welcome to bbc news. i'm lisa—marie misztak. our top stories: was it a lab leak after all? the fbi says it's most likely covid originated in this facility in china. more than a0 dead after two trains colliding greece. it's been described as the worst rail disaster the country has ever seen. we could be on the verge of a water crisis. the french government warning as europe's winter drought goes on. my warning as europe's winter drought goes on.— warning as europe's winter drought goes on. my bad habits lead to yom _ drought goes on. my bad habits lead to you. and _ drought goes on. my bad habits lead to you. and thinking - drought goes on. my bad habits lead to you. and thinking out i lead to you. and thinking out loud. lead to you. and thinking out loud- the _ lead to you. and thinking out loud. the singer— lead to you. and thinking out loud. the singer ed - lead to you. and thinking out loud. the singer ed sheeranl loud. the singer ed sheeran opens up about using music to cope with depression.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. fbi director christopher ray says it's most likely covid—19 emerged from the chinese government controlled laboratory in wuhan. in response, china has accused the fbi politicising the investigation into the origins of coronavirus and says there has been no new scientific evidence to support the theory. other us agencies believe the virus developed naturally. 0ur north america correspondent john sud worth reports. suspicions have long swirled around wuhan�*s laboratories. now three years after the start of the pandemic, they have burst out into the open once again. the fbi has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in wuhan. here, you are talking about a potential leak from a chinese

government—controlled lab that killed millions of americans. from the start, many scientists believed that covid had passed naturally from animals to humans. some of the first cases were centred around this wuhan�*s market known to sell wildlife. but with wuhan�*s laboratories known to have been collecting samples from bats and experimenting on coronaviruses, there is an alternative possibility, that a researcher became accidentally infected with the virus they were working on. it comes from china, that's why. it comes from china. i want to be accurate. but the theory�*s close association with donald trump made it for many one more piece of disinformation and it was widely dismissed. for the past three years in china, in europe and now in america, i have been investigating the question of covid's origin.

some scientists claim the lab leak theory has been convincingly debunked but others say that in the absence of better evidence to rule it out, they want the possibility to remain firmly on the table. the world health organization team that travelled to wuhan in 2021 concluded that it was extremely unlikely that the virus leaked from a lab but there were concerns about china's political management of the enquiry. something one member of that team acknowledged in an interview for our upcoming podcast series. it is difficult to know where the science ends and where the politics starts. so you can have a heated debate about a lot of different details and you do not know if there is political influence. while the lab leak theory... china, it is clear, never wanted journalists asking questions about the origins of covid and there appears to be very little hope of further co—operation

with international efforts to look for answers but in america there is renewed interest. the biden administration has given the lab leak theory fresh impetus and a new republican—controlled congress has willingly picked up the batten. the select committee will come to order. this is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century. despite the fbi's public comments, the us intelligence agencies remain divided. with little hard evidence, many fear one of the biggest questions of our time — where did covid come from? — may never be convincingly answered. john sudworth, bbc news, new york. to discuss this further, i'm joined byjohn schwartzberg, clinical professor at uc berkeley school of public health. john, thank you for taking the time to come in the programme. it's the first confirmation, but what new scientific evidence could be fbi potentially have to make this claim?—

fbi potentially have to make this claim? ., �* ~ ., ~ this claim? we don't know. we don't know _ this claim? we don't know. we don't know what _ this claim? we don't know. we don't know what evidence - this claim? we don't know. we don't know what evidence the i don't know what evidence the government has. it's not been publicly made available. so while we heard from the fbi today and a few days before on the department of energy, is based upon their evidence but we haven't seen it. bud based upon their evidence but we haven't seen it.— based upon their evidence but we haven't seen it. and what is the possibility _ we haven't seen it. and what is the possibility of— we haven't seen it. and what is the possibility of a _ we haven't seen it. and what is the possibility of a virus - the possibility of a virus actually escaping from a lab? it's distinctly possible. it's also possible that it came from bats, either directly to humans or bats to what we call an intermediate host, another matter —— another animal, to humans. that is how sars cov—i happened and mers, in 2012. the first one from bats to sit it's to humans. the second one from bats to camels to humans. so it's every reason to think it's the same this time, would bats to humans or bats to an intermediate host to humans but

a lab source for this virus is also possible.— a lab source for this virus is also possible. you mentioned that it is highly _ also possible. you mentioned that it is highly possible - also possible. you mentioned that it is highly possible thatl that it is highly possible that it could have either originated from a lab or other sources but do you think enough is being done around the world to make sure that any type of research in laboratories are kept safe? you know, that's the key question. we really need to find out if we possibly can wear this virus came from but wear this virus came from but we know there are possibilities. it's like a doctor told you have the possibility of having cancer, whether it's a low possibility, a medium possibility or high possibility, you'd want to find out. well, we have possibilities here. it could have come from a lab or from animals, will to be doing everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen again. we need to have much better surveillance of the intersection between animals

and humans. we need to have much better control on what's happening in laboratories, not just in our countries but around the world. those things have to happen regardless of what the indianola job covid is. what the indianola 'ob covid is. ~ . , what the indianola 'ob covid is. ~ , what the indianola 'ob covid is. the who was supposed to have a further— is. the who was supposed to have a further enquiry - is. the who was supposed to have a further enquiry into i have a further enquiry into this but it hasn't happened yet. do you have any idea what is going with that? h0. is going with that? no, politics _ is going with that? no, politics is _ is going with that? no, politics is playing - is going with that? no, politics is playing a - politics is playing a tremendous role in this unfortunately. this is a terribly important question for humanity. but this issue has been politicised from day one. the chinese have been not very forthcoming about data. our president at the time just handed it absolutely terribly during the event, so it is very difficult to know what science and what is politics right now. thank you very much for your time.

greece's prime minister has blamed tragic human error for the country's worst ever rail disaster. it's now reported to have killed at least a3 people. the passenger service heading to thessaloniki with 350 people on board collided with a freight train in the town of temp near the central city of larissa, causing carriages to fly off the tracks and catch fire. police have charged a local stationmaster with manslaughter by negligence. our europe correspondent, nick beake, is at the scene, and sent this report. the mangled remnants of a train bringing hundreds of students back from the holidays. down the track, their now grieving families who had waived them off. greece's worst railway crash. it should never have happened. earlier they had worked through the night, recovering dozens of victims. identification has been hard. the fire that broke out was intense. survivors describe the moments

just before midnight their intercity service hit the freight train head—on. translation: we heard the big bang than it wasl ten nightmarish seconds. we were turning over in the carriage. we fell on our side and then it stopped and that it was panic. cables everywhere and fire. the fire was immediate. as it quickly clear, no—one else would be found alive, news arrived that a signal master at the nearest city has been charged with manslaughter by negligence. he has blamed a possible technicalfailure. greece's prime minister visiting this carnage failed to find out what had gone so catastrophically wrong. translation: our thoughts are with the victims's relatives. - our duty is to treat the injured and then to identify the bodies. i can guarantee only one thing, we will find out what caused this tragedy and we will do whatever we can to avoid anything similar the future.

this evening greece's transport minister resigned, saying his efforts to improve the railway had not been enough to prevent such an accident but who is to blame is not a straightforward question. many feel though this was a disaster waiting to happen. nick beake, bbc news. as we heard there from nick, some accountability is being taken for the crash but for many its not enough and anger has spilled out on to the streets. for more, stephanie prentice is here, she's been following developments. stephanie, tell us more about public feeling around this disaster? well, as the full scale of this disaster was unfolding, the initial response we saw was one of shock and sadness but now what we are seeing is a lot of anger and particularly in cities that were connected to the passenger chain involved in this. —— train. it departed out of athens and demonstrators have been heading there and going to the offices of

hellenic train, the operator responsible for this line. what started as a candlelight vigil turned into demonstrators having problems with police, riot police were called and teargas was dispersed. the source of the anger seems to be that safety concerns about this line were well—known and had in fact been for years. trade unionists had been speaking out. they said this particular line had been flagged and needed to be fixed. there was safety concerns already around it. a safety supervisor even resigned last year. he was saying infrastructure upgrades are much—needed and that in included critically automating systems, which would remove the human error that's been cited as one of the causes for this crash. hellenic train have said they are cooperating with the investigation but demonstrators investigation but demonstrators in athens were charging, saying a full investigation is needed and in their words, there cannot be a cover—up.

meanwhile, in thessalonica, protesters gathered. that is where the passenger train should have ended up at it reached its destination. there were a lot of messages there of defiance. crowds gathered outside the station in very large numbers and they were charging, "the only solution is resistance." those protests of course have been dispersed that it would seem according to domestic sources, in athens at least, more protests are planned for tomorrow night. stephanie, thank you for the update. let's get some of the day's other news. more than 100 girls have been hospitalised in iran with symptoms of poisoning after another spate of suspected gas attacks on girls' schools there. nearly 700 girls have been poisoned by toxic gas since november. many believe it's a deliberate attempt to force their schools to shut. no—one has died, but dozens have suffered respiratory problems, nausea, dizziness and fatigue. nigeria's opposition labour party is to mount a legal challenge against the presidential election victory of bola tinubu

of the governing apc. labour's peter obi came third in saturday's vote. the opposition says the results were rigged and it's calling for fresh polls. mr tinubu won a 37% share of the votes, a lower margin of victory than previous nigerian presidents. eu election observers said there had been significant shortcomings in the electoral process. a panel of us lawmakers has voted to advance a bill that would make it easier to ban chinese—owned video sharing app tiktok. the chinese—owned social media app is currently used by more than 100 million americans. earlier this week the white house ordered government agencies to wipe tiktok off federal devices within 30 days. this comes after the european parliament and canada banned the video—sharing app from staff phones — citing security reasons. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has accused anti—government protesters unhappy at his judicial reforms of crossing a red line. he said anarchy could not be tolerated. mr netanyahu spoke after people again took to the streets in tel aviv, where 1a

people were injured. the protesters believe the sweeping changes being pushed through parliament will undermine judicial independence and threaten democracy. our middle east correspondent yolande knell is injerusalem. with stun grenades and horses, israeli police try to drive protesters back. but here they break through the barricades. on the country's busiest motorway between tel aviv and jerusalem, traffic came grinding to a halt. demonstrators believe sweeping judicial changes will undermine the independence of the courts and threaten democracy. they will allow the government to overturn supreme court rulings. but the prime minister and his new hardline government call the protesters anarchists. translation: the freedom

of protest is not a license i to reduce the country to anarchy, to chaos. a sovereign state cannot tolerate anarchy. today, amid rowdy scenes, a parliamentary committee pushed new legislation through an initial vote. supporters argue their plans restore balance between the branches of government. outside, another crowd began to gather. after weeks of protest you get a real sense of frustration from people here that their voices aren't being heard and they feel there's so much at stake. this issue is really exposing the deep divisions in the country. competing visions for israel. and some unexpected voices are speaking out. veterans of an elite military intelligence unit are among those now threatening to refuse to perform their army reserve service in protest. it's completely unusual. we don't tend to use our

position in the military background in order to gain an influence. we tend to remain impartial in those matters. but it's not a routine political debate. it's a dramatic change. polls suggest most israelis seek a compromise on judicial changes, and the president's calling for political dialogue. but the size of the latest protests and the authority's tough response showjust how split israel has become. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. stay with us on bbc news — still to come: thinking out loud — the singer ed sheeran opens up about using music to cope with depression. first, the plates slid gently off the restaurant tables. then suddenly, the tables,

the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards. it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans had successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i had heard the news earlier, and so my heart went bang, bang, bang! the constitutional rights of these marches - are their rights as citizens of the united states, - and they should be protected, even in the right to test them out so that they don't get their heads broken. and are sent to hospital. this religious controversy — i know you don't want to say too much about it — but does it worry you that it's going to boil up? oh, it worries me, yes, but i hope everything'll be all right at the end of the day.

this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: america's federal bureau of investigation says the mostly likely cause of the covid pandemic was that it began in a chinese laboratory. more than a0 dead after two trains collide in greece, it's been described as the worst rail disaster the country's ever seen. in the uk, sussex police have confirmed that the remains of a baby have been found by officers searching for the missing infant of constance marten and mark gordon. the couple were arrested on monday after a 7—week search for them when their car was found on fire by the side of a motorway. here's our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. this morning, at locations from newhaven to brighton, the search for the missing baby was in full flow. officers from the metropolitan police and sussex police were joined by volunteer experts in search and rescue.

there was concern for the welfare of the infant, but there was also still hope. but tonight, that hope may have evaporated when the man leading the investigation made the announcement that he'd been dreading. it is my very sad duty to update this afternoon, police officers searching a wooded area close to where constance and mark gordon were arrested, discovered the remains of a baby. a postmortem examination will be held in due course. a crime scene is in place, and work at the location is expected to continue for some time. this is an outcome that myself and the many officers who have been part of this search had hoped would not happen. constance marten and mark gordon, the one walking slowly with a stick, had emerged from the woods on monday night to visit the local shops. they returned along the same suburban street a5 minutes later. but they'd been spotted by a member of the public

who'd called 999, and moments after this cctv footage was recorded, they were arrested. constance marten comes from a hugely wealthy family, growing up in this country house in dorset. she became estranged from herfamily in 2016 when she met mark gordon. he was convicted of rape in the united states aged just 1a and served 20 years in prison before being deported back to the uk. the two of them left their home in london in september when her pregnancy started to show and stayed in a series of airbnbs — apparently trying to avoid being found. police believe their baby was born in the car but when the car caught fire on the m61 near bolton onjanuary 5th, the police started to investigate. cctv showed them visiting harwich, then london, where they bought a tent, and eventually newhaven. their baby was definitely alive at this stage, as the taxi driver who drove them there heard it. but at that point, they disappeared, only to re—emerge six

weeks later in brighton when they were arrested. tonight, in the woods, just a few hundred metres away, police officers now guard a crime scene where an infant's body was found. though only forensic tests will confirm if it is the missing baby. a french government minister is warning the country could be on the verge of a water crisis, as a result of an ongoing winter drought. parts of france has had little or no rain in the last few weeks and water levels have dropped alarmingly. spain has also suffered from the drought, as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. this is, or perhaps was, france's longest river, which seems to be disappearing before our eyes. forweek seems to be disappearing before our eyes. for week after week no rain has come. the driest. since records began more than 60 years ago and for the people who live here, are worrying

times. translation: i who live here, are worrying times. translation:- times. translation: i am scared, times. translation: i am scared. i— times. translation: i am scared, i feel _ times. translation: i am scared, i feel like - times. translation: i am scared, i feel like we - times. translation: i am scared, i feel like we all i times. translation: | aml scared, i feel like we all like water. i have never seen this. often at this time of year, when the snow melts, there is a lot of water but right now it is shocking to see no water. translation:— translation: there is no fishina translation: there is no fishing left. _ translation: there is no fishing left. back- translation: there is no fishing left. back in - translation: there is no fishing left. back in the i translation: there is no | fishing left. back in the day, the water levels were high and we caught fish. right now it is no good, we cannot fish anymore, at least for now. winter is normally a period for restoring water levels but not this year. 2022 was the second hottest. europe has experienced. reduce crops, greater risk of wildfire and potentially rationing. translation:- potentially rationing. translation: ~ ., ., translation: we are in a particular— translation: we are in a particular situation - translation: we are in a | particular situation because translation: we are in a - particular situation because we are on the verge of a water crisis in our country for the next summer so we are in the process of acting upon it. it process of acting upon it. it is notjust france that process of acting upon it. it is not just france that suffers is notjust france that suffers from it. this is the catalonian

river of spain, more dry river beds, more concerned about the future and the problems, change can cause. people will not be able to wash their cars or feel their swimming pool. able to wash their cars or feel theirswimming pool. rain is forecast for the future but long time, water or the lack of it is still a major concern. tim allman, bbc news. the singer ed sheeran has opened up about the fear, depression and anxiety he experienced last year after a series of events. he says he spiralled into depression after his wife was diagnosed with a tumour while pregnant, and his close friend the music entrepreneurjamal edwards died unexpectedly at the age of 31. ed sheeran says he used songwriting to make sense of his feelings and get through those experiences. here's our music correspondent, mark savage. # i am in love with the shape of you # we push and pull like a magnet do... up—beat pop songs like bad habit and shape of you have made ed sheeran a global

superstar but earlier this year he released a one—off singled that was filled with angst and despair. # therapy sessions digging deep in depression # i've got a life full of blessings # but this just breaks my (bleep) heart... f6a was a tribute to his friend and mentor, jamal edwards, who died suddenly last february. # and yo, we cried for nine nights at your family home, # laid you to rest in the ground but without a stone. # you know it hits me most at moments now when i'm alone # every morning, i remember that you're really gone now sheeran has revealed that edwards death coincided with a series of traumatic events in his personal life. in a hand—written letter, he told fans his wife, cherry seaborn, got told she had a tumour with no route to treatment until after the birth. around at the same time, sheeran was at the centre of a copyrighted trial. he wrote: the best feeling in the world — the best feeling — is the euphoria around the first idea of writing

a great song, like, the first spark where you go, "this is special, "we can't spoil this, this is amazing." but that feeling has now turned into, gasps oh, wait, let's stand back fora minute, like, have we touched anything... you find yourself in the moment second—guessing yourself. # paradise before my world ends... facing depression and anxiety, he turned to songwriting, scrapping more than 100 tracks he'd written for his sixth album, subtract, and starting again. announcing the record today, sheeran described it as "opening the trapdoor to my soul". fans will get to hear the results in may. mark savage, bbc news. a reminder of our top story, the fbi says it is likely wuhan emerged from a laboratory in

wuhan. —— covid. others say there is no evidence to support there is no evidence to support the theory. thank you for watching. hello there. we're starting off with the weather news that february was a very dry month across the whole of the uk, but particularly so in england. the driest in england for 30 years, and parts of essex only had 3.5 millimetres of rain for the whole month. now, this is the satellite picture from wednesday. you can see the extent of the cloud across the uk, but look closely, we've got some clearer skies set to head into northwest scotland and some clearer skies over the continent that are set to break the cloud across east anglia, the south midlands and southern counties of england as well. whereas this thick cloud out in the north sea, that's going to continue to bring outbreaks of rain over the next few hours. light and patchy stuff across the south and east of scotland and northern england.

so, certainly some pretty damp weather here, albeit the rain not particularly heavy. now where the skies do clear, we're looking at a widespread frost towards the southeast east. lowest temperatures about —2 and down to about —a in the highlands of scotland in the coldest spots. now, we'll take a look at the charts then for thursday. remember, we've got that much thicker cloud across northern england, southern eastern scotland. still some patches of light rain to come through the morning, so quite a damp start to the day. best of the sunshine across southern england, the south midlands, southern wales and also north west scotland, and maybe some breaks in the cloud getting into northern ireland at times. temperatures not really changing much, in what we've seen over recent days, 8 to 10 degrees, but feeling cooler than that in the chilly northeasterly wind that we've still got. i think on friday, by and large, it should be a dry and bright day for most of us, with some sunny spells breaking through at times. temperatures not really changing a great deal, we're looking at highs again around 8 or 9 degrees celsius or so. now, there will be some changes in the weather pattern as we head into this weekend. what we're looking at on saturday is probably a bit more cloud coming back in from the north sea and sunday, the cloud thickens further to bring us some patchy outbreaks of light rain.

and, so, probably a dry day on saturday, bright conditions sunday, the chance of a few patches of rain from time to time, but nothing particularly heavy. beyond that, the weather gets a bit more interesting into next week. what happens is we get northerly winds bringing polar air southwards across the uk, and with that there'll be a significant drop in temperatures, we'll see a return of widespread night—time frost. will be a bit of sunshine around, but, also, for some of us, we're looking at a return of wintry weather with snow in the forecast for some of you. that's the latest.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the director of the fbi says it's most likely that covid—19 emerged from a chinese government—controlled laboratory in wuhan. in response, china's accused the fbi of politicising the investigation into the origins of coronavirus, and says there's been no new scientific evidence to support the theory. greece's prime minister has blamed tragic human error for the country's worst ever rail disaster. it's now reported to have killed at least a3 people. the passenger service heading to thessaloniki collided with a freight train in the town of tempi near the central city of larissa. a french government minister's warning the country could be on the verge of a water crisis as a result of an ongoing winter drought. france has had little rain

in the last few weeks and water levels have dropped alarmingly.