and to northern ireland as well. the rain here is associated with a warm front that's set to bring milder weather conditions back in across the uk. now, might well be turning a bit milder, particularly across northern areas of the country, but it will be a wet and a windy day. now, the heaviest rain will be in scotland. the strongest winds for northern scotland, with gusts of wind running into the 50s of miles an hour. the rain trickles southwards into northern ireland and northern england through the day. but across wales, the midlands, east anglia and southern england, we may well again see the cloud thin and break at times to give some spells of sunshine. we could see temperatures reaching 17 celsius. colder air moves back in on friday. this strap of cloud, a bit of rain is a cold front pushing southwards across england and wales. sunshine follows that feature through, but there will be quite a lot of showers, heavy ones at that across scotland, northern ireland and the north west of both england and wales. some of the showers will have hail mixed in, temperatures down, but actually quite close to average at 10—12 celsius. the weekend dominated by low

pressure that will be sending in loads of showers across the uk. and saturday is going to be one of those days where most places will see several showers during the day, some of them heavy with hail. and across the northern half of the uk it will be cold enough over the hills to see a bit of sleet mixed in. temperatures a bit below average, but feeling chilly, particularly factoring in the wind. now the same area of low pressure pulls away on sunday, but we'll continue to see a feed of showers affecting northern and eastern scotland and eastern areas of england. bigger gaps between the showers, ao of the two days of the weekend, sunday looks like bringing us slightly better weather, if you like. but then into monday, we get some colder air moving in, bumping into a weather system, and that could bring a spell of hill snow into parts of scotland.

based hello, i'm christian fraser. you're watching the context on bbc news. we are two years into the scoping plan sent but there are concerns that the us could pull out of donald trump is reelected. trump winning the november election of the us, is currently causing a lot of headaches, especially for australian government who are really worried that this might mean that the us is not going to support aukus any more.

as saudi arabia looks toward a post—oil future, the kingdom is spreading around its largess as never before. the public investment fund, led by the country's de facto leader, crown prince mohammed bin salman, is making some big bets on global sports including golf and football. and now they are moving into ai. the saudi government plans to launch a $40 billion fund. they are looking to attract the next tech start—ups, the chip makers and the expensive, expansive, data centres that are necessary to power the next generation of computing. it is an enormous sum of money that dwarfs even the largest us funds, and would be second globally only to japan's softbank. ai commentator and technology author stephanie harejoins me now.

one stephanie harejoins me now. day ahead of ai dect a one day ahead of ai decoded, to get a double serving this week, stephanie. tell us about this, how significant is it, a saudi entrance into the market. it significant is it, a saudi entrance into the market.— significant is it, a saudi entrance into the market. it depends if they actuall do into the market. it depends if they actually do it- _ into the market. it depends if they actually do it. if— into the market. it depends if they actually do it. if they _ into the market. it depends if they actually do it. if they come - into the market. it depends if they actually do it. if they come up - into the market. it depends if theyi actually do it. if they come up with this money, we're talking again $40 billion, it would be in the second half of this year, so it could change their plans, this isjust half of this year, so it could change their plans, this is just a story that the new york times has run with than everyone else has followed. that said, i think the odds are pretty good and i'll explain why. they've already backed a new investment fund to the tune of $100 billion already in new tech companies, in particular the big on semiconductors, when you're hearing about all of these new chips we will need to power the ai revolution, they are already in on that. what they're talking about here, is kind of like looking at for the next openai which created chat gpt, they're looking for the next nvidia, which is the big chip—making company which is the big chip—making company which exploded in value and they

need to diversify away from his fossil heals, also raises an interesting question because ai, it's super energy intensive, big question for this new revelation is how we are going to power it. is it going to be through dirty fossil fuels or renewable energy? saudi arabia entering the mix, i think we might have our answer. i’ll arabia entering the mix, i think we might have our answer.— might have our answer. i'll come back to energy — might have our answer. i'll come back to energy in _ might have our answer. i'll come back to energy in a _ might have our answer. i'll come back to energy in a second. - might have our answer. i'll come back to energy in a second. the. back to energy in a second. the sporting world, they've already poached some players, will they poached some players, will they poach some from the united states and will not be a security's concern to the white house? qbu and will not be a security's concern to the white house?— and will not be a security's concern to the white house? abu dhabi have chart ties with _ to the white house? abu dhabi have chart ties with china _ to the white house? abu dhabi have chart ties with china so _ to the white house? abu dhabi have chart ties with china so saudi - chart ties with china so saudi arabia is going to be really careful i think to keep its fun and clear of any ties with china and saudi arabia as an ally of the united states it must be sudden and many things including military counterterrorism, so it might not be as much of a problem as people think. and we have to remember, gulf states including

saudi arabia have been investing in silicon valley companies for years, this is nothing new. and we saw that when we the murder and dismemberment of the saudi, are we making money for a murderous regime, that question seems to not be as pertinent right now when we are talking about a new investment fund. we just talked at the beginning of the programme about biden being there injeddah today. one of the things we always talk about is this thirst for power, energy. and when you look at al, the fact that it's still in its infancy, we are already talking about nuclear power plants, new energy grids that would be required to drive it. here we have a country with an abundance of energy, lots of sun, lots of oil, it's a good fit in some respects for those companies that have big data centres that they want to locate. it’s a that they want to locate. it's a

aood fit that they want to locate. it's a good fit in _ that they want to locate. it's a good fit in that _ that they want to locate. it's a good fit in that sense, - that they want to locate. it's a good fit in that sense, it's - that they want to locate. it's a good fit in that sense, it's not| that they want to locate. it's a i good fit in that sense, it's not so great for the water requirement because we have to remember that al is not only energy intensive but it's also water intensive because you have to cool of those data centres. if they are going to be setting up in the middle east, for instance, that could get tricky. if it simply a case of gulf countries redeploying their petrol dollars into ai investments, then you have a greater opportunity to square that circle of getting renewable energy involved, getting good renewable water supplies involved, etc, so the real question is, can we make ai sustainable? and i'm not sure that saudi arabia is a world leader in that question.— saudi arabia is a world leader in that question. really interesting. is it ou that question. really interesting. is it you tomorrow _ that question. really interesting. is it you tomorrow or _ that question. really interesting. is it you tomorrow or is _ that question. really interesting. is it you tomorrow or is it - that question. really interesting. is it you tomorrow or is it priya? | that question. really interesting. | is it you tomorrow or is it priya? i think it's priya. it's priya, - is it you tomorrow or is it priya? i think it's priya. it's priya, we'll i think it's priya. it's priya, we'll see ou think it's priya. it's priya, we'll see you at _ think it's priya. it's priya, we'll see you at the _ think it's priya. it's priya, we'll see you at the following - think it's priya. it's priya, we'll see you at the following weekl think it's priya. it's priya, we'll l see you at the following week no doubt. stephanie hair, ai decoded tomorrow for all the big ai stories, don't forget. the british, american and australian government are in a hurry to expand their trilateral aukus defence partnership, before potentially tumultuous

elections in the next year. there's deep concern in canberra that if donald trump were elected to a second term, he might scrap the programme. it is australia's largest defence project since world war two, the acquisition of a fleet of nuclear—powered submarines costing up to $240 billion. but it would also have ramifications for the future of britain's nuclear programme, at a time when defence chiefs are already sounding the alarm about readiness of the british forces. i have been speaking to dr marion messmer, a senior research fellow in the international security programme at chatham house. trump winning the november election in the us is currently causing a lot of headaches, especially for australian government, who are really worried that this might mean that the us is not going to support aukus anymore. that's a problem because aukus has really long timelines. so even though we are now almost two years into the project, we're really onlyjust beginning.

so to remind everyone about aukus is about, we've got the agreement that the uk, australia and the us are going to develop a new submarine together, which is nuclear powered and which would be used by australia and the uk. as we've seen with other uk submarine projects, these tend to be really long timescales, so australia wouldn't be receiving those submarines until the 2030s. and so that of course means that if there is a change in the us in terms of direction and in terms of commitment to orcus, of commitment to aukus, then that could mean that it's all of a sudden just on the uk and on australia to deliver this project, which would be really difficult. and there are other countries waiting in the wings, the likes ofjapan and canada for this, what they call the pillar two section of the agreement. if they were to press the go fast button and get things to a place where donald trump couldn't reverse, would that be possible in the 12 months that they currently have?

i'm not sure that it would be possible to get to a place where donald trump couldn't pull out of the agreement, but nevertheless, having, for example, japan and canada join pillar two could be really useful. so pillar two is all about tech cooperation. and this is especially about emerging technologies, things like quantum technologies, the kind of technologies where the us, australia and the uk would be really keen to cooperate in order to get an advantage over, for example, china or other countries that are currently investing a lot in those technologies. and canada would be a great additional member because canada is also already in five eyes where some of those tech cooperations take place. and japan, of course, is really important because of its location in the pacific and because it's also already an important tech partner for the uk in particular. so adding those countries would really help flesh out what pillar two is all about and where those countries can go together when it comes to technological innovation. so lord cameron is making his first trip to the indo—pacific and he's due in australia.

presumably this is going to be part of the conversation. i'm fully aware of what donald trump's america first policy is, but he's also a china hawk, so there must be some debate as to whether he would pull out of it, because presumably this would put the americans on a much stronger footing in that region. yes. i mean, it's of course not certain that trump would want to pull out of aukus. i think it could go, it could go either way. it's very possible that that trump would see this as actually an advantage in pushing back against china in the pacific. but what we have also seen about the previous trump presidency is a tendency to see alliances really as something that needs to benefit the us very strongly, or where the us needs to be a winner in some sort of a way. so if it turned out that trump saw aukus as something that actually the us pays more into than it gets out of, then i can see that being a problem. but at the same time, you're right that he wants to show presence

in the pacific, be strong against china, and i think that's really the strength that aukus has and it still makes a lot of strategic sense to have aukus from that perspective. but i sort of take your point. if you're in a time, a ten year timeline and you're investing huge sums of money, you don't really want that uncertainty. just on one final issue. before i let you go, there's a new paper that's been put out here in the uk from the new bletchley network. it involves some pretty big thinkers on uk defence. lord sedwill, the former national security adviser, lord robertson, the former nato's secretary general. they say in this report that the regular army and reserve forces have shrunk far below national critical mass. we need to spend money so that we have a force that can prepare for high intensity warfighting. how much pressure is on the chancellor come this autumn budget to spend more money on uk defence? there's a lot of pressure to spend more on uk defence. this is something that the uk really shares with other european countries and something that has come out quite a lot in nato

conversations because of the ongoing russian invasion of ukraine. and we've seen that even the additional budget that's been promised in the integrated review refresh is essentially eaten up. if you look at what the uk needs to spend additionally on archives, what it needs to spend on replenishing stock that has gone in support to ukraine. and so i understand why these calls for additional defence spending come from, but it also comes at a time when the uk budget is really stretched. so i think it will be really tricky to figure out how to square all of these different challenges and make sure that there's enough money for everything. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. the uk government is trying to do what no country has ever done before — create an entirely smoke—free generation. the government's tobacco

and vapes bill was introduced to the commons today. under the new plans, children turning 15 this year or younger will never legally be able to be sold tobacco. the age limit will increase year—by—year. the legislation will also restrict how vapes are flavoured, coloured and displayed to try to address the huge number of children using vapes. if the bill is passed it will give the uk some of the world's toughest anti—tobacco laws. earlier, dr marina murphy from the uk vaping association spoke to bbc radio 4's sarah montague. the reality is that children are already banned from vaping, it's already illegal to sell any kind of vaping product to children. so that shouldn't be happening. imean... but it is though, i mean you accept it, and on a very widespread scale. it absolutely is, and i think the issue there is not to create more rules, the issue there is to enforce the rules we already have, and i mean, we have seen high profile raids on vape shops recently

and i think that's just scratching the surface. the introduction of the bill coincides with a new report out today on the potential dangers of vaping. scientists at university college london published research in the journal cancer research, suggesting that e—cigarettes suffer similar changes to their dna as smokers who go on to develop cancer. joining me now is deborah arnott. she is the chief executive of the charity, action on smoking & health. welcome to the programme. let's start first of all, with that report on dna changes. we've been encouraging people to switch to something that was safer than cigarettes. have we been wrong all this time? ., , ., . this time? no, this article basically _ this time? no, this article basically overstates - this time? no, this article basically overstates the i this time? no, this article . basically overstates the case. this time? no, this article - basically overstates the case. there is no causal association proven between the changes found in the study and cancer. they'vejust between the changes found in the study and cancer. they've just not been robustly established. and i think vaping is not risk—free, we

never said that it is. but to quote the cmo, chief medical officer, chris whitty, if you don't smoke don't vape. that's the simple message and that's what we want everyone to take on board. certainly the message — everyone to take on board. certainly the message to _ everyone to take on board. certainly the message to children _ everyone to take on board. certainly the message to children in - everyone to take on board. certainly the message to children in this - everyone to take on board. certainly the message to children in this new| the message to children in this new piece of legislation that's been put into the commons today, but as you've just been hearing, into the commons today, but as you'vejust been hearing, and enforcement is already very weak. there are rules there that would stop children vaping, they're just not followed. how will this bill change that?— not followed. how will this bill chance that? ~ , change that? well, the government is brinuain in change that? well, the government is bringing in three _ change that? well, the government is bringing in three sets _ change that? well, the government is bringing in three sets of— bringing in three sets of regulations, notjust the tobacco and vape spill, there is a levy being put on a liquid, that will give her majesty's revenue and customs and border force, give her majesty's revenue and customs and borderforce, pounds they don't currently have to stop illegal vape to the border, and that is really important. they'll have to

become of what is called the emc s, which is the excise movement and control system. that is really important. it will give greater powers come at the moment the problem is trading standards have had their staff cut by half in recent years, and their funding. recent years, and theirfunding. and they have to do all sorts of things to protect the health of the public and the safety of the public. not just vape's, that's just a tiny part of what they have to do. what the levy will do is ensure that border force and customs are stopping these illegal products coming in before they reach the uk's chores. we know that a lot of people are buying these vape's, we also know that trading standards can concentrate on what they need to concentrate on which is underage sales and they've got an extra 30 million a year to... that's very important, just very quickly, on the 15—year—old and upwards band. how are they going to enforce that? i imagine five years

from now someone goes into a shop whose 20, with his 21—year—old friend and they asked to buy cigarettes, it's impossible, isn't it? to enforce a bill like that. we've seen a dramatic decline in the number of children taking up smoking, when i started smoking in the 1960s and early 70s, i was ten. who children now are just not doing that. in 2000, one in five 11—15 —year—olds was a current smoker. it's now down to 3% and it's moving up it's now down to 3% and it's moving up to the age range, but we are still seeing 200 5018—25 —year—olds taking up smoking every year, every day, sorry. smoking is highly addictive, just one cigarette can lead to two thirds of people going on to become daily smokers. and once you are a daily smoker, you're addictive, and once you're addicted it's difficult to quick. on average

it's difficult to quick. on average it takes smokers 30 attempts to quit and many years, and manyjust don't succeed. it’s and many years, and many 'ust don't succeed. �* , ., ., succeed. it's a good thing in that, eah. succeed. it's a good thing in that, yeah- this — succeed. it's a good thing in that, yeah- this is— succeed. it's a good thing in that, yeah. this is about _ succeed. it's a good thing in that, yeah. this is about taking - succeed. it's a good thing in that, yeah. this is about taking into - yeah. this is about taking into account that _ yeah. this is about taking into account that smoking - yeah. this is about taking into account that smoking is - yeah. this is about taking into account that smoking is much | yeah. this is about taking into - account that smoking is much more dangerous than any other legal activity we engage in.— dangerous than any other legal activity we engage in. thank you very much _ activity we engage in. thank you very much indeed _ activity we engage in. thank you very much indeed for— activity we engage in. thank you very much indeed for your - activity we engage in. thank you very much indeed for your time. | three thousand years ago, a fire ripped through a village of wooden houses in the cambridgeshire fens. the settlement which was found at must farm quarry in whittlesey, is thought to have been made up of about ten circular houses, which sat on stilts above a river. as the houses collapsed in the blaze, the vegetation in the river helped to cushion the material that fell from the structures, preventing damage. what has been uncovered has been described as an "amazing time capsule" of life in bronze age britain. in bronze age britain. chris wakefield is with the cambridge archaeological unit and has been there for the excavation. let's focus on the lives these

people have, a lot of people would suppose that life in the bronze age was pretty rough, but actually what you've found suggests otherwise. absolutely, i think this is it. 3000 years ago was 850 bc and it was really easy to see the people living that far back in time, were very primitive, they didn't have good work with technology, its incredible projects and sites like this that really challenge that preconception and we know from things like their diet, we've had bowls of food that were preserved, coming from the river channel, we've got sophistication in the diet and the foodstuffs that they chose to eat and hunt and grow, foodstuffs that they chose to eat and huntand grow, and foodstuffs that they chose to eat and hunt and grow, and the tools they were using to build the structures. we're lucky to have over 80,000 structural figures that tell us kind of the blueprints of what these houses were like and they are ideally suited to this environment, in the river channel built on stilts means they were safe from flooding. amazing, isn't it? just an

incredible project to be part of. is it true that you found a dish that resembled venison with honey? irate resembled venison with honey? we have resembled venison with honey? - have some incredible colleagues, over 100 different scientists have been working on the evidence being recovered, and one of those have been looking at the contents of the fooled bowls. inside those, we are able to see the technique, and that helps us reconstruct the recipes. one of those came back with venison and honey,. one of those came back with venison and honey”— and honey,. what about the fist sophistication _ and honey,. what about the fist sophistication of _ and honey,. what about the fist sophistication of their _ and honey,. what about the fist sophistication of their weapons, and honey,. what about the fist - sophistication of their weapons, you found in acts that had multiple uses. h, �* found in acts that had multiple uses. �* ., , uses. yet, so we've got this incredible — uses. yet, so we've got this incredible acts, _ uses. yet, so we've got this incredible acts, it's - uses. yet, so we've got this incredible acts, it's a - uses. yet, so we've got this i incredible acts, it's a two-part incredible acts, it's a two—part hafted acts. if you imagine a screwdriver where you can swap in different functions for that screwed over, essentially they created this acts which is probably more of a

tool than a weapon where you can's swap in different accents, change the angle you want to use that, you could not only is it to chop down a tree, he could swap in a different accent at a 90 degrees battle and use that to shape out a log boat or canoe. ., ~ ., .,, canoe. you know, it was perhaps better than _ canoe. you know, it was perhaps better than we _ canoe. you know, it was perhaps better than we thought - canoe. you know, it was perhaps better than we thought but - canoe. you know, it was perhaps - better than we thought but someone burnt it down, were they raiding parties that came in, is that what happened? parties that came in, is that what ha ened? ., v parties that came in, is that what happened?— happened? that's a really great ruestion, happened? that's a really great question. and — happened? that's a really great question, and to _ happened? that's a really great question, and to be _ happened? that's a really great question, and to be honest, - happened? that's a really great question, and to be honest, it's despite all the credit incredible evidence we gathered, we don't have a definitive answer. what i would say it, the bronze age is quite violence hi, we know there were people with spears, we find this widely, it was quite possible it could have been a wider group that came in and burned it down, on the other hand the houses were very tightly packed together, one of those might have accidentally caught fire, may be a cooking accident with one of the hearts, that could be easy for the fire to spread and burn the village down. we're hoping we

might get closer to that answer in the future. ., might get closer to that answer in the future. . ., , ., , �* the future. yeah, i hope it wasn't the venison _ the future. yeah, i hope it wasn't the venison that _ the future. yeah, i hope it wasn't the venison that was _ the future. yeah, i hope it wasn't the venison that was on - the future. yeah, i hope it wasn't the venison that was on stove. i the future. yeah, i hope it wasn't i the venison that was on stove. what an amazing thing. there's plenty more detail on the bbc website to do go and have a look at that. chris wakefield, congratulations on all the work you've done, think you for coming on the programme. we will take a short break, the other side of the break we will have our panel here to discuss ultimate news of the day, hope you stay with us for that. hello there. we had a real mixture of weather conditions across the uk on wednesday. an area of low pressure brought a lot of cloudy weather, some damp, drizzly conditions into the afternoon for some. and across parts of eastern scotland, even into the early part of the afternoon, temperatures were just around 7 celsius. so it felt chilly here. but across southeast england, we had some sunny spells break out in relatively warm air. and so that sent temperatures surging. we had highs up to around 17 celsius, making it one of the warmer days of the year. now, overnight tonight, a few mist and fog patches are possible across england and wales, but later

in the night, we'll see some rain move in to scotland and to northern ireland as well. the rain here is associated with a warm front that's set to bring milder weather conditions back in across the uk. now, might well be turning a bit milder, particularly across northern he areas of the country, but it will be a wet and a windy day. now, the heaviest rain will be in scotland. the strongest winds for northern scotland, with gusts of wind running into the 50s of miles an hour. the rain trickles southwards into northern ireland and northern england through the day. but across wales, the midlands, east anglia and southern england, we may well again see the cloud thin and break at times to give some spells of sunshine. we could see temperatures reaching 17 celsius. colder air moves back in on friday. this strap of cloud, a bit of rain is a cold front pushing southwards across england and wales. sunshine follows that feature through, but there will be quite a lot of showers, heavy ones at that across scotland, heavy ones at that, across scotland, northern ireland and the north west of both england and wales. some of the showers will have hail

mixed in, temperatures down, but actually quite close to average at 10—12 celsius. the weekend dominated by low pressure that will be sending in loads of showers across the uk. and saturday is going to be one of those days where most places will see several showers during the day, some of them heavy with hail. and across the northern half of the uk it will be cold enough over the hills to see a bit of sleet mixed in. temperatures a bit below average, but feeling chilly, particularly factoring in the wind. now the same area of low pressure pulls away on sunday, but we'll continue to see a feed of showers affecting northern and eastern scotland and eastern areas of england. bigger gaps between the showers, ao of the two days of the weekend, sunday looks like bringing us slightly better weather, if you like. but then into monday, we get some colder air moving in, bumping into a weather system, and that could bring a spell of hill snow into parts of scotland.

hello, i'm christian fraser. you're watching the context on bbc news. antony blinken will be desparatly trying to breathe life into those ceasefire talks but also talking about the day after when the guns fall silent in gaza and who or what could try and reconstruct that shattered territory. the amount of aid going in has to massively increase, what the un calls a tsunami of aid is needed. an israeli team is going to be i travelling to the us at the start of next weekjust to talk a bit more about that israeli planned - ground offensive in rafah, -

at the very southern tip of gaza. that is of course the area - where more than half of gaza's population has now been displaced to. i i'm joined by mona charen from the bulwark and peter walker, political correspondent for the guardian. first, the latest headlines. the uk government's flagship rwanda bill hasjust suffered another defeat — with peers voting 271 to 288 to push their demand that the legislation must have "due regard" for domestic and international law. it's the first in a series of votes on the issue. the irish prime minister is stepping down and also relinquishing his role as the leader of the governing fine gael party. leo varadkar said his decision was both personal and political. he had recently been criticised for his role in two referendums which the government lost heavily.