the un human rights council has adopted a resolution calling for a global ban on weapons sales to israel because of its conduct in the war in gaza. a senior conservative mp has told the times he was manipulated into giving the personal numbers of fellow mps to someone he met on a dating app. and emergency workers in taiwan are still trying to reach around 600 people trapped by wednesday's earthquake. # waterloo... # 50 years - # waterloo... # 50 years since i # waterloo... #| 50 years since the # waterloo... # 50 years since the eurovision win, marking the special moment in musical history. hello, welcome to the programme.

the un human rights council has backed a resolution demanding a halt arms sales to israel because of its conduct in the war in gaza. the vote will increase diplomatic pressure on israel to change course. it comes as the us welcomed news israel will allow three humanitarian corridors into gaza following a phone call between president biden and benjamin netanyahu. for the first time since the start of the israel—gaza war, israel will temporarily reopen the erez crossing in northern gaza. ashdod port will also be opened for humanitarian deliveries. and more aid trucks from jordan will be allowed to cross israel to gaza. the call between mr biden and mr netanyahu was their first since an israeli air strike killed seven international aid workers from the charity group world central kitchen, sparking international outrage. the white house is urging israel to allow a dramatic increase of aid into gaza within hours or days. sean dilley reports.

in the heart of the white house, a phone call with israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, and a clear message from the us president that his patience is running low. joe biden told his counterpart that israel must do more immediately to protect civilians and aid workers in gaza, if he wants american support to continue. it's no secret that tensions between the two leaders have been bubbling for some time, but the us is israel's most powerful ally. in his strongest criticism yet, joe biden said the growing humanitarian crisis is unacceptable and he expects steps to be taken towards an immediate ceasefire. the president made it clear that our policies with respect to gaza will be dependent upon our assessment of how well the israelis make changes and implement changes to make the situation in gaza better

for the palestinian people. and how much time are you giving them to make these changes, to implement these concrete steps? again, we would hope to see some announcements of changes here in the coming hours and days. a clear message, and one israel's been quick to hear. shortly after, they opened several new humanitarian aid routes. this was the leaders' first call since seven aid workers were killed in an israeli air strike on monday. among the dead, three british citizens. it is a claim jacob flickinger�*s family doesn't accept. i grew up without having a father and now my grandson will grow up without having his father. the united nations said 500 aid trucks would be needed every day to support civilians in gaza. right now, though, any progress is being welcomed by those who desperately need food, water and medicine. sean dilley, bbc news.

the us secretary of state anthony blinken has been speaking with eu leaders in belgium about the humanitarian situation in gaza. let's take a listen to what he said. we welcome the steps announced by israel, opening erez as a new crossing point, having shipments go directly from the ashdod port, maximising the route from jordan. these are positive developments, but the real test is results, and that's what we are looking to see in the coming days and in the coming weeks. before that, our reporter will vernon sent this update from washington. this was quite a dramatic intervention byjoe biden. for many weeks and months now, the president has shown increased frustration with the way the israelis are waging this war. and it appears that those tragic deaths of the seven aid workers in gaza on monday may have been the final straw. and in that phone call, president biden essentially gave

an ultimatum to mr netanyahu that us policy on gaza could change if israel doesn't improve the humanitarian situation and protect aid workers in gaza. and that was a significant shift in us policy. this was the first time that washington has tried to leverage american aid in order to influence the conduct of the war. and initial signs suggest that perhaps there is some sort of shift in israel now. we'll have to see what happens in the hours and days ahead. but perhaps that us tactic is beginning to have an effect. we saw that announcement that three aid corridors would be reopened or widened. but i think now the americans will want the israelis to do even more, to take concrete steps to demonstrate that they are protecting civilian life. of course, president biden is under huge pressure here in the us. there is a growing chorus of voices in congress from his own party

who are saying that america should put more conditions, attach conditions to the aid it sends to israel. the us is the main supplier of military equipment to israel and provides $3.8 billion of military aid to the country annually. but also many ordinary voters as well, many of them traditionally democrat voters, joe biden�*s own party, they too are very unhappy with the biden administration's support for israel. and in a crucial election year, when the polls are more or less neck and neck, that will be a huge concern for the white house. earlier, i asked our middle east correspondent yolande knell when new humanitarian corridors are likely to open. we haven't yet got announcements on specific timings or quantities of aid that will be allowed through, the kinds of items or what kinds of new security checks that israel

might be demanding here. but i should say these are routes which, really, aid agencies and foreign diplomats, including briton�*s lord cameron, the foreign secretary, have been asking for, pressing for, really, for many weeks now. it has been pointed out that the ashdod port, just 20 miles, 30km along the coastjust to the north of the gaza strip, this is a large container port which has capacity to let in much, much more aid than has been allowed through so far, really because of domestic pressure in israel that that has not been opened up more to aid going into gaza. then you have the erez crossing. for years, that has been the main people crossing for gazans, for aid workers and diplomats and journalists going in and out of the gaza strip, but it was overrun on the 7th of october by hamas gunmen and ever since then it has been kept firmly shut. now we're told its going to be temporarily reopened for aid to enter, and of course this is important because if aid can come

in through that route, going straight into the north of the gaza strip, this is where the threat of famine is the highest. and the other thing that diplomats have been telling me they've been pushing for is for an expansion of this route via jordan, bringing in shipments through southern israel, through the kerem shalom crossing, into the south of the gaza strip. so all of these moves are being welcomed, but you can also see why because there are lots of details still to emerge, the us has said it is waiting to see, really. it's going to assess if these moves go far enough. how significant is this, do you think, the fact that this came after that call between netanyahu and biden? we have known that this has been called for for some time, so how significant is it that this is now happening? i think it is very significant, because very often we have seen that israel appeared kind of impervious to some of the international demands that have been made, including from its biggest ally, the us.

and up till now, the us has looked very reluctant to try to use leverage that it has over israel because of the diplomatic shield that it provides at the un security council in particular, but in general on the world stage for israel. and also, you know, the huge amount of military assistance and military sales that come from the us to israel. it hasn't looked like those were injeopardy, even when there have been growing strains between the two allies. now, it wasn't made explicit what exactly president biden said in this half—hour call to the israeli prime minister, but obviously this time the warnings that he gave were stark enough that there could be a change in us policy if there weren't changes in israel's conduct of the war in gaza, if there weren't more steps taken specifically to protect civilians and to protect aid workers. those warnings this time seem

to have made a difference. earlier this morning, speaking on radio 4's today programme, the chair of the uk foreign affairs select committee, alicia kearns, said the british government needs to suspend arms sales to israel. so, i believe we have no choice but to suspend arms sales. and it's important the public understands this isn't a political decision, as some seem to want to present it as. legal advice is advisory. the government can choose to reject it, but uk arms export licences require a recipient to comply with international humanitarian law. and that's why emergency handbrakes, for example, exist in the change of circumstances. and i think on ihl it is important to reiterate that ministers were unable to answer when i asked in the chamber whether israel is demonstrating a commitment to ihl, they said they had a capacity, not that they were. with the issue around the switching on of water and of aid deliveries. and i would point out that you had suella braverman on earlier this week saying that she'd seen trucks

of aid going in. that is not somehow a defence that enough aid is going in — it is preposterous as a defence. the problem is the volume that is going in. the un human rights council has voted for a ban on arms sales to israel. this is the moment the vote was announced in geneva. the resolution _ was announced in geneva. the resolution is _ was announced in geneva. tue: resolution is adopted was announced in geneva. tte: resolution is adopted by the council by 28 yes... applause 28 countries voted in favour of the non—binding resolution and six against with 13 abstentions, including france which described the humanitarian situation in gaza as catastrophic. the vote, not binding, comes from the un top human rights body and will increase the diplomatic pressure on israel to change course. for more on this, allergy geneva corresponding imogen

foulkes —— geneva correspondent. is it what was expected? t foulkes -- geneva correspondent. is it what was expected?— it what was expected? i think by last niuht it what was expected? i think by last night when _ it what was expected? i think by last night when myself - it what was expected? i think by last night when myself and - it what was expected? i think by| last night when myself and other journalists were looking at the kind of discussions going on between diplomats, it was looking very likely this resolution would be passed. i think that what has surprised some of us and clearly disappointed as well whose ambassador have just heard talking about this being a dark day for the united nations, the support that was so strong for israel from europe at the start, the start of this conflict, it seems to be drifting away. we saw france and the netherlands abstaining, finland, belgium and luxembourg actually voting in favour of this motion, and in europe, just germany and bulgaria i think voted against. this will worry as well. even though this resolution is not binding, this is a

reflection of the thinking of countries which traditionally have been very supportive of israel, who may well be selling some form of military equipment to israel, who may now because of this vote also decide unilaterally to suspend arms exports to israel. so i think again not binding but it really does show that israel is becoming more diplomatically isolated. in that israel is becoming more diplomatically isolated. in light of this toda , diplomatically isolated. in light of this today, what _ diplomatically isolated. in light of this today, what do _ diplomatically isolated. in light of this today, what do you _ diplomatically isolated. in light of this today, what do you think - diplomatically isolated. in light of. this today, what do you think could be the next steps now?— this today, what do you think could be the next steps now? well, we are seeinu be the next steps now? well, we are seeing some — be the next steps now? well, we are seeing some movement _ be the next steps now? well, we are seeing some movement from - be the next steps now? well, we are seeing some movement from israel. | be the next steps now? well, we are i seeing some movement from israel. we seeing some movement from israel. we see some of the things the aid agencies in geneva have been calling forfour months, which has more crossing is open to get aid in, some in the north of gaza for example which are minutes away by road from people which the un has said are now on the brink of famine. i should say

also the discussion at the human rights council today, although we say the vote reflects frustration at israel's conduct of the war, there were many more words of support and sympathy for israel because of the dreadful attack ed safford, there were repeated calls for the release of hostages —— it suffered. everyone said israel has a right to defend itself but it must be done within the international law and the consensus is israel could do a lot better in respecting international law than it is doing at the moment. imogen foulkes in the geneva, thank you. in another development, the fast—food giant mcdonald's is to buy back all of its israeli restaurants following boycotts in muslim—majority countries in response to the war in gaza. sales slumped after the company's israel—based franchisee, alonyal,

which runs more than 200 outlets, gave away thousands of free meals to israeli soldiers. countries such as kuwait, malaysia and pakistan then issued statements distancing themselves from the chain. the company has admitted that a grassroots boycott by palestinian supporters has also significantly impacted sales. mcdonald's says the more than 5,000 employees will be retained and that it remains committed to the israeli market. let's get some of the day's other news now. a new york court has sentenced a british billionaire to three years' probation and a $5 million fine for insider trading. joe lewis, the founder of private equity firm tavistock group and former owner of tottenham hotspur football club, had pleaded guilty to passing stock tips to his girlfriend, friends and employees. boeing has paid alaska airlines $160 million in initial compensation after a panel blew out of one of its 737 max 9 planes. the airline said it expected more to come. the compensation covers loss of business after boeing grounded

all of its max 9 fleet for three weeks. no—one was injured in the incident. a federal investigation is continuing. thieves in los angeles have made off with at least $30 million from a cash storage facility in one of the biggest heists on record. no details have been shared about how the heist was pulled off and police have no suspects. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

the senior british conservative mp william wragg has reportedly admitted passing phone numbers of some fellow mps to a person he met on a dating app. speaking to the times, mr wragg apologised and said he was scared the individual would have compromising things on him. the bbc has attempted to contact mr wragg. around 12 people working in westminster are believed to have been targeted,

all receiving unsolicited whatsapp messages from suspicious mobile numbers. 0ur political correspondent, hannah miller, reports. good afternoon, prime minister. good afternoon. questioning the prime minister last week, the senior conservative mp william wragg. now reported to be at the centre of a romance scam that targeted some of the most powerful people in the country. william wragg told the times newspaper he handed over the personal phone numbers of colleagues to a person he met on the dating app grindr. he apologised, reportedly saying, "they had compromising things on me, they wouldn't leave me alone. they would ask for people, i gave them some numbers, not all of them. i told him to stop. he's manipulated me and now i've hurt other people." among the victims, one former mp who last month received this message from a person going by the name of charlie. "long time, no speak," they said.

"miss you in westminster." the former mp told me, "it seemed so realistic." the last part of that message was "westminster misses you", and that was basically something thatjust friends usually do say anyway to make me feel better. i was embarrassed, thinking i'm speaking to someone who knows who i am. the messages continue and the former mp admits he doesn't have the number saved. "you should have said," comes the reply, "i used to work in will wragg's office when you were here." that reassured him for a while, but it turned out not to be true. when the attacker went on to send a sexually explicit image, the former mp blocked the number. tonight, after william wragg made his disclosure to the times, the former mp says he feels awful for his friend. "will is just a victim as much as the rest of us," he said. "i hope the authorities can find out who it was." for now, the scale of the scam and who is behind it remains unclear, with the website politico

reporting there are at least 12 victims. as leicestershire police said they have opened an investigation into malicious communications targeting one person in their area, a parliamentary spokesperson said they take cyber security extremely seriously and work closely with the government in response to such incidents. hannah miller, bbc news. more now from our political correspondent, nick eardley. william wragg is a senior conservative mp, pretty well connected, he chairs a committee in parliament, he is also won the 1922 committee of conservative backbenchers. he has given a statement to the times where he admits to being the centre of a story developing over the past few days. he says he met a man on the dating app grindr, that they shared

pictures, and this man started asking for the numbers of other people who worked in parliament, including some mps. people who worked in parliament, including some mp5. i want to read your particular quote from william wragg in the times, quite important, he says, they had compromising things on me, they wouldn't leave me alone. i would ask for people, i gave them some numbers, not all of them. i told gave them some numbers, not all of them. itold him gave them some numbers, not all of them. i told him to stop. he has manipulated me. and nowi them. i told him to stop. he has manipulated me. and now i have hurt other people. the bbc has tried to speak to william wragg so far without success. i think there are a couple of questions outstanding this morning, one is about the judgment of william wragg to send pictures to someone he had met online and does not appear to have known all that well and perhaps more importantly to share the details, contact details, of some of his colleagues. and then the second question which arose from this is, how significant our security —— how significant a security —— how significant a

security issue this might be? the suggestion from reports from politico and others, around a dozen people involved, but that is at least a dozen people, it could be more. as i say, it raises the question about whether mps have enough training about how to avoid the sort of thing and whether there could be more questions to come over the next few days. a£111" could be more questions to come over the next few days.— the next few days. our political correspondent, _ the next few days. our political correspondent, nick— the next few days. our political correspondent, nick eardley. i in taiwan, emergency workers are still trying to reach around 600 people either trapped in highway tunnels or cut off in remote areas after wednesday's earthquake. almost all are guests and staff of a remote hotel who are unable to leave because of damaged roads. ten people were killed and more than a thousand injured, after the island's biggest quake in more than a quarter of a century. strict building regulations in taiwan helped prevent a major catastrophe. earlier, our asia correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes sent this update from hualien. here in hualien, the rescue efforts have ended and it's now

all about stabilising the damaged structures like this one behind me and trying to make everything safe. and actually, just before i came on air, we had another large aftershock here which shook the building behind me here. we've had a couple of aftershocks this morning. that building has apparently moved 1cm in this direction, and that's making the job of propping it up and securing it more difficult for the crews working there. elsewhere in the mountains, a few miles outside of hualien, about 15km outside hualien, that's where the really big search and rescue effort is still under way. as you said, nearly 700 people still missing up there or rather stranded up there. not missing, but stranded. rescue crews have gone in again this morning in large numbers, but they're doing so on foot. they're having to cover very difficult terrain, climbing across many, many rock falls to get into these canyons and gorges where these people are trapped and bring them out, largely on foot. they're also using helicopters

to evacuate badly injured people. but it is a very, very slow process. we think that they brought out about 40 people this morning, but if there's about 700 stuck up there, this is going to bejust a very long and torturous process to get them all out. a piece of boxing memoribilia, from one of the greatest fights ever is going up for auction. these are muhammad ali's white satin boxing trunks from his epic thrilla in manila bout with rivaljoe frazier. it's expected they could sell for up to $6 million. he wore them in his bruising victory over frazier, in the philippines, in october 1975. the shorts go under the hammer next week. these shorts are one of ali's iconic designs. so, the white satin with the black stripe on the side is something that he wore throughout his career. you can see on the label that it says, "made specially for muhammad ali." and we've done a process called

photo matching where we've actually lined up minute details of threads and different wrinkles in the shorts to authenticate them back to the match in 1975. if you have a spare $6 million, those shorts could be yours. stay with us here on bbc news. slothful some across scotland this morning but the contrast conditions this weekend will be fairly stark —— snow for some. this is going to be storm kathleen which will pass to the west of the uk on saturday and into sunday bringing potential for disruptive winds and very mild air. after snow, temperatures in scotland

in the high teens. eastern parts of england may be as high as 22 on saturday afternoon. still chilly in scotland, snow around, but turning back to rain for many. northern ireland this afternoon, some showers. a few heavy showers in england and wales, but in between the showers, could see highs of 18, 19. six, seven in the north of scotland. further batches of rain rather than snow moving from south to north in scotland, heaviest in the western areas, thunder cannot be ruled out. note the temperatures, very mild for all. still a big easter travel weekend, so if you are on the move, there could be travel disruption to the ferries and bridge restrictions as well. northern and western areas affected the most by

the winds. not a huge amount of rain, very wet start in northern scotland, showers particularly in the west trying to push east, not seen much if any wet weather across parts of eastern england, and even in the west it should brighten up in the afternoon. the wind is strongest in the west, 60—70 miles an hour for some. the winds from the south, south—west. maybe 22 degrees in parts of east anglia. but it is tempered by the strength of the wind, remaining strong into sunday. storm kathleen passes to the north—west of the uk by this stage. we will see the strongest of the winds here on sunday. the hebrides, 60-70 winds here on sunday. the hebrides, 60—70 mile an hour gusts. a mixture of sunshine and showers, son heavy with hail and thunder, not as mild as saturday temperatures still above average for this stage of april. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines... israel says it will open new aid routes into gaza — it comes after the us and threatened a change in policy towards israel unless it does more to prevent a change in policy towards israel unless it does more to prevent humanitarian suffering. the parents of the american—canadian aid worker killed in an israeli air strike in gaza say his death was a crime. i think there needs to be

an independent investigation. if it is a tragic accident, as they claim, then i think the idf is inept. the un human rights council has adopted a resolution calling for a global ban on weapons sales to israel because of its conduct in the war in gaza. a senior conservative mp has told the times he was manipulated into giving the personal numbers of fellow mps to someone he met on a dating app. more now on the deaths of seven aid workers killed by israeli air strikes. the parent of an american canadian man told the bbc they regarded as a crime. john flickinger and sylvia labrecque paid tribute to their son — jacob flickinger — as a loyal and devoted humanitarian worker. they told our correspondent in washington, tom bateman, they rejected israel's explanation of a tragic mistake and have called for an independent investigation. the idf knew exactly

who they were and where they were and they were targeted as they were leaving,