columbia university says students occupying a building as part of pro—palestinian protests face expulsion, the latest move in a standoff with officials. the philippines accuses china's coast guard of harassment and of damaging two of its boats in a disputed area of the south china sea. the first man to publish a sequence of the covid—19 and china stages are setting after authorities locked him out of facilities. and in a 30 minutes business news with four—month imprisonment for breaking laws in the us for a business leader. live from our studio

it would also allow for displaced families to return to northern gaza. it's also reported to involve new wording on restoring calm to gaza, designed to satisfy hamas�*s demand for a permanent ceasefire. benjamin netanyahu meanwhile said that israel will carry out an operation in rafah, regardless of whether a ceasefire deal is reached with hamas. the israeli prime minister was speaking at a meeting with the families of hostages where he reiterated that israel would eliminate hamas, and achieve "total victory". translation: we will enter rafah because i we have no other choice. we will destroy the hamas battalions there, we will complete all the objectives of the war, including the repatriation of all our abductees.

this is from frank gardner. a lot of things are about to happen in this part of the world over the coming days. antony blinken has arrived here and he's only spending less than a day in israel but he will be pushing for the ceasefire deal. i do not think it would be ceasefire deal. i do not think it would be too ceasefire deal. i do not think it would be too impressed ceasefire deal. i do not think it would be too impressed by the statements coming out of prime minister benjamin netanyahu today, talking about going into rafah whether or not there is a ceasefire deal, a true steel, because the us is opposed to israel going into rafah. you have also got the icc. this is a real threat being taken very seriously by prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his cabinet. this is different by the international criminal court that israel believes is about to issue a rest warrant for a number of senior israeli

military and political figures, including prime minister benjamin netanyahu for or in relation to israel's treatment to palestinians both in gaza and in the west bank. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is absolutely livid about this. he hasissued absolutely livid about this. he has issued a furious rebuttal to this, saying this would be a historic mistake but he is clearly very worried because although israel is that a signatory to the icc, if these warrant were issued, that is 124 countries that he cannot visit and it would essentially make israel something of a pariah state. against the backdrop of all of this, you have hamas study the text of the ceasefire deal and they could well be announcing that acceptance or rejection of it in the next 24 hours. if the deal was signed on we started seeing israeli hostages coming out, let out peacefully from

gaza, in return for large numbers of palestinian prisoners, then it is unlikely that the rafah operation would go ahead, at least not immediately, and that would give everybody some breathing space, something that gaza desperately needs. meanwhile the mother of an israeli american being held in gaza has told the bbc that israel and hamas must urgently agree a new ceasefire and hostage—release deal. rachel goldberg polin's son hersch was seen in captivity in a new video released last week. anna foster reports from the site of the nova music festival in southern israel. 207 days ago this was a place of life. each of these images is nowjust a memory. among them, hersch goldberg—polin, taken hostage by hamas. i haven't slept more than four hours a night, and that's with drugs. that's with what our family doctor prescribed for us on the first day. on october 7th, hersh ran

and hid in a concrete refuge by the roadside. this shelter is a few kilometres away from the festival site, so when people got here, they must have thought that they were safe, but they weren't because hamas gunmen threw grenades into this tiny space and the survivors were dragged out, put in a truck and taken as hostages. hersh was among them, bleeding badly, his arm missing its hand. now, for the first time since that day, his parents have seen him again, speaking under duress in a video released by hamas. obviously, it's hersh, but he's not recognisable. so he was speaking in hebrew. so all i was doing, as soon as i heard his voice, i started to cry, because i haven't heard his voice in half a year. and to see him moving and to see that he is clearly medically compromised... i don't even know what i was saying. i was just making noises

and crying and john was crying. a deal on the table would free around 30 more hostages and see a ceasefire in gaza, but both israel and hamas need to accept. we know it's hard. we know it's painful. we also know we can't move forward until this is dealt with, and i think in the entire region, we have so much tension and so much conflict, and one way to just twist the button and relieve pressure and tension in the entire region is to get these 133 cherished souls back home. it's another moment for hope, but there's caution, too, in case this deal crumbles like others have before. anna foster, bbc news. columbia university says students occupying a campus building as part of pro—palestinian protests face being expelled from their academic programs.

on monday night students at columbia barricaded themselves into hamilton hall, home to the dean of the college, and previously the focus of protests that sprang up around the vietnam war and much later the fight against apartheid. in washington, the house speaker mikejohnson is planning a crackdown on the protest movement which he says is feeding anti—semitism across the country. he is demanding greater clarity from the white house. columbia is out of control. in the last several hours, overnight, i think, they overtook a campus building, they're occupying a building there. they are unable to operate the university at a time when the students are preparing for their final exams. it's unfair, it's unright, it's unsafe and it must stop. so we got to the police to come in and take care of it. if they are unable then we need the national guard, we have to have control of campuses. one of the lead negotiators at columbia university has confirmed to the bbc he has been suspended. mahmoud khalil, a palestinian student from syria, said he had been working with administrators and protestors to try and find

common ground and meet the student demands. he's been speaking to our north america correspondent nomia iqbal in new york. i woke up this morning to a surprising email from the university administration suspending me. the title was "mahmoud khalil suspended". that surprised me because it goes against the norms — i'm the lead negotiator, it's normal that i go in and out of the encampment. the university were very well aware of this and they offered this protection. so i'm not sure if this is random, i'm not sure if this is targeted. i'm still waiting to hear back from the administration regarding this, especially that yesterday, after the students took over the hamilton building, the university through the mediators reached out to me about what kind of demands these protesters are asking for. so you don't know on what basis you've been suspended? i don't. according to the email, it says that i, i did...

i refused to disperse and leave the encampment after 2:00pm. and even though i did not actually enter the encampment after 2:00pm, this shows how random and arbitrary this these notifications. what's your view on what happened last night, that escalation? i suppose for the university there's a difference between protests and disruption and that was the disruption. yeah. so the students has been protesting on this campus since october seventh. they, they only received threats and intimidation from the university throughout these six months. that's why the students started the encampment as a form of peaceful protest. yet the university brought nypd when they, when the students decided to move to another lawn, the university decided to send more discipline. and it seems now the university is trying to do the same with this encampment. the university should understand that oppression breeds resistance and the it's

more like authoritative regimes where they only flex power and flex authority against theirstudents, hoping that they would just leave. but you don't view last night as a red line. you don't view the buildings being taken over as a red line, necessarily. i mean, i was not part of the planning of that of that building. i was as surprised as everyone else that the student decided to do, to do that. but again, this is a natural consequence of the university's unwillingness to listen to these students. if the students are not heard, they would do everything to be heard. what happens to you now? because you've been suspended. you are an international student. where does that leave you, mahmoud? so as of now, i cannot access the university, any health care. i'm not sure about my housing

because i live at columbia housing, so i would just wait until the hearing that the university is offering. when is that? we're not sure. i don't think the university has the capacity to process plus—150 suspensions in a matter of days. so this may take weeks and this and in these weeks, i wouldn't have access to either the university, to the health care here, but also the exams — the exams are next week. a chinese vessel fired water cannons at a philippines vessel. it happened near the disputed scarborough shoal, an area that has been a flashpoint between the two countries in recent years. the filipino authorities said its boats had been involved in a mission to deliver fuel and food to fishermen in the area. it accused beijing of once again installing a floating barrier across the

entrance to the shoal. chinese state media reports its coastguard as saying it had expelled a philippine coast guard ship and other vessels from the area. it is extremely rare forforeign media to be granted access to philippines coastguard patrols in the south china sea, but our correspondent jonathan head was on board. get inside, get inside, get inside! this is how china defends its claim to the entire south china sea — water cannon raking the deck of a filipino coastguard ship, soaking everyone. get inside, get inside! we were just off scarborough shoal, a coral reef that is claimed by both countries, but much closer to the philippines. this coastguard ship has already attacked our ship once. its water cannon have blasted the decks, as you can see. it's spraying water in the air. that's a threat. it's very likely it's going

to come back and hit us again. the chinese attacks continued for half an hour. this is a familiar ordeal for these filipino crew members, who must conduct these missions while greatly outnumbered by the flotilla of chinese ships outside. all morning, we watched them shadowing us. and they watched us back, before moving in for a risky game of maritime cat and mouse. well, this chinese coastguard ship has come so close now, there is only perhaps 40 or 50 metres between us. this is a very aggressive tactic. the philippines crew are preparing to throw buoys over the side in case there is a collision between the two. look how close it's coming. after years of relative inaction, the philippines is now pushing back against china's dominance in these waters, encouraged by the firm backing its had

from the united states. the chinese presence here is overwhelming, though. in the end, our ship was forced to return to manila. and there's always the possibility that these increasingly combative encounters in this strategically sensitive region escalate into something bigger. jonathan head, bbc news, in the south china sea. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you are live with bbc news. nicaragua brought a case to the un top course arguing germany had breached the innocent

convention by sending military hardware to israel. denying israel had broken an international laws and that it had not sent artillery shells on munition when the latest conflict in gaza began. it took the presiding judge less than 20 minutes to deliver this decision in which 15 votes— one the international panel of judges ruled that the current circumstances did not warrant the emergency measures it requested. nicaragua had told the court that since october 2023, german arms exports to israel had increased significantly and that belinda should be aware of the risks that these armed could be used a committed violation of international law. germany argued that it had strict arms export control licensing procedures in place and that

the majority of this equipment was for defensive and training purposes and that it had continued to support humanitarian agencies operating in the gaza strip. thejudge ended their hearing by reminding the court that all countries have a responsibility to ensure any arms exported are not used to commit genocidal acts and it is worth remembering here that israel has denied all allegations of genocide and said it had the right to defend itself. while nicaragua's lawsuit was rejected, this case has drawn attention to the roles and responsibilities of third countries in relation to israel's conduct in gaza. donald trump has been fined $9,000 for contempt of court, after repeatedly attacking witnesses and jurors at his criminal trial in new york. the judge warned that he could face jail if he does it again. 0ur north america editor sarah smith explains more about the fine. yeah, donald trump has got until the end of the week to pay that fine.

and it seems he's already taken down the social media posts in which he was attacking his former lawyer michael cohen, the adult film star stormy daniels, even the jury pool here in new york. he's not allowed to go after witnesses in this trial, court staff orjurors. and when he breaches that order, that's when thejudge can fine him. he left here a short while ago, though, complaining about this order, saying that it was totally unconstitutional as part of this corrupt trial and conflicted judge, he said. but the gag order, he claims, isn't fair because he's running for president and he has to be allowed to speak out. the judge has been very clear, actually, that his political comments are protected for that very reason. but what he can't do is go after witnesses, jurors or court staff. and the judge did say that he's rather disappointed he can't fine him any more — he could only impose a fine of $1,000 for each breach of the order, nine times in this case, $9,000 - but he said that's not

very much money for a wealthy defendant like donald trump. it's not much of a deterrent. so he was very clear that if necessary and appropriate, he said he would send mr trump to jail if that was the only way to stop him breaching this gag order. and in fact, the prosecution has already come up with four more examples of where they say he's breached it. there's going to be a hearing here in court about that on thursday. a failed asylum seeker has become the first to be voluntarily sent from the uk to rwanda, bbc news understands. the migrant was flown on a commercialflight and given £3,000, or around us$3,750, to help relocate to kigali, as first reported by the sun newspaper. 0ur political correspondent harry farley has been explaining more about this case. this is not the government's flagship rwanda scheme that they've been talking so much about that aims to forcibly deport those who come to the uk illegally on small boats.

this asylum seeker voluntarily chose to go to kigali. that came... that's under a separate scheme that the government set up in march. they're offering to pay those whose asylum claims have been processed here in the uk and been rejected, pay them £3,000 to voluntarily go to kigali. so that's what's happened in this case. it's the first time that someone has been sent to rwanda under this scheme. the labour party, they say that the government are so desperate to send, get flights off the ground to rwanda that they've paid someone to go. so i think the question is, how significant is this? well, symbolically, it is significant. as i said, it's the first time that someone has voluntarily been sent to rwanda. and obviously it's a big week in the uk with local elections. but remember, rishi sunak, the prime minister's pledge was to stop the boats and this case, this particular example, will not offer the deterrent that the government argues it needs because this scheme that this asylum seeker

was sent on does not apply to those who arrive in small boats. and just to get us up to speed again with how this case is separate from the one you were alluding to, and that is it will force a separate to the force return scheme of the government. yes. so the government's main flagship rwanda plan, which it's been talking about for more than two years now, aims to deter people from making journeys across the channel in small boats. it says that a deterrent will work and is necessary. and the reason it aims to provide that deterrent by setting up this scheme that anyone who arrives in the uk illegally on a small boat will be sent to rwanda. it's worth saying that rishi sunak has said that he hopes flights for that particular scheme will take off in ten to 12 weeks�* time, sometime injuly. no flights for that particular scheme have yet been taken, have yet taken off, and that is separate to the voluntary scheme that the government announced in march for those asylum seekers who whose claim has been processed

here and rejected. the eu's drug watchdog has urged vaccine—makers to update covid—i9 shots to target a new variant of the virus. the european medicines agency said thatjn.i is now the most widely circulating variant worldwide, responsible for thousands of deaths every month. meanwhile there are reports the first scientist to publish the covid sequence in china was evicted from his lab over the weekend. professor zhang yongzhen is allegedly staging a sit—in after a long—running dispute with the health authorities since he shared the makeup of the virus�*s genetic material without going through state channels. meghan 0wen explains. this unverified photo is being shared widely online. now, it appears to show professor zhang lying next to his laboratory in the drizzling rain. it's an act of protest. he claims that he and his team were blocked from entering their workplace. now, it was allegedly posted on a chinese social media platform, but was later deleted.

so who is he and how did we get to this point? well, in january 2020, zhang sequenced the covid—i9 virus, and he was really keen to publish those results. but china's national health commission decided to block him from doing so, together with all other unauthorised scientists. now, a few days after he sequenced the virus, zhang decided to put his head above the parapet and publish his findings — becoming the first scientist to do so, but also defying chinese authorities. now, this helped the world in tackling the virus, but at the same time it came at huge personal cost to zhang and his team who work in these buildings here.

now, since then, they've been subjected to demotions and setbacks. now, according to the shanghai public health clinical center, the lab was closed due to safety reasons. but in the allegedly deleted post, zhang says, "i won't leave, i won't quit. "i'm pursuing science and the truth." king charles returned to public duties on tuesday with a visit to a cancer centre in london. he and camilla met staff and patients. he has been receiving cancer treatment since early february. coming up on asia business report, we will be talking about a finance founder sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to charges last november. that is coming up in a moment. see you soon. hello. well, it has been gradually warming up over the last couple of days, at least for most of us. the weather, on the other hand, a little hit and miss. and in fact, that is the

outlook for the next few days. some warm sunshine, yes, but also a chance of catching some rain. now, weather fronts are close by — you can see it here on the satellite picture — and that also means some damp weather through the early hours and into wednesday morning, particularly around the irish sea coasts and also around the north sea coasts. but for most of us, it's a dry start to the day, a little misty and murky in places. here are the temperatures first thing — around 9 in london, 8 in belfast, maybe the glens of scotland around 4—5 celsius. now, many of us will wake up to some sunshine, maybe hazy skies in places. and i think it should stay generally dry through the day, although a few showers are possible inland in central parts of the uk, and also damp conditions at times are possible along the north sea coast where it'll be coolest. temperatures in newcastle, only 14 degrees — deeper inland it'll be closer to 18, perhaps 20. and then wednesday night we're expecting some heavy rain to come in from the south. this could be thundery rain and downpours are likely almost anywhere across southern england, perhaps into the midlands and also

southern parts of wales, and flashes of lightning certainly a possibility. so that's how we start thursday. then here's that weather front, which could bring the thundery weather for a time across some southern parts of the uk. now, the air�*s relatively warm — it's actually coming in out of the east—south—east. but because the north sea is quite cold, see that wind blowing off the north sea? it will actually drag in that cooler air to the north sea coasts. so that does mean that places like newcastle and hull could only be around, say, 13, i4, 15, whereas out towards the west it could be as high as 20 degrees celsius. so that was thursday. this is friday, still a possibility of some showers brought in by that easterly breeze, maybe the odd crack of thunder as well. the best of the weather probably in western parts of scotland on friday. and in one or two spots we could even see highs reaching 20 degrees celsius. the north sea coast, once again, will be fairly chilly.

so that outlook then, yes, it is going to be a bit of a mixed bag. it's not going to be particularly cold — temperatures, in fact, closer to the average for the time of the year. that's it for me. bye— bye.

binance's founder is sentenced to four months in prison for breaking us anti—money

laundering laws. the international monetary fund sees a further slowdown in china, as it grapples with an ageing population. we'll have more from the imf�*s asia—pacific boss ahead. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. to our top story today — binance founder changpeng zhao was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to money laundering charges last november. north america business correspondent michelle fleury explains. sam bankman—fried isn't the only poster boy for crib go facing a reckoning. his rival, ceo of binance, changpeng zhao, has been given four months in jail. back in november, he was

—— pleaded guilty to one count