there must be an immediate and sustained ceasefire in gaza. secretary blinken is making his sixth trip to the middle east since the israel—gaza war began, he's in egypt's capital of cairo to shore up support for a ceasefire. america's top diplomat said israel needs to do more to allow humanitarian aid into gaza, where he said the entire population faces severe levels of food insecurity. the european union also added to calls for a ceasefire on thursday. take a listen to what mr blinken had to say: there's a clear consensus around a number of shared priorities. first, the need for an immediate and sustained ceasefire with the release of hostages. that would create space to surge more humanitarian assistance to relieve the suffering of many people and to build

something more enduring. negotiators continue to work, the gaps are narrowing, and we are continuing to push for an agreement in doha. it is still difficult work to get there, but i continue to believe it's possible. the us submitted a draft resolution to the un security council, for the first time calling for an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages. the security council is expected to vote on the us draft resolution on friday. our us state department correspondent tom bateman is travelling the middle east with secretary blinken, and sent this report from that conference in cairo. this news conference just wrapped up with antony blinken and the egyptian foreign minister. that now concludes this part of antony blinken �*s trip before he heads to tel aviv on friday morning. what we heard from him here is reiterating that language we now know is in the security council draft resolution that is to be put on a boat in the

us for the talks about the need for an immediate ceasefire linked to the release of hostages. this is the key point about what the americans are talking about now, that they want to get that vote through and it reallyjust endorses the process being going on and diehard to get a ceasefire and the release of hostages. the indirect negotiation between israel and hamas in qatar currently no signs of a breakthrough with that. another notable moment in this news conference from the egyptian foreign minister, when he really gave antony blinken a ticking off, he talked about the double standards of the international community. notably meaning the us, in terms of the international rules —based system. he suggested was being undermined and there was a moral imperative to uphold the international rules of conflict everywhere in the world. in this case, and find it was

clearly not and this is something the west was helping to perpetrate. quite a significant moment i thought in this news conference. from here, antony blinken had to tel aviv friday morning and it will be i think a moment of the americans putting pressure on israelis over those key issues, flooding more aid into gaza amid the humanitarian crisis and also about the objection to and also about the objection to a full—scale ground assault on the city of rapper. a relationship often described as ironclad, i think we will see a moment of more stress points emerging on friday. meanwhile on the ground in gaza heavy fighting continues. israeli forces say they've killed 50 palestinian gunmen around al—shifa hospital in gaza city. combat has raged for days in and around the complex, which is crowded with patients and displaced people. i've been speaking to professor nick maynard, who worked as a surgeon at multiple hospitals in gaza.

firstly, the number of casualties coming in completely overwhelms the capacity of the hospitals. in the emergency department for example, there were maybe 200 patients coming in a day. often only one or two doctors to deal with them. the ability to triage and prioritise had completely collapsed. there are patients not being triaged who will sometimes die of preventable death simply because there is no capacity to treat them. the types of injuries we saw were just indescribably terrible. i am a surgeon so i spent two weeks operating on major blast injuries to the abdomen of the chest and we spent some time in the emergency room and so awful injuries, all forbearance, often to little children, traumatic amputation to little children, some bones that were

—— burns created images i will never forget. professor maynard is here in washington to meet with lawmakers. and israel's prime minister could soon be doing the same. republican us speaker of the house mikejohnson will invite benjamin netanyahu to capitol hill to address congress. speakerjohnson didn't provide a timeline on when that may be, but said they are trying to work out schedules. police in haiti say that they've killed one of the country's top gang leaders. they say ti greg, the head of the delmas 95 gang, was killed near port—au—prince on thursday after escaping prison in a jail break earlier this month. meanwhile, the head of the united nations children's agency, unicef, says it is unable to get enough aid into haiti and that "many, many people" are suffering serious hunger and malnutrition. helicopters bringing aid from the dominican republic are beginning to arrive. but with the airport and sea port in port—au—prince still closed, far more is needed each week. our central america and caribbean correspondent will grant is one of the only internationaljournalists on the ground. he gives us his assessment of the potential food

crisis from cap—haitien. to describe some of the living conditions in port—au—prince as precarious is an understatement — for this woman, particularly tough. the 20—year—old student and her family had to flee their home because of gang violence and now live in a temporary camp inside an abandoned theatre. and on some days, she says, they don't eat at all. "i go to school with no food, spend the day hungry, "and then go to bed with still nothing in my stomach," she says. now she sees no choice but to abandon her studies. but daily struggle to find enough food in haiti is nothing new. the difference now is the scale of the emergency and food insecurity. potentially millions of people are in danger of falling into malnutrition and already don't know when or where their next meal is coming from. there are some success stories.

joseph was dangerously malnourished a few weeks ago, but a local ngo, second mile, was able to hospitalise him and he's thankfully putting on weight. over the years, their residential malnutrition centre has pulled hundreds of children back from the brink. mothers typically spend four weeks at the centre receiving urgent care for their malnourished children and instruction on providing high nutrition on a limited budget. the ngo says it's had huge success with just i% of children being readmitted after they leave. with aid still barely making it into haiti, this work is crucial, but the ngo fears mistakes of the 2010 earthquake disaster response could be repeated in this crisis. a lot of these larger ngos fly in and fly out and they're handed all of these supplies and all of these aid, and suddenly all of these funds to now hire all these people.

you're actually hiring from all of these local ngos when you could just help pay their staff members and give them the aid to distribute. tilling the land in haiti is dry, thankless work. climate change has meant crops of maize and beans often yield poor harvests or fail altogether. as haiti unravels, it's clear malnutrition is no longer a temporary or passing crisis here, and aid alone won't solve it. rather, it's becoming the norm — another part of the country's dire new reality. will grant, bbc news, haiti. president zelensky is renewing calls for more military aid from western nations amidst more russian missile attacks. ukrainian troops are struggling on the frontlines from dwindling aid coming in. it comes as eu leaders met for a conference in brussels today, they discussed plans to get more weapons to ukrainian

forces, while also re—arming their own countries in the face of an emboldened vladimir putin in russia. our europe correspondent nick beake sent this report from the summit. european leaders have spent the best part of the day discussing what more they can do to support ukraine in the war against russia. at what point the trillion won ukrainian president said it was crucial europe does more. particularly talking about ammunition. at what point he said according to the transcript was humiliating the transcript was humiliating the amount of ammunition going to his soldiers on the frontline and europe should be sending much more and he called for a redoubling of effort. he said russia should really pay the price for its aggression and as part of this, the eu leaders today have been looking at this new proposal put forward and the idea is to use the profits from frozen russian assets within europe and take

that cash, basically by weapons and other sort of military capability, and send it to ukraine. behind the scenes you get the sense there was broader support for this. there are complications though because you have countries like malta, ireland and austria were not part of any military alliance, not in nato for example, there are some difficulties about this money being used for weapons to be used against russia. also you have the lead of hungary in the states a few weeks ago meeting former president trump. difficult in the past in terms of blocking some things the eu wanted to do. he certainly has been someone who they have had to cajole and work with. most leaders here so he could put a spanner in the works. this is something talked of as being effective in giving this ongoing support to ukraine because if you listen to the leaders here, they say there

must be a lot more support for ukraine but those are words for now and what ukraine really wants is action. also at the summit, european union leaders discussed new members joining the bloc. they've given their approval for balkan nations, bosnia and herzegovina, to start membership negotiations. it follows last week's recommendation by the european commission. it's president, charles michel, said bosnia's place is in the european family and that opening talks are a key step forward on that path. the decision is the latest part of an eu enlargement process that started after russia launched its full scale invasion of ukraine in 2022. the us filed a landmark lawsuit against apple, which accuses the tech giant of monopolising the smartphone market and crushing competition. the justice department alleges that apple used its control of the iphone to illegally limit competitors and consumer options. other complaints in the suit allege apple blocks apps, suppresses the presence of cloud

gaming services on the app store, limits third—party digital wallets by blocking financial institutions and "diminishes the functionality" of smartwatches not made by the company. apple denies the claims and is vowing to "vigorously" fight the lawsuit. our business correspondent michelle fleury has the latest from new york. more than a billion of us around the world own an iphone. the appeal is how easy it is to use. �* . the appeal is how easy it is to use, i ., ., , the appeal is how easy it is to use. �* . ., , _ use. but a lawsuit filed by the us justice _ use. but a lawsuit filed by the us justice department - use. but a lawsuit filed by the us justice department and . use. but a lawsuit filed by the us justice department and 16 | usjustice department and 16 other states accuses the company of blocking bibles from accessing hardware and software features on its iphone to support its dominance in the smartphone market.- smartphone market. apple char: es smartphone market. apple charges as _ smartphone market. apple charges as much _ smartphone market. apple charges as much as - smartphone market. apple charges as much as nearly| smartphone market. apple - charges as much as nearly $1600 for an iphone. charges as much as nearly $1600 foran iphone. but charges as much as nearly $1600 for an iphone. but as our complaint alleges, apple has maintained monopoly power at the smartphone market, not simply by staying ahead of the

competition on its merits but by violating federal anti—trust law. consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies break the law. apple denies the _ companies break the law. apple denies the accusations, - companies break the law. apple denies the accusations, saying l denies the accusations, saying in a statement: representative for the tax answered when i was up the street and a massive anti—trust suit, the controlled 85% of the world market. apple only has 20% of the global smartphone market and 60% domestically. so where is the monopoly they are asking? a challenge to its business model as regulators around the world are increasing their scrutiny of technology companies and the department of justice, if it were to succeed

and we are still a long way from that, has not ruled out the possibility of asking for apple to be broken up. earlier, i spoke to connecticut attorney general william tong, who is one of the co—plaintiffs in the case. he shared the motivation behind bringing the lawsuit. nobody is more dominant than apple in the space and the way they violated anti—trust law is they violated anti—trust law is they accused their monopoly power, shut up competitors, shutdown competitors and restricting choice for consumers and developers and ultimately to increased price on consumers. i have two iphones right now and a 13 and it is getting long in the tooth. i know when it is time for me to upgrade, i may have to pay as much as $1600 in today's crisis to get a new phone. those are monopoly rates apple can charge because we are locked into its ecosystem. we cannot live without its devices and we are locked in to apple and we are locked in to apple and apple products. around the world

and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at a top story in the uk. millions of women who weren't properly warned about the increase in their state pension age should be compensated. those are the findings of a new report by the parliamentary and health service ombudsman. it says the department of work and pensions should apologise to women who expected to be able claim their state pension at the age of 60. the age actually changed to 65 in 2010. our political editor chris mason has more on the political realities of payment. any government tempted to sort this out is confronted by a big blunt truth. it will cost a vast amount for the back in 2019, labour offered compensation. they said if they won the general election, that is what they would do. they were crushed in the general election, they are now much more cautious and so to the conservatives.

the ombudsman report suggested that women should receive a pay—out of up to $3,700. the government said it would consider the report and respond in due course. you're live with bbc news. the clock is ticking for us lawmakers to avoid a government shutdown. in less than 2a hours members of the house of representatives will vote on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan spending package that was unveiled on thursday. party leaders are urging senators to pass the legislation as congress has already passed four temporary funding bills since the beginning of the fiscal year to avoid a government shutdown. a short while ago i spoke to chief campaign and election correspondent for cbs, bob costa. great to have you here as always. the house boating tomorrow morning on this $1.2 trillion spending bill to keep the government open. the deadline is in a little over 2a hours, what are the odds this gets done and congress will avoid this partial government shutdown? in avoid this partial government shutdown?—

avoid this partial government shutdown? . . ., , ., shutdown? in an election year, republicans — shutdown? in an election year, republicans and _ shutdown? in an election year, republicans and democrats - shutdown? in an election year, j republicans and democrats are trying to avoid a government shutdown because they feel they would pay a political price behind the scenes. speaker mike johnson is facing enormous pressure from house conservatives about the steel, unhappy about it, don't like the leadership will move forward with the details on this over the last 2a hours without going over everything without going over everything with the right flank and it is a constant refrain from speaking johnson. how does he keep the government funded? it seems like he is governing as possible as he tries to sell the house gop to vote is full but still keep republicans who ousted his predecessor kevin mccarthy from the speakership with him. , , ., , with him. this bill actually has a small _ with him. this bill actually has a small part _ with him. this bill actually has a small part of - with him. this bill actually has a small part of it, - with him. this bill actually has a small part of it, it i has a small part of it, it would be a one—year ban on direct funding to unrwa. we stopped by mr benjamin netanyahu addressing republicans and not democrats. are we seeing a split between the two parties in terms of how to best approach the conflict in gaza? , , .,

in gaza? there is definitely a slit in gaza? there is definitely a s - lit for in gaza? there is definitely a split for the _ in gaza? there is definitely a split for the republicans - in gaza? there is definitely a | split for the republicans build this relationship for the most part with benjamin netanyahu over the past couple of decades. there are real relationships between many of these veteran republicans on foreign—policy fronts with the israeli prime minister and they are able to welcome him not only to the centre conference calls for republicans but house conservatives are saying even as benjamin netanyahu gets this criticism or how he is handling the war with hamas, most on capitol hill are refraining from cap taking him on any critical way. there is some concern but it is more scattered. democrats poorly supported what is real and crisply critical of how benjamin netanyahu is handling the war, his own conduct and thatis the war, his own conduct and that is becoming a divide in the democratic party. just how to handle is a real especially in election year when many progressives are a little wary of president biden, this issue in particular is a thorn in the side of bytedance we election campaign with his own party. we had strong comments on chuck schumer that the top democrat

in the senate. i want to talk about this apple also by the justice department, something you are paying attention to as well. when it comes to the political side. we even saw the state of the union address from presidentjoe biden that he was really against things like street inflation, these hidden junk fees. is this a structure by the white house to say we are on your side when it comes to this consumer issue. if there are two issues behind president biden realty campaign who deserve more attention, would be the ava movement and how president biden is counting on the united auto sean vane and other related groups to come and mobilise for him. the other issue under report and under the radar is anti—trust. if you listen to the president state of the union, anti—trust enforcement is a key theme because it enables democrats to take on pork —— corporate america. saying the other party now of working people. to

counter the republican offence, that republican strategy, you see president biden and his allies in the administration issuing a flurry of lawsuits against corporations they believe are out of step with anti—trust waffles with the jumping cantor of the justice department jumping cantor of thejustice department doing the same. this shows people is an active administration for some of these progressive causes especially on account of the role of the corporation, how we can merge and how big some of the tech giants are.— the tech giants are. donald trump is — the tech giants are. donald trump is really _ the tech giants are. donald trump is really looking - the tech giants are. donald trump is really looking at l the tech giants are. donald - trump is really looking at some serious money issues, legal bills are piling up, having trouble finding a bond for a civil fraud case. trouble finding a bond for a civilfraud case. being civil fraud case. being fundraisers civilfraud case. being fundraisers politically byjoe biden. it is moneyjust going to be a crucial part of the

next seven months of this campaign? it next seven months of this campaign?— next seven months of this camaiun? , ., , next seven months of this cam-cain? , ., , campaign? it is money across so many different — campaign? it is money across so many different fronts, _ campaign? it is money across so many different fronts, and - campaign? it is money across so many different fronts, and a - many different fronts, and a personal frontiers to secure the spot for hundreds of millions of dollars and if he does not, starting next week the new york attorney general letitia james could see some of his prized properties like wall street, trump tower, in and around the suburbs of new york city, that could take potentially a real hit at his own business, business that goes back to his father. at the samsung president is on the west coast, in dallas having big fundraisers, raising a lot of money, billionaires like mark cuban who supported republicans like nikki haley in the past, he is showing up at biden fundraisers. but in raising money for as we election campaignjust raising money for as we election campaign just as trump is dealing with legal fees and trying to compete at the same time politically.— time politically. robert, alwa s time politically. robert, always great _ time politically. robert, always great to - time politically. robert, always great to have - time politically. robert, i always great to have you, time politically. robert, - always great to have you, thank you. always great to have you, thank ou. . ~' always great to have you, thank ou. . ~ , .,

let's turn to some important news around the world. an ai tool being tested by the nhs in the uk successfully caught tiny signs of breast cancer missed by doctors in 11 women. the technology is called mia. it analysed the mammograms of over 10,000 women. the signs it caught were tumours that were practically invisible to the human eye, and might not have been caught until the cancer progressed. each case was also reviewed by humans, in addition to the ai tool. canada plans to reduce its temporary residents and set a cap on temporary immigration for the first time in its history. it's part of a push to address a housing shortage and the strain on essential services. canada has seen a rise in international students, foreign workers, and other temporary residents in recent years. the residents currently make up just over 6% of the country's population. a secretive us army unit is being honoured, 80 years after their special effects saved tens of thousands of lives during world war ii. the group received the congressional gold medal thursday, the highest honour from the us congress.

the bbc spoke to surviving veterans and their families to hear how these artists contributed to the war with creativity, not violence. my my name is bernie bluestone. when i got drafted i was 19 years old. a sophomore in art school. including a note on the bulletin board that said they were looking for young artists that would be camouflaged. fiur that would be camouflaged. our 'ob that would be camouflaged. our “0b was that would be camouflaged. our job was to _ that would be camouflaged. our job was to make whatever was necessary _ job was to make whatever was necessary to deceive the enemy.

the congressional gold medal is the highest _ the congressional gold medal is the highest honour— the congressional gold medal is the highest honour this - the congressional gold medal is the highest honour this body- the highest honour this body can bestow— the highest honour this body can bestow upon _ the highest honour this body can bestow upon any - the highest honour this body can bestow upon any group i the highest honour this bodyl can bestow upon any group or individuab _ can bestow upon any group or individual. to _ can bestow upon any group or individual.— individual. to use creativity instead of— individual. to use creativity instead of violence - individual. to use creativity instead of violence to - individual. to use creativity instead of violence to help| individual. to use creativity i instead of violence to help the war effort, it is not something many people can say they have done. to many people can say they have done. ., , ., , done. to be honest, i feel overwhelmed. _ done. to be honest, i feel overwhelmed. not - done. to be honest, i feel overwhelmed. not on - done. to be honest, i feel overwhelmed. not on my| done. to be honest, i feel- overwhelmed. not on my agenda. not used to be hoards of people coming — not used to be hoards of people coming to— not used to be hoards of people coming to me and congratulating me. coming to me and congratulating me i_ coming to me and congratulating me i am — coming to me and congratulating me. lam kind of coming to me and congratulating me. i am kind ofa coming to me and congratulating me. i am kind of a loner type person— me. i am kind of a loner type personand_ me. i am kind of a loner type person and this is overwhelming. before we go, an endangered pygmy hippopotamus was born at the athens zoo in greece. here he is enjoying bath time. pygmy hippos are native to swamps and rainforests in western africa. they are listed as an endangered species and it is estimated that fewer than 2,500 are living in the wild. the baby calf

was born to parents lizzie and jamal and does not yet have a name. he's currently a little over 15 pounds or 7kg. the zoo staff says they are happy with his progress. stay with us here on bbc news. more important news like beekeepers coming up at the top of the hello there. it's going to be turning colder right across the uk as we head through the rest of the week. sunny spells and showers through the day on thursday. lots of rainbow spotted by our weather watchers towards the north. that theme at least is set to continue, so more blustery showers, a brisk northwesterly wind and just some chillierfeeling air with a possibility of some nighttime frosts in the more rural sheltered spots. why? well, because this cold front will be sinking southwards and eastwards as we head through the day on friday, introducing that colder feeling air.

already a chilly start to the day from north wales, across northern england, scotland and northern ireland — some showers blowing in here. a cold front pushes more clouds towards the far southeast of england and some outbreaks of rain. and the hang—back of that rain is still across parts of kent, sussex into perhaps eastern areas of hampshire. as we head through the afternoon on friday, it will eventually clear. temperatures now round about the seasonal average, a few showers, particularly out towards the west, most frequent across northern and western scotland, a brisk westerly wind blowing, and some of those showers are likely to be wintry over the high ground. gales across the northern isles and the far northwest of scotland. now, low pressure continues to push eastwards just to the north of scotland as we head through friday and into saturday. saturday, a particularly cold start to the day. temperatures for many will drop back to low single figures, and in the shelter of that brisk westerly—to—north—westerly wind, we're likely to see a touch of frost, though gardeners beware. also some icy stretches out there as well. saturday, a day of sunshine and showers again, the showers most frequent in the north and the west. some of the showers could be wintry over the tops of the hills just

about anywhere across the uk. there will be some sunny spells in between, but a lot of added wind chill. these temperatures are below the seasonal average. it will actually feel colder than that because of the strength of the wind, too. but there will be some sunshine here and there as well, and it does look like it's going to turn a bit sunny up through the day on sunday. brief ridge of high pressure should keep us largely dry, but clouding over towards the west by the end of the day. low pressure always close by as we head through into the start of next week, so it's going to be feeling colder. we'll see the drop in temperature and it will be quite showery. some longer spells of rain at times too as we head through next week, so unsettled and feeling cooler. bye— bye.

a landmark lawsuit against apple as the us government accuses the company of monopolising america's smartphone market. and what lies ahead for asia's second largest economy as inflation heats up. a very happy friday to all of you. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi.

let's begin in the united states. shares in apple have closed li% lower, after the us department ofjustice filed a landmark lawsuit against the company. it is accusing the tech giant of monopolising the smartphone market. apple denies the claims and has vowed to fight the lawsuit. it is the third time the company has been sued the bbc�*s michelle fleury has more from new york. more than a billion of us around the world own an iphone. for many people, it's almost unthinkable that they would use any other sort. for me, apple works a little bit better than android. i have had an android before. it didn't do too well with me. it's just what my parents always got me and it'sjust easy to stick with it. i've never really looked into anything _ i've never really looked into anything else, which is the main — anything else, which is the main reason why i've never switched _ i think having an iphone i is practical because of rest of my family have an iphone and they're just very compatible. - all of which makes it one of

the most successful companies. last year sales ofjust iphone made it more than £150