this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm martine croxall. our top stories: at least 43 people have died — after a boat carrying migrants sinks near the coast of southern italy. the uk and the european union edge closer to a new deal on post—brexit trading rules for northern ireland — but the british government says details still need to be resolved... i don't want to get ahead of ourselves, i understand what you say in that there is a degree of quiet confidence about the progress being made, but we are not there yet. counting is under way in nigeria's most competitive elections in decades — with three candidates still hopeful of becoming president. it is very, very close and it will take a brave man or woman to call the results right now. and — blizzard conditions

in unexpected places in america — as a cold weather front hits california and other southern states. more than 43 people, including a baby, have died after a boat carrying migrants sank in rough seas off the southern italian mainland — according to the coastguard. dozens of bodies were found on a beach near a seaside resort in the calabria region, with others found in the waters nearby. we've just received these pictures from the italian coastguard — they were filmed in darkness, early on sunday morning — and you can see the wreckage of the boat. one local official has suggested as many as 150 people had been onboard. rescuers are still searching for survivors, after the vessel — reportedly broke apart near the coastal town of crotone. the coastguard says 80 people

are known to have survived but a large search and rescue effort continues on land and at sea. the italian prime minister, giorgia meloni, has released a statement through her spokesperson. it says she expresses her "deep sorrow for the many human lives cut "short by human traffickers," and adds "it is inhumane "to exchange the lives of men, women and children for the price "of the �*ticket�* they paid in the false perspective of a safe "journey." and finally she says her "government "is committed to preventing migrant departures, and with them "the unfolding of these tragedies." i spoke to our europe regional editor, danny aeberhard, who told us more about the suspected death toll and explained further developments. it's perfectly possible it may rise considerably more. the they're talking about 80 people now who have survived. there's lots of images of these

people huddled on the foreshore, wrapped in blankets and goldfoil blankets to stay warm. some people have been taken to hospital with probably hypothermia, iwould imagine. but lots of details still coming out. the search and rescue operation is ongoing. and that involves a helicopter and boats from the coastguard. and the one of the guardia financer, which is another major government agency and the red cross are on the scene. the unhcr is also sending a team. where are the migrants thought to have come from? the migrants believed to have come from iran, pakistan and afghanistan. we don't have a complete picture of this, so we're not sure where they started theirjourney. and as i say, some reports, unconfirmed as of yet from survivors, suggest that perhaps the boat may have had more than 200 people on board.

but this, for the time being, we do not know. so it's a major tragedy, one of a number that have hit italy in recent months, regarding migrants and will no doubt there'll be political repercussions as well. yes, because the prime minister of italy has issued a statement saying that these crossings can't be allowed to continue because of the loss of life. yeah. giorgia meloni is the head of a far right led coalition. she's vowed to crack down on the numbers of migrants crossing to italy. about 11,500 people, according to the un, have made the crossing across the mediterranean so far this year. already that's up on previous couple of years. but ms meloni is also her government is involved in a big row about how she clamps down on this now. her position is that things like charity, migrant rescue vessels act as a pull factor, encouraging the crossings and also gives people traffickers a way to bring people

into the mediterranean and then leave them in the expectation that perhaps charity rescue vessels or italian coastguard, for example, would rescue these boats. she's saying she wants to work harder with countries of origin from the migrants and also the countries that they leave from. so this could be libya, tunisia, places also including turkey for longer voyages. so clamping down on that. but organisations such as the un and the roman catholic church say the way she's going about it is entirely wrong. they say she's bringing in measures that make it harder for charity rescue vessels to rescue migrants. they're allowed out to to pick up boats in distress. but then they had to have to head straight back into port and give a lot of information to the authorities. the charity rescue vessels say, you know, if there are other migrant vessels in distress nearby, that they should be allowed to pick up those people as well. so the allegation is that the italian government is imperiling lives by bringing in laws, tightening

these regulations. in the last hour— pope francis has expressed his codolences to those affected by the shipwreck. speaking at his weekly address he said he had heard "with sorrow of the shipwreck" adding "already a0 dead have been recovered, many of them children." and he said "i pray for every one of them, for the missing and for "the other surviving migrants. " britain and the european union appear to be close to finalising a new deal on post—brexit trading rules for northern ireland. under the current protocol northern ireland follows some eu laws, and goods arriving from the british mainland are subject to checks. 0ur political correspondent, ian watson, reports. the political stakes for rishi sunak are high. a deal with the eu appears to be moving closer. this would avoid a trade war between the uk and its largest market, but it could lead to a growing gulf within his own party, with some mps wanting the entire brexit agreement in northern ireland upended. and unless the democratic unionist

party approve of a deal, they won't agree to rejoin a power sharing government at stormont. so, the prime minister has taken to the pages of usually conservative supporting newspapers to reassure sceptics in his own ranks that any deal won't be a sell out. in an interview with the sunday times, he says. but, in the sun on sunday, he seems to suggest his oven ready deal still requires a few more ingredients. as for that progress, it's understood that any deal would make it much easier and less bureaucratic to move goods from great britain to northern ireland. and it'd be a less rigid application of eu law on vat rates and subsidies to industry. the irish prime ministerfelt that things were moving in the right direction. certainly the deal isn't done yet, but i do think we are inching

towards a conclusion. and i really want to thank the uk government, the european commission and the northern ireland parties for the level of engagement that they've done in recent months to get us to this point. we just encourage everyone to go the extra mile. this weekend, the prime minister says he's giving it everything he's got to achieve a deal. but it might be easier to reach an agreement with the eu than northern ireland's dup. so the political risks for the prime minister remain high. iain watson, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent ione wells has more on whether there will be a vote in the british parliament on this deal. certainly that is a question that lots of mps are wondering, both conservative mps, but also opposition parties as well, wondering if they will get a say on any final deal that is agreed. one thing we know is that conservative mps have been told they have a three—line whip, essentially an order to be in parliament on monday, which suggests that if a deal is sort of pushed over the line this weekend, that they could be in a position to have some kind of say on it as soon as tomorrow.

now, earlier we heard from the deputy prime minister, dominic raab, who was pushed on this point of whether they would actually get a vote. he didn't quite commit to it in that language, though. if you have a listen to what he said here, he said mps would be able to express themselves. yes, mps will have the opportunity to express themselves on the deal. so there will be a vote, to be completely clear? that won't bejust a debate or a nod through, there will be an actual vote? well, i don't think anything ever gets nodded through parliament. and the reality is the details will be brought forward in the usual way. i don't want to get ahead of ourselves here. i understand what you say, and there is a degree of quiet confidence about the progress being made, but we're not there yet. but there will be a vote? parliament will have its ability to express itself. that was the deputy prime minister speaking there to laura kuenssberg. if there is a vote, then, ione, how likely is it that it will get through parliament? well, certainly, depending what is in that final deal, there could well be some rebellions, there could be some conservative mps,

as well as dup mps who are still unhappy with certain elements of the deal. but one thing that is potentially in the government's favour here, although would be a bit of a political embarrassment perhaps for them, is that the main opposition party, labour, have said that they would back any deal because they argue that it is better than the alternative and some of the issues that are arising at the moment when it comes to trade between great britain and northern ireland. so earlier labour's shadow foreign secretary, david lammy, outlined that regardless of whether or not any deal had the backing of that major unionist party in northern ireland, the dup, labour would be prepared to back it in the national interest. i'm pleased, of course, that finally it looks like that we might get that deal in the coming days. worried a bit that the unionists have not been kept in the mix, but if he's able to pull off a deal, we will support it because we think it will be an improvement on what we've got at the moment. let's look at the detail in the coming days, but all credit to rishi sunak if he does that.

david lammy from the labour party. well, the deputy prime minister dominic raab, who we heard from a moment ago, is facing bullying allegations, which he denies. what's he been saying about that today? as you say, there is an ongoing inquiry into whether dominic raab bullied various civil servants when he was a secretary of state in three different government departments. now that inquiry is still ongoing, but the key thing that it is trying to determine is, was dominic raab a difficult boss, an abrasive character to work with, or was he a bully? and did the impact of any of his behaviour have sort of damage on people that he worked with? so that is what it is trying to outline. today he was pretty clear that while he did say earlier to sky news that he would resign if the inquiry did find him guilty of bullying, he was pretty adamant that he himself does not see himself as a bully. in terms of working style, falling short of any of the impropriety you refer to —

look, of course, we learn lessons as we go, and that's part of the relationship with civil servants, but i'm confident that i've behaved professionally throughout. and as i say, i think actually the vast lion's share of the time, the vast majority of cases and the time we spend together, civil servants and ministers work very effectively together. so there we hear the deputy prime minister, dominic raab, essentially argue that he feels that there isn't a tolerance for bullying in government and that usually the relationship between top ministers and civil servants works very well. that isn't a view that was shared by the trade union that represents civil servants. speaking after that comment from dominic raab earlier, they argue that one in six people they've surveyed say there is an issue with ministers' behaviour in the civil service and in the uk government. so that inquiry is still potentially weeks away, but that will be the thing that determines whether or not dominic raab�*s behaviour is considered by an independent investigator inappropriate.

votes are being counted in nigeria's most competitive presidential election in decades. the process has been largely peaceful, but there've been some reports of violence in lagos. much of the counting is taking place by hand — but in some areas, electronic voting machines were used. the outcome is not expected until monday at the earliest — with pre—election opinion polls suggesting three candidates were in a close race. i spoke to the bbc�*s peter 0kwoche who's in abuja on how its notjust two parties in the running this time, but three. additionally, there have been two parties that have dominated the political landscape in this country for the past 2a years or so. but, this time around, there's a third factor in these elections, a man who has used social media to reach out to the massive number of young voters in this country, peter 0bi. he's garnered their support. so it's now a three way race in those elections. but it is very, very close and it will take a brave man or woman to call the results right now.

tell us about some of the tensions, the problems that have occurred as voting took place. yes, i mean, across the country, there are 36 states in nigeria, across the country it was relatively calm, but there were pockets of violence in places like lagos, which is the commercial capital of the country, and then in bayelsa, which is in the oil producing niger delta. so some elections were postponed there, they couldn't hold in those areas and they will be held today. so voting is continuing in a lot of... in many parts of the country it was quite a chaotic start to the voting. i mean, i went around abuja from 6:00 in the morning yesterday and even 15 minutes before polling was due to start, some polling units had not even received their voting material and there were no voting officers, election officers, in those areas. eventually, things smoothened out, people got to vote, albeit way into the evening,

and some are continuing today. what will the priorities be for whoever wins? whoa, martine, i mean, that's a question that'll keep us here for hours. i mean, i always wonder why anyone would actually want to be president of nigeria, because there's so many problems, a plethora of them. insecurity is rife across the country, there's a huge cash flow crisis here in nigeria at the moment. a few weeks ago, the government decided to redesign the local currency, the naira. but when people went to give in their old notes and get the new ones, there were insufficient funds. so there's a chronic cash crunch here in nigeria. there's a cost of living crisis caused by the war in ukraine and the covid—i9 pandemic. so there are so many problems in the in tray of whoever replaces president muhammadu buhari.

more than 350,000 residents are still without power in the us state of michigan — three days after one of the worst ice storms in decades knocked out utility poles and wires. tens of thousands of people across the western united states are also without power — as a rare cold weather system continues to pummel parts of california. and — as vandhna bhan reports — a blizzard is set to hit the southern states on sunday. exchanging the dry hilltops and blue skies of california, for snow and freezing rain, has been welcomed by many with excitement. well, i live where there's like, no snow ever. like, the only snow i've got was hail in, like, first grade. and it's pretty exciting. we've been building snowmen. san francisco hit record low temperatures, and parts of northern california reported several inches of snow by friday. it is nice because i don't have to drive somewhere to enjoy this weather.

of course, i can't go snowboarding or anything here, but i still enjoy the fresh air the snow brings. driving proving difficult in these hazardous conditions, with snow—laden roads in some parts, and flooded streets in others, forcing road closures, with a number of cars reportedly trapped in the rising waters. this bank crumbling into the roaring santa clara river, taking with it a motorhome and a tree. consistent rainfall that we've had in the past couple of months, and then this, has been the ongoing storm for about a couple of days now. this rare winter conditions pummelling los angeles has forced a blizzard warning for the first time in more than 30 years. the cause, a massive low pressure system driven from the arctic. and it's not the only storm the united states is battling. further north east, an ice storm in michigan has left more than 300,000 without power for a third day.

but while this storm has passed, the one in california continues to move south, with large hail and damaging winds set to impact 0klahoma, texas and kansas on sunday. climate scientists say there's been an increase in the sheer number of storms across the united states, a sign of warming temperatures. and while this storm is extraordinary compared to the past, it'sjust the beginning for what we're about to see in the future. varn—darnah bhan, bbc news. the government of new zealand has confirmed that three people who had been taken hostage in papua new guinea a week ago, have been released. here they are — two citizens of papua new guinea and a new zealander who lives in australia — arriving at port moresby a few hours ago — they seem to have no injuries. they had been adbucted by gunmen near mount bosavi. a ransom was demanded — but the prime minister of papua new guinea says no

payment was made. let's look at the politics of scotland now — where the unexpected resignation of the first minister, nicola sturgeon, has created a gap to fill, notjust in leading the country — but also in leading the independence movement. ms sturgeon's personal popularity kept the campaign for scottish independence at the forefront of the political debate there. but with her going — it's not clear which direction her scottish national party will take. our special correspondent, allan little, looks at what might happen next. glasgow, once solidly labour, voted for independence in 2014. but was that the high water mark? does the independence ambition end with the formidable sturgeon here? i grew up in the rural south west of scotland. it's a good place to consider what has happened to the independence cause, and to the way scots have thought about the union over the generations. my grandparents lived in this street when i was a child, and my great great grandparents

lived here in the 19th century. for them, the british empire was what tied scotland tightly into the union. my parents were born here in the 1930s, and they grew into adulthood at a time when britain enjoyed immense moral standing in that post—war world. my great grandfather was in the building trade, and he built this war memorial. but it was after the second world war that my parents' generation inherited a new kind of britain. a britain of full employment, of cradle to grave welfare, of the new national health service. and something else that was new for families like ours. the chance that one day their children might go to university. that was why the union was notjust resilient in scotland, but positively valued. it was also an industrial britain. the great comedian billy connolly once worked as a welder in the shipyards here in glasgow.

and when he was asked in the 1970s about scottish nationalism, he would say that he felt more in common with shipyard workers on merseyside and in southampton than he did with many of his fellow scots. back then, class solidarity nearly always trumped appeals to a distinct scottish national identity. those big industries, like the empire, were pan—british enterprises. they were bedrocks of british identity in scotland. and in the 1980s and 90s, they were swept away. that's when england and scotland started to diverge politically, those shared values coming under strain. england embracing the radical new vision for the future offered by margaret thatcher. scotland repeatedly rejecting it. in that context, the independence movement reinvented itself, the snp talking the language of social democracy and greater equality. this appealed to old labour voters, and enthused the young. that realignment of loyalties happened under alex salmond's leadership. no one embodied it more fully

the nicola sturgeon. but under her, there's been no further surge of support for independence. even the unpopularity of brexit here, and the toppling of four conservative prime ministers have moved the dial a few points at most. but drill down into the opinion polls that consistently show the country roughly divided 50—50 on independence. the young remain overwhelmingly in favour, and there's even strong support among the middle—aged. many nationalists believe time is on their side, that the fruit of independence is ripening on the tree of age demographics, and it will eventually fall into their laps. the union has been strongest over the ages when it's been built on shared values and a common sense of purpose. nicola sturgeon's departure is a defeat for independence, but reversing the slow generational decline of british identity in scotland is the enduring challenge for the union. allan little, bbc news, galloway.

let's look now at air quality in cities. on monday, sheffield will become the uk's latest large urban area to introduce a clean air zone. that will mean drivers of the most polluting lorries, vans, buses and taxis will now be charged to enter the designated area. but private cars and motorcycles are exempt. so will the scheme work? dan johnson has more. no to clean air zones. no to extortionate charges for driving in our own city. | there's a new battle zone in the fight for clean air. sheffield's seen opposition. so has cambridge, and other cities, too, as clean air zones hit more streets across the country. charging the most polluting vehicles is supposed to get them off the road. but cities have got different prices covering different classes of vehicle, and if you get it wrong, you get fined. bristol's scheme started just before christmas.

i think everyone in bristol agrees that we all have a bad cough that lingers, and i think the air quality is terrible. anything we could do to improve it, ifully support. i'm not really seeing a difference. are my lungs better? no, they're the same as they were last year as well, so... as a cyclist, it hasn't made the roads any quieter. - well, it's to stop people coming into the city, but it's also to make money, i think. it's good because we're trying to keep the planet a bit healthier. you know, we want healthier air, we just want clean air. it's good for everyone. bath started charging commercial vehicles two years ago, but some feel that's moved traffic and emissions onto wiltshire�*s roads. we've seen significant increases in terms of heavy goods vehicles coming through the middle of westbury. we're here on a street where the trucks are going, what, a metre and a half from people's front doors. so, we've we've taken an air quality problem in bath and simply transposed it to the middle of an area where it's going to create a worse air quality problem. birmingham's zone generated £37 million in fines over the last 18 months.

nationally, poor air quality causes something like 36,000 excess deaths each year. but evidence shows it is cutting emissions. during the first few months after the zone�*s introduction, we found that there was a significant reduction in the n02 levels in birmingham city centre, so that's a good thing. and we didn't see any change in the air quality on the perimeter of the birmingham clean air zone. there's controversy about plans to expand london's low emission zone to cover every borough. but the government is insisting on cleaner air, so more zones are coming. but reducing pollution means tackling more than just vehicle emissions. don johnson, bbc news. ukraine has issued postage stamps featuring a mural by the world—renowned uk graffiti artist banksy to mark the first anniversary of russia's invasion. the mural depicts a man resembling russian president vladimir putin being thrown during a judo match with a young boy. the original art is on a house that was devastated by russian

shelling in the town of borodyanka, near the capital kyiv. hello there. it's all about high pressure at the moment, dominating the weather story. the centre of the high across scotland. that's where we've had the clearest of the skies, and the lowest temperatures. it was minus five first thing this morning in highland, and yes, there was some frost, even some snow to the tops of higher ground. it was a different story, though, across east anglia in comparison to saturday morning. the cloud was a little more well—broken. a beautiful sunrise here. but the high is going to stay with us on the whole across the country today, keeping things largely fine and quiet. but still that wind direction coming from a northeasterly. slightly lighter winds than yesterday, so therefore fewer showers hopefully around. still some cloud across northern england and north wales in particular, and still the risk of some showers here. we've also had a few showers across the kent coast this morning. but generally, central

and southern england and wales, along with northwest scotland and northern ireland keeping the sunshine, and temperatures peaking between seven and nine degrees, pretty much where we should be for the final few days of february. now, as we go into the evening and overnight, the cloud reallyjust drawing in like a blanket over us. and so for many, that means it'll keep those temperatures above freezing. where we've got those clearer skies, particularly out to the west, once again temperatures below freezing and a frost is quite likely. but that quiet theme will stay with us not only for monday but right throughout much of the week. so as we go into monday, we've got this large area of high pressure sitting across the north, and that will continue to give quite a lot of dry weather in the forecast. still the risk of some cloud around, but maybe breaking up across east anglia and the south east of england with more of a breeze here, and still some sunny spells across western areas of scotland, northern ireland and maybe parts of the lake district. ten degrees is quite possible in the sunnier moments. now, as we move out of monday into tuesday, there's a risk of a few showers during the early

hours just drifting their way through the channel. not really amounting to too much. the high continues to stay with us on the whole, and the winds will stay light. so we could potentially be chasing cloud amounts around as we look further ahead. so, on the whole there will be a good deal of dry weather, some sunny spells from time to time, and as we head into the beginning of march, some areas will continue to see temperatures into double figures. that's it. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines: at least 43 people have died after a boat carrying migrants sank near the coast of southern italy. officials say it crashed against rocks in rough weather and several people are still missing. talks between the eu and the uk are continuing, to try to strike a new deal over post—brexit trade rules for northern ireland. both sides say an agreement is coming closer. under the current deal, goods coming from other parts of the uk are checked on arrival in northern ireland to allow them to be taken into the republic of ireland without any further checks. counting is under way in nigeria's presidential election. saturday's voting was largely peaceful, but there were some reports of clashes between rival groups of supporters in lagos.