hello. we start this hour with the news that nine countries have taken part in the largest international aid airdrop into gaza since the war started. the drop will help provide supplies for the end of the islamic holy month of ramadan. fourteen aircraft delivered hundreds of tons of food and essential aid in an operation led by the jordanian air force. britain was among the participating nations. the british foreign secretary, david cameron, said thousands of people in desperate need would benefit. israel is still under international pressure to allow in more aid trucks by land, and work is continuing on a maritime aid corridor. our diplomatic correspondent, james landale joined the royal air force flight delivering aid to gaza on tuesday and filed this report. at an airbase injordan, piles of humanitarian aid —

stacked into individual pallets adorned with their own parachute, all of it bound for gaza. on the tarmac, 1a military aircraft getting ready for the largest coalition air drop since they began last month, a special delivery to mark the end of ramadan. inside, pilots and crews from different nations being briefed on the operation, safety a key concern in the small airspace over gaza. outside, the raf plane is loaded, each palette containing flour, rice, sugar, beans, baby food, oil and water — the basics for a meal — this, the raf�*s sixth airdrop so far. it is not that much, but i tell you what — it's the effort that counts. as in, every little helps. i'm quite proud and privileged to be involved in this sort of mission. but is it enough? will it meet the needs of the people in gaza? the aircraft's carrying 12 of these pallets. now, each of them are about a tonne, so that means this entire payload is worth

about one truck crossing a border on the ground. the aircrews here insist that, cumulatively, the air drops are beginning to have an impact. this is a sustained effort. we've been here for three weeks now, and we're continually delivering the aid. the people of gaza are very grateful for the efforts that we're going to and we'll keep delivering and keep delivering until we can't give them any more. in the air, we fly the short distance to gaza, then we're over the drop zone. the pilots are satisfied no—one�*s below and the back ramp lowers. these airdrops are expensive and inadequate, a symbol of the failure to get aid in by other means. but, we're told, they're better than nothing and they are making a difference. 12 boxes out, all on target on the northern shore. these airdrops can be dangerous — people have been crushed

in the stampede to get to the pallets — but there's little that can be done from the air. so, today, the skies over gaza were filled with parachutes. israel says more aid trucks are getting through, but how many is not clear. this aid from the air will not fill the gap, but the aircrews involved hope — believe — that it is making a difference to so many facing famine on the ground. james landale, bbc news over gaza. the wars in the middle east and ukraine took centre stage today at a high—level meeting in washington between america and britain's top diplomats. uk foreign secretary david cameron says his government has "grave concerns" about humanitarian access in gaza, but would not be suspending arms exports to israel. he also defended his earlier meeting with former president donald trump as "entirely in line with precedent". meanwhile, secretary blinken says the us does not have a date for a potential israeli military operation in rafah, but added

the state department is working closely with qatar and egypt to establish a ceasefire. no, we do not have a date for any rafah operational is not one indicated to us by the israelis. on the contrary, what we do have is an ongoing conversation with israel about any rafah operation. the president has been very clear about our concerns, how deep concerns about israel's ability to move civilians out of harm's way, to care for them once they are out of harm's way, and to have any kind of major military operation that doesn't do real harm to civilians, children, women, two men. philipj crowley was the assistant secretary of state for public affairs under president obama. he told me more about the main sticking points in those ceasefire talks. i think the main sticking points are political, as lord cameron said during the press

conference, the long—term goal remains expelling hamas after a ceasefire. and for the netanyahu government, they understand, you know, that at some point there's going to be a of reckoning politically, you know, for what happened on 7 october. and as a reasonable bet they will be pushed out of power. so you have the combatants, you know, who are not sure that a ceasefire serves either their strategic interests of their political interests of their political interests and that's why this conflict continues as stubbornly as it does. we have heard a lot _ stubbornly as it does. we have heard a lot of _ stubbornly as it does. we have heard a lot of conviction - stubbornly as it does. we have heard a lot of conviction about| heard a lot of conviction about israel's land assault in rafah in the south of gaza, what is your thought on the mixed messages?— your thought on the mixed messages? your thought on the mixed messaues? ~ , ., , messages? well, everyone is stuck. hamas _ messages? well, everyone is stuck. hamas has _ messages? well, everyone is stuck. hamas has been - messages? well, everyone is stuck. hamas has been dealt| messages? well, everyone is. stuck. hamas has been dealt a significant military blow, but they are by no means defeated. in the longer that this

occupation goes on, you know, the more difficult it is for israel and the more ms ri is inflicted upon the palestinian people all. and no doubt that there are hamas fighters holed up there are hamas fighters holed up in rafah and if israel is going to succeed in removing hamas from power, they are going to have to do an operation there. as the niger state, bridgen, and others have said, never constantly on the battlefield in terms of military while protecting civilians is far less, is totally inadequate. it appears that international _ totally inadequate. it appears that international pressure i totally inadequate. it appears that international pressure is| that international pressure is growing with the biden administration sending limits, the head of the cia, for the latest round of talks in cairo, is there a shift in how much pressure the us is willing to apply on israel and hamas? i think privately there is a great deal of pressure. publicly the secretary said we continue to have this difficult

conversation with the israeli government's. part of the challenge is that it is unclear how much pressure is being applied to hamas. the greatest ally in the region is iran and while iran doesn't want to see the situation boiled out of control they are no doubt pleased that right now israel is on the defensive and that gives them a lot of room to manoeuvre.— gives them a lot of room to manoeuvre. speaking of iran, tehran has — manoeuvre. speaking of iran, tehran has promised - manoeuvre. speaking of iran, l tehran has promised retaliation for its —— the strike on its in damascus. how great is the risk of regional escalation? we damascus. how great is the risk of regional escalation?- of regional escalation? we have already seen — of regional escalation? we have already seen a _ of regional escalation? we have already seen a regional - already seen a regional escalation. occasionally in respect to lebanon, clearly with respect to the houthis and the red sea. i think iran likes to keep this at a seminar. it

is worried about it boiling over and, is worried about it boiling overand, in is worried about it boiling over and, in fact, is worried about it boiling overand, infact, you is worried about it boiling over and, in fact, you know, since the exchange of fire and attacks on americans that yielded a stern warning from the biden white house, things have been quiet on that front. so i think iran is trying to figure out how to play this just as other actors in the region are. a group of women from switzerland have won the first ever climate case brought before the european court of human rights. the judges ruled that switzerland's efforts to meet its emission reduction targets had been woefully inadequate. the judgement could influence the law in 46 other european countries, including the uk, which is subject to the court's jurisdiction. with more here's justin rowlatt. the swiss women arrived at the european court ready to fight... there has been a violation of article 8 of the convention. ..and they won, persuading the judges that switzerland's failure to do enough to cut planet—warming emissions could help create heatwaves that could threaten the lives

of older people. i am so happy we could contribute to the future, to a betterfuture for our children. today's ruling is not open to challenge. experts say it sets an important precedent and will support the legal case for climate action in european countries, including the uk. the decision comes as new figures show this march was 1.68 degrees celsius above preindustrial levels and the hottest march on record globally. sea surface temperatures were even more dramatic, at 21.07 celsius in march, the highest ever recorded at any time. and just look at the effect that is having on some coral reefs. this is the actual coral animal itself. coral bleaches — turns white — when it is stressed by heat and can die as a result. a mass bleaching event has

already begun in the southern hemisphere and is likely to effect coral reefs worldwide. but there are efforts to address the issue, and in some unexpected places. like the university of derby. scientists here persuaded coral to spawn in the laboratory, for the first time, they say. now, they are working on a world—leading effort to develop heat resistant corals. this isjust small scale behind us and just sort of proof of concept. and it's really about generating those hundreds of thousands of corals which are thermally tolerant, and pushing those corals back out on to the reef in a restoration programme. the good news is the extreme heat should begin to ease back in coming months. a natural weather event known as el nino has helped push up global temperatures in the last ten months. this is how it works. normally the trade winds blow from east to west across the tropical pacific, sending warm surface water to asia, and drawing up deeper,

cooler water, here on the coast of south america. with el nino, the winds weaken, or reverse, driving the warm water to the coast of south america and delivering extra heat to the atmosphere. the current el nino began injune and has onlyjust begin to weaken. if global temperatures don't begin to fall — and the current high sea temperatures suggest they might not — then some scientists fear we could have entered a new phase of more rapid climate change. justin rowlatt, bbc news. to the us now, the parents of a school shooter in michigan have been sentenced in a landmark case. james and jennifer crumbley are the first to be held responsible for a gun attack carried out by their teenage son. ethan crumbley killed four classmates and injured seven others in 2021 at oxford high school. he is serving life in prison without parole.

his parents were both found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter and face ten to 15 years in prison. here's our north america correspondentjohn sudworth. ethan crumbley was just 15 years old when he was given the semiautomatic handgun as an early christmas present. he put it in his backpack, to get to school, and carried out the mass shooting that claimed the lives of four of his fellow students. such is the epidemic of gun violence in this country, of course, that his sentencing last year, to life imprisonment without parole, may have been just another footnote, except for this unique development, the charging of both of his parents with involuntary manslaughter. there were convicted in two separate trials of the past few months and i think you are right, gun—control campaigners will be hoping that this very stringent sentence handed down, a minimum of ten years for each parent served will send a message that will resonate in every home in america where

guns are kept within reach of children. we should say, though, some legal experts suggest that the possibility can be overstated, there are particular circumstances in this case, the negligence being alleged was so severe the parents�* inability to secure the guns, theirfailure to heed their son's own warnings about his declining mental health that we can overstated, nonetheless, for those of you there is a failure political action here they will take some comfort today in this message from the courts. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

let's turn to south korea now, where it's been almost three hours since polls opened. you can see live pictures now from a — rather empty — polling station in seoul, where south koreans are voting in a general election to determine all members of the 300—seat parliament. the opposition party has the current majority, and is expected to retain it, though it is still too close to call.

the results will determine how much power president yoon suk yeol wields for the rest of his term. for more analysis, let's cross over to sejong in south korea now and speak to lim eunjung. she's an associate professor in international studies at kongju national university. thank you forjoining me today to talk about this. what's the main reason the result of this election is important for president yoon? well, south korea, of course, is a liberal democracy and the republic system which resembles the american system a lot. again, of course, the president does have, of course, very strong powerfor the does have, of course, very strong power for the executive branch. however, the same time, national assembly, the parliament, they can't check and balance against the president —— can. especially when the present�*s governing

ruling party is different from the majority partner —— party of the national assembly. again, for president yoon during the last one in two years, again the majority party in the national assembly was different from his own party, so he did have many conflict or even stalemate situations in the korean politics. so for president yoon he does have almost like three years from now on, so as long as he wants to maintain his own executive power or as long as he wants to pursue what his party and himself wanted to suggest for the country, i'm very sure he and his party wants to get enough seats again in the national assembly. presidential terms in south _

national assembly. presidential terms in south korea _ national assembly. presidential terms in south korea are - national assembly. presidential terms in south korea are only . terms in south korea are only five years, he wants to make the most of it. what will they be looking at is they decide who and what to vote for? it is a aood who and what to vote for? it is a good question. _ who and what to vote for? it is a good question. the - who and what to vote for? it 3 a good question. the thing is, very sadly, there is no discussion for, example, this country's decision or long—term book —— long—term goal of policy debates, we miss it. the main reason why we don't see very serious policy related discussion these days is very much about, you know, mutual hatred between the various strong supporters of each party, two parties. of course, we do have many smaller parties, especially this specific election, which is pretty much like extraordinary because 38 smaller parties

registered for the proportional seat. proportionalfees, by the way, there are only a6, so it's very competitive for the smaller party, but anyway the major competition is of course between the conservative ruling and the progressive party. even though there are political differences between the two, still is more about individual hatred or why the other party should be checked and balanced and especially the economic situation, you know, that is the major concern for, i think, the major concern for, i think, the korean voter, because inflation is pretty serious, inflation is pretty serious, inflation for especially groceries, the grocery product price deeply related to

ordinary people's lives, so people are very much sensitive to price. however, again, we don't see very clear policy solution, from neither party. we were living there. thank you for your insight. lim eunjung from kongju national university. we'll keep you up to date with that election in south korea with more analysis as and when the results the start coming in. in the meantime, you can check out coverage on our website , including this article from my colleagues in seoul and london about the weird and wonderful ways that south korean media is bringing this election to life. the latest now on one of the biggest miscarriages ofjustice in uk legal history where hundreds of men of women who ran post offices sub were blamed and prosecuted for theft after faulty computer software said money was missing from post office accounts. today the former sub—postmaster alan bates who led the campaign to expose the injustice has appeared at the public inquiry into the horizon computer scandal. mr bates became a household name after an itv drama

about the case. zoe conway reports. is it any wonder that alan bates is smiling? after 23 years of campaigning, he can now tell the inquiry everything he knows about the post office scandal. he explained why he'd kept fighting for so long. as you got to meet people, and realised it wasn'tjust yourself and you saw the harm and injustice that had been descended upon them, it was something that you felt you had to deal with. over the year, alan bates has written to a series of government ministers in charge of the post office. you in fact sent a reply to mr davie. the inquiry was shown alert sent to the post office minister ed davey injuly 2010, where alan bates called his

refusal to intervene notjust disappointing but offensive. he said the post office had been operating as little more than thugs in suits and ed davey enabled them to carry on with immunity, regardless of the human misery and suffering they inflict. interviewed at a building site in kent, mr davey responded. alan bates is a hero, but like him, when i put those concerns to post office executives, i was lied to, just like sub—postmasters were lied to. alan bates was forced to give up being a sub—postmaster and lost his life savings after being falsely accused of stealing £1,000. he called the process of getting compensation cruel. i am trying to fight for everyone's financial redress, but i have to fight for my own as well and i have no doubt that there is a bit of vindictiveness coming in from the department and the post office. nick reed has been at

the inquiry all day. he says he thinks the financial redress scheme has been slow and says he wants to accelerate the process, but said he didn't want to comment on alan bates' case. you could get into a room with him, right here, right now, and get his compensation sorted out, couldn't you ? it's not for me, we have an independent panel. but you could get it done today? i've spoken to alan bates back in 2019 when we were doing the negotiations, he is an extremely decent man and of course, it's very important we get the right level of compensation for him. as he left, alan bates made clear he thinks there's still so much to fight for. the main thing i want at the moment is for the original victim groups to get their money sooner rather than later. it's gone on far too long. what will you do when it is over? me, i'm going to buy a little post office and put my feet up. the smile on his face said it all. he's a man who feels finally vindicated. zoe conway, bbc news.

a court in australia has ruled that men can enter a women's—only exhibition in tasmania. the ladies lounge exhibit at the museum of old and new art wanted to highlight historic misogyny by banning male visitors. the venue had insisted that rejecting men was part of the art, arguing australian law allowed for discrimination "designed to promote equal opportunity" for a group of people who had been historically disadvantaged. the judge rejected that argument. it contains some of the museum's most—acclaimed works inside a space designed after an old australian pub. the king has been presented with a new set of banknotes by the bank of england. in a ceremony at buckingham palace, andrew bailey, the bank's governor, and sarahjohn — the chief cashier — explained the new security features, and said this was first time there has been a change of monarch on the notes, as the late queen was the first to feature. they will go on general distribution injune. here's the moment the king was

presented with the new notes. we now present you with your bank notes. this is quite a big moment, because we have never changed it. the queen was the first sovereign to be on the banknotes.— first sovereign to be on the banknotes. we get to some news from the board game world. mattel has launched the first major redesign of scrabble for 75 years. the classic board game will now be sold with a simpler version printed on its underside, with helper cards, so people can team up and play together. it comes after feedback from some younger players, who said they found the traditional game too difficult. they hope it will reduce the competitive nature of the game. for those of you who like to play scrabble there is now a simpler, less competitive version as they understand it.

thanks your company on bbc news. i will see you soon again at the same time tomorrow. hello there. tuesday, unfortunately brought more stormy weather with it and coastal flooding with the high tides, as well as inland flooding. a brief ridge of high pressure is pushing that low pressure out the way, but the weather fronts are hot off the heels again off the atlantic with more rain to come through the day ahead. this is what we had on tuesday — 60 millimetres and more across beddgelert in north wales. many of the other wettest places seeing 30—a0 millimetres of rain. and despite the showers having ease, the rain and the winds through the night and it turns chilly with a touch of frost, potentially a few areas first thing and some mist and fog in the south. already, temperatures are rising in the west ahead of the next band of rain that you may have seen there. so wet through the morning rush across northern ireland, underneath this weather front.

and as it comes in, it's introducing milder atlantic air. so it will turn misty and foggy over the hills as well as the fog first thing further east. once it sets in across scotland on and off through the day, early brightness and sunshine in the east replaced by that rain as it meanders its way eastwards through the day. you can see it does ease off a little bit in southern parts, but it's got a legacy of cloud left in its wake. so a mild day, where we see any breaks — perhaps 16 in northern ireland. but there's a met office warning for the west of scotland. again, another a0 millimetres, possibly more over the hills. further south, there'll be a steady spell of rain and lots of misty, murky weather over the hills. another pulse comes in through the evening overnight, particularly scotland and northern ireland. it tends to weaken as it pushes southwards, but all the cloud and the wind and the winds will be strong again today, perhaps not as strong as yesterday, but they hold the temperatures up through the night.

and a fairly brisk wind will continue with us on thursday. maybe some mist murk first thing, particularly in the south under the remnants of this weather front. but actually, once that clears out the way, we might see some brighter skies and sunshine coming through before the next pulse of rain starts to materialise across western parts again. but look at the temperatures on thursday. it's looking mild, in fact, warm in the strengthening april sunshine. and that milder, warmer atlantic air is with us through thursday and indeed friday to end the week, perhaps even start the weekend, but not for long because we get some colder air starting to dig in behind it. and you can see for the weekend or by the end of the weekend, it's a return to slightly cooler weather for most.

the leaders of long—time allies japan and the united states will meet today. on the agenda — defense, security and a controversial business deal. and the idea of speaking to anyone in their native language is now a possibility with al. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. our top story today: japanese prime minister fumio kishida has arrived in the us where he is currently meeting presidentjoe biden. defense and security are at the top of the agenda but economic relations have not been forgotten. on tuesday, mr kishida sent

a message to american business leaders that japan's economy is open for investment. he told a roundtable that he was keen for more collaboration on critical and emerging technologies like semiconductors and artificial intelligence. this comes as microsoft said it will spend almost $3 billion to expand its cloud and ai infrastructure injapan. translation: japan will look to investment _ translation: japan will look to investment from _ translation: japan will look to investment from the _ translation: japan will look to investment from the united - investment from the united states to push forward co—ordination in radical and emerging technology. economic growth our country obtained through your investments shall serve as a funding source for further investment in the united states by japanese entities. there is also focus on the fate of a takeover of us steel by japan's nippon steel. forjapan, the merger represents a major opportunity to link up operations around the world, in an industry where bigger is better. but diplomatically,

it's a sensitive issue because a takeover of the american steelmaker crosses