i'm just a wee crater. i'll see you again. goodbye, owen! bye. that was 11—year—old owen, who shared his story with bbc scotland's the nine programme. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. there are weather warnings in place across several parts of the uk. parts of south wales are flooded, and there is disruption to road travel. then, what can you tell us? it is looking pretty soggy out there to say the least across some western parts of the uk. it looks as if wales has been worst affected. some places in the south of wales has already seen in excess of 100 millimetres of rain. you can see the kinds of problems that has been causing, significant flooding across parts of south wales.

we still have an amber weather warning from the met office which covers the south of wales. it is still in force until 4pm this afternoon, and over the very highest hills here, by the time the rain stops we could have seen up to 200 millimetres of rain. look what has happened over the last 2a and was. we have had this river of moisture. the rain has been ploughing in across higher grounds of wales, and parts of north—west england, and also heavy rain across parts of scotland. forthe also heavy rain across parts of scotland. for the rest of the afternoon, the rain will start to ease off across the south—west and wales, and the heavy rain will continue the further north you are. the further east you are, a completely different story with spells of sunshine. exceptionally mild, up to 17 celsius. even where you have got the rain, it is a pretty mild afternoon. very windy afternoon as well, with gusts of up to 60 mph. with the wind, the rain,

flood warnings in force, a pretty tricky travelling situation out there. tonight, the strongest winds will move towards the north west of scotland with gusts up to 70 mph for a time. much of the heavy rain will ease off. parts of wales where the situation is bad at the moment will dry out, leaving clear spells through the night. we will keep some rain in the south and south—east of this weather front which will still be sitting around into tomorrow morning. maybe fringing back into east wales through the day, but not nearly as wet as today. the further north and west you are, a mixture of sunny spells and showers, the showers most plentiful across the far north—west. another mild day. we are only in february, up to 15 or 16 celsius. a drier start to the new week, with a little ridge of high pressure temporarily building in.

but there's another weather front on the way which will bring more heavy and persistent rain to northern ireland and parts of scotland. so, continued risks of flooding. to the south of the weather front, we are once again going to tap into some very, very mild air. 17 celsius is possible towards the south in the middle of the week. more rain on tuesday and wednesday for scotland and northern ireland in particular. hopefully it should be drier for all of us by the end of next week. but there are many flood warnings in force for england, wales and scotland, so you can check on the latest on our website. more weather here on bbc news throughout the afternoon. hello, you're watching bbc news with me lewis vaughanjones. now it's time for talking business. an historic peace deal has shaken up alliances in the gulf, the middle east and the rest of the world. but what does this new warmth between the united arab emirates, bahrain, and israel

mean for business? i'm sameer hashmi in dubai, and this is talking business. an historic deal that could be worth billions of dollars in terms of new trade and business, the so—called abraham accords signed between the united arab emirates, bahrain and israel has certainly injected new impetus in these economies as to start 2021. in a moment we will look at what does this deal mean for them, the region, and i will be discussing that with my guests who havejoined me here today. we have mr thani al shirawi, who is the founding member of the uae israel business council. and he is also one of the leaders of the al shirawi group which governs 30 companies across various sectors. thanks a lot forjoining us. i have adedayo bolaji—adio, she's from the economist intelligence unit and she will be talking in detail about the region

and what this deal means. thanks a lot forjoining us. and william brown, the director for crisis and resilience consulting in the middle east at control risks. thanks a lot, will, forjoining us on this programme. so we will start the discussion in a moment, but first let's take a look at what does this deal mean for the region and business? september 15, 2020, and as the pandemic rages around the world a peace deal is signed in washington, dc. for the first time in their history, relationships between israel and the united arab emirates and bahrain are normalized. these so—called abraham accords were one of president trump's final pieces of foreign policy. today the world sees i that they are choosing cooperation over conflict. friendship over enmity, prosperity over povertyl and hope over despair. similar agreements were quickly reached with morocco and sudan. but the response from the palestinians was swiftly seen

on the streets of the west bank as well as on social media. in a tweet, the palestinian authority called it a black day in the history of palestine. and wrote that the only way to peace is the end of israel's occupation. equally swift has been the flow of money and deals between the countries. this is the israeli arm of the water technology company fluence. it specializes in desalination, transportation and reuse of water. a dealfor business in dubai, a city in the desert, is one of the first to be signed. this is the fastest deal i've ever encountered in my professional life. it definitely makes it much easier now when we have a direct approach and welcome in a muslim country, a strong country that can be a hub to us. and this is the hub he is talking about. the port in dubai which has opened up markets in asia

and africa for israeli goods. but the operator of this port, dp world, is notjust transporting goods here. it's one of the many companies that has invested in israel. and this is a load of goods in dubai arriving in the israeli port of haifa. trade is notjust in goods. deals with football clubs, finance, food technology and cybersecurity have all been quickly announced. and despite the pandemic, tourism is also increasing. in december alone, 60,000 israelis have visited dubai. fleur hassan—nahoum is one of the deputy mayors ofjerusalem, and one of the creators of the uae israel business council. israel and the uae are possibly the most advanced economies in the middle east. we have a lot in common. 0ur diversity, our entrepreneurial spirit.

and so the minute the peace was announced i think that people werejustjumping to get to know each other. they were so curious about each other. we started creating whatsapp forums and zoom meetings. and it kind ofjust took its own, it really had its own pace and its own momentum. as the water tech company boss at fluence says, it's notjust about money. business can be the path to peace and vice versa. peace is the path to business. so both as an israeli, and as a businessman i feel both excited and enthusiastic and proud for having our products, and being the path to the peace there. thani, let me begin with you. you were part of this historic deal, one of the first ones signed between the uae and an israeli company. so tell us, what was the motivation behind that? well, like any other businessman, we always aspire to grow and to find opportunities. israel was a market that we could not tap earlier. and now when we could, and being a member of the uae israeli business council,

i reached out to the council to find me a counterpart in the water industry that, as a group, we are already in. and to filter the companies and to find companies that share with us the values and the vision. and when we found fluence, and of course in the beginning we had the stereotype of each other, and we found out that to be honest i don't want to sound very romantic, but it was a match made in heaven. we spoke the same language, we had the same aspiration. and we both wanted to grow. israel had the technology, the were a few laps ahead when it comes to the water industry. and in the uae water is an issue. it's scarce, and israel has solved that issue. so we in the group tried to benefit from it. so we reached out to fluence and agreed on a memorandum of understanding to bridge this industry, and to bring

the fluence products to the united arab emirates. adedayo, yes the deal has formalized relationships between the two countries, but the fact is that both of them were anyways doing business, some sort of business unofficially, so what has changed with this deal? for one thing it reduces the cost of doing business with israelis. they can formally enter the uae without having to set up an umbrella company in the uk, or in singapore. so thatjust makes it a lot easier for them to enter the uae market. it reduces the logistics and costs of setting up a business. it also opens multiple sectors for israelis to enter in from tourism to tech, to health care. so itjust opens the market, and finally there's the people — the people ties as well. this is soft power for both countries. and also for israelis trying to meet others in the arab world this is a very cosmopolitan country. the uae. and so the soft power is a key

component of this deal. will, adedayo spoke a list could be a lot of opportunities for israelis in the uae, but what about the other way around? i think with any of these deals we'll see business going in both directions. it requires a win—win situation - and unless you have business working in both directions that's not going to be the case. - we have seen in dubai alreadyi since the deal was to establish that we have seen that kosher- considerations around restaurants, we see in the foods being imported i into our supermarkets from israeli which is a huge benefit, _ from food miles and air miles coming from a personal point of view, i've also seen a gym opening i

in town within the weeks of the deal settling. - so it's already going both directions. - adedayo, this is not the first deal between israel and an arab country because they've signed deals withjordan and egypt, but they were not that successful in terms of business, and even in terms of achieving what they were set out to. do you think that there could be challenges even for this deal to work, or is this different from the other two? i think the larger deals are quite different. the logic of the deal of the normalization with egypt was born of trying to end the war, and the logic is similar withjordan. and there have been political skirmishes that made those deals not so successful. this is different because the emphasis is making sure the people on the ground feel the economic benefits. so from the beginning, the deal is all about trying to get those people to people flows, the financial flows going, which is not unlike the deals in the past. i don't see the political

challenges as being the same. thani, you are quite optimistic about this deal, but there's still a section out there, even within the uae, which still sympathizes with the palestine cause and is a mistrust between the two communities that have existed for decades historically. do you think that will be a challenge? definitely. even if united arab emirates has not been at war with israel directly, but definitely, there will be reservation, but the uae has taken a stand that they are supporting the two state solution. they have not given up on the palestine cause, there are still palestinian sympathizers that will not be forgotten. having said that we will have to weigh the benefits to the reservations. i think with time the benefits will outweigh these reservations. it's a big deal definitely

for the uae and israel, we see more deals being signed — morocco, bahrain. how does that change trade and business? it could have a significant impact on the dynamics. i one of the things that you see - is that from the arab nations point of view they have adversarial views of the deal — we are seeing that in a reaction| in some of the elements around some of the technology threats that we face - in the region, and we are seeing that there is a spike in some - of the cyber attack elements in the uae since the - deal was signed in. we are going to discuss the challenges in more detail later in the programme, but adedayo, as thani was saying, he's quite optimistic despite the history of the business —— that the business community will be able to drive this deal ahead. but do you think it's going to be

challenging, or do you think that they can bridge the gap much more easily? i think that these the economies of the gulf are more economically compatible with israel. there will be some ease in bridging the gap, but there's —— they are small markets, so only so much that can be achieved. the big deal will be showing the value added. the deal has been signed, and we are already seeing, as you mentioned, companies signing deals. where do you see as a challenge in terms of businesses entering israel? there was a stereotype that is really economies are more of a transactional economy, and that the uae is more of a relationship, but after dealing with a few israeli companies and signing onto them myself,

i found out that this is a myth. we are a lot alike — more than we thought. and in the uae, as adedayojust mentioned, it's very cosmopolitan. we have adapted to the 200 nationals. now it's 201. do you expect more countries in the region to sign up? for sure. we have ourselves been approached by some companies in our neighboring countries. wanting to reach out to israeli companies. so i definitely think that more countries in the region will follow. let me come to you first, will — has the deal given the confidence to say the saudis for example to take the leap? i would obviously expect them . to continue as they are and have been for a period of time.

we don't anticipate that there will be any significant change | in the way that the saudisl and israelis are conducting business at the moment. we expect on a global basis that people are going - to see the softening of the relationship l in the environment and will help stabilize the region, _ and that's going to be good i for business across the board. definitely, under the current king it's impossible. because he aligns to the old school of thought which is that you have to solve the palestinian issue before you can engage with israel. for the moment i think the deal is off the table, but they have a bit of an experiment with bahrain to see how it goes and see how people will react to it. the challenges, will, you specialize in cyber security, how big a challenge is that and how do you see that panning out going ahead? there has been a spike since the accord was i signed with about 30%. i think it's important - to put that into context.

we are also living in a time _ where remote working has now become the norm when that has done two things, that's meant that - organizations have very rapidly deployed new technologies - in their environments to enable continuity to take place, - and increases the risk _ and the threat of the environment they are working in. it would be an oversimplification to say that there's been a huge spike i as a result of signing the deal, there's clearly been an impact| but we are also working in quite an unusual context in terms - of the aftereffects of 2020. but i think, as you said, there's been an increase in activity. - what organizations need to do about that is really around three legs. - the need to make sure they got the technology in place. - technology is absolutely useless i without having effective processes to make sure that that technology stays current and maintained. -

and the most important element. is around making sure that people are aware, and that their people don't expose the organization i that they are operating in to these attacks and the threats that - are coming through. thani, is that a worry because as will was saying, that cyber attacks have gone up, security people especially businesses involved with israel, is that a concern? a concern? no. because who is a better friend to have than israel when it comes to cyber technology? this is a variable that needs to be considered. like we do in our organization, and i'm sure all of the other organizations take care of that. where israel can help us a lot in protecting our firewalls by having stronger ones. adedayo, iran was unhappy with this deal.

how does that play out in terms of the region, given that the deal has already been signed, and could we see more threats from that side? i think definitely we will see more threats from iran. what we are seeing is a new economic and security bloc with morocco now in the deal. and sudan as well. in the gulf, i'm not quite sure. one of the challenges of dealing with iran in the gulf is every company has their own view. 0man still has engagements with iran, as do qatar. there is now more at stake for iran as well, and therefore a heightened competition. we have a new administration in the united states. how does that change things over here? the deals have been signed, but what about the potential deals that could have been signed?

the view here is that the trump administration was able to push these deals through and there was supporting the business community. how do you see that panning out, will do you want to take that first? i think what we anticipated . that there will be a softening with iran. overtime. however, that is not going to be - something that happens immediately. we are not going to click our fingers and go back to 2015. | and the reasons for that is that - some of that sanctions put in place and regulatory framework will take quite a long time to unwind. - very similar to what we expect - to see with the us and some other nations in the world — there will be a period | of time when we start to see a normalization . and stabilization, but it's not going back to where i we were a few years ago. but we definitely see that starting to work in that direction. - and do you see more countries signing up, or signing deals? apart from saudis? i can see 0man signing a deal.

but there's been a change in power. i think they would like to see both the benefits of the deals that have already been signed, and the trend in popular reaction around the arab world to these deals. one of the things we have seen, thani, since it was announced is that the israelis have softened their position as far as defence deals go. the uae is procuring jets from the united states. do you see opportunities in defense? is one of the marvels of israel. if any group in the uae wants to take advantage of the marvels of israel, defence is definitely one of them. it's just been a few months since this was announced. what you see from this deal and could we see more countries signing up? i think in three years�* time it will be a good time for the uae to mediate peace.

i always say negotiating with adversaries is like playing poker, and negotiating with friends you build a partnership. so with the business community building partnerships and building and becoming closer to each other, then the uae will be in a strong position to play the mediator role between palestine and israel. the uae has always taken the stand that they will support the two state solution, and i think with being friends israel will not play poker with the united arab emirates. i think will be more of a building of a partnership with the three parties. and with trade and business, where do you see that headed? israel is known to be the start—up nation and i would like to call the uae the scale up nation. for israel to actually reach

every nook and cranny in the world, there's no better partner than the united arab emirates. i see the business growing, the products or the tangible products that israel could produce, if they want to reach christchurch or buenos aires, the uae is the best route. if they want to develop an app for the arab world, dubai is the best place to test it. vice versa, i see a lot of businesses where israel use to import from europe and turkey and some of these products are available here, made in the uae. so i see that benefitting as well. three years from now, we will have a stronger economy in the united arab emirates and a stronger economy in israel. do you share that view that,

given all the excitement that partnership is really scaled to that level in three to four years? i think the partnership will scale in certain sectors. perhaps not in all sectors. high—tech definitely is a sector where the uae's lead meets israel's expertise. health care and logistics as well as mentioned. and tourism as well. and so i can see scale there. there's other sectors that are more mature and in both countries that there would be less room for partnership. and over all, these are small countries. the impact of this deal three years from now, will be felt even more if we can get even more countries in the middle east, and even perhaps in other parts of africa on board with this deal. final word to will, as you said you need to get more countries, can these two countries bring more countries together? absolutely. i think if you look _ at the opportunity presented by the relationship between israel and the uae, they are both very. small, both relatively young,

hugely dynamic nations. - we are stronger together, and i i think with that kind of context i organizations within those countries i are going to work to more closely. with israel and the uae so i absolutely think. that's the case. thsoe are your predictions, but will only know in three or four years if the deal has worked or not and that we can come back and discuss this again. thank you a lot for your time, thani, adedayo and william. thank you for watching. this is sameer hashmi signing off. good afternoon. the weekend has started on an exceptionally wet note for parts of the uk. rain has already caused flooding in parts of southern wales, where a met office amber warning is southern wales, where a met office amberwarning is in southern wales, where a met office amber warning is in force. over the very highest ground, we may have seen up to 200 millimetres of rain

falling by the end of today. this is the radar over the last 2a hours, which shows that the rain has been relentless, also falling heavily across the south—west of england, parts of north—west england. the rain has been pushing across parts of northern ireland and scotland as well. eastern parts of england will hold on to dry and relatively bright weather. in the best of any sunshine, highs of up to 17 celsius. but it is mild across the board. windy for all as well, with the strongest winds up these western coastal areas, gusts up to 60 mph, and perhaps stronger than that for a time. overnight, the strongest winds will transfer into the north—west of scotland. they will ease a little elsewhere. we keep a band of cloud and patchy rain and drizzle down towards the south—east, and some showers towards the north—west. many places will end the night with clear spells and temperatures holding

5-11 c. spells and temperatures holding 5—11 c. physically mild in the south—east corner, to the south—east of this weather front. it will still hang around during tomorrow, bringing some cloud, some patchy rain and drizzle. some uncertainty about the exact track of this weather front tomorrow. rain about the exact track of this weatherfront tomorrow. rain is likely to feed back into the south—west, parts of east wales through the day. further north and west, we see sunshine and showers and temperatures 11—15 c. heading into monday, the old weather front will still be in place giving us a little bit of rain but that will tend to ease through monday night and into tuesday. then another frontal system which is in from the west, bringing heavy and persistent rain to parts of scotland and northern ireland. to the south—east of that system, we will be tapping and once again to some exceptionally mild airforthe time and once again to some exceptionally mild airfor the time of and once again to some exceptionally mild air for the time of year. temperatures will peak in the south at around 17 celsius. some rain to the north—west for a time, but drier for most of us by the end of the

week. bye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines. care home residents in england will be allowed to pick one person to visit them regularly from the 8th of march, as easing of lockdown measures start to be revealed. of march, as easing of lockdown security forces in myanmar have opened fire on protesters in the city of mandalay, killing at least two people and injuring more than 20 others. president biden declares a major disaster in texas — as he unlocks federal funds for a state paralysed by a severe freeze and a huge powerfailure. hsbc says it's reviewing its procedures for fraud victims after a bbc investigation reveals one victim was kept on hold for 20 hours — before they were able

to speak to someone.