this is bbc world news. our top stories... the prime minister, rishi sunak, will meet the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, on monday as they try to secure a new brexit deal for northern ireland. a joint statement said they would work towards finding a solution. at least 59 people including some children have died after a boat carrying migrants sinks near the coast of southern italy. counting is under way in nigeria's most competitive elections in decades with three candidates still hopeful of becoming president.

hello and welcome to bbc world news. the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, will arrive in the uk tomorrow for face—to—face talks with prime minister rishi sunak to discuss an imminent deal for trade in northern ireland. it all revolves around the post—brexit trading arrangements for northern ireland. the irish taoisoech, leo varadkar, said... earlier, the deputy prime minister, dominic raab, began to outline what might be in the deal including the right for politicians in northern ireland to have a say over any new eu rules that affect them. with more here's our political correspondent, iain watson. what better way to flag that an agreement with the eu is coming closer?

the eu commission president, ursula von der leyen, will meet the prime minister tomorrow in london for the talks that could seal a deal. there is no deal done until the whole deal�*s done. but i think we've made progress. and what's emerging is exactly what the deal could involve. post—brexit, to keep an open border on the island of ireland, some eu rules continue to apply in northern ireland, and goods coming from great britain are subject to checks. this is what unionists call a border in the irish sea. under the proposed deal it's likely goods travelling from great britain to northern ireland and remaining there would no longer be subject to checks. these would only apply to goods going via northern ireland to the irish republic and therefore to the eu. and people in northern ireland would get a say over any future eu rules that might affect them. if there are any new rules that would apply in relation to northern ireland, it must be right that there is a northern irish democratic check on that. and again, that would mark a significant shift...

now i know this may seem hard to believe, but getting a deal with the eu could be the easier of the prime minister's tasks. more importantly, he has to win over northern ireland's biggest unionist party, the dup. they are warning that a bad deal will deepen divisions and if they don't like the detail of what rishi sunak has negotiated then they won't rejoin a power—sharing government in northern ireland. and some of the prime minister's colleagues here at westminster are telling me that would make all his talks with the eu futile. this government minister and prominent brexiteer seemed on board for a deal. reporter: do others in your party support him as well? _ ..but the prime minister can't count on the support of some other long—standing eurosceptics. we're not stupid. what we want is a situation where eu law is expunged from northern ireland so it is treated on the same basis as england, scotland and wales. the government is keeping us in the dark as to whether mps will get a vote on the deal, but if they do, labour

is signalling potential support for the prime minister. 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. a deal with the eu might ease some of the economic pressures on businesses and communities in northern ireland but it won't necessarily solve the prime minister's political problems. iain watson, bbc news. at least 59 people have drowned after their boat broke up in rough seas and sank off the southern coast of italy — including 12 children. the boat, which sailed from turkey a few days ago, was said to be overloaded with close to 150 people from afghanistan, pakistan, somalia and iran. those who did survive came ashore near the town of crotone on the calabrian coast and were helped by the red cross. early results have started to come

in from nigeria's tightest election since the end of military rule in 1999. official results from the southwestern ekiti state show a victory for the governing party candidate, bola tinubu, in one of his strongholds. delays and attacks on some polling stations on saturday meant voting was postponed until sunday in parts of the country. the electoral commission in nigeria has admitted vote counting has been "slow and unsteady" due to a new polling system upgrade which led to technical glitches. india's federal police have arrested the deputy chief minister of delhi, manish sisodia, for alleged corruption. the arrest came after hours of questioning in connection with alleged irregularities in relation to a liquor policy in the city. the policy which saw new alcohol shops opened was later dropped after police began a probe. mr sisodia and his aam aadmi party deny the allegations, accusing the governing bjp of playing "dirty politics".

let's return now to our top story this hour — the meeting scheduled to take place tomorrow between the prime minister, rishi sunak and the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen. earlier our political correspondent, iain watson, shared his insight ahead of that meeting tomorrow. the largest unionist party in northern ireland, they've been the most sceptical about the agreement reached with the eu initially, which puts, as they would see it, a border in the irish sea, these goods being checked. it looks like that'll be eased but that's not necessarily going to be enough to win them over. because of this scepticism, they will go through any deal with a fine—toothed comb and will not give the thumbs up to this deal in advance, so effectively it's a high wire act for rishi sunak because even if he reaches an agreement with ursula von der leyen and the eu commission,

that's one thing that might help training arrangements in northern ireland, doesn't solve the political problem because that's a lack of power—sharing in northern ireland. the institutions that go back to the good friday agreement 25 years ago, having both communities, unionists and nationalists, sharing power. the unionists, at least the largest unionist party, will not do so until they're satisfied over the detail of this new deal which is indeed coming tomorrow. i think they may make rishi sunak sweat for a period of time while they get lawyers involved and see that, if the big things which he is promising to keep trade flowing, to give them a greater say over any future eu laws, to see if that is really delivered right to the depths of the text. if they don't like it then in effect he will only have done half the job. he will have got the eu on board, power—sharing will not be restored to northern ireland, which is potentially embarrassing because obviously the american president, joe biden, would like to visit on the 25th anniversary of the good friday agreement later this year. that's coming up very soon, isn't it? in terms of the objections

of the dup, where are they likely to hinge and what price might they extract in order to back it? i think the problem the dup had, amongst many others, was notjust the trading arrangements, but they were effectively saying that the act of union which brought ireland as a whole, once upon a time, in the 1800s, into the united kingdom, said that everyone in the united kingdom should be treated on an equalfooting. they are saying that people in northern ireland are subjected to eu laws despite brexit, which the dup supported, and, in effect, they want far less of a say by the eu over anything happening in northern ireland. now the question then is, will they accept some say for the eu, or will it have to be, in the words of one of them, the "expunging" of the eu from northern ireland? so there may be an internal debate among democratic unionists. but the dup of course got on board to help rishi sunak�*s predecessor theresa may over brexit, where she couldn't get a majority in the house of commons, and in return they got around

£2 billion to help with northern ireland. we know currently in northern ireland there is a big funding gap. perhaps, perhaps the uk government might be able to, perhaps, ease some of their concerns if they also say that if they go back into power—sharing then quite a lot of resources will follow suit. our europe editor, katya adler joins me now from brussels. what do the eu need from any deal that might be announced tomorrow and how big a moment could that be? i think it's obviously a big moment for the eu and the uk but there is a sense of cautious optimism here tonight. i'm outside the european commission building and the president of the european commission said she is heading off to the uk tomorrow. she is known as someone who manages her image extremely carefully, so it's unlikely that she would be heading there unless she thought that a deal was really

nearly done. i say it is cautious optimism and that is because the eu has been brexit burnt before. it knows that it can reach some kind of a deal with a uk prime minister but they then need to sell that deal back home and that can be politically extremely tricky, sometimes especially in those last moments and hours. that said, rishi sunak, prime minister soonerc, moments and hours. that said, rishi sunak, prime ministersoonerc, is viewed differently here to his predecessor. yes, he is a brexiteer but he is seen by the eu has more solutions focus, really working for the interests of the people of northern ireland and not such a pure ideologue, if you like. there is hope that this deal can be solved tomorrow, the eu said it is willing tomorrow, the eu said it is willing to reduce those customs checked and take a risk for a single market but in the interests of northern ireland. also, improving relations with the uk. it's in both sides interest to improve relations, the eu remains the uk's biggest trading

partner and for the eu, they like working with the uk much more closely, especially in security and defence matters. we have seen that relationship improve after bitter brexit, if you like, over the war in ukraine, working both over russian sanctions and on a country by country basis inside nato, as well. what about any personal relationships all seeing eye to eye between ursula von der leyen and rishi sunak, is there any evidence of that? , . �* ., ., rishi sunak, is there any evidence ofthat? , . �* ., ., . ., . of that? they haven't had a chance to become — of that? they haven't had a chance to become buddies, _ of that? they haven't had a chance to become buddies, if— of that? they haven't had a chance to become buddies, if you - of that? they haven't had a chance to become buddies, if you like. - to become buddies, if you like. really, what we're looking at here is the eu having seen so many prime ministers come and go the brexit vote so rishi sunak is another face. as i say, talking to diplomats in town here in brussels, people who have been working on brexit right from the word go, they do have a respect for rishi sunak and they do draw a stark comparison to former british prime minister, boris

johnson, who signed the original brexit deal on northern ireland. he is viewed in the eu very much as having signed that deal disingenuously, if you like. they say he knew it would involve checks between the rest of the uk and northern ireland, something that he never really admitted in public. they see rishi sunak, although a convinced brexiteer, as being far more pragmatic and a man they can do business with. again, there is an awareness here that it is notjust about doing business with the eu, and also, the eu of letting go of some of its ideology when it comes to a revised deal. but it is also about whether he can sell this deal and make it a success politically back home. pm and make it a success politically back home-— and make it a success politically back home. �* , ., , back home. an interesting 24 hours awa . back home. an interesting 24 hours away- thanks _ back home. an interesting 24 hours away- thanks very _ back home. an interesting 24 hours away. thanks very much, _ back home. an interesting 24 hours away. thanks very much, indeed. i earlier i spoke to former eu trade negotiator paul mcgrade. i began by asking him why this trade deal really matters. this is a question, i think,

that some of prime minister rishi sunak�*s colleagues have been asking within the conservative party. why do this, why take these risks? i think there are three reasons for it. one is it allows a reset of the uk's relationship with the eu, so at the extreme end, he avoids the risk of a trade war, but even if things don't go that far, he gets a lot of benefits from resetting relations and unfreezing a lot of cooperation, for example, on universities, on financial services, on lots of aspects of trade that will help the uk economy. secondly, it offers a reset on relations with the us and washington, which have been maybe a bit less deep—frozen but still chilly since this spat with the eu over the northern ireland protocol really began. thirdly, it offers a path back to devolved power—sharing government in northern ireland

because the prime minister can show, you know, we've reached a deal with the eu, we have tried to address the unionist concerns, even if not as fully as you wished, and between the lines he is also giving a message that we are not going to jeopardise our relationship with the eu any further in order to accommodate any more of your concerns, if you like. so it provides a kind of fait accompli under which the dup might eventually go back into devolved government in northern ireland, although, not quickly, i think. and just in terms of the trade, the practical effect of this, what will people potentially notice? i think the university sector will notice it in a very big way. a huge part of theirfunding comes from the eu's horizon programme, they get a very big chunk of that, the world's biggest research funding programme, that has completely stopped. the uk's application to join

horizon has been frozen, so that will be unfrozen, i would think, when any deal is done. there is cooperation in a range of issues. that includes things like financial services, data, even quite detailed but still important things like electric car batteries and whether those made in the uk can count towards the eu's for avoiding tariffs. those things won't automatically be fixed by this but the mood music will improve, this processes will speed up and the chances of favourable decisions on those and therefore the beneficial knock—on effects on trade in those kind of sectors will greatly improve. i think there is a broader kind of message here, too, that sunak is trying to show that,

unlike maybe his two predecessors, he is a results—oriented, delivery kind of prime minister, who gets problems solved and can manage the uk economy sensibly and in a way that promotes growth. this is exactly the kind of thing he needs to show in order to do so. that we are not fighting any more with the eu over things that are sometimes quite archain questions of principle. we are getting on with pragmatic solutions that benefit the uk economy and, ultimately, i think that is why he probably quite wants to have that fight with some of his backbenchers over the next few weeks. let's return to to the news of migrant boat sinking in rough seas off southern italy. 59 people, including 12 children, have died and dozens more are feared missing. earlier i spoke tojuan matias gil, who is the search and rescue representative for medecins sans frontier in rome,

i asked if they have teams there and his thoughts about this tragedy. in this moment, still, our teams are providing psychological aid. we are there to the survivors, the survivors are under shock because most of them have lost family members orfriends over most of them have lost family members or friends over there. so they are really, really affected. why? 0k, they are really, really affected. why? ok, this is not a search and rescue mechanism in the mediterranean sea, with a clear mandate of saving lives. all of the police are basing deterrence are once again we continue seeing these tragedies that they are not going to stop, we will continue seeing it unless the police change direction. what exactly are they doing now in terms of search and rescue because it is obviously some hours on, we

have seen these pictures from night—time and darkness, it must be very difficult to search in these conditions? for very difficult to search in these conditions?— very difficult to search in these conditions? ., , , , ., conditions? for sure. they should have been — conditions? for sure. they should have been found _ conditions? for sure. they should have been found much _ conditions? for sure. they should have been found much before - conditions? for sure. they should - have been found much before arriving to the coast but because there was an alert since yesterday, apparently, these mechanisms have started and they didn't find them until they reach the coast. they could have crashed into a rock or something like that because they fell into the water 150 metres before the coast. so this is a tragedy that could have been prevented. they could have been rescued before, they could have been found before, we wouldn't be speaking about one more tragedy because we are having this one unfortunately, very often, we are speaking about 2000 people having died in the mediterranean sea on this route last year. unless these mechanisms that i mentioned before, this will continue to happen, and we

will adhere only when people die that this is a nonstop situation. and what is known about where the people have travelled from, do you have any information on that? stiiiil have any information on that? still it is ve have any information on that? st ii it is very preliminary information but we can go through the testimonies that they have left from turkey and iran 170 or 180 people and the people are in deep shock is so all this information will be surely confirmed by tomorrow. the israeli government and the palestinian authority say they will take immediate steps to end a deadly upsurge in violence this year. it comes as two israelis were shot dead in the occupied west bank. the israeli army said a palestinian gunman opened fire at an israeli—owned car and then fled the scene. israeli settlers have set fire to palestinian houses, shops and vehicles just south of nablus in the occupied west bank. joining me now is our middle east correspondent, yolande knell1.

tell us about those talks injordan. this summit was really a quite unusual one, the first of its kind in many years, we have had the israeli and palestinian security chiefs meeting face to face with these other important regional players. the statement that came out really gave some important commitments towards working towards peace, for one thing, but also, there were some cemented, kind of, commitments from the israeli saying that they would for the next four months. discussions on settlement building in the occupied west bank. also, that they would hold off announcements on new settlements for the next six months. from the palestinian side, we are expecting that they will hold off going to the un as they have tried to do, taking action against israel, in recent

weeks. there are also commitments thereby both sides that they will work closely together to prevent further violence. work closely together to prevent furtherviolence. but work closely together to prevent further violence. but then, you just see how big the challenges are in all of this, because the palestinian militant group came out very quickly and describe the summit as being worthless and you had two key ministers from the israeli government from the far right are basically rejecting its commitments, particular when it comes to settlements.— particular when it comes to settlements. �* ., , settlements. and we have seen onauoin settlements. and we have seen ongoing violence _ settlements. and we have seen ongoing violence on _ settlements. and we have seen ongoing violence on the - settlements. and we have seen| ongoing violence on the ground, settlements. and we have seen - ongoing violence on the ground, too. that's right. in the course of the day, there was this attack close to nablus where to israeli brothers from a nearby settlement were shot at close range. the israeli military says it is hunting for a palestinian gunman, but there has also been continuing violence there over the past few hours as jewish settlers set fire to palestinian properties,

some with families inside, who had to be evacuated. there was one palestinian man who was killed after he was shot, palestinian health officials say that was after settlers and soldiers entered into his village. that is really keeping tension is very high, it's a reminder ofjust how dangerous things are as we go into this sensitive period injust one month's time, you have the islamic holy month of ramadan due to start. that is also a sensitive time. this year, once again, it's going to coincide with the week—long jewish holiday of passover and that could really ramp up passover and that could really ramp up tensions, particularly here in jerusalem which has such a contested holy site in the city.— sheffield will become the latest city in the uk to introduce a clean air zone on monday, charging drivers of the most polluting vehicles. zones are now in place in several cities including bristol,

birmingham and newcastle. london's ultra low emission zone is due to be expanded this summer and schemes are proposed in cambridge and manchester. drivers across england have been fined more than £50 million so far for not complying with the new rules. dan johnson reports. 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. and today there was another protest, in cambridge, against plans to charge drivers, as clean air zones hit more streets across the country. my wife works, my wife commutes. two different cars, three different locations, so it's £5 a day for every working day, that's a lot. it's a very poor way to be thinking of how to improve any problems that there are with transportation in cambridge. 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 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. dan johnson, bbc news. a russian spacecraft has docked with the international space station, as part of a mission to bring home three stranded astronauts. the uncrewed vehicle will bring back two russians and an american who've the three were originally only

supposed to stay until the end of march but will now have to wait until september to come back to earth. now on bbc news the weather with sarah keith—lucas. good evening. the weekend brought us a fair amount of dry, settled weather and whilst some of us saw some showers around, particularly in the east with quite a cool easterly breeze for some, in other areas there was plenty of sunshine. this was the picture as the sun was just about to set in dudley a little bit earlier on. now, as we head through the coming week, the weather really isn't changing in a hurry. looking mainly dry for most places. some sunshine, fair amounts of cloud around and nighttime frosts, too. but here's the reason for all this settled weather. big area of high pressure keeping the weather fronts at bay. it's very unsettled further south down towards the mediterranean. storm juliet bringing some disruptive weather there. but here, well, we've still got the breeze just rotating around that high pressure. so bringing a bit more cloud across parts of northern and eastern england. it'll drift its way south overnight and could just bring one or two rogue showers for some central areas.

mostly frost—free, i think, by dawn, at least where you've got that cloud. but it could be quite a cold start to monday morning for the south west of england, for instance, parts of scotland minus four or minus five first thing monday here. quite a bit of cloud, as you can see, drifting its way westwards across england and wales. could bring just one or two light showers. we've got lighter winds and probably more sunshine further north for scotland. certainly northern ireland also seeing some sunny spells, too. top temperatures between about 7 to 10 degrees on monday. and that really is quite typical for where we should be by the end of february. and then it is going to feel colder, though, during monday afternoon. again, we've got quite a brisk breeze blowing in, particularly for eastern england and through the english channel. so the channel islands, look at that, feeling only around about three degrees. then as we move through monday evening and overnight into tuesday, most of us dry, winds easing for a time. but just cast your eye towards the south—east and you can see these blue colours, a line of perhaps more persistent showery rain just starting to form early tuesday, affecting the far south—east of england. elsewhere, another cold night, certainly a touch of frost for many of us. could be the odd misty patch

in the north as well. during tuesday, there's that showery rain likely to affect parts of perhaps kent, essex, sussex and the london region down towards the channel isles, where there'll still be a little bit of a breeze blowing on tuesday. further north, you could catch one or two showers, especially for parts of north—east england. the best of the brightness once again will be for scotland and northern ireland as well. further ahead, it does look mostly settled. quite a good deal of dry weather, perhaps a little bit of showery rain across northern areas. best of the sunshine likely towards the west.

welcome here's your latest sports news from the bbc sports centre. by their standards it's been a long wait. but, manchester united's 6 year trophy drought is over. they beat newcastle 2—0 in the league cup final at wembley. stuart pollitt reports. for manchester united six years without a major trophy. for newcastle united closer to six decades. the goal keep for suspended, there was a return to the spotlight for laura's carious lasting for liverpool making a mess of the champions league final. save enough hands here. so to davitt