for ukraine totalling nearly $61 billion. if passed by the senate, the long—awaited funds will provide roughly $23 billion to replenish us weapons, stockpiles and facilities, more than $11 billion to fund current us military operations in the region and another $14 billion to help ukraine buy advanced weapons systems and other defence equipment. speaker of the house mike johnson — who brought the bill to a vote — said it was the right thing to do. it is an old military adage that we would rather send bullets to the conflict overseas than our own boys, our troops and i think this is an important moment and opportunity to make that decision and allow the house to do that and i expect the senate to make the same decision. for a perspective — to make the same decision. for a perspective from the other side of the aisle we spoke to a

congresswoman, a democrat from california who serves on the house foreign affairs. the fact that we took _ house foreign affairs. the fact that we took up _ house foreign affairs. the fact that we took up these - house foreign affairs. the fact that we took up these boats l house foreign affairs. the fact i that we took up these boats and pass them once again with overwhelming democratic support shows that we're not going to continue to sit the sidelines. it has been tense in foreign affairs committee is because republicans continue to share chinese and russian propaganda when we are all looking at the same kind of intelligence that tells us that iran and russia and china are working together in partnership to continue to create regional instability around the globe. we see it in africa in the middle east, in south america and in europe and we have to take a stand. from the capitol, our news correspondent helena humphrey told us more about today's vote. after a rare show of bipartisanship the us is one step closer to sending long—awaited aid to ukraine along with israel and the indo—pacific region after this vote from us house of representatives. it now heads to the senate. president biden has called

to advance it swiftly so it can head to his desk in the oval office so he can sign off on it. the pentagon for its part watching the political infighting going on has been trying to pre—position weaponry where it can so that those weapons can head to ukraine, head to troops on the ground sooner rather than later. potentially within days as opposed to weeks. that doesn't rule out the prospect of further political infighting despite the fact that congresswoman nancy pelosi had called to sign off on the bill for ukraine. we know that it had been facing resistance from the republican party. they had wanted ties to strict immigration laws, stricter border security with the us—mexico border. that particular vote failed. they needed a two thirds majority so that did not come to pass. instead what you saw

with the ukraine bill is that more republicans voted against it than actually voted in favour. we know that republican congress woman marjorie greene has signalled her intention to potentially oust the republican house speaker mikejohnson over this filing a motion to vacate. she said she will not pull the trigger on it. that's not to say it couldn't come in days or weeks ahead. well, the vote had been delayed for more than six months, causing ukraine to run low on ammunition and lose more territory to invading russian forces. ukrainian president volodymr zelensky expressed gratitude on x, formerly known as twitter, for the passage of the bill — saying this decision will �*keep history on the right track'. he said: "democracy and freedom will always have a global significance and will never fail as long as america helps to protect it. the vital us aid bill passed today by the house will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives,

and help both of our nations to become stronger." our correspondent james waterhouse has more from ukraine. the bill's passing has been met with relief in ukraine, it's been a costly six—month sport ukraine. it's been a costly six months for ukraine. this sizeable offering from the us has gotten bogged down in washington, ukraine has lost men and it has lost territory with soldiers finding themselves with dwindling ammunition in the face of their greater russian invaders. this is a big boost for ukraine. it is a war when good news has been rare for kyiv of late. this package will provide much—needed ammunition, air defences and reports suggest it could be arriving within days. that will certainly be the hope, it is by no means a silver bullet. this does not mean ukraine is suddenly going to be liberating swathes of

territory as it did in 2022, what it crucially does for kyiv is it keeps it in the fight. the near term objective will simply be to try and stem the tide of russian occupation as it continues to seize hundreds of square kilometres of territory in the east and where we see ukrainian cities in an incredibly perilous situation. it keeps ukraine in the fight and it keeps negotiating table at bay. mrs this is a huge moment for ukraine to feel the weight of america's support behind it. the foreign secretary had described it as a bad day for vladimir putin but his invasion has many more days left in it. now it is a private moment of celebration for kyiv in these times of war. i spoke earlier to kateryna stepanenko, russia deputy team lead and analyst at the institute for the study of war. what will this

infusion of aid mean for ukraine on the battlefield? thank you for having me on the show. it is a bad day for vladimir putin, he has been focusing a lot of strategy on prolonging the war and making sure that the west is not going to take decisive measures to support ukraine. a lot of information operations that the russians have been taking on for the past months have been specifically targeting the west and the us, to make sure that our decision—making is slowed and conflicted and debated and prolonged and so on and so on. it's a sad day but for vladimir putin but it is not the final battle. there is probably going to be a lot more issues and debates that ukraine, the us and west will have to take on as the war continues. this bill, it passed the house, a lot of republicans did not vote for it.

i'm curious if you could assess how successful what you call an informational war by russia has been when it comes to the debate that is being had in the us about the war in ukraine and the us�*s role in it? i cannot comment on us domestic politics given our institutional policies, i can definitely say that the russians had been implement in several key narratives to slow down our decision—making not just in the us but also worldwide. some of these rhetoric include nuclear threats, they also push narratives about negotiations that russia is ready to negotiate with the west over ukraine's fate. as well as the rhetoric about not crossing russia's redlines by having the us or the west provide additional military material or long—range artillery systems and other equipment.

is this aid package, do you think, and we know it is being delayed about six months since us presidentjoe biden first requested it, do you think it is coming too late? how much has russia been able to take advantage of the rationing of artillery by ukraine to take more territory on the battlefield? it is coming too late, we are seeing russians consistently make tactical gains in the battlefield also since january one russians already captured 360 square kilometres which is the size of detroit across different frontlines. hines we have also seen russians increasingly degrade ukraine's defence umbrella and that resulted in pretty devastating losses for ukrainian energy infrastructure as well as transportation infrastructure and logistics. it is coming too late but hopefully this will be a long—term lesson for us on why a productive war a long—term lesson for us

on why a protracted war is so important for russians and why it is beneficial to them. we have been speaking with a guest earlier who showed some scepticism that ukraine can still win this war. you wrote back in february that ukraine's cou nteroffe nsive ca n still succeed. is that how you feel? how do you rate the chances ukraine can still take back the territory lost from russia? ukraine can absolutely still succeed but that all depends on a transparent policy here in the us and also in the west in terms of long—term support for ukraine. we are seeing that ukraine is trying to revitalises its fans industrial base, it is working with european partners to secure joint partnerships and it is also trying to solve its mobilisation issues as of current. all this will take time for ukraine to be self—sufficient and it will require transparent aid from the us from the west and from all of our ukrainian allies. without that transparency

is a very challenging thing for ukrainian generals to plan long—term operations which would include and require significant sacrifices in terms of material and personnel on the ukrainian side. we only have 45 seconds left but i want to ask about russia, we have seen massive sanctions against the country, big losses on the battlefield for russia. how do you think it's been able to keep up this war effort, despite all that? russia is a pretty large country, with sufficient stocks in terms of the soviet equipment that they have. they are launching mobilisation strategies and are recruiting personnel from financially incentivising them and they are circumnavigating a lot of sanctions through iran, china, north korea and other partners it has on board so russia is still able to play the long—term game and we have to be prepared for that. kateryna stepanenko, russia deputy team lead

at the institute for the study of war, thank you very much. well, the ukraine aid deal is not the only bill that cleared the us house of representatives on saturday. as part of a wider foreign aid package, lawmakers also passed a measure targeting the video app tiktok. it would force tiktok�*s chinese owners to sell the app — or risk being shut out of the american market. that means tiktok would no longer be available on us app stores. tiktok has condemned the bill, saying quote "it is unfortunate that the house of representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the us economy, annually." the app has come under increasing scrutiny from us politicians — who allege that bytedance, which owns tiktok — allows the chinese government to spy on american users.

that's a claim that both china and the company deny. the house of representatives last month approved a similar bill cracking down on tiktok, but the measure got held up in the senate. alongside money for ukraine and taiwan, the us aid package would also send $26 billion to the middle east. $17 billion of which would go to israel — to buy things like air defence missiles and advanced weapons systems and $9 billion will go to humanitarian relief for gaza — something democrats insisted be included, over the objections of some conservative republicans. that boost in aid and in weapons comes as unrwa, the un agency responsible for getting aid to palestinians, says the risk of disease in gaza is rising. the un warns the situation could deteriorate if israel goes ahead with a planned ground offensive against hamas in the southern city of rafah — where an estimated 1.5 million palestinians are sheltering. wyre davies has the latest from jerusalem.

the very real threat seems to diminish after both sides played down or completely ignored the events of recent days. events and tensions in the region remain very high. in the last 2a hours an iranian military base in iraq appears to be attacked. nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack in which one person is said to have been killed. images seem to show the aftermath of a big explosion. on israel's northern border there's been exchanges of fire across the frontier with iranian allied militants engaging with israeli troops. and in the palestinian occupied west bank israeli troops have been involved in a two—day operation which has left apparently ten people dead, including a senior commander from palestinian islamichhad. it's events in gaza after six months of war which are again

coming to the fore. over night there where israeli tanks and aeroplane attacks, militaryjets, bombing places in central gaza and in particular, the city of rafah. apparently nine people were killed including several children. israel said it was targeting military infrastructure armed terrorists. but there are concerns about the dire humanitarian situation in gaza and more than a million people are now seeking refuge in and around the town of rafah. , ., ., . ~ ., ., rafah. there is a lack of aid the more — rafah. there is a lack of aid the more is _ rafah. there is a lack of aid the more is getting - rafah. there is a lack of aid | the more is getting through. the government has warned the israelis not to proceed with the plan for full—scale military operation in rafah because israel says it has to tackle hamas completely, it has to defeat hamas completely if this war is to be won. benjamin netanyahu has ignore those warnings thus far from the americans and the british, among others, not to go full on

into rafah but mr netanyahu is adamant he will proceed with a full—scale military operation because he cannot declare victory in gaza and israeli hostages will not be released until that operation is complete. meanwhile, thousands of israelis took to the streets saturday to demand benjamin netanyahu resign as prime minister and call new elections. mr netanyahu has been subject to intense criticism: for failing to prevent hamas's deadly attack, and for failing to secure the return of israelis still held hostage in gaza. saturday marks 25 years since the 1999 mass shooting at columbine high school that killed 12 students and one teacher and wounded more than 20 others. the massacre is widely—regarded as the first major mass shooting at a us school in the modern era — marking a turning point for the country. on the eve of the anniversary, community members gathered in denver, colorado to remember the lives lost. candles flickered on 13 empty

chairs — one for each of the victims — as short biographies were read out. after each, the crowd replied together �*never forgotten.�* since columbine, gun violence in the united states has become increasingly severe both in schools and in wider communities. according to data collected by the washington post, there have been more than 400 school shootings since 1999 — exposing more than 370,000 students to gun violence. so far this year alone, there have been 120 reported mass shootings — that data coming from the gun violence archive. on saturday, us presidentjoe biden issued a statement to mark the anniversary of columbine and condemn gun violence. in it he said "i've met with countless families who've lost loved ones because of gun violence. their message is always the same: do something." but gun control is a highly polarizing issue in the us. many democrats advocate for stricter gun laws, while republicans tend to view gun ownership

as a fundamental right. krista hanley is a survivor of the columbine shooting — and a co—founder of we are safer together, a self—defence organisation. earlier, i spoke to her about her experience that day and her personaljourney since. thank you for being here with us today. what are your reflections as we mark 25 years since the shooting that took place at your high school, columbine high school? it's hard to believe it's been 25 years. and it also feels like it was just the other day in some ways. this kind of trauma really stays with you, stays in your body. every anniversary things come up. although after 25 years i have been in some sort of peace this year, i think. just really finding that this thing happened to me, it changed my life and i am forever going to be affected by it.

how has it changed you? how has that affected you? it changed me in a lot of ways. to have an early experience where so much of your life isjust turned on its head. the way that i felt like it wasn't safe anymore. it really changed what i thought the world was like, frankly. i didn't feel safe or a long time. i focused on every day, just getting through the day for so long because i had so much trauma. since then i have found ways to advocate for others through my organisation and through my writing. i'm hoping to get out there, especially for other survivors that we can find some hope and healing in this. you've written about the emotional impact of going through something

like this, witnessing something like this, you wrote, "i realise there is no getting over it and there's no going back to normal." how difficult is it to just understand survivors of a school shooting, that really can last much longer than just a couple of years within a school or high school, this last into adulthood. i think it will last our whole lives. i know other survivors that were at columbine with me very well and all of us are still highly affected by this every day. i know other survivors that were in shootings that took place before columbine and they are still affected by it, even people who are 50 years after their shootings. this kind of trauma stays with you forever. i don't think that people realise it. i think it's important for everyone to know that. it's not easy or simple to get over trauma that affects you this deeply. and we really need to do

whatever we can to help other children in the world have to go through this. what goes through your mind when you see television coverage of other school shootings, whether it's uvalde or sandy hook, does it take you back to that place, what goes through your mind? the subsequent shootings have been devastating especially sandy hook and uvalde, parkland, virginia tech, all of these big shootings and notjust schools but all the mass shootings we have in this country. affect other survivors. we can't help being viscerally dropped back into the trauma state that we were in on that day in the following days from our shooting. it's heartbreaking to see another community again and again, more communities having to go through the same kind of trauma that we went through.

i understand that you actually knew the boys who committed the shooting at columbine high school. you've only recently decided to begin starting to talk about that. why is that? it's been complicated to decide that i wanted to share my relationship with them as friends. but i think it's important for us all to realise that these mass shooters are not strangers. these could be someone you know, could be someone planning a serious event. and the only way that we can stop these is if we recognise the warning signs and we do something about it. i think we can't ignore the fact that these are our friends, neighbours, partners, children and we have to recognise that people who we know are capable of doing this. that is why i've decided that i needed to share the fact that i knew them.

i had no idea that they were planning this. but i think we all need to recognise that we have a part in creating a safer world. krista hanley, a survivor of the columbine shooting and co—founder of we are safer together i'm a personal safety organisation, thank you very much for sharing your experiences with us today. in the uk, the body advising the government on climate change policy, has attacked prime minister rishi sunak�*s commitment to cutting carbon emissions. chris stark, from the climate change committee, told the bbc that the prime minister had set back progress towards reaching net zero. here's justin rowlatt. the climate change committee's job is to mark the government's homework on climate, says chris stark, and he is marking rishi sunak down in dramatic fashion. the reason? in the autumn, the prime minister delayed a ban on petrol and diesel cars and watered down targets for phasing out gas boilers.

we seem to have defaulted an approach which will impose unacceptable costs on hard—pressed british families, costs that no—one was ever really told about. here is what mr stark had to say about that. i think it set us back. so i think we have moved from a position where we were really at the forefront, pushing ahead as quickly as we could on something that i believe to be fundamental to the uk economy, fundamentally beneficial to the people living in this country, whether you care about the climate or not. a government spokesperson said the uk was the first major economy to halve greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 and said that record speaks for itself. mr stark was critical of other parties, too. he said that politicians, across the political spectrum, have a collective fear of talking about climate.

and he said he was disappointed by the snp government in edinburgh's decision to drop a key carbon reduction target this week, saying the targets had been overambitious from the start. the scottish government chose to choose an even more ambitious path than the one that we'd advised. and that's fine — i mean, i love ambition — but it only matters if you actually deliver against that. a scottish government spokesperson said the country remains steadfast in its commitment to reaching net zero by 2045. the interview with mr stark comes as marine experts warn the world's coral reefs are experiencing their fourth mass bleaching event — driven, they say, by record high sea surface temperatures. justin rowlatt, bbc news. and, finally, this probably won't come as a huge shock to swifties — taylor swift's new album release has already broken a number of records. the highly anticipated the tortured poets department, which turned out to be a double album, became the most streamed album in a single day

on spotify and amazon music with taylor also becoming the most streamed artist in a day on spotify. the album also broke the record for the biggest pop album of all time by first—day streams on apple music. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. it's been a chilly start to the weekend. we've got some cold weather overnight where we have the clearer skies. temperatures may be a bit higher in scotland, mind you, because we've seen this cloud moving down from the north and we'll continue to see a bit of light rain or drizzle on that weak weather front there as it runs into our area of high pressure. now, in between those two weather fronts, the potential for some slightly warmer air across scotland where we get some sunshine, and particularly northern ireland. but for england and wales, we're still in the cold air, so it's not going to be too hot for the runners in the london marathon. it should stay dry. there will be a cool northeasterly breeze

and a top temperature of 11 or 12 degrees. we will see some cloud developing in east anglia and the southeast that could bring the odd light shower here and there. otherwise, some sunny spells for other parts of england and wales. plenty of sunshine for northern ireland. much more cloud in scotland. we've got this rain and drizzle in the east pushing into the far north of england, pegging temperatures back here. a little bit warmer in western scotland where we've got some brighter skies, but the highest temperatures are going to be inland in northern ireland — a pleasant 17 or 18 degrees. the centre of the high pressure is just getting pushed towards the west of the uk. it allows these weather fronts to take the cloud and rain southwards, and this time, we've got a cloudy picture on monday. we're going to find some rain and drizzle at times for england and wales. it should turn drier and brighter with some sunshine in northern scotland. it may stay dry in northern ireland but we've got more cloud around on monday. there is still some semblance of some warmer air in western scotland

and northern ireland but it's pretty cold elsewhere, particularly so across the southeast of england after a chilly night, and that cloud then coming in over the top. and that cloud continues to push its way southwards, together with those weather fronts, and with the high out towards the west, we're left with a northerly breeze again on tuesday. still a bit of patchy light rain or drizzle to clear in the south. otherwise, that northerly wind will bring a lot of cloud to eastern areas and maybe the odd shower near the coast. but out to the west, this is where we've got the best of the sunshine and those temperatures getting up to 13, maybe 14 degrees but particularly cold across the eastern side of the uk — 8—10 celsius here. now, when�*s it going to warm up? well, no time soon. it looks like through the rest of the week, we're still in this colder air and, if anything, with the pressure tending to fall, there's a risk of a bit more rain as well.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. commentator: zinchenko. he's been a premier league star for manchester city... zinchenko will claim it. ..and now arsenal. and he's a proud ukrainian. oleksandr zinchenko says he'll swap football for fighting against russia if he's called up. i think it's a clear answer. of course. i would go. as the war continues, the arsenal player says ukraine's break with its

russian neighbour is for good. since this invasion, we can't be friends with them anymore. we will never forget what they have done to us, to our people. he's donated over £1 million to ukraine, and now he says he wants to do the best for his country. i can't be more proudly than i am right now to be ukrainian. so what's next for zinchenko and the fighting, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives? every single day, i am watching some videos from ukraine with the kids, where they're hiding themselves in a bunker. and i was just trying to put myself in their position, you know, when i was at that age. i didn't have that, so i was living my proper life. and now, ifeel sorry for them because they don't deserve it, honestly.

and, you know, just again, once again,