a stubborn front has been moving in from the south and brought a lot of rainfall to places like southern wales in the past 2a hours. we've seen in one or two spots over 100 millimetres of rain, the river levels are pretty high so flood warnings in place from the met office. you can see it's got a discrete area of heavier rain for some parts of south—west england but more especially the hills of wales and some of that range sneaking into parts of north—western england in the pennines but for the vast majority of us actually a dry day bar the odd shower in western parts of scotland. a mild day in the south—east and it will stay mild and clear for east anglia and the south—east overnight. temperatures will be around eight or nine degrees, whereas in scotland and northern ireland clear skies and alsojust about cold enough for a touch of grass frost here and there, for example in belfast. that weather front is stubborn. if anything, you can see the rain becomes a little more widespread

across this more sort of central swathe of england through the course of monday but then, by the time we get to the afternoon, that rain should mostly fizzle out leaving a legacy of cloud. fresher in the north—west, still mild tomorrow in the south—east of the country. on tuesday's weather map there's a big low pressure out in the atlantic and stronger winds and also heavier rain sweeping into western parts of the uk. so ireland, northern ireland, scotland, heavier rain and coastal gales are expected. some rain also nudging into the western fringes of wales but for central and eastern england a dry day and actually some sunshine for places like east anglia and the extreme south—east. around 15 degrees expected on tuesday in london. the air is coming in from the south in the middle part of the week and you can see this plume of milder air stretching almost from the canaries coming in from portugal, spain and france and spreading all the way into scandinavia. not everybody will get the milder weather which will affect more southern parts of the country and here it could even nudge up to 18 degrees at one point. but in the north—west

of the uk it is always going to be more unsettled. this is bbc news, i'm ben brown, the headlines: borisjohnson is due to hold a final meeting with senior ministers and scientific advisers about how to ease england's lockdown — ahead of tomorrow's announcement. there's a new promise that every adult in the uk will be offered their first dose of coronavirus vaccine by the end ofjuly — a month ahead of schedule.

thousands of protesters have returned to the streets in myanmar, a day after security forces fired at a crowd, killing two people in the city of mandalay. a passengerjet engine has burst into flames above the us state of colorado. debris fell onto homes below — but the plane landed safely. now on bbc news: the business response to the peace accords between israel and the united arab emirates and bahrain has been swift. what does the normalisation mean for economies in the region? 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 they 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 normalised. 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. it specialises in desalination, transportation and reuse of water. a dealfor business in dubai, a city built 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 isn'tjust 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 piece with an ounce, 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 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 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 we 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? will 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 to 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 dynamic 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 good 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 food is being imported into our supermarkets from israel. from a personal point of view i have seen a krav maga gym opened - 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 signed deals withjordan and egypt, but there 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 a 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, it's similar with jordan. and there have been political skirmishes that made those deals not successful. and there have been political skirmishes that made those deals not successful. this deal is different because the emphasis is making sure the people on the ground feel the economic benefits. so from the beginning of the deal is all about trying to get those people to people flows, the financial flows going unlike the deals in the past. we really relate to the different systems of doing business. 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 at their even within the uae were so 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. we were serious enemies for a very long time. even if united arab emirates has not been into 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 that benefits will outweigh these reservations. it's a big deal definitely for the uae and israel,

we see more deals being signed, marco, bahrain. how does that change trade and business? is 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 the technology threats that we face in the region, and we are seeing i that there is a spike in somei of the cyber attack elements in the uae since - the deal was signed. 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 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 these are economies, the economies of the gulf are more economically compatible with israel. there will be some ease in

bridging the gap and but these are small markets so only so much that can be achieved. as of the markets that have bigger markets that have been there for a long time. the big deal will be showing the value added. the deal has been signed, and you are already seeing, as you mentioned, companies signing deals. where do you see as a challenge in terms of emerati 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 them myself, i felt 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 feel confident 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. if i can come to you first, will, it 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 saudi - is and israelis are conducting business at the moment.

we expect on a global basis people lare going to be very happy to see i i you softening of the relationshipl and the environment and will help stabilize the region, - and that's going to be good for business across the board. adedayo is there obligation for countries like saudi arabia even if there's a risk for them to go ahead because of political reasons? 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. with bahrain to see how it goes the challenges, will, you specialise 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 and that has done two

things, that's meant that - organisations 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's an oversimplification to say that there's been a huge spikel as a result of signing the deal, there's clearly been an impact| but we also working in quite an unusual context in termsi of the aftereffects of 2020. but i think as you said, there's been an increase in activity. i what organisations need to do about that is really around three legs. - the need to make sure they got the technology in place can - | i technology is absolutely useless| 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 people don't expose the organisation - that they are operating in to these attacks and the threats that - are coming through. thani, is that a worry because as he was saying that cyber

attacks have gone up, security of 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 organisation and i'm sure all of the other organisations 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 block with morocco now in the deal. and sudan as well. if 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. oman still has engagements with iran to have their own view on israeland and the same can be said for qatar. there is now more at stake for iran as well, and therefore a heightened competition. the other think of the other change is that 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 side, because 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? 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 on the petition 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 other. nations in the world. there will be a period i of time when we start to see a normalisation, stabilisation 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 saturday's? i can see oman signing a deal. but there's really 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 he 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 defence? if any group in the uae wants to take advantage of the marvels of israel defence it's 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 it negotiating

with adversaries is like playing poker, and negotiating with friends you build a partnership. so with the business community building partnerships and building to make a becoming closer to each other than 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 it will be more building of a partnership with the three parties. and with trade and business where do you see that headed? how big a world could be the trade or business world? 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 they need, there's no better partner than the united arab emirates. i see the business growing, the products that israel or tangible products that israel could produce if they want to reach christchurch or buenos aires

the uae is the best route. plus, they want to develop an app for the world, dubai is the best place to test it. 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 benefit as well. three years from now you will have a stronger economy in the united arab emirates and a stronger economy in israel. you share that view that given all the plates and excitement to share that view that given all the plates can you partnership really scaled to that level 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 skill 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 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, she said you need to get more countries, can these were 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 i small, but relatively young, hugely dynamic nations. - we are stronger together and i think with that kind of context _ organizations within those countries are going to work to more closely . with israel and the uae so i absolutely think.

that's the case. those are your predictions but we will only know in three or four years with her 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. the weather for most of us today is not too bad — there's certainly plenty of bright, even sunny, weather around but it is not like that everywhere and in fact we are expecting further rain across parts of south—west england, wales and eventually northern england, too. a stubborn front has been moving in from the south and brought a lot of rainfall to places like southern wales in the last 2a hours. we've seen in one or two spots over 100 millimetres of rain, the river

levels are pretty high so flood warnings in force from the met office. you can see it's got a discrete area of heavier rain for some parts of south—west england but more especially the hills of wales and some of that range sneaking into parts of north—western england in the pennines but for the vast majority of us actually a dry day bar the odd shower in western parts of scotland. a mild day in the south—east and it will stay mild and clear for east anglia and the south—east overnight. temperatures will be around eight or nine degrees, whereas in scotland and northern ireland clear skies and alsojust about cold enough for a touch of grass frost here and there, for example in belfast. that weather front is stubborn. if anything, you can see the rain becomes a little more widespread across this more sort of central swathe of england through the course of monday but then, by the time we get to the afternoon, that rain should mostly fizzle out leaving a legacy of cloud. fresher in the north—west, still mild tomorrow in the south—east of the country. on tuesday's weather map there's a big low pressure out in the atlantic and stronger winds and also heavier rain sweeping into western parts of the uk. so ireland, northern ireland, scotland, heavier rain and coastal gales are expected.

some rain also nudging into the western fringes of wales but for central and eastern england a dry day and actually some sunshine for places like east anglia and the extreme south—east. around 15 degrees expected on tuesday in london. the air is coming in from the south in the middle part of the week and you can see this plume of milder air stretching almost from the canaries, certainly coming in from portugal, spain and france and spreading all the way into scandinavia. not everybody will get the milder weather which will affect more southern parts of the country and here it could even nudge up to 18 degrees at one point. but in the north—west of the uk it is always going to be more unsettled.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. borisjohnson meets ministers and scientific advisers to put the final touches to plans to bring england out of lockdown. a new promise that every adult in the uk will be offered their first dose of coronavirus vaccine by the end ofjuly, a month ahead of schedule. its because of the success of the vaccine role out that we are able to do that and that will have an impact on how quickly we will all be able to return to normal, which is obviously what everyone wants to see. meanwhile, israel eases its lockdown after almost half the population is vaccinated — but you'll need a special pass to take advantage of all the new freedoms.

a funeral has taken place in myanmar for a young woman who's