. ♪ rajini: hello. i am rajini vaidyanathan.re watching "the context" on bbc news. >> we need to send a strong signal that this breach of international law is wrong, and that is why we together with allies we have decided to take this action. >> whether the prime minister was acting appropriately in taking the decision as quickly as he did without consulting parliament -- sometimes governments do, sometimes they don't. >> this is directly linked to gaza. the houthis, who are carrying out the attacks, say that is why they are doing them, and they say clearly as well that if there was a cease-fire, they would stop. they may not be telling the truth about that, that is what they are saying. rajini: welcome to the program. the white house says u.s. and british airstrikes on houthi sites in yemen have diminished of the group's ability to launch missiles and drones. russia, turkey, and the main supporter of the houthis, iran, have condemned the action. we will bring the latest on the political and economic fallout. also in the program

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour. united nations has made a plea for governments not to withdraw funding from its main agency which delivers aid to palestinians in gaza — known as unwra. it comes as france becomes the latest country to pull money for the organisation — after israel alleged that 12 of its staff were involved in the deadly october 7th attacks by hamas. the agency, which employs 30,000 members of staff, 1,300 of whom work in gaza, says it is investigating and has already sacked the 12 employees. let's have a listen to what the un spokesman had to say. the secretary general is horrified by this news and asks mr lazzarini to investigate this matter swiftly and to ensure that any unrwa employees shown to have participated or abetted in what transpired on october 7th, or in any other criminal activity, be terminated immediately and referred for potential criminal prosecution. a total of ten countries have paused their funding for unrwa, including the us and the uk — although scotland has not changed its poli

she hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news. measles cases soar in england, as doctors warn it could spread rapidly across the uk unless there's urgent action to increase uptake of the mmr vaccine. will it's that time in the programme where we get a full round—up of the latest sport. hello from the bbc sport centre. jordan henderson has hinted he has regrets about his move to saudi arabia but says he has full respect for the league and his team al—ettifaq after they cancelled his contract to allow him to move to ajax. he's held his first press conference since signing for the side, who are currently struggling in the dutch league. he's hoping the move will improve his chances of playing for england at this summer's euros. today he reiterated his apology to the lgbtq plus community and anyone upset by his move from liverpool to saudi in the summer, and says he's looking forward to the challenge ahead at his new club. i just felt as though this opportunity was a huge one, and i felt as though this was the right next move for my ca

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan — welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking truth behind them. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan — welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. five japanese coastguard crew have been killed in a collision between their plane and a japan airlines passengerjet at tokyo's haneda airport. dramatic pictures showed the airbus a350 passenger plane ablaze as it travelled at speed down the runway. all 379 passengers and crew were evacuated safely, before the plane was completely engulfed in flames, and its fuselage collapsed. here's the moment passengers disembarked. these are the pictures live from tokyo. it's emerged that the coastguard aircraft was taking emergency supplies to help earthquake rescue efforts in niigata. 0ne coastguard crew member managed to escape with severe injuries. it's thought to be the first major incident involving a passenger plane made largely of carbon fibre and other composite materials. matt graveling reports. a fireball engulfs the runway at japan's hane

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news. the focus of the onslaught very much in khan younis, the largest city in the south of gaza and where the israeli defence forces believe that some of the most senior hamas leaders are holed up in tunnels. translation: israel needs security control over all territory west - of the jordan river. i think that it would be. a mistake to...for israel to occupy gaza again. israel cannot allow afford to allow a future palestinian entity to sign treaties, defence pacts with people like iran, or hezbollah fighters to visit and join them for exercises and joint operations. coming up on the programme — israeli forces step up their assault on southern gaza's main city, khan younis, after intense air strikes and street fighting. it comes as differences emerge between the us and israel over what happens once the war ends. israel's pm benjamin netanyahu has dismissed the idea of a palestinian state. with 2,800 jobs to go at tata steel�*s plants in the uk, we ask where this leaves britain's steel indus

i'm rajini vaidyanathan, stay with us here on bbc news. hello there.terday. now, the average maximum temperatures at this time of the year range from six degrees in inverness to nine in southampton. but today has been significantly milder, 15 degrees likely in the moray firth and around north wales, all due to a strengthening southerly wind that has been picking up ahead of this band of rain here. still very gusty through the irish sea, into the central belt of scotland. it's been windier in the north—west of scotland, but this evening those winds are beginning to ease, and the winds will fall lighter elsewhere as that band of rain moves through scotland and northern ireland and comes to rest across northern england and wales. to the north, though, it is going to be colder. north of the central belt, there could be some frost early on monday morning. south of our band of rain, it is much, much milder. but that rain could be quite heavy over the hills, particularly in the north—west of england. much of scotland, northern ireland may well be dry with som

iam rajini i am rajini vaidyanathan.ed. the hindu men, who also murdered 14 members of their muslim victim's family, received life sentences. the incident occurred during the 2002 anti—muslim riots in gujarat state. 0ur reporter roxy gagdekar has more on this. it was a time of celebration for many family members of belkis banu in the locality, the locality which was established after the 2002 riots in the area of gujarat in western part of india. the supreme court has today reversed the order of gujarat government, which provided remission to 11 convicts in the infamous bilkis bano gang rape case. during the 2002 riots, bilkis bano was gang raped, she was pregnant, and at that time she was gang raped, and seven members of herfamily were killed, including three—years—old daughter of bilkis bano. the supreme court today said that gujarat government has no jurisdiction to award remission to these 11 people because the hearing of the case was conducted in maharashtra, the nearby state of gujarat. the supreme court also said

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news. britain and ukraine sign long—term security agreement, as rishi sunak makes a surprise visit to kyiv. time to take a look at the sport, let's go straight to gavin at the bbc sport centre. the africa cup of nations kicks off in ivory coast on saturday. despite going through a civil war just over a decade ago, the country has produced some of africa's greatest players — such as didier drogba and yaya toure. since the conflict ended, ivory coast has become a growing power in west africa. earlier, we looked ahead to the tournament with bbc sport africa's ian williams, who's in abidjan. the first in a0 years in the ivory coast, notjust excitement but pride as well that is coming back after so long. you see those distinctive orange, white and green everywhere you go, traders weaving through the traffic selling their flags, hats and horns. not so long ago, a country torn apart by civil war. they are spread over $1 billion on new infrastructure including forney stadiums. the idea turn the cou

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news. the focus of the onslaught very much in khan younis, the largest city in the south of gaza and where the israeli defence forces believe that some of the most senior hamas leaders are holed up in tunnels. translation: israel needs security control over all territory west - of the jordan river. i think that it would be. a mistake to...for israel to occupy gaza again. israel cannot afford to allow a future palestinian entity to sign treaties, defence pacts with people like iran, or hezbollah fighters to visit them for joint exercises and operations. we may still be a long way from the end of the fighting in gaza — but israel has already made it clear it won't tolerate a palestinian state once the guns go silent. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has said that if it's a question of israeli security or palestinian sovereignty, he will opt for the former. but that's at odds with the two—state solution which washington favours and unlikely to go down well in the rest of the middle east. also

hello, iam hello, i am rajini vaidyanathan. hello, iam rajini vaidyanathan.me on air as our zamora net breaking news that has been developing throughout the afternoon —— we come on air with more on that. the bbc understands that the steel giant tata is to press ahead with plans to close its two blast furnaces at its biggest plant, port talbot in south wales. the move threatens more than 3,000 jobs, most of which could go by the end of this year. leaders of three unions met tata senior management in london today and presented alternative proposals, aimed at saving jobs. tata has instead decided to press ahead with plans for a greener form of steel—making. stephen kinnock, labour mp for aberavon, home of the port talbot steelworks, said the move would mean britain becoming more dependent on imported steel. live now to theo leggett, our business correspondent. he is in our london newsroom and outside that meeting earlier today in central london. theo, bring us up—to—date on what more we know. basically, this should not come as much of a surprise, because tata ha

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. launched after two boys died in a stabbing last night in bristol in the south—west of the uk. let's

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. denmark has a new king and in the last hour, he's been greeted by tens of thousands of people who have gathered in the danish capital, copenhagen. you can see him here as he stepped out to greet crowds from the balcony of christiansborg palace. after being proclaimed by the prime minister, he was then joined by his australian wife queen mary. the crown passed to frederik x when his mother, queen margrethe signed the instrument of abdication after more than 50 years on the throne. queen margrethe, who's 83, has now left christiansborg castle and is the first danish monarch to voluntarily renounce the throne in more than eight—hundred years. she said she was stepping aside because of health problems. our royal correspondent daniela relph is in copenhagen and talked me through what was happening. well, there we have it, the new face of the danish monarchy out on the balcony there of christiansborg palace. as well as a new king and queen, of course, we have to remember that there is also

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.h the latest sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's lizzy greenwood. we're starting with football and a big upset in the fa cup this weekend, as the lowest ranked side left in the competition — non—league maidstone united have knocked—out the in—form championship side — ipswich town in the fourth round. maidstone are 98 places and four divisions below ipswich in the english football pyramid, but they managed a 2—1 win at portman road. it's a day their supporters will never forget. they did need a few heroics from their brazilian goalkeeper lucas covolan and they had to see out eight minutes of added time. but they held on for a famous win, much to the delight of their manager george elokobi. this one binds us from life now. in the last round we are tied, the maidstone united football club, the maidstone united community, our supporters richly deserve this. we are tied for life, we had bound flight. and my community back in cameroon, my town and my college, sai

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan, welcome to verified live, doomed to we come on air with some breakingews, a hamas... was killed. three other people were killed. three other people were killed in the attack, the deputy head of hamas�* political bureau deeply involved in his military affairs. and the founder of its military wing. this took a stronghold of the hezbollah group. you can see there at these pictures just coming into us at the moment. this is of course a developing story, and it's been confirmed by an official from hamas that they are deputy has been killed. in that attack, and these pictures there just coming into us from beirut, and we are, at the moment, awaiting a response from the israeli government and we will have more on that at the moment, just showing you those pictures that are just coming into us of the aftermath of that attack. a statement said more than 200 people have been killed by israeli strikes, israeli forces have stepped up strikes, israeli forces have stepped up their bombardment of khan younis in southern gaza, israel said its troops have killed dozens

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. america's top diplomat is in key meetings today in israel.e is expected to press the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu on what happens next in the region. antony blinken is on his fourth tour of the region since october 7th. in saudi arabia on monday, mr blinken emphasised the need to prevent the conflict from spreading. earlier, he met the president of israel, isaac herzog, who thanked the us for "standing steadfast with israel". mr blinken�*s visit comes as hezbollah said one of its commanders was killed in an apparent israeli drone strike in southern lebanon. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu was on the northern border, where he signalled that he's prepared, if necessary, to escalate military operations in lebanon. hamas health officials say more than 23,000 people have been killed in gaza by israeli strikes since the conflict began three months ago. here's mr blinken speaking as he met the president of israel, isaac herzog. i've just come from a number of countries in the region — turkey, greece, jordan, qatar, united ara

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour.agency which delivers aid to palestinians in gaza — known as unwra. it comes as france becomes the latest country to pull money for the organisation — after israel alleged that 12 of its staff were involved in the deadly october 7th attacks by hamas. the agency, which employs 30,000 members of staff, 1,300 of whom work in gaza, says it is investigating and has

hello — i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour. works agency for palestine refugees — also known as unrwa. israel has accused some unrwa staff of being involved in the 7th of october attacks, in which hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people. unrwa's head said a full investigation into the allegations is being carried out and anyone found to have been

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour. we start with a developing story in the uk. murder investigation has been launched after two boys, aged 15 and 16, died in a stabbing in bristol last night. avon and somerset police say a 44—year—old man, and a 15—year old boy are in custody following the incident in knowle west. a vehicle has also been seized. police arrived at the scene within minutes and provided first aid. earlier, avon and somerset police gave an update on the incident. let's have a listen. around 11:20pm last night we received a report that two people were attacked carried out by a group of people on ilminster avenue. the first officer was on scene within minutes and did what they could to provide first aid before the boys were taken to hospital by the ambulance service. tragically, neither survived their injuries. the boys foster families were with them at hospital and our thoughts are with them as they process these awful events. a murdering quarry has been launched by the major crime investigation team and two people have been arrested and are currentl

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. a volcanic eruption has begun near the fishing town of grindavik in the southwest of iceland. these are the live pictures of the area — its beginning to get dark there now, but you can still see the smoke rising over the skyline. and also the glow of the molten lava. these pictures from a little earlier today show some houses set on fire by the molten lava. it follows a similar eruption in the same area last month, but this time it's much closer to the town. thankfully, people living in homes nearby have already left the area. the local authorities have declared an emergency. grindavik lies some a0 kilometres from iceland's capital, reykjavik. with more on this, let's speak to our reporter meghan owen who is following in the story. we've seen the pictures there, buildings on fire, how wise is the extent of the spread of the molten lava? what more do we know about damage caused?— lava? what more do we know about damage caused? yes, the pictures are incredibly striking, _ damage caused?

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan, welcome to verified live, 3 hours of breaking stories, and checking out in two explosions in south—eastern iran, near the grave of a top

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.aiwan's president. lai is representing the governing dpp — and is set to succeed to the current president tsai ing—wen. lai has been labelled a troublemaker by china, as beijing warned people against voting for him. in his acceptance speech, he said he is "determined to safeguard taiwan from continuing threat and intimidation from china" and will maintain the cross—strait status quo. around 19 million voters were called to elect a new president.

i'm rajini vaidyanathan. in central gaza on monday, making it the deadliest day for israeli forces since the start of their ground operation. in a statement, prime minister benjamin netanyahu says, "yesterday we experienced one of our most difficult days

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan, welcome to verified live, doomed to we come on air with some

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news.me to take a look at the sport,

hello — i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour. uk hasjoined the us, australia, italy, finland and canada in suspending funding to the un relief and works agency for palestinian refugees — also known as unrwa. israel has accused some unrwa staff of being involved in the seventh of october attacks, in which hamas killed about 1,200 people. unrwa's head said a full investigation into the allegations is being carried out — and anyone found to have been involved will be held accountable. philippe lazzarini added... this latest news comes as pressure grows on the israeli government to change its conduct in its war with hamas. it has intensified its bombing of gaza, despite the international court ofjustice ruling on friday that israel must do everything possible to prevent genocide there. that israel must do everything here's our middle east correspondent mark lowen. israel is seizing on another development as proof of what it says is the un's bias against it, which is that 12 members of staff of the un mission operating in gaza have be

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. america's top diplomat is in key meetings today in israel.

yolande knell hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.'s take you live to the scene, looking across at gaza. israel's military spokesperson said 2a soldiers were killed in central gaza yesterday, making it the deadliest day for israeli forces since the start of their ground operation. the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, says his forces won't stop until complete victory against hamas. more than 25,000 palestinians — mainly woman and children — have been killed in the israeli military campaign in gaza since october attacks. we'll have more on this later in the program. another developing story we're following today. the us and uk have once again hit houthi targets in yemen. it comes in response to attacks by the group on shipping in the red sea. uk foreign secretary lord cameron said the strikes sent the �*clearest possible message�* the countries�* words would be supported by action. 0ur north america correspondent david willis has this report. royal air forcejets, armed with precision guided bombs, joined us forces to rain missiles on

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to the programme. governing dpp, and is set to succeed the the current president, tsai ing—wen. mr lai has been labelled a troublemaker by china, and beijing had warned people against voting for him. in his victory speech, he pledged to use dialogue instead of confrontation in exchanges with china and said he hoped that beijing understood that peace will benefit both sides.

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. america's top diplomat is in key meetings today in israel.ntony blinken is discussing the plan for the next phase of the war in gaza. the us secretary of states has been on another whistle—stop tour of the region — it's his fourth visit since the war began on the 7th of october. earlier, he met the president of israel, isaac herzog, who thanked the us for "standing steadfast with israel". mr blinken�*s visit comes as a senior commander with the islamist hezbollah movement was reportedly killed in an apparent israeli drone strike in southern lebanon. and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu was on the northern border, where he signalled that he's prepared, if necessary, to escalate military operations in lebanon. to the south, the death toll in gaza stands at more than 23,000, according to the hamas—run health ministry. here's mr blinken speaking as he met the president of israel, isaac herzog. i've just come from a number of countries in the region — turkey, greece, jordan, qatar, united arab emirates, saudi arabia — and i want to be ab

i'm rajini vaidyanathan. we start in the middle east, where israel's military says 2a soldiers were killed in central gaza on monday, making it the deadliest day for israeli forces since the start of their ground operation. in a statement, prime minister benjamin netanyahu says, "yesterday we experienced one of our most difficult days since the war erupted." he goes on to say... "in the name of our heroes, for the sake of our lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory." that's despite increasing pressure internationally and from within israel for the fighting to stop to secure the release of the remaining 130 hostages held by hamas and allow in more humanitarian aid to gaza. the israeli military says it's killed dozens of terrorists in gaza in the past 2a hours. this video from the israel defense forces video showing strikes on hamas targets. this is the scene looking across at gaza from southern israel. the hamas—run health ministry in gaza says at least 195 palestinians have been killed in the

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking

earlier, he spoke to my colleague rajini vaidyanathan.it was very restrictive. life in holland before the war was free and easy and happy with the family, and suddenly we were sort of herded into these camps, czechoslovakia was the third one iwas in. we were enclosed, it was overcrowded, there was disease everywhere, hunger was everywhere. and you just played among your peers as best you can and onejust kept going. i think probably as a child, i wasn't as worried about what the future may lay, that was more the adults who wondered if tomorrow we were all going to be killed, i think as children you just think of the present, and you think, "well, i'm all right today, let tomorrow look after itself." and i think we very much were like that, but that feeling of hunger, you always got that pain inside your stomach. and, steven, at what point did you realise that your family had been taken to a concentration camp? or was it only after — you said you were quite young — that it was explained to you that what really happened? i knew from the very

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.here as he stepped out to greet crowds from the balcony of christiansborg palace. after being proclaimed by the prime minister, he was then joined by his australian wife queen mary. the crown passed to frederik x when his mother, queen margrethe signed the instrument of abdication after more than 50 years on the throne. queen margrethe, who's 83, has now left christiansborg castle and is the first danish monarch to voluntarily renounce the throne in more than eight—hundred years.

hello — i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour.hasjoined the us, australia, italy and canada in suspending funding to the un relief and works agency for palestine refugees — also known as unrwa. israel has accused some unrwa staff of being involved in the 7th of october attacks, in which hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people. unrwa's head said a full investigation into the allegations is being carried out and anyone found to have been involved will be held accountable. philippe lazzarini added... "to protect the agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, "i have taken the decision to immediately terminate "the contracts of these staff members." this latest news comes as pressure grows on the israeli government to change its conduct in its war with hamas. it's intensified its bombing of gaza, despite the international court ofjustice ruling on friday that israel must do everything possible to prevent genocide there. here's our middle east correspondent mark lowen. israel is seizing on another development as proof of wha

hello, iam hello, i am rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to verified live.s hour. franz beckenbauer, one of germany's greatest ever footballers, has died at the age of 78. he captained his country to world cup victory in 1974, then won the tournament again as manager in 1990.

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.come to the daily global, where we'll bring you the top stories from around the world. we begin this hour with news of significant flooding here in the uk as well as across northern europe. first, a look at the situation here in england. hundreds more homes in england have been flooded after a week of relentless rainfall and the impact of storm henk. it was the eighth storm to hit the uk since september, and that is the highest number in a season since the met office started naming them in 2015. roads and train lines have also been affected. navteonhal is in nottinghamshire, where a major incident was declared after rising water from the river trent flooded more than 100 properties. driving into an island. this is worse than the year 2000. simon lives in gunthorpe. it's one of the worst—affected places by the flooding in nottinghamshire. the situation is so bad that most vehicles can't get through the floodwater, so he's using his modified four—by—four to help transport people and supp

hello — i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour.gency for palestinian refugees — also known as unrwa. israel has accused some unrwa staff of being involved in the seventh of october attacks, in which hamas killed about 1,200 people. unrwa's head said a full investigation into the allegations is being carried out — and anyone found to have been

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news. like this with impunity and that's why, together with allies, we've decided to take this action. whether the prime minister was acting appropriately in taking the decision as quickly as he did without consulting parliament. now, sometimes governments do, sometimes they don't. this is directly linked to gaza. the houthis who are carrying out the attacks say that's why they are doing them. and they say clearly as well that if there was a ceasefire, they would stop. now, they may not be telling the truth about that but that is what they are saying. welcome to the programme. the white house says us and british air strikes on houthi sites in yemen have diminished the group's ability to launch missiles and drones. russia, turkey — and the main supporter of the houthis — iran — have condemned the action. we'll bring you the latest on the political and economic fallout. also in the programme — britain's prime minister rishi sunak promises £2.5 pounds worth of new aid for ukraine, as he pays a

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news.israel needs security control over all territory west - of the jordan river. i think that it would be. a mistake to...for israel to occupy gaza again. israel cannot allow afford to allow a future palestinian entity to sign treaties, defence pacts with people like iran, or hezbollah fighters to visit and join them for exercises and joint operations. coming up on the programme — israeli forces step up their assault

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan, welcome to verified live, 3 hours of breaking stories, and checking outruth behind them. more than 100 people have been killed and scores more injured in two explosions in south—eastern iran, near the grave of a top revolutionary guards commander. state television says the blasts occurred in quick succession in the city of kerman, during a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the killing of qasem soleimani. he was iran's most powerful military commander and was killed in 2020 by a us air strike in iraq. local officials say two bags containing explosives were detonated by remote control at the entrance to the burial site. bbc persian�*s parham gobadi gave me further details of the blast. as you mentioned, this is one of the deadliest attacks in iran in the past a0 years. it has been unprecedented, the number of the death toll is rising every every few minutes, so far. they say that some of those who were injured are in critical conditions and we know at least one medic was among the casualties who was killed, two others, at least, are in critical conditions

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checkingruth behind them. and checking out more than 100 people have been killed and scores of others injured in two explosions in south—eastern iran, near the grave of a top revolutionary guards commander. state television says the blasts occurred in quick succession in the city of kerman, during a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the killing of qasem soleimani. he was iran's most powerful military commander and was killed in 2020 by a us air strike in iraq. local officials say two bags containing explosives were detonated by remote control at the entrance to the burial site. bbc persian�*s parham gobadi earlier told me further details of the blast. as you mentioned, this is one of the deadliest attacks in iran in the past a0 years. it has been unprecedented, the number of the death toll is rising every every few minutes, so far. they say that some of those who were injured are in critical conditions and we know at least one medic was among the casualties who was killed, two others, at lea

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.come to verified live — three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. more than 100 people have been killed and scores of others injured in two explosions in south—eastern iran near the grave of a top revolutionary guards commander. state television says the blasts occurred in quick succession in the city of kerman, during a ceremony to mark the anniverssary of the killing of qassem soleimani. he was iran's most powerful military commander and was killed in 2020 by a us air strike in iraq. local officials say two bags containing explosives were detonated by remote control at the entrance to the burial site. with more on this, our bbc persian reporter, parham ghobadi, is in the newsroom. good to talk to you. bring us up to date on what war we know. figs good to talk to you. bring us up to date on what war we know.- date on what war we know. as you mentioned. _ date on what war we know. as you mentioned, this _ date on what war we know. as you mentioned, this is

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.e begin with breaking news in the uk, and that is that a murder investigation has been launched after two boys died in a stabbing last night in bristol in the south—west of the uk. let's go straight to the police who are doing a press conference. contact us or crimestoppers anonymously as soon as possible. in the meantime, to provide reassurance to the community, the neighbourhood policing team will be carrying out increased patrols in the area and should anyone have any particular concerns relating to this incident i would encourage them to approach an officer, and i will take any questions. officer, and i will take any questions-_ officer, and i will take any cuestions. . officer, and i will take any cuestions. ~ . ., questions. what can you say about the lead up — questions. what can you say about the lead up to _ questions. what can you say about the lead up to this _ questions. what can you say about the lead up to this incident? - questions. what can you say about the lead up to

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. the situation here in england. hundreds more homes in england have been flooded after a week of relentless rainfall and the impact of storm henk. it was the eighth storm to hit the uk since september, and that is the highest number in a season since the met office

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news. aid. the prime minister said he wanted to send a strong signal to vladimir putin that the uk remained a strong supporter of the ukrainian people. the funding, which is £200 million more than in the last two years, will ensure the largest ever commitment of drones. mr sunak went on to address ukraine's parliament. let's hear some of what he had to say. putin cannot understand that while you can kill individuals and destroy buildings, no army can ever defeat the will of a free people. and that is why ukraine will win. let's bring in the panel. leon emirali — a former ministerial aide and pr consultant. and mo elliethee — executive director at the georgetown institute of politics and public service.

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news. still to come... tricky times for madonna as two fans sue the us singer for being late for a show in new york. here in the uk, a newborn baby has been found in a carrier bag by a dogwalker in a park in east london. the child was found wrapped in a towel inside a bag in sub—zero temperatures by a dog walker. the baby girl has been temporarily named elsa, and is unharmed — but police say they are extremely concerned for her mother. this isn't something which only happens in the uk, but in some us states baby boxes like these have been installed, where mothers who don't want to care for their babies can leave them and be sure they'll get the care they need. the group behind them is safe haven — it says the boxes have been set up for mothers, who are often young and fearful, and who have given birth alone and find they are unable to cope. its founder is an anti—abortion campaigner, and the boxes are found in some states like indiana which have historically had stricter abortion laws. all of this comes on

hello — i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour.

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to the programme.et's start in taiwan, where william lai has won the election and is set to become taiwan's president. he is from the governing dpp, and is set to succeed the the current president, tsai ing—wen. mr lai has been labelled a troublemaker by china, and beijing had warned people against voting for him. in his victory speech, he pledged to use dialogue instead of confrontation in exchanges with china and said he hoped that beijing understood that peace will benefit both sides. china says reunification with taiwan is still inevitable despite the vote, and mr lai's victory will not change the basic landscape of cross—strait relations. my colleague, steve lai, has been following the day's events in taipei. polling began at 8am and it closed at lipm. eight hours is all it took, and four hours of counting, and we have a winner already. it's been quite a fascinating thing to watch and to be a part of, i have to say. let's cross now, though, to shaimaa khalil, because she is at the dpp headquarters

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.'s start in taiwan, where william lai has won the elections and is set to become taiwan's president. lai is representing the governing dpp — and is set to succeed to the current president tsai ing—wen. lai has been labelled a troublemaker by china, as beijing warned people against voting for him. in his acceptance speech, he said he is "determined to safeguard taiwan from continuing threat and intimidation from china" and will maintain the cross—strait status quo. around 19 million voters were called to elect a new president. my colleague steve lai is in taipei and joins me now. thank you very much. we have heard from william lai is acceptance speech saying those words about keeping china at arms lead. we have heard in the last few moments were from china and their response to the elections we've seen play out in taiwan. china has said reunification is still inevitable, taiwan is part of china in these elections can't change the basic framework and the direction of cross strait relatio

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. america's top diplomat is in key meetings today in israel.