this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories. after a decade of talks, more than 100 un member states agree on a treaty to protect our oceans. the ship has reached the shore. china will boost military spending by more than 7% and will train more of its soldiers under combat conditions. supporters of pakistan's former prime minister imran khan gather at his house after reports he's about to be arrested. we'll be live in islamabad. and prince harry describes writing his memoir as an act of service in the hope that sharing details will help others.

once the book came out, i felt incredibly free. i felt a huge weight off my shoulders. a historic agreement to protect the world's oceans has been approved, after ten years of talks. the high seas treaty aims to safeguard marine life in 30% of areas that don't belong to any single country. marine life is at risk from climate change, pollution and overfishing, but only about 1% of these areas are currently protected. the deal is being hailed as a massive step by climate activists as our reporter esme stalla rd reports. the ship has reached the shore. cheering and applause

it took all night, but countries from around the world finally agreed on how to protect the high seas. we will formally adopt the text in all six official languages of the united nations. high seas are international waters that aren't controlled by any nation. they make up two thirds of the world's oceans and play host to most of our planet's marine life — some two million species. until now, all countries had a right to fish, ship and research in these areas, but it's left the animals and plants living there vulnerable. around 10% of monitored species are at risk of extinction. i think that this treaty that will lay the groundwork for creating 30% of the ocean into marine sanctuaries that cannot be fished in is so important. we have to save these creatures. talks were deadlocked for years, mostly over how genetic material

from plants and animals found in the high seas should be shared between nations. several important drugs, including treatments for covid, hiv and cancer, were developed from marine life. the potential for profit is huge. but no—one knows how much ocean resources are truly worth, nor how they could be split. it's a little bit hard to even wrap our heads around how big and how distant these areas are. if you imagine, like, a big high—definition wide—screen tv and if only, like, three or four of the pixels on that giant screen are working, that's kind of our knowledge of the deep ocean. we don't know so much of what's going on. countries will need to meet again to formally adopt the treaty. but for many, now there will be much relief. esme stallard, bbc news. let's speak to the bbc world service environment correspondent navin singh khadka.

it's taken a long time to get here, hasn't it? but there seem to be a very lot of happy people today about this announcement. yes very lot of happy people today about this announcement.— this announcement. yes indeed. it remains to — this announcement. yes indeed. it remains to be _ this announcement. yes indeed. it remains to be seen _ this announcement. yes indeed. it remains to be seen how _ this announcement. yes indeed. it remains to be seen how actually . this announcement. yes indeed. it l remains to be seen how actually this will be implemented, and just to make it clear, this is yet to be adopted. the legalities, that is where they will have to work. and actually, the sharing of resources, actually, the sharing of resources, a massive controversial issue, how will it be implemented? yet to be seen. and again, things like deep sea mining, will that be really assessed before actions happen? it's already a controversial issue. things like that, yet to be seen. 50 things like that, yet to be seen. so just explain, neither areas are going to be created as affected areas, and as you say, the implementation will be the key, who is going to ensure people stick to the rules in these vast areas? right. so let me take you back to

last december, when they decide this biodiversity agreement that committed to 30% of the ocean, 30% of the land conservation. the thing was, that was an agreement but there was, that was an agreement but there was no legal ground how you implement it. this treaty, the high seas treaty as it is known, will help to secure that legal framework to secure what is known as the marine protected areas, mpas, and thatis marine protected areas, mpas, and that is how they will go about it, to know where the locations are, 30% of the oceans... that is where they have to really work on it. because there were disputes on the basis of consensus, or boating? that took time, and that is now thrashed out. —— or voting? lots to be worked on. you briefly mentioned the genetic material side of things. i know you

said there is not full agreement, but these are the materials that can go on to be used to make vital drugs in the future. we may not even know what is out there in terms of how useful it is, but what are the options in terms of sharing that? well, the thing is, this is about the vast genetic materials there... again, we don't even know what they are right now. we are talking about pharmaceuticals, as we saw in that report, treatments for several diseases. and also other things, for example, deep sea mining, when we talk about all those rare materials to make electrics, batteries, things like that. those are the things, again, how do you actually share? that is broadly agreed now, but again, there is a high alliance of countries working on this. poor countries working on this. poor countries have also joined countries working on this. poor countries have alsojoined in. but

the details yet to come out. there is broad agreement. let's hope this works. , , ., , is broad agreement. let's hope this works. , ,,, ., works. this is a first step. how many years _ works. this is a first step. how many years are _ works. this is a first step. how many years are we _ works. this is a first step. how many years are we talking - works. this is a first step. how many years are we talking for. works. this is a first step. how - many years are we talking for more concrete developments? lots of people now have to go home and it has to be agreed domestically, there are so many further steps required. how long are we talking? weill. are so many further steps required. how long are we talking?— how long are we talking? well, it took around _ how long are we talking? well, it took around 20 _ how long are we talking? well, it took around 20 years _ how long are we talking? well, it took around 20 years to - how long are we talking? well, it took around 20 years to get - how long are we talking? well, it| took around 20 years to get here. and now we don't know, actually. the sooner, the better. but as you know with all these treaties we've seen in the past, let's say with the climate treaty, what happened with the biodiversity treaty, it takes time. but the thing is, what we need to understand here, i must quickly mention, this is notjust about those minerals or genetic materials. oceans, as you know, half or the oxygen we breathe is from the ocean. similarly, the regulation of climate, climate change, how the

climates are regulated, it's all about that as well. that is why scientists are saying this has to be done as soon as possible. there is urgency. without that, none of the other agreements, climate agreement, biodiversity agreement, none of them can be implemented. that is why there is urgency and countries are under pressure. it’s there is urgency and countries are under pressure.— under pressure. it's a good first step anyway. — under pressure. it's a good first step anyway, thank _ under pressure. it's a good first step anyway, thank you - under pressure. it's a good first step anyway, thank you very - under pressure. it's a good first. step anyway, thank you very much. the greek prime minister, kyriakos mitsotakis, has asked the families of the victims of tuesday's rail disaster for forgiveness. at least 57 people died when two trains collided near the city of larissa. in a facebook post addressed to the nation, mr mitsotakis said he owed everyone an apology but especially the victims' relatives. the incident caused national outrage, with thousands of students and striking railway workers protesting near parliament in athens, the latest demonstration over the privatisation of the railway system.

here are the scenes in athens, some protestors remain. thousands of people have gathered. estimates say around 7500 people, largely students and railway workers, gathered outside parliament. reports or some clashes between demonstrators and police. that is the seen live in athens, people demonstrating about the rail crash. china will increase military spending by more than 7% this year, with the premier, li keqiang, calling for more training under combat conditions. speaking at the opening of the country's parliament, mr li said attempts to contain china were escalating. beijing's military budget, more than $200 billion, is still dwarfed by that of the united states, which is four times greater. the gathering is being used by president xi jinping to further consolidate his power. china set an economic growth target of "around 5%" for 2023, one of the lowest in decades. earlier i spoke to didi tang, the beijing correspondent

for the british newspaper the times, who explained more about the government's economic plans. every year when congress, national people's congress, when they meet, one of the things on the agenda is to approve the annual budget, this is always of high interest, always interested in how much money will be spent in china on its military. the military spending has always been increasing at a higher rate than national gdp growth. this year, it will increase by 7.2%. whereas the target for economic growth is set around 5%. the 7.2% increase in military spending in the budget is coming after china posted a 3% increase in gdp for 2022.

so this is sort of like china trying to accelerate or keep up or trying to make up for the loss, whatever it is, trying to bring its military spending to a certain level. the rivalry between us and china, always seeing what china will do, with a higher military budget, and the spokesperson for the chinese national people's congress, he said at the press conference yesterday, it is reasonable, china needs to boost, needs to have higher military spending. because, you know... i was just going to say, in general setting a goal of 5% for general growth and in terms... the general economy. yes, and the question is, what does it tell you that some it's quite a low number,

isn't it, for china? a modest ambition. not for other countries around the world, but for china, 5% is quite a modest ambition. what does it tell us about the state of the economy? a lot of suffering because of the zero covid policy and how able they will be to recover quickly from that? right, china expects to rebound from the zero covid policy from the last three years. the chinese economy only grew by 3% in 2022 and that is one of the slowest in decades. 2020, first year of the pandemic, growth was also pretty low, but 2022, for china to grow only 3%... a lot of catch—up to do and i think what we have seen here in the past several weeks is there has been pent—up demand and people want to go out to shop and travel. so the government is looking forward to some kind of very robust economic recovery.

but at the same time, they also know the conditions have changed. you are talking about the us—china rivalry, and in china, ithink the government wants to be less ambitious, they want to be more steady, and indeed don't want to get their hopes too high so that's why they are setting the growth target at 5%, which is pretty conservative, in my opinion, probably china can do better than 5%. but they don't want to be too ambitious. last year, china was setting economic growth at 5.5%. of course at the end of the year it was only 3%. things can happen, and china wants to be more conservative when setting the target for 2023. ukrainian forces remain under pressure from russian troops

in the besieged city of bakhmut, which russia has been trying to capture for months. thousands of russian troops have died trying to take the eastern city. if it falls, it will be the first russian victory in more than six months. the italian newspaper la repubblica's war correspondent, fabio tonacci, gave us more information about the situation on the ground. people are really concerned with what's happening in bakhmut. they are aware that kramatorsk, the biggest city in the donetsk region, still in full control by ukrainians, could be the next one. that's why they are so concerned about the situation in bakhmut, which is terrible by the way. bakhmut, like now, is almost encircled by the russians. surrounded on three sides, north, east and west. and south,

there's only one way out, but that road is terribly dangerous. it's a six miles long mardy street. the final part of the street is into the green zone. —— mardy street. the russian position is less than 500 metres. the last bridge had been blown out by russia. so here in kramatorsk, people know these stories, they have information. so they are really scared what is going to be next. it's not going to be fast, because kramatorsk is 30 miles away from bakhmut. but they are all aware that it's a target for putin.

and focusing on that situation in bakhmut, we are hearing people say that it might be falling. is that your assessment? that it might be falling. is that yourassessment? is that it might be falling. is that your assessment? is that the sense you're getting, that it's just a matter of time? or are you seeing the ukrainian forces holding the fort? mr; the ukrainian forces holding the fort? ~ , , , the ukrainian forces holding the fort? y , , , the ukrainian forces holding the fort? g , , , ., the ukrainian forces holding the fort? g ,,, ., .,, fort? my guess is that ukrainians are preparing _ fort? my guess is that ukrainians are preparing the _ fort? my guess is that ukrainians are preparing the ground - fort? my guess is that ukrainians are preparing the ground for - fort? my guess is that ukrainians are preparing the ground for a i are preparing the ground for a controlled retreat. that means they are still there, still fighting, as far as we know they are fighting block by block. many neighbourhoods are totally destroyed. the city's under shelling from both sides. but ukrainians are still there. supporters of pakistan's former prime minister imran khan have gathered outside his home in lahore. mr khan is facing arrest. a judge issued a warrant last week after he failed to appear in court,

in a case relating to incorrectly declaring presents from foreign leaders. mr khan says the case is politically motivated. let's go live now to islamabad and speak to our correspondent farhat javed. tell us what's going on now outside his home. ., ., ., , his home. right now, imran khan is also making — his home. right now, imran khan is also making a _ his home. right now, imran khan is also making a speech _ his home. right now, imran khan is also making a speech to _ his home. right now, imran khan is also making a speech to the - also making a speech to the protesters who have gathered outside his residence in lahore. earlier today, is laba reached lahore to arrest imran khan on orders from a court last week when imran khan did not appear before the court in a case which was linked with the gifts he received as prime minister and later on sold them. today police reached there to arrest him but until now they haven't arrested him. we have spoken to the inspector general of the police and he said they are determined arrest imran khan today but his party say they

are having consultation with the legal team to see what strategy they can adopt after today's development. right now, outside imran khan's home in lahore, a huge crowd of his supporters have gathered to stop police. earlierthey supporters have gathered to stop police. earlier they stop the police from entering the residents. so the supporters are there, is a bad police, they are being helped by the local punjab police as well, so this is the situation right now. imran khan's legal team meeting, and the rest of the leadership of his party also present at his residence today. large numbers of people outside his residence today. are you able to ascertain how popular he is in terms of nationally? film. ascertain how popular he is in terms of nationally?— of nationally? oh, yes, imran khan is very popular— of nationally? oh, yes, imran khan is very popular right _ of nationally? oh, yes, imran khan is very popular right now. - of nationally? oh, yes, imran khan is very popular right now. probably| is very popular right now. probably one of the most popular leaders in the country right now. his

popularity skyrocketed in fact, last year, when there was a no confidence motion about him and he had to leave the prime minister'soffice. since then, rallied and lodged protests across the country, and there have been thousands of people appearing at the rallies. add one of the rallies back in november, there was an assassination attempt on imran khan. he got a gunshot injury. since he was recovering from that gunshot injury. that was the reason he wasn't appearing in the court. several cases filed against him in different courts, in the capital and other courts in other provinces as well. as far as his popularity is concerned, imran khan indeed is very popular, especially after he left the prime minister office. there are people who came out in his support, in the rallies even when he himself wasn't present. so until now he has been able to gather large crowds in his rallies. he does have a lot of

support, especially in the middle class of the country.— class of the country. thanks very much. class of the country. thanks very much- we _ class of the country. thanks very much. we will— class of the country. thanks very much. we will keep _ class of the country. thanks very much. we will keep you - class of the country. thanks very much. we will keep you across l class of the country. thanks very l much. we will keep you across any developments. large rallies have taken place across israel for the ninth consecutive week in protest at the government's plans to overhaul the judicial system. tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in tel aviv, where police used water cannon to clear the crowds. there were also some clashes injerusalem. the government's proposed reforms would allow ministers to choose supreme courtjudges, and would limit the court's powers. critics describe it as an attack on democracy. our reporter sofia bettiza reports. for the ninth week in a row, tens of thousands of israelis took to the streets in the capital, jerusalem, and in tel aviv. they've been protesting against a controversial plan by prime minister benjamin netanyahu that would allow ministers to choose

supreme courtjudges and would limit the court's powers. tonight, we came to express our democratic rights and to fight for what's right and to hope that there will be a constitution and the separation of authorities will remain as it is and will improve, without impulsive reforms and without crazy people in the parliament. parliament includes a number of nationalist religious parties that have made changes to the justice system a key priority. they say that the supreme court needs to be reigned needs to be reined in from overreaching into the political sphere. but many fear that this will weaken the court and give the government too much influence when appointing judges. the separation of powers is very important and they want to cut the judicial independence

and i think it's very dangerous. besides, what's very dangerous is the way this government is treating palestinians, and the fact that it wants to annex big parts of the west bank. it's very extreme nationalist, racist, religious, even fascist government. these were the largest demonstrations so far against the government's judicial reforms. they were largely peaceful. but later in the night, things turned violent. some people broke down barricades... ..and blocked highways. the police used water cannons to clear the crowds. and things are getting increasingly tense. earlier this week, police in tel aviv fired stun grenades at protesters. but with many people fearing that democracy in israel is under threat, those tensions are likely

to get worse. sofia bettiza, bbc news. donald trump has revealed he plans to stay in the race for the us presidency next year, even if he's charged in connection with one of several criminal investigations into his activities. speaking at a conference of conservative activists in washington, he claimed he would end the ukraine conflict in a day and prevent a third world war. he also told delegates he wanted to avenge his defeat in the 2020 election. prince harry has described writing his book spare as an act of service, and says he hopes that sharing details of his life will help others. here's our royal correspondent daniela relph. good morning, harry. for an hour and a half, they talked. it had the feel of a therapy session. prince harry on grief, family and trauma. i certainly don't see myself as a victim.

i'm really grateful to be able to share my story. i do not and i have never looked for sympathy in this. you had to buy a ticket to watch the online conversation. each one came with a copy of spare. harry described writing his book as an act of service and spoke of feeling trapped within the royal family. i always felt slightly different to the rest of my family. ifelt strange being in this, erm, container, and i know that my mum felt the same. now 38 years old, dad to a son and a daughter, he vowed not to repeat what he saw as past mistakes. i, as a father, feel a huge responsibility to ensure that i don't pass on any traumas that... ..orany, iguess, negative experiences that i've had as a kid or as a man growing up. harry was candid about

his own mental health. dr gabor mate even diagnosed him as having attention deficit disorder, a condition that affects behaviour, and they spoke of using psychedelic medication. i started doing it recreationally and then started to realise how good it was for me. and i would say that it is one of the fundamental parts of my life that changed me and helped me deal with the traumas and the pains of the past. on serving in afghanistan, not all of us agreed with the war, he said, but we did what we were trained to do. there was, though, nothing about his current relationship with the royal family. no questions on whether he'd be at his father's coronation. and as to his wife, meghan, he described her as an "exceptional human being" to whom he was eternally grateful. daniela relph, bbc news.

that's all, thanks for your company. hello. it feels chilly enough already out there today but things will get colder over the week ahead. today there is a lot of cloud, little or no sunshine, and probably more showers than yesterday, typically affecting northern ireland and northern scotland, where they are wintry over the mountain tops. temperatures could make eight or nine degrees in northern ireland and western scotland, chillier than yesterday but more cloud and showers to come overnight. change across scotland with this band of rain, sleet and snow over the hills, and then the air gets colder in northern scotland, snow showers and ice and frost,

and we could see cloud breaking across eastern england, leading to frost early on monday. things get colder because we have a northerly wind pushing down across the whole of the uk, bringing cold air from the arctic. that colder air follows the band of rain here, maybe sleet and snow over the pennines. ahead of that, across england and wales, cloud and some showers. sunshine for northern england, scotland, northern ireland, snow showers especially in northern scotland, temperature is only one or two degrees. southern parts of england and wales could see temperatures of eight or nine, but this band of cloud and rain moving south, cold air coming in behind that could bring snow to southern england, and a cold and frosty and icy on tuesday with many places dry with sunshine, but snow showers packing in on the northerly wind. temperatures on tuesday four or five

degrees, colder than today, but when you factor in a strong northerly wind affecting northern scotland and the east coast of england it will feel especially cold. this is a reminder of what's to come on monday and tuesday, snow showers across the north and east of scotland and north—east england, as much as 20 centimetres of snow in higher parts of northern scotland. after that on tuesday night, widespread clear skies and wind, then a widespread sharp frost with temperatures as low as minus ten. the future is more uncertain, as the forecast keeps changing, looking like it will be cold but with weather fronts coming in, the chance of snow a little more widely.

this is bbc news. the headlines: un member states have finally struck a deal to protect the world's oceans, after more than a decade of negotiations. the high seas treaty is designed to safeguard 30% of oceans that lie outside national boundaries, by 2030. china will increase military spending by more than 7% this year, with the premier, li cur—chi—ang, calling for more training under combat conditions. speaking at the opening of the country's parliament, mr li said attempts to contain china were escalating. israel has seen the largest protests so far against the government's

planned judicial reforms. up to 200,000 people took to the streets,