live from london, this is bbc news. six people missing after a road bridge collapsed in a river in baltimore are now presumed dead. public satisfaction with the uk health service is at a record low, according to a new report. israel's defence minister faces tough words in washington, as the rift over the gaza conflict grows deeper. thailand has become the first south—east asian country to pass a marriage equality bill, paving the way for same—sex marriage. and, check your passport — the message to millions of britons planning a trip to europe to avoid being caught out by a ten—year rule. hello i'm nicky schiller. come to the programme. welcome to the programme. we start this hour in the us city of baltimore.

six people still missing after a container ship brought down a key bridge are now presumed dead. the coast guard said it had suspended its search and rescue operation and now will focus on a recovery mission. these are live pictures from the scene, where it is 6am local time. as you can see, there is poor visibility and debris from the bridge in the water, are making the recovery efforts extremely challenging. the focus is now turning to the investigation into what went wrong, with a team of transportation safety experts hoping to board the stricken ship and recover its data recorder. the vessel is registered in singapore and the port authority there says it passed two inspections last year. the container vessel lost power after departing from baltimore's port, causing it to crash into the bridge. our correspondent will vernon has more from baltimore. the search for the missing. emergency services worked all day to locate the six construction workers who had been on the bridge when it collapsed. but the rescue operation was unsuccessful. based on the length of time

that we've gone in this search, the extensive search efforts that we've put into it, the water temperature, that, at this point, we do not believe we are going to find any of these individuals still alive. the search area was huge and efforts were hampered by cold weather and wreckage in the water. the search and rescue mission that was going on just behind me has been suspended. next, the recovery operation will begin. now, the focus will turn to the crucial work of the investigators to establish exactly how this tragic accident could have happened. investigators here say they now need to get aboard the stricken ship. they want to analyse the recording device, like a black box found on aircraft. shortly before the collision, the ship had suffered a power issue. warning all traffic on the key bridge. there's a ship approaching that has just lost their steering.

in this recording, police can be heard desperately trying to clear the bridge. the whole bridge just fell down! start, whoever, everybody, the whole bridge hasjust collapsed. the collapse of a local landmark has shaken the city. it's a great shock. i mean, it didn't look real. we saw it on video. some of us thought it was staged, because how could this happen? this is iconic to our community. so, it's a real shock. # this is my song...# shock and sadness in a baltimore church last night, families and friends gathered to pray for the lost. will vernon, bbc news, baltimore. earlier, i spoke with jarred hill, cbs news correspondent, who's in baltimore with the latest. yeah, so, the latest on one front here is, as you mention, this is now a recovery mission

and not a rescue mission. you could really hear how difficult it was for the us coast guards to make that determination last night, saying that they believe that it is almost impossible for anyone to have survived in the water for that long at those temperatures. this morning, they are planning on going back into the water to find bodies of those six construction workers presumed to have died. the other aspect is continuing the investigation into just watch what happened. we know this cargo ship crashed into one of the main columns of the key bridge in the baltimore area. it lost power and propulsion in the minutes before hitting that column. but the question still remains exactly why did that happen to begin with? so, the national transportation safety board here in the us will continue looking at things like the black box recorder, any other audio recordings there might be aboard that ship which would give a bit more insight

into what is happening leading up to this crash as well as looking into any potential safety issues with the boat itself. there's also this question, as we are moving forward, regarding what can be done to better secure bridges like this across the country. were there certain safety barriers that were not in place in front of this bridge that potentially could have prevented this? essentially, all the engineers that we have been speaking with that once that ship of that magnitude and that size hit that concrete pillar like that, there was no chance that any bridge in the country could have survived. and what is the impact now? both the bridge and the port are vital as transport links and supply chain links there. right. yeah, that's right. so, the bridge itself is a pretty significant piece of infrastructure here in the baltimore area. notjust baltimore, but along the eastern coasts of the united states talking

about washington, dc, the baltimore area carries about 30,000 people a day on that bridge. that is now wiped out. people will be able to find alternative routes. this might create some back—ups when it comes to traffic throughout the area but the real concern for locals and officials in this region is the fact that the port of baltimore is now closed and this is one of the largest ports on the east coast. this does a significant amount of commerce, business, in this area. this brings in, or deals with, tens of billions of dollars a year. there are countless people who have jobs that rely on this. that economic impact, economic activity, is essentially shut down. they're really working on getting the port of baltimore back open and that won't happen until the debris in the area is cleared up and at least some of the beginning stages of the investigation are wrapped up as well. you can get more on the baltimore incident on the bbc news website or app. how quickly can you see your

doctor if you are ill? have you had to wait for an operation? are you happy with your health service? well, here in the uk, public satisfaction with the national health service has hit the lowest level on record according to a long running survey. let's take a look at a few of the stats. fewer than one in four — 24% — people were satisfied with the health service last year — down 5% on the previous year. satisfaction was at 70% as recently as 2010. the main reasons for dissatisfaction are waiting times for gp and hospital appointments followed by staff shortages and the government not spending enough money on the nhs. however, support for the founding principles of the nhs remains high, with 91% believing the nhs should be free of charge when people need to use it, 82% agreeing it should be primarily funded through taxes. for more on this, let's cross over to our health correspondent

nick triggle in the newsroom. this is a big survey that happens every year and shows quite a big drop in confidence, doesn't it? absolutely. this is the gold standard survey for public attitudes about the health service. it's been running since 1983. as you mentioned, only 24% of the public are satisfied with the nhs. that is are satisfied with the nhs. that is a 29 percentage point drop since 2020. and well below the all—time high recorded in 2010, when 70% of people were satisfied. 0ver high recorded in 2010, when 70% of people were satisfied. over the last decade, we've seen waiting time is getting longer, the backlog in hospital treatment getting higher, particularly since the start of the pandemic. when people were asked about what the main reasons for dissatisfaction were they said waiting times and not enough staff and not enough money was being spent

on the nhs. but the fourth major reason for dissatisfaction was money being wasted by the health service, suggesting, some say, that the government needs to reform the health service as well as spend more money on it. fin health service as well as spend more money on it— money on it. on that point, we talked to _ money on it. on that point, we talked to the _ money on it. on that point, we talked to the patients' - money on it. on that point, we - talked to the patients' association, who said the politicians need to work together. they also need to tackle the care system as well as the health system.— the health system. indeed. the social care _ the health system. indeed. the social care system _ the health system. indeed. the social care system also - the health system. indeed. the social care system also saw - the health system. indeed. the i social care system also saw record low levels of satisfaction, just 13% of people satisfied with that. when we talk about social care, that they support people get in their later years, either if they are living in their own homes or they need to be found a place in a care or nursing home. that service is means tested. people often end up contributing a lot of money towards their care.

both parties have talked about reforming that system. but we are yet to get detailed plans aboutjust how that will be done. it's bound to be a key issue at the forthcoming general election. but the people carrying out this survey say that the nhs perhaps remains among the biggest issue is the public are concerned about and the biggest issues the political parties must address at the forthcoming general election. . ~ address at the forthcoming general election. ., ~ , ., , . to thailand next. it has become the first south—east asian country to pass a marriage equality bill, paving the way for legalisation of same—sex unions. the lower house of parliament approved a new draft law giving equal marriage rights to all couples, regardless of gender. under the law, same—sex couples can have their marriages legally recognised, and will get the same parental rights as anyone else. the law is now almost certain to be enacted before the end of this year. marriage will be described

as a partnership between two individuals, instead of between a man and a woman. well, let's get the details from our south east asia correspondent, jonathan head. it's the first time in this region that any government has come so close to passing a law giving completely equal rights in marriage. it's something, of course, that lgbtq+ groups have been campaigning forfor a very long time. they've come close to it before. it's been years and years of campaigning. i mean, thailand has a very open and accepting climate or attitude towards same—sex marriage, to lgbtqi communities, but the law has always been the hardest thing to get over. now, we believe the law has now passed by 399—10 and that leaves only the upper house, the appointed senate, to approve it, which we believe is, essentially, a formality. then the king's approval, then the law is likely to be enacted by the end of the year.

i mean, for people living in same—sex relationships, this is enormously important. it's notjust having formal, official recognition of their partnerships, of their marriages, but also it has legal implications for inheritance of property, for, you know, power of attorney when your partner may be incapacitated, for marital tax benefits and, in particular, for children. it gives them the right to be... parents as legally and as recognised as anybody else. there are still some details to be hammered out, we believe, on the issue of adoption. and there are also issues, inevitably, involved with things like surrogacy, which tend to get... be issues related to same—sex marriages. but, broadly, as we understand it, the law has now passed. same—gender partnerships will now be viewed as, essentially, the same as any other partnership under thai law. and i think a lot of other countries in the region and people living in those countries will now look to thailand, hoping that it inspires changes in their own countries. same—sex intimacy is

actually criminalised in a number of southeast asian countries and thailand itself hopes to benefit from this, that it will now become a very attractive destination for lgbtqi people and same—sex couples to come here on holiday or even to settle down and live. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news...

here in the uk, a ten—month—old baby who was murdered by his parents just weeks after being placed back into their care "should have been one of the most protected children". that's according to a safeguarding review that's just been published. derbyshire safeguarding children partnership had been looking into finley boden�*s murder at the hands of his parents. he died 39 days after a family court ruled he could be returned to the care of stephen boden and shannon marsden. he was then attacked and died

on christmas day in 2020. his parents were ordered to serve a minimum of 29 and 27 years respectively for finley�*s murder. 0ur correspondent, sean dilley has been reading the report. he gave me the background to the horrific case. the report said there should have been a pre—parenting plan in advance, that is one of the criticisms it has made of the local authority. social services actually acted very, very quickly to remove the child from the care of the parents on a few grounds very, very shortly after the birth. they were... the couple had a long history of drug use and domestic violence. and the conditions were unsanitary, there was faeces on the floor and there were unhygienic conditions. as the time passed on, and the child was subject to being in, essentially, local authority care, the parents were showing social services that they were making improvements by sending

photographs to them. remember, 2020, viewers will be aware, was when the pandemic lockdown took place. so, social workers weren't routinely visiting houses, for obvious reasons. as the time progressed, social workers, and others, believed that the parents had been making positive steps forward. this is something also that was supported by an independently appointed guardian, who reported the same to the court. in fact, the report was also quite critical that there was was an overreliance on parents�* assessment as opposed to anybody else. moving on to november, the middle of november, was when the court ruled that finley boden should be returned to his parents. there was some concern, in fact, there was a great deal of concern, by social services in particular. at that point, they said, "well, look, if you are going to do this, "they said there should be a two—month implementation transition period." his guardian said that period should

be shorter and indeed the court ordered a shorter period and returned finley to their care 39 days before his eventual death, when paramedics were called in the early hours of christmas morning 2020. they found a very, very badly injured baby, ten—month—old boy in finley, in a cot that had traces of faeces, saliva, and blood. this report, that is out this morning, what does it say? the report is deeply complex but some of the key points we have run over. 0ne criticism it did make is that it said the local authority wasn't effective enough in communicating information up to managers. they said the local authority should have been better at sharing information with external agencies. this is a familiar echo among many safeguarding reports, because you have multi agencies involved in those actions, then reviews after the fact. but the key points they made in relation to social services is that, at one point, there were two social workers

involved in the case, one of whom was new to thatjob, not fully qualified. indeed, the second social worker, at that point, had no previous experience of statutory child services. to the israel—gaza war next. the israeli defence minister, yoav gallant, has sought to cool tensions with washington on his visit there. he stressed the importance of us—israeli ties during talks with his counterpart lloyd austin. but in some of his strongest comments so far, lloyd austin said the humanitarian catastrophe in gaza was intensifying, and civilian deaths were far too high. in gaza today, the number of civilian casualties is far too high and the amount of humanitarian aid is far too low. gaza is suffering a humanitarian catastrophe and the situation is getting even worse. we need immediate increases

in assistance to avert famine. our work to open a temporary humanitarian corridor by sea will help. but the key is still expanding aid deliveries by land. the biden administration has also disputed israeli government's disputed israeli government claims that washington's refusal to use its security council veto had emboldened hamas. speaking at a news briefing, mathew miller, the spokesman for the us state department, said that israel was wrong. that statement, which i believe said that hamas...pulled out of the hostage talks or hamas rejected the most recent proposal because of the united nations security council resolution, that statement is inaccurate in almost every respect, and it is unfair to the hostages and their families. has below has launched dozens of rockets at an israeli town close to the border with lebanon. 0ur middle east correspondent,

yolande knell, has more. after a lull in recent weeks, this week what we have seen is an intensification in the violence across the border in the north of israel and the south of lebanon. and we had reports that seven people had been killed in an israeli strike in southern lebanon with the israeli military saying that it had targeted a "significant terrorist" there, in its words. now, there seems to have been a retaliation for that with the powerful lebanese armed group, hezbollah, saying that it has fired dozens of rockets and there is a report that one israeli, a factory worker, has been killed. and if we can turn to israel itself, family members of the hostages were protesting last night, weren't they? they were and there's just a real desperation on their part, as this news came through that indirect talks in qatar had broken up without a deal.

they had been going on for about ten days as israel and hamas, through mediators, were trying to reach a deal for a truce. what was on the table was a0 days of a truce and would see some a0 hostages being held by hamas in gaza released, some of the remaining 130 there in exchange for palestinian prisoners in israeli jails. also a big surge in aid going into gaza. now, really, about 300 people turned out outside the israeli military headquarters in tel aviv, with placards saying things like, "a deal at any price." we heard that there were four people were arrested among the relatives and their supporters who were there and two of them were relatives of one 78—year—old man, who has been held since 7th october. back in the november hostage release deal, he saw his young grandson,

his daughter, and wife all released but the family are still waiting for him to come home. and in gaza itself, of course, still trying to get aid in to prevent famine, there. that's right. what's really got attention in the past couple of days is just how desperate this situation is in the north, where the un has been warning of a man—made famine looming. you see some of the videos come out because there's been an increase in air drops in the last few days. and crowds of hundreds gather along the coastline trying to get a packet of food that comes down in these crates, parachuted in, each of them weighing about a tonne. there have been lots of cases where these have fallen into the sea into water that's quite deep and difficult for people to get to and there are reports that at least a dozen people have drowned as a result and some videos show that. 0ne lifeless man, with people around him trying to resuscitate him and failing on the shore.

and one man, standing by saying that he was somebody trying to get food to feed his children and has died as a martyr. the lawyer of the american rapper sean "diddy" coombs has criticized monday's raids by us federal agents on mr combs's properties as a gross overuse of military level—force. in a statement, mr combs's lawyer dismissed media speculation that his client has been arrested and described the accusations of his involvement in sex trafficking as meritless. he added that the music mogul had cooperated with the authorities in their search and would continue to fight to clear his name. 0ur la correspondent emma vardy reports. he's one of hip—hop's most influential and richest figures. 0riginally known as puff daddy and later p diddy, as well as his own musical achievements, he is also credited with launching the careers of a number of female artists. last year, he was accused of years of physical and sexual abuse by his former long—time girlfriend.

they settled out of court, but three other people came forward, bringing lawsuits for sexual misconduct. now, properties he's connected with in la and miami have been searched by federal officers. the department of homeland security simply saying it was part of an ongoing investigation. the raids at this mansion in this exclusive neighbourhood near beverly hills follow months of accusations against the rapper. some alleged victims claim they were drugged and coerced into having sex. the question now is whether the civil lawsuits he's facing develop into criminal charges. sean combs, who's now 5a, posted on social media last year that the allegations were sickening and that he would fight to clear his name. the federal government is very deliberate in when they bring criminal charges. and for them to be executing this warrant now, i imagine this investigation has been going on for months or longer and they usually do not indict

someone, especially someone of this kind of public magnitude, without having all their ducks already lined up. so, i imagine it is a very serious case. this could be a moment of reckoning for an icon of the hip—hop world, who made his name as a self—styled bad boy in the industry. emma vardy, bbc news, los angeles. now, how much would you pay for an old piece of floating wood? how about $718,750 ? well, that is how much this piece has sold for. it was a prop from the 1997 film titanic staring leonardo dicaprio and kate winslet. in the movie, it is the panel — part of a door frame, that kept kate's character, rose, alive. ever since the movie, it's prompted much debate about the actual size. the sale was made during an auction of props and costumes owned by restaurant and resort chain planet hollywood. 0ne one very expensive piece of wood.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello. it's been pretty miserable for the morning rush with driving rain, hill snow across the north and even a dusting of snow in the heavier downpours further south, as well. this is exmoor earlier. so it is slightly windier today as this area of low pressure to the west of us continues to deepen. so, there are more isobars around, particularly in the south and the north, where we'll have gale force winds to accompany this rain and this hill snow. so, a pretty cold day here. after the heavy rain moves away from northern ireland, heavy showers will follow, those heavy showers pushing their way across england and wales as well after some sunshine first thing. the sunshine does return, but with it, some heavier showers, hail and thunder mixed in. and so the strength of the wind as well will temper the feel, even though we'll get to perhaps 9 to 12 celsius. 0vernight, the rain breaks up

in the north, the showers follow. we've got more rain and hill snow to come in southern areas, hill snow for the moors, into the welsh mountains, the peaks as well, because it's going to be a chilly three or four, perhaps a touch a frost in the north. but, by and large, there's more wind overnight to prevent a frost, particularly in the south. this deepening area of low pressure has been named storm nelson by the spanish met service. it will have big impacts further south and it will have impacts for ourselves tomorrow because not only have we got the rain and the hills now, but gale force winds. so, gusts of perhaps 60mph buffeting southern and western coasts in particular. but the winds will pick up further north, driving those bands of rain and hill snow as well northwards. and, again, only 9 to 12 degrees celsius. so, feeling chilly despite some march sunshine between those showers. now, on balance, we should see more of that march sunshine on good friday, but that low pressure is still with us to the west. butjust gradually, the shower activity and the winds are easing down. so it will feel a little bit more spring—like, 12 to 1a degrees celsius. and bear in mind, of course, we're

into the tree pollen season now. so, if you're struggling a little, that's the reason why. into saturday, this low pressure brush is close to the south and the east, and we've got a succession of low pressures to move in from the south and east, as well. so, the concern is how far into the uk they'll bring their rains. there's a lot of uncertainty at the moment, so please do stay tuned to the forecast, more of which you can find on the website as well as all the warnings.

this is bbc news. the headlines... six people missing after a road bridge collapsed into a river in baltimore are now presumed dead. public satisfaction with the nhs is at a record low according to a new report. and check your passport — the message to millions of britons planning a trip to europe to avoid being caught out by a ten—year rule. new figures show a big increase in sewage spills in england. sewage spills from storm overflows increased 54% in 2023 compared to the previous year, figures from the environment agency show. the agency says there has been investment from the water sector, but that sewage is a complex issue that won't be solved overnight. let's speak to our environment correspondent, jonah fisher.