live from london, this is bbc news. the head of the un agency for palestinian refugees says israel has told him it will no longer approve its food convoys to enter northern gaza. russia's president putin lights a candle for victims of the concert hall attack where 137 people were killed. ireland is set to have its youngest—ever prime minister, with 37—year—old simon harris declared as fine gael leader. and jasmin paris — the first woman to complete one of the world's most gruelling races — speaks to the bbc. hello. i'm nicky schiller. we start this hour

in the middle east. the head of the united nations agency for palestinian refugees says israel has told him it will no longer approve its food convoys to enter northern gaza. in a post on social media, unrwa's head, philippe lazzarini, described the move as "outrageous". he said israel's decision meant many more people would die of hunger, dehydration and lack of shelter. there's been no word from israel. it comes as the country's defence minister, yoav gallant, is set to travel to washington, with israeli leadership under increasing pressure from the us to halt its planned assault on rafah in southern gaza. israeli forces continue to carry out ground and air attacks in northern and central gaza, including around the al—shifa hospital. juliette touma is from unrwa. she says if aid from the organisation is blocked from entering gaza, famine will take hold. well, it's simply outrageous. and the clock is ticking, and with this recent decision,

the clock will be ticking even faster towards famine. you know, there's more than a quarter of a million people who depend on unwra's food assistance in the north, and we haven't been able to reach them for the past two months. i mean, we're talking about the vast majority of the population that has been forced to flee their homes or their places of refuge. at unwra alone, we are hosting over a million people who live in united nations unwra shelters. they lost everything, and they need everything, and they need the basics. and right now, the most important commodity that people need is food. i would also say that they need safety and they need protection, above all, and a ceasefire, which is very, very much overdue. our correspondent in jerusalem is mark lowen. i asked him about the role unrwa plays in getting aid into gaza.

they're essential, really, because they are the biggest un mission in the palestinian territories. they employ about 30,000 staff, and so without unrwa getting the food in on the ground, there are few alternatives. i mean, another body, the world food programme, which is another un agency, has managed to get a few trucks in to northern gaza in the last couple of weeks. but this appears to be a very direct attack on unwra itself. i mean, the head of unwra, philip lazzarini, was actually blocked by the israelis from entering gaza last week. and i went to a briefing with him, i met him, and he said what he described was a very direct attack by israel on the functions of that un agency. and he said that since january, he has not had any contact with the israeli government direct. now, why is that? well, because injanuary, the israeli government accused some members of staff of unwra of participating in the 7th of october hamas attacks on israel.

that prompted some western governments to actually suspend funding of that un body, unrwa, and it really prompted the biggest crisis in relations between the two, between the two sides — between the israeli government and unrwa — in decades. and i think that this decision today, if confirmed by the israelis — but it appears to be, because unwra has announced it — would be another step in the breakdown in relationship between the two sides. and i have to say, it comes at exactly the same time as the head of the un, the secretary—general of the un, antonio guterres, is in egypt, criticising the israeli government for its conduct of the war and for depriving gaza of aid. so it appears to be a pretty direct attack on the un itself. yeah, meanwhile, we've had more attacks overnight and that israeli operation around the al—shifa hospital is continuing. yes. i mean, the israeli defense forces are saying that they've killed 170 terrorists, in their words, at al—shifa, which was, which is gaza's largest hospital, and that they have detained close to 500

people who they describe as members of hamas and palestinian islamichhad, which is a system, a movement of hamas. now, it obviously bodes very badly for the israeli military policy and military offensive in gaza that they are, that there is still such heavy fighting in northern gaza and al—shifa, because the israeli defense forces stormed al—shifa back in november, when they accused it of being a hamas command centre, which is something that's always been denied by hamas. and the fact that four months on, they are having to go back into shifa and that there is this intense battle around that hospital suggests that israel's war strategy in gaza is not necessarily going according to plan. mark lowen in jerusalem. to russia next. the country has been observing a national day of mourning today for the victims of friday's attack on a concert venue just outside moscow.

president putin lit a candle in a church at his residence outside moscow, in memory of the victims. the authorities now say at least 137 people died in the attack on concert—goers in the crocus city hall. russian state media say two suspects have now been charged with committing an act of terrorism in a moscow court late on sunday. footage shows two of the men in court looking dazed and beaten. here's our russia editor, steve rosenberg. in moscow, wherever you looked, wherever you turned, you could see this was a country in mourning. and in shock. across russia, flags flew at half mast for the victims of the concert hall massacre. and at the scene of friday's attack, crocus city hall, the queues grew longer and longer. the national day of mourning experienced most acutely here. there was an outpouring of sympathy, a mountain of tributes to the dead.

as well as leaving flowers and candles, people have also been bringing soft toys and sweets, because amongst the dead, there were children. they've also been leaving messages. one is addressed to the attackers and it reads, "you are scum, we will never forgive you." among the crowd, there was a mixture of grief and anger. it was a big shock because i live nearby and i saw it from my windows. it's horrific, and a big tragedy. "such a terrible loss," says natalya. "i'll never forgive or forget." "bring back the death penalty," yevgeny says, "for terrorists, for sure." this is how the attack had begun, with gunmen in the foyer and desperate attempts to take cover. the attackers moved

on to the auditorium. by the end of this, more than 130 people were dead. four suspects have been arrested. tonight, the suspected gunmen appeared in court. russia claims they had been caught fleeing to ukraine and had contacts there. kyiv fiercely denies any link to the attack. the islamic state group says it was behind the shooting. and on this day of mourning, silent prayers from a sombre—looking president putin. the kremlin says he lit a candle for the victims in church, at his country estate. and russia is praying that there will be no more attacks. if there are, that will test people's faith in the president to keep them safe. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow.

earlier, i spoke to our security correspondent, frank gardner. i asked him why the islamic state group might want to attack russia. well, there are a number of reasons. one is syria. so is have, in the past, put out statements — and quite recently — saying, we will never forgive and forget. because in syria, russian air force and russian forces are fighting isis, is, islamic state, as are the americans. secondly, there's afghanistan, where the taliban are fighting is—k which is the khorasan wilayat — that's the province of, or the branch of isis that operates in afghanistan, in that area. and back in september 2022, isis attacked the russian embassy in kabul. so they consider that the russian government is an ally of the taliban and the taliban is their enemy. and also, there are a number of disputes that they've got with regimes in that

part of the world. the third reason, i think, which is perhaps the most pressing, is that there is, there's recently been quite a crackdown, a clampdown by the fsb — that's russia's domestic security agency — against suspected jihadists inside russia. of course, russia is at war with ukraine. sorry, it's a special military operation — that's what it's officially called in russia, but it's a war by any other name — and that's really where the kremlin�*s attention has been. so i think there is a legitimate question to be asked as to whether russia took its eye off the ball here with this. because, remember, there was this warning from the us two weeks ago which was put down as propaganda. but it does seem that the us had intercepted communications, which it passed to russia, directly to moscow. even though the two countries, the two governments can't stand each other, they shared that warning with russia. it was dismissed, and it does seem that this was a genuine threat.

0ur security correspondent frank gardner. the captain of a royal navy warship in the red sea has told the bbc that the attacks are becoming more deadly — with the houthis in yemen launching more ballistic and cruise missiles, which are harder to defend against. the houthis say they re targeting merchant vessels and warships in solidarity with palestinians in gaza. 0ur defence correspondentjonathan beale is the firstjournalist tojoin the destroyer, hms diamond, while facing the threats in the red sea. security, security, security. this is coalition warship listening channel one—six. the royal navy's hms diamond, sailing in the red sea towards danger. they're here to protect merchant shipping and, for this mission, to escort a naval task group. and they're armed and ready. this task group has now entered the high threat area and, as you can see, they're preparing to run the gauntlet with the houthis.

in the operations room, the ship's nerve centre, they've already donned fire protective clothing. with their powerful radar, they can track multiple objects from hundreds of miles away. and this is what happens when they identify a threat. firebomb, 293 at 165! siren wails the drills they've rehearsed many times before. air threat warning red, air threat warning red. | missile inbound to the ship, starboard quarter. - time to go, two minutes. but now it's deadly serious. this, one of two occasions we witnessed when the houthis fire ballistic missiles, travelling at more than three times the speed of sound. the missile has splashed the water north of the task group, therefore air threat warning now yellow, air threat warning now yellow. between the time it's fired and by the time it impacts, you've got about two minutes to react. that's why we're in state 2, that's why we're wearing our clothing all the time, so that within that timeframe,

we'll be in absolutely the right posture to be able to deal with those. but, yeah, it can feel a bit intense, obviously, if someone's trying to potentially shoot something at you. houthi drones are the other danger. that's a uav, faring 350 range... it's now got two airborne in the north. 0bviously, our position now, we anticipate they may come south. air threat warning is... it's a potentially deadly version of hide—and—seek, but the drone doesn't spot them. this time, diamond hasn't fired its main sea viper missiles, but it's already shot down nine drones — seven of them, in just one night injanuary. diamond's captain believes they have saved lives, but they haven't stopped increasingly sophisticated houthi attacks. it seems to me that they're using more advanced and more lethal weapons than they were in the earlier parts of the operation. and where are they getting those from? i couldn't tell

you that, i'm afraid. i guess they're smuggled in from somewhere, but i'd be speculating. but diamond is looking out for suspicious activity. they board a dhow. it's declared stateless, but it's flying an iranian flag. the search finds nothing illegal. it's proving just as hard to stem the flow of weapons as to stop the houthi attacks. jonathan beale, bbc news, on hms diamond. ireland is set to have its youngest—ever prime minister. one of the country's main governing parties, fine gael, has declared simon harris, who's 37, its new leader, replacing leo varadkar. he'll be formally appointed as prime minister, or taoiseach, when ireland's parliament reconvenes next month. mr harris spoke to the media and was asked whether a general election might be on the horizon. it's my view and my intention that this government should run full term. i am very conscious that governments take on a rhythm of their own. and i'm very conscious that all people need

to act in good faith. and events can happen in irish politics, of course they can, but we've a lot of work to do and i don't think there needs to be any mystique around my intention, where you guys ask me every second day where my head is at. i am planning for this government, should i be lucky enough to form one and to become taoiseach. i would like to see this government run full term, and that's my intention, as of now. earlier, i spoke to fionnan sheahan, ireland editorfor the irish independent, and i asked him to tell me a little more about mr harris�* political career so far. yeah, as a teenager, he began as a campaigner for autism services because his kid brother was diagnosed with autism and he was finding that the services were not up to scratch. and that was basically his introduction. he actuallyjoined fine gael�*s main rivals, fianna fail, initially, and he then switched over to fine gael. they're the two parties that were basically formed out

of the civil war in ireland, that happened after independence from the uk. so he's the first one to have gone on thatjourney. became a td, a member of parliament, 13 years ago — during an election that happened at the time of ireland's economic crash — and has enjoyed a fairly meteoric rise since. ajunior minister, a member of cabinet then for the past decade. and when this vacancy arose last week, it quickly became apparent that he was by far and away the front—runner and, ultimately, was unopposed. nominations closed for that role today. he was the only nominee, but it was quite apparent from last week — as soon as leo varadkar,

the current taoiseach and leader of fine gael announced he was standing down — but there was only one person in the race to beat. so he will go on to become prime minister, but some are asking, why no general election? how does the coalition work in ireland? yeah, so a bit like in the uk. a parliament is elected with a five—year mandate, and within that time period, you form a government off the basis of having a majority within the parliament. and the current coalition government, it's a three—party government, it retains a comfortable enough majority within the parliament, so they will be changing the prime minister. so this is a bit similar to the manner in which in the uk, in westminster, you've had a number of changes of prime minister — too many, one would argue — in recent years, and it hasn't precipitated a general election. so, we are due to have a general election under our constitution

by march, at the latest, of next year. and simon harris, as taoiseach, will now see out that term in office. here in the uk, the chancellor has confirmed that the conservatives will commit to keeping the so—called triple—lock on pension increases in their election manifesto. under the current government system, state pensions rise every year in april, in line with whichever is highest out of inflation, average wage increases, or 2.5%. 0ur political correspondent iain watson has more. they say a week is a long time in politics. just five days ago, the chancellor suggested future increases in the state pension would be kept under review. now, he says, they'll be guaranteed. but will the triple—lock be in the tory manifesto this time round? well, i can confirm it will be, yes. so, why did he spell that out? well, pensioners�* groups had called for certainty and, of course, older people

are more likely to vote than younger people. so perhaps an election year was a good time to remind them of the government's record. when we came to office in 2010, pensioners were more likely to be in poverty than other income groups. now, because of the triple—lock that we introduced, they are less likely. labour also wants to put together policies which appeal to pensioners. they have attacked the conservatives' long—term plans to abolish national insurance, aaying it could cost £46 billion and benefit only those in work and not those who have retired. but would they also commit to the triple—lock? yes or no, will it be in the labour manifesto? we'll set out those plans - for our manifesto in detail... ok, so not yes... however, we don't want them to be threatened i by that £46 billion black hole - which, unfortunately, jeremy hunt has threatened with _ the national insurance changes. well, we didn't hear a manifesto commitment from labour in keeping the triple—lock today, but party sources have been telling me today it would be inconceivable of them to go into the next general

election pledging to dismantle it. but some experts are warning politicians of all parties that if they keep this potentially costly policy, it could lead to some unintended and unwelcome consequences. one of the main risks, as i see it, is that if we keep the triple—lock and it_ does make the state pension more expensive, we might respond to that by pushing up the state pension age by more than what we would otherwise do. so i think it would be rather unfortunate if we have a more generous pension, at the expense of having a higher state pension age. the triple—lock is costing the chancellor around £11 billion and future costs are uncertain. but in any battle between politics and economics, there's only ever one winner. iain watson, bbc news. the prince and princess of wales say they have been moved by the public�*s warmth and support since catherine's announcement on friday that she is receiving cancer treatment. a statement from kensington palace also said the couple were "grateful" that the public understood their request for privacy. charlotte gallagher reports. a busy sunday in windsor,

the home of the prince and princess of wales and their three young children. a family now dealing with a cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy treatment. i wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you personally. but was this announcement planned, or did the princess feel forced to address speculation? we actually understand that the princess made the decision two weeks ago, that she was going to do this public statement. and the key thing for her, as a mother, her priority was protecting those three children. she didn't want them going to school being asked even more than they already were — they were already being affected at school, so it was always her plan that she would wait until the last day of term. but the royal family won't have been immune to the outlandish conspiracy theories circulating. it's the worst i've ever seen, and i've been in the media most of my, all my career. so what we need to think about this is time. they're a family, they're just really a bit like you and i, lots of families have dealt with this.

and what families need when they're facing cancer is time. prince william and catherine have released a statement, thanking the public for their warmth and support. they've also underlined their desire for privacy. it's a polite warning, essentially asking to be left alone. the easter sunday church service in windsor is usually a moment when the royals get together in public. last year, the prince and princess of wales joined the rest of the family, but they won't be there this year. buckingham palace says it is hopeful the king, who's also being treated for cancer, could attend. the princess of wales says she is feeling stronger every day, but it's clear there will be no rushing back into public duties — herfocus is on making a full recovery. charlotte gallagher, bbc news, windsor. now to the story ofjasmin paris, from midlothian — the first woman to complete one of the world's most gruelling races, the barkley marathons in tennessee. 100 miles, up and down hills, through rugged terrain.

she finished with just 99 seconds to spare before the 60—hour cut—off. jasmin has finally recovered her breath — and her voice — and spoke to the bbc. it wasn't until the last kilometre that i really sort of doubted that it was going to be possible. and at that point, i was just so desperate to stop, to stop running and to walk. and i knew that i couldn't because i wouldn't make it. cheering i think it was just the thought that if i didn't make it this time, it was going to be by seconds, and then i would have to come back and do the whole thing again. because i would never have let it rest. i was so oxygen deficient when i reached the end, and the last few hundred metres, i couldn't even really see anybody. cheering and applause i knew there were people kind of cheering me on and there was lots of noise and... but i was just aiming for the gate,

and everything else sort of went blurry at the edges of my vision and ijust needed to make it to the gate, at which point, i just sort of collapsed down in a gasping, kind of heap on the ground. cheering and applause so, i did it for me and i am super happy that i achieved what i set out to do. hey, everyone. go, go, go, go! i am really glad that i kind of did it for women worldwide as well. notjust runners, but maybe any woman that wants to take on a challenge, and especially all the young girls, how hard it is to keep young girls in sports. this year, there was a new section of the course which involved a lot of kind of brambles, really thick ones that kind of slashed your legs. so my legs were actually far worse, but i got quite a few scratches on my arms and hands. but this is nothing compared with my legs. i guess the next thing i'm

going to do is the scottish highlands peaks race. but really, i think maybe just have a bit of a rest first. jasmin paris, she certainly deserves that rest, doesn't she? finally this half hour, i want to take you to france. take a look at this. a century—old tradition has returned to the streets of paris — the waiters' race through the city. for the first time since 2011, 200 competitors wearing aprons and carrying trays loaded with a coffee, croissant and a glass of water made their way through the french capital. there's no running — it's a brisk walk only. points are awarded for speed — and deducted for spills. runners were split in different categories given age group and gender. the mayor of paris revived the race, after it was put on hiatus in 2008 due to high costs. and here is the winner of the main race, sprinting his way to the finishing line,

in paris. it is making me want to have a coffee and a croissant, but i have a coffee and a croissant, but i have got to go to bed. stay with us on bbc news. hello there. many of us saw some spells of sunshine on sunday, and i think it was the sunshine that kind of offset the coolness of the air. now, there won't be as much sunshine around on monday — low pressure is moving in and not got much snow in the scottish mountains at the moment, but that is set to change over the next 2a hours. low pressure is developing to the west of the uk and this low pressure is going to be bringing outbreaks of rain widely over the next 2a hours. the rain already with us in northern ireland will continue to spread northwards and eastwards over the next few hours, reaching across wales into western and central england, south—west scotland, too. northern scotland, one place where you are likely to see some frost, but at least it should be a bright start to the day here. otherwise, a lot of cloud and rain around on monday morning. probably little, if anything, reaching east anglia and south—east england, where it might actually

brighten up for a time. temperatures about 10 to 12 degrees for most — that's near average for the time of year. but cold in scotland, atjust sixes and sevens. and then, on the big picture, we've got a feed of cold air coming down from greenland around an area of high pressure. that's running into northern scotland, bumping into our advancing weather front. now, through monday night, it looks like we'll see a spell of snow. it's going to be quite high up in the mountains of scotland, 10 to 20 centimetres on the way here, above 300 metres elevation. the snow could come down a little bit lower than that, perhaps to 200 metres elevation. what all that means is monday night and into tuesday, there's a risk of disruption over some of the higher level roads in scotland, maybe for some of the railway lines into tuesday morning as well. if you live down at sea level, well, you're more likely to see rain or maybe a bit of sleet mixed in. it will be quite windy across the far north of scotland as well. elsewhere, a bit of rain trickling its way eastwards across east anglia and south—east england.

the weather turning a bit brighter across the south—west of the uk. a cold day in scotland — temperatures really struggling here, particularly underneath that rain and hill snow. 0n into wednesday, we've got another area of low pressure forming. that's going to be bringing loads of showers across northern ireland, wales, southern and western parts of england. the showers, notjust frequent — they'll be heavy, with some hail and thunder mixed in as well, and temperatures just running a bit below average. these showery conditions last through the rest of this week and into the easter break beyond as well. that's today's weather. bye for now.

this is bbc news, the headlines. the head of the united nations agency for palestinian refugees says israel has told him it will no longer approve its food convoys to enter northern gaza. in a post on social media, philippe lazzarini described the move as outrageous and said the aim was to obstruct the delivery of life—saving assistance. president putin lights a candle for victims of the concert hall attack — where 137 people were killed. large numbers of russians lay flowers at a makeshift memorial as the country marks a day of official mourning. meanwhile the four suspected gunmen in the attack have appeared in court accused of committing terrorism. and simon harris has been elected the new leader of the irish governing party, fine gael. he's set to become the republic of ireland's youngest prime minister —

at the age of 37, after leo varadkar�*s surprise resignation.