hello. i'm carl nasman. us secretary of state antony blinken says that the united states and arab leaders agree — 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 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 says it will bring a draft resolution to the un security council on friday.

of hostages held by hamas. our correspondent mark lowen is following efforts to stop the violence, and sent this report from jerusalem. the rules of diplomacy is still very much in motion, antony blinken believes torque is possible to end this war even if you will be difficult, in his words, and also talking about how this progress with talking with regional actors about who and what could run a reconstructed gaza after the guns fall silent. israel is sending a delegation back to doha tomorrow on friday led by mossad, who will be having talks with the head of the cia and mediators from qatar and egypt, suggesting there is

possibly some progress on the ceasefire proposals, even if we don't necessarily expect an imminent breakthrough. mr blinken is also saying the us has circulated a draft un security council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire linked to the release of hostages by hamas, and the fact that the us has blocked and vetoed three previous resolutions calling for a cessation of hostilities suggest the us is hardening its language and getting increasingly exasperated by israel and by the conduct of the war in gaza, even if the resolution that the us has circulated is still very much linked to the release of the hostages and demanding the hostages and demanding the hostages be released as part of that ceasefire deal. the exasperation with israel would grow if the israeli military does indeed invade rafah, as prime minister netanyahu said he is determined to do so. he said israel needs to enter rafah in order to completely destroy hamas but that would be

in contravention to dire warnings by the international community, and antony blinken has said once again the us believes an israeli incursion into rafah would be a grave mistake. mark lowen reporting there. 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 several days at the complex, which is crowded with patients and displaced people. i've been speaking to prof nick maynard, who worked as a surgeon at multiple hospitals in gaza. thank you for taking time to come into the studio. you've been travelling to gaza for several years, since 2010. you were recently at al—aqsa hospital in gaza. can you describe for us the conditions they are, what did you see? thank you for asking me on. they were unimaginably appalling. i've been going to gaza for many years, working in hospitals, operating in the hospitals, operating in the hospitals, teaching doctors and

students, and i really thought i would be prepared for what i was going to see, and it was inevitably worse than i could possibly have imagined. in what wa , possibly have imagined. in what way. what _ possibly have imagined. in what way, what exactly _ possibly have imagined. in what way, what exactly did _ possibly have imagined. in what way, what exactly did you - possibly have imagined. in what way, what exactly did you see? | way, what exactly did you see? the first thing i saw was just the unbelievable overcrowding. al—aqsa hospital has a normal net capacity of about 150, so there were nearly 800 patients there, but all the relatives were there as well, and one of the features of the hospitals in gaza during this war has been that local population migrate to the hospital, because they see it as a place of safety, which of course they are not actually, but they see them as a place of safety. so i saw perhaps 15, 20,000 people in the immediate surrounds of a hospital, and in the grounds of a hospital, so appalling overcrowding, and then even that we forgot about the minute we started to see the casualties coming in. what has been the effect _ casualties coming in. what has been the effect of _ casualties coming in. what has been the effect of the - been the effect of the conflict, of the overcrowding on the patients themselves who

are they in the hospital seeking treatment? two ma'or effects. firstly, the number of casualties coming in completely overwhelms the capacity of the hospital. 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, to the chest and we spent some time in the emergency room and saw awful injuries, awful burns, often to little children, traumatic amputation to little children, some burns created images i will never forget.

there has been an ongoing military operation at al—shifa hospitalfor military operation at al—shifa hospital for several days now. israel says it has killed dozens of gunmen around the hospital, claims we have not yet been able to verify. as someone who has been in hospitals, what you make of these claims that hamas uses medical facilities as headquarters essentially come as places to shelter, and what you make the end of israel's response and these rates on places where people like surgeons are doing their duty and the medical work? so surgeons are doing their duty and the medical work? 50 i surgeons are doing their duty and the medical work? and the medicalwork? so i can talk for my _ and the medicalwork? so i can talk for my own _ and the medicalwork? so i can talk for my own experience, . and the medical work? so i can | talk for my own experience, and that of close colleagues who have been on the ground there, andindeed have been on the ground there, and indeed the experience of the gulls and doctors who have known for many years so i trust implicitly. in the nearly 15 years i've been going to gaza, i have never, ever seen any

evidence of hamas militants in the hospitals. al—shifa hospital is a great example. i haven't been there since october seven, since because 0ctober seven, since because when i was in gaza over christmas and new year, you couldn't get to it and it had been completely disabled. but i've been to al—shifa in many occasions, i was there as recently as may last year, i have been to every inch of the hospital, i have never had any restricted access to anywhere in the hospital, i have never seen any hamas militants. in the two weeks i was in al—aqsa hospital, i was all over the asked all the time and never saw it. so my answer is i can only speak about what i've witnessed, and what my close friends and colleagues have, but none of us, and i have never spoken to a single person who has witnessed military, any hamas members of the hospital. and the evidence that the israelis have provided to demonstrate that is not remotely credible. israel does insist hamas _

remotely credible. israel does insist hamas does _ remotely credible. israel does insist hamas does use - remotely credible. israel does insist hamas does use these l insist hamas does use these hospitals. hamas does deny it. i know you are here in washington, you have been meeting with lawmakers, what have those discussions been like and what have you been telling lawmakers here in the us? ~ telling lawmakers here in the us? . ., telling lawmakers here in the us? ~ ., ., telling lawmakers here in the use a, ., us? we had two days in the new york with the _ us? we had two days in the new york with the united _ us? we had two days in the new york with the united nations, . york with the united nations, and then we are in the middle of a three—day series of meetings in dc. we've had some really productive conversations. i'm here with three us doctors as well, so there's four of us who have all spent considerable amount of time in gaza, and really the main aim of what we have wanted to do was to give witness to exactly what we're seeing, and how impossible it is to provide any form of health care, really, as a result of the way of the israeli defence are prosecuting this war. it is impossible to provide health care, and i have seen, and i've described two people in dc what

i believe the incontrovertible evidence of the direct targeting of hospitals, the direct targeting of health care workers, and what i would describe as the systematic dismantling of the whole infrastructure of the health care system in gaza. £31 infrastructure of the health care system in gaza. of course, israel does _ care system in gaza. of course, israel does say _ care system in gaza. of course, israel does say they _ care system in gaza. of course, israel does say they do - care system in gaza. of course, israel does say they do not - israel does say they do not directly target medical facilities. professor nick maynard, 0xford surgeon here in the us, thank you for your time. prof 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 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. he ran a gang, which controlled an area on the outskirts of the capital. 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. 0ur 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, withjust1% 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. 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 0mbudsman. it says the department for 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. 0ur political editor chris mason has more on the political realities of payment. any government tempted to try and sort this out is confronted by a big blunt truth. it will cost a vast amount. back in 2019, labour offered compensation. they said if they won the general election, that is what they would do.

they were crushed in that general election, they are now much more cautious and so too are the conservatives. campaigners say they want a pay—out of around £10,000 for each woman affected. the government said it would consider the report and respond in due course. you're live with bbc news. 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. 0ther 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.

earlier, i spoke to connecticut attorney general william tong, who is one of the co—plaintiffs on the case. thank you so much forjoining us. you and the attorney—general say apple has monopoly power over the smartphone market but there are of course several other companies to choose from, samsung, lg, google, they make smartphones too. can you help us understand why you allege that apple has this monopoly in this case? ! it’s that apple has this monopoly in this case? !_ that apple has this monopoly in this case? t— that apple has this monopoly in this case? i— this case? ! it's obvious to so many peeple _ this case? ! it's obvious to so many people how _ this case? ! it's obvious to so many people how dominant l this case? ! it's obvious to so - many people how dominant apple is. you know, it has 70% of the performance smartphone market by revenue, it has 65% of the smartphone market broadly, it makes more money than any other company in the fortune 500, its market cap is 2.5 trillion. apple is dominant, it's everywhere, notjust with iphones and ipads and the apple

watch and now the new goggles that they are selling, and car play, but of course i tunes and music and now content and apple tv. it's everywhere.— tv. it's everywhere. apple would argue _ tv. it's everywhere. apple would argue there - tv. it's everywhere. apple would argue there are - tv. it's everywhere. apple | would argue there are other choices, people are free to buy any phone they chew so then how exactly has apple violated anti—trust law? exactly has apple violated anti-trust law?— exactly has apple violated anti-trust law? ., , , ., anti-trust law? nobody is more dominant than _ anti-trust law? nobody is more dominant than apple _ anti-trust law? nobody is more dominant than apple in - anti-trust law? nobody is more dominant than apple in the - dominant than apple in the space and they have abused their monopoly power to shut down competitors and to restrict choice for consumers and developers, and ultimately to increase price on consumers. i mean, i have two iphones right now and i have a 13 and it is getting a little long in the tooth. i know that when it is time for me to upgrade i may have to pay as much as 1600 bucks in today's prices to get a new phone. those are monopoly rents that apple can charge because we're into its

ecosystem, we can't live without its devices and we are locked into apple and apple products. locked into apple and apple roducts. �* , , locked into apple and apple roducts. a, locked into apple and apple products-— products. apple says it has created this _ products. apple says it has created this ecosystem - products. apple says it has created this ecosystem to l products. apple says it has - created this ecosystem to make the experience better, to make better products, to increase consumer safety. what's your response to that?— response to that? there's nothin: response to that? there's nothing wrong _ response to that? there's nothing wrong with - response to that? there's nothing wrong with great| nothing wrong with great products, and as i said, i use their products, but the key is that apple is so dominant that it can't use its market position and its power to shut out competitors, to limit access to super apps for example, to limit access to cloud computing through my iphone and my ipad, to limit access to pay by touch and also more messaging functionality. that's what they do to shut down outside competitors and developers to offer more choices to consumers like me and my family. if choices to consumers like me and my family-— and my family. if yorker case here does — and my family. if yorker case here does succeed, - and my family. if yorker case here does succeed, what - and my family. if yorker case here does succeed, what you think might happen, what would you like to see happen? you

mention the cost of an iphone, could consumer see potentially prices go down? we could consumer see potentially prices go down?— could consumer see potentially prices go down? we would love to see prices — prices go down? we would love to see prices come _ prices go down? we would love to see prices come down, - prices go down? we would love to see prices come down, we . to see prices come down, we think that prices will come down when they open up the ecosystem and make it nearly more accessible and accessible to people. wejust want more accessible and accessible to people. we just want apple to people. we just want apple to play by the rules, stop using its tremendous market power to restrict access to what people call the api, that is the application programming interface otherwise known as the machinery of creating apps and content devices for the i0s ecosystem. we want them to stop shutting out competitors and developers, stop charging monopoly rents. every time we use that paid by touch, and use the apple wallet, which is the only one we can use on our iphones, they charge 15 basis points on every transaction. they get us coming and going, and that ultimately costs more for consumers and restricts choice and hurts competitors.

we have seen some similar lawsuits, some similar action ijy lawsuits, some similar action by the ftc in the us against these big tech companies, google, amazon, just to name a couple. why do you think us regulators are now seemingly a bit more willing to crackdown against these big american tech companies?— against these big american tech companies? because we've seen this movie — companies? because we've seen this movie before, _ companies? because we've seen this movie before, we _ companies? because we've seen this movie before, we know- companies? because we've seen this movie before, we know we | this movie before, we know we had to take action against microsoft a generation ago. now 24 microsoft a generation ago. now 2a years ago, and at that time, apple was in deep trouble, and microsoft was dominant, and the department ofjustice in 19 states if they didn't take action against microsoft at that time, apple might not be here, the ipod, itunes may never have got off the ground, and there probably wouldn't be and there probably wouldn't be a google or a meta or a facebook or an instagram, but we took action to open up the stranglehold that microsoft had through windows and through the microsoft operating system, and that enabled innovation, it brought in access for

developers and customers, and here we are again, right? apple was once the great innovator and upstart, and in many ways it still is, but they are also so dominant, they are a monopoly behemoth that many of us can't live without, and we have to loosen their reins on this marketplace so that all of us can breathe and have choice and pay lower prices.— us can breathe and have choice and pay lower prices. thank you very much _ and pay lower prices. thank you very much for— and pay lower prices. thank you very much for your _ and pay lower prices. thank you very much for your perspective l very much for your perspective on this. ., ~ very much for your perspective on this. ., ,, ,, very much for your perspective on this. ., ,, i. ., let's turn to some other news from around the world. reddit shares closed 48% higher on their debut on the new york stock exchange on thursday. that makes it one of the biggest ever initial public offerings by a social media platform, and signals a strong investor appetite for tech listings. reddit has not turned an annual profit since 2005. but the company enjoys a devoted following. some 76 million users checked into one of its 100,000 communities in december, according to a regulatory disclosure.

sixteen states here in the us have filed a lawsuit challenging the biden administration's ban on new applications for the export of liquified natural gas. the republican—led states argue the federal government lacks the authority to deny those permits. texas�* attorney—general said the ban damaged the us economy, and would limit supplies to european allies who are trying to stop using russian gas. the biden administration decided to pause permits injanuary, amid pressure from environmentalists. president zelensky is renewing calls for more military aid from western nations, amidst more russian missile attacks. it comes as eu leaders met for a conference in brussels on thursday, to discuss getting more weapons to ukrainian forces, while also re—arming their own countries, in the face of an emboldened vladimir putin in russia. the eu also approved for the balkan nation, bosnia and herzegovina, to start membership negotiations. an ai tool, being tested by the nhs in the uk, successfully caught tiny signs of breast cancer in 11 women that was missed by doctors. that tool 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 also had a human reviewing them, in addition to the ai tool. 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. their mission was kept secret for decades, so this was a long—overdue chance to shine a spotlight on their work. the bbc spoke to surviving veterans and their families to hear how these artists contributed to the war with creativity, not violence. my name is bernie bluestein, 100 years old.

when i got drafted, i was 19 years old. a sophomore in art school. in cleveland, ohio. a note on the bulletin board said they were looking for young artists that would d0 camouflage. 0urjob was to make whatever was necessary to deceive the enemy. applause the congressional gold medall is the highest honour this body can bestow upon any group or individual. i to use creativity instead of violence to help the war effort, it is not something many people can say they have done. thank you for your service. to be honest,

i feel overwhelmed. because it was, you know, not in my agenda. not used to the hoardsl of people coming to me and congratulating me. i am kind of a loneri type person and this is overwhelming. and before we go, a story of a lucky find against all the odds. richard brock in the uk found this 64—gram nugget of gold on farmland during an organised dig. it's thoght to be the largest such piece of gold ever found on english soil, and it almost never happened. brock was an hour late to the dig, and his metal detector wasn't working properly. the nugget is being sold with an asking price of up to $50,000. mr brock says he's going to split the proceeds from the sale with the owner of the farm where he found it. a very generous offer. that's all from us for now. i'm carl nasman. thank you for watching, and stay with us here on bbc news.

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 rainbows 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 chillier feeling 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 sunnier through the day on sunday. a 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.

this is bbc news have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. soldiers sing. behind the barbed wire of korea's demilitarised zone sits a tiny village... this village represents the hope of one day reunifying the korean peninsula. ..nestled in the heart of what's otherwise a no—man�*s land. here, a community of south koreans live in the shadow of their enemy, north korea. as young people shun a life of semi—captivity, its numbers are dwindling, along with the hope korea will ever be reunified.

0urjourney into the demilitarised zone begins at dawn. we pass checkpoint after checkpoint accompanied by commander chris mercado. freedom main, this is freedom 6. 0ver. see this kind of blue archway and the white sign beyond it? we're now entering the demilitarised zone. this is the most militarised border in the world. hundreds of rounds of artillery point in both directions, and securing this level of access is incredibly rare. to our left and to our right, we have active minefields. there's more than two million mines inside of the dmz.