with another village in the north, kijong, but no one is thought to live there now. given that the north koreans have decided to abandon this village and they don't have people living there, why do you keep people living here? right, many people believe that both taesung dong and kijong—dong exist in the hope of one day reunifying

the korean peninsula. failing that, perhaps one day it could pave the way for the normalisation of relations between the two koreas. but this hope is dying. last month, the north declared unification impossible and branded south korea its number one enemy, putting the elderly residents on the front line of escalating tensions. we're taken out to the fields along the border. beyond the rusty sign is north korea. here, farmers must be escorted by soldiers with machine guns. we're so close to north korea now. the border isjust there behind us and there is no fencing whatsoever. so there is nothing to physically stop the soldiers from walking into these fields and then on into the village. as darkness descends, the threat rises.

soldiers go door to door, checking everyone's inside. this curfew is the most restrictive part of village life. the shin family with two small children are unusual. many young people have left the village, lured by the opportunities of modern day south korea, and its numbers are shrinking. do you think young people can be convinced to stay here? translation: i don't think it'll be easy. - it's asking a lot for people to live with the curfew, not being able to come and go as you want. there are now so few children that the village primary school buses its pupils in from outside the dmz. and as the dream of reunification fades, it's getting harder

to convince people to live here, on the frontline of a conflict that might never be resolved. jean mackenzie, bbc news, in the demilitarised zone. you can watchjean�*s documentary on this on the bbc iplayer ? its called living between enemy lines trainer willie mullins has become the first to have 100 race winners at the cheltenham festival. his son patrick mullins rode jasmin de vaux to victory in the two—mile weatherbys bumper race ahead of romeo coolio. it was mullin�*s third winner of the day to take him to 100 victories. wales' george north has announced he will retire from international rugby union after the six nations on saturday. the match in cardiff against italy will be his 121st and final appearance for the national team. his first came 14 years ago.

north is currently the leading try scorer in international rugby. now a little known fact — some whales go through the menopause — and those that do live substantially longer, enabling them to care for extended family. stopping reproduction halfway through life is a mystery, as most species reproduce until they die. it seems that human beings and some whales including killer whales and belugas — like this one spotted off the coast of shetland this january — are the only creatures whose fertility tails off mid—life. the findings, published in the journal nature, found the females of five species live around four decades longer than other toothed whales. she rose to internationalfame as one of the spice girls — but despite selling millions of records and making millions of pounds, the singer mel b later found herself struggling financially and living back with her mother

in a bungalow in leeds. she says she's now out of an abusive relationship, and is hoping to use her experience to help others. her former partner has repeatedly denied the claims of abusive behaviour made by the singer. charlotte gallagher has been to meet her. # so here's the story from a to z...# mel b made millions from the spice girls. but a few years ago, after leaving an abusive marriage, she was left with almost nothing, and had to move in with her mum in leeds. her ex denies the allegations. it's embarrassing. it's shameful. i'm all about "girl power." yet look at what i'm just leaving, which is a complete girl—powerless situation. i was doing a spice girls tour in 2019 here and i lived with my mum because i wasn'tjust emotionally and physically abused, it was all the financial abuse, too. i didn't realise that i didn't actually have as much money as i thought i had.

obviously, any situation is better than being with your abuser, but when you've left that kind of abusive situation, you have to... it's like starting all over again. a big part of mel's life now is campaigning on behalf of other domestic violence survivors as the patron of women's aid. ijust bring awareness and i talk about abuse and i talk about what i've been through. i'm the voice of all the other survivors out there that don't have a voice, that can't be heard or can't get their point across, especially when it comes to things like trying to change the justice system and trying to enforce more laws that are more supportive towards people that are coming out of an abusive situation. # this time you've got to take it easy...# it's now 30 years since the spice girls first auditioned. and if you're sat with one of them, well, you have to ask this... do you think there's the will in the group to get back together as a five? the will in the group i think there always has been. there always is, yeah. it's just a case of logistically getting it going.

and you're still friends, you've still got your whatsapp group? yeah. and you still support each other. victoria beckham's doing your wedding dress? well, yeah, i might have a few wedding dresses! i haven't decided yet, but she's said yeah, she'd love to. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's darren bett. there is more rain to, but i thought i would start with this lovely picture and it could be the caribbean, but it is not, it is actually northern parts of scotland. the best of the sunshine in scotland today but it could turn chilly here. in north wales, no sunshine at all, and it was pouring with rain all day, in snowdonia, described as biblical, and it is a wet part of the uk but about a third of the month of rain injust 12 hours. the rain has been going over the past few hours but starting to move away from here and it is moving northwards, rainbow track north

overnight, back into northern ireland and southern scotland