this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the bbc�*s star football presenter, gary lineker, has been suspended over comments he made criticising the british government's asylum policy. britain will pay france hundreds of millions of dollars over the next three years for a new detention centre and more patrols to help clamp down on migrants crossing the channel in small boats. there's no one solution to solving this very complicated problem, and nor will it be solved overnight. my hope is that our new legislation will help. notjust france and uk have to work closely together in order precisely to dismantle these groups and to be more efficient. saudi arabia and iran have agreed to re—establish diplomatic ties seven years after riyadh�*s embassy

in tehran was attacked following the saudi execution of a shia cleric. the bbc says highest—paid and most recognised presenter, gary lineker, will step back from fronting its flagship football programme after he criticised the british government's migration policy. the broadcaster said that lineker, a former england captain, would not present his popular programme, match of the day, until an agreement was reached over his social media use. in a tweet, he'd compared the language used by the uk government to set out its plan to that used by germany in the 1930s. the bbc said lineker should keep away from "taking sides on party political issues" under its impartiality guidelines. his co—presenters, former footballers and pundits

alan shearer and ian wright, say they will not appear on the saturday night programme "in solidarity". here's our media correspondent david sillito. gary lineker, for more than 20 years, the face of match of the day. and it was only yesterday that he said on twitter he was looking forward to presenting once again on saturday. the bbc has decided, no. in a statement this afternoon, it said his recent tweets on social media had broken guidelines and the bbc has decided that he will step back from presenting match of the day until we've got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media. the issue? a tweet in which he described a statement by the home secretary as "beyond awful".

and then defended the comment saying the policy was "immeasurably cruel" and the language used "is not dissimilar to that used by germany in the �*30s". a comparison which the home secretary said was deeply offensive. and i don't think anything that is happening in the uk today can come close to what happened in the holocaust. however, when he left his house yesterday, he was asked if he feared suspension and he said no. do you fear getting suspended? no. gary lineker said nothing as he left home today, but his match of the day colleague ian wright won't be appearing either in solidarity, and alistair campbell, who has a podcast with gary lineker�*s production company, also thinks this is wrong. i think this decision is driven by an utterly craven political cowardice at the top of the bbc,

and that is what has led to gary lineker... and this thing about stepping backwards, let's be absolutely frank about this, gary has been, it has been made clear to gary lineker, he is not presenting match of the day because he's not toeing the line. it's not the first time gary lineker has broken bbc guidelines, but last time, he wasjust reminded of his responsibilities. now, it's rather more serious. the bbc said he is second to none as a sports presenter, but he should keep away from political controversies. the bbc�*s director—general, tim davie, gave his reaction. director—general, hello, if gary lineker breached | the guidelines, why didn't you sack him? _ well, i think we always look to make proportionate action, and that's what we've done. but have you just kicked it further down the line? - aren't you delaying the inevitable? well, i don't want to add to the statement. i think we've had very constructive discussions. the statement�*s very clear, and that's where we are. it's becoming a crisis, though. you've now got ian wright . and alan shearer pulling out of match of the day. is the programme still going to go ahead? i no, i absolutely respect people's right to make that decision, and bbc sport have to look at the programme they're going to produce for the weekend as normal. but thanks so much, i haven't got more to add.

do you want the programme to go ahead tomorrow? - would you expect the programme to go ahead tomorrow? _ i'm not going to say more than i've said on this, and i thank you so much. it's all in the statement, thank you very much. i spoke earlier to brendan clarke—smith, conservative mp for bassetlaw. now, of course, i'm not one of these people who's calling for him to be fired from hisjob, and i don't believe in cancel culture or anything like that. but i think if you look at the standards that are for other bbc employees, if they'd have said that, they'd have been taken to task for it. and i don't see why gary lineker should be given a free licence to say what he wants whenever he wants without any form of comeback on that.

now, the comparison to germany in the 1930s, i thought was absolutely appalling, you know? we have immigration policies. he's free to disagree with that as he disagrees with many other things. i want to put the words of the opposition labour party to you. a party source has said, "the bbc�*s cowardly decision to take gary lineker off air is an assault on free speech in the face of political pressure. tory politicians lobbying to get people sacked for disagreeing with government policy should be laughed at, not pandered to. the bbc should rethink their position." what do you think about that, tory politicians lobbying to get people sacked for disagreeing with them? well, i've not seen anybody trying to get anybody sacked, but all we've said is you've got to be responsible with what you say. now comparing what we think are firm but actually fair measures to stop the illegal migration, and of course people are dying in the channel. remember, we've had 40,000 people come over on small boats, and we want a solution to that. and the problem that's actually happening in terms people being able to find a doctor and with housing, and we're trying to solve it in a sensible and balanced way. but to be compared to an evil regime that murdered 6 million people is going too far. i think gary lineker was wrong to do that. i think he's entitled to an opinion, but you can't

say whatever you like. and i'm sorry that the labour party, rather than backing that firm but fair immigration measure, instead want to back gary lineker and what he said. that's what the opposition labour party's shadow home secretary yvette cooper mp told the bbc. well, i've heard that there's been some different, competing, - conflicting reports on this, - so obviously this is just a matter for gary lineker and for the bbc. but my concern is that, really, |the focus on this is being used by the government both to find someone to blame and also - to distract from their own serious l failures on policies and the factl that we've just not seen a strong enough and a big enough- new agreement with france given the challenges that we face. - i'm spoke to roger bolton, former bbc exec and presenter of radio 4's feedback.

he gave us this thoughts. i think it's a total mess, of course, and now we've heard from various of gary lineker�*s friends and colleagues, match of the day, refusing to take part, but i don't know what will happen tomorrow night, but perhaps you can present the programme. it's a total mess, but i think the bbc is right. impartiality is desperately important. the impression of impartiality is desperately important. and if you do have a presenter talking not at great length, but on twitter about a matter of real controversy where the country is divided, then it does matter and i'm afraid to say i don't think gary lineker should have tweeted in that way. the bbc should have resolved this much earlier by ensuring that his contract said he shouldn't tweet about these things, and now it's a complete mess. but in the end, the bbc

has taken, in my view, the right decision. but they have really just bought some time. they're going to engage in more talks and try to reach an agreement. what kind of agreement do you think they could possibly reach that would not breach impartiality guidelines? they can't. the only thing they could do is gary lineker agreeing not to tweet on these issues. and i think is desperately damaging because it damaging because it will, first of all, the major issue you will be discussing of course about immigration and the meetings between the french and british governments and that is crucially important. dealing with a very difficult issue. this is a side issue in a way, but it doesn'tt matter. people can trust bbc and people like you to be impartial and not let... but you said people like me. i'm a news presenter, and there are many gary lineker is on a freelance contract and is not a bbc staff member.

he doesn't work as a news presenter and is a sports presenter. surely there is some grey area there, many would say. of course there is a grey area, and all you say is true, but he is the most highly noted the most highly noted presenter on the bbc and for many he is the face of the bbc. he has to acknowledge that and also has to not bring the bbc into disrepute or getting involved in this especially at this time. i think he is a fantastic presenter and i actually share his views about the issue, but he should not be talking in this way and the bbc should have resolved this earlier but i think the really damaging thing about this is judging by the debate now that's going on, is breaking into a right—left debate and on the whole the government and its supporters telling bbc you've done the right thing and on the whole of

the labour and those on the liberal position see this as being grotesque bias. and of course it's a cock—up, but the bbc have to hold onto his idea of impartiality as its vital people think they can believe that everybody presents for the bbc, whether if you're news programmes or major are trying to put their own personal views to the side and tell it straight. but it's a mess. iran and saudi arabia have agreed to re—establish diplomatic relations after a seven—year interruption. they will also resume trade and security relations and reopen their respective embassies within two months. the announcement came after discussions in china. both sides have been quoted praising beijing's role. the countries have had no formal ties since 2016, when riyadh�*s embassy in tehran was attacked following the saudi execution of a shia cleric. earlier, i spoke to aaron david miller, a senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for peace, and asked him how much of a surprise this was. the process of trying to affect a saudi—iranian reconciliation has been under way for a number of years. the iraqis and the omanis tried their hand at it, but i think what's interesting is the chinese element here.

and there's a lot we don't know about this, but it's clear there was a clear coincidence of interest on the part of the three sides. for president xi, it's a break—out strategy in an effort to improve his international isolation and to demonstrate that china may not be a secuirity player in the region but is a political player. for the iranians, being included in the region, it demonstrates a clear legitimacy to now essentially be in a diplomatic process with their archrivals the saudis, and for the saudis, i think it sends a clear message to washington that saudi arabia doesn't believe in a unipolar world any more and that russia and china have emerged as key players and don't expect the kind of fidelity of relations between the us and saudi arabia. so it's significant, but i wouldn't hold my breath in believing that this is going to usher in a golden age of reconciliation between the two, but it is significant and it is emblematic i think of regional adjustment to great power manoeuvring. just briefly, will it create a significant opening for peace in places where there are conflicts,

where saudi arabia and iran are on opposing sides, for example the ongoing war in yemen? yemen offers i think very productive possible pathway. it's going to be tough and yemen has a lot of problems and not the least of which is the saudi intervention, but i think that is a process more than anything else, but the other issue is the nuclear issue. tricky to see how that's going to play. the saudis are interested in a civilian nuclear programme. mbs made no commitments to either south korea or china shopping for nuclear reactors, so that's an issue that bears watching as well. i also think this probably caught washington by surprise, and it's now looking at the region from a position for the first time in many years as essentially an outsider in some

of these matters. stay with us on bbc world news. britain will pay france hundreds of millions of dollars over the next three years for a new detention centre and more to help clamp down on migrants in the english channel in small boats. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this, the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 2a hours, then, the soviet union lost an elderly, sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots from the gym, then they came out firing. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, - sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, i travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. i

paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much, do you think? i don't know, really, i've never been married before. this is bbc news. the latest headlines — the bbc�*s star football presenter, gary lineker, has been suspended over comments criticising the british government's new asylum policy. iran and saudi arabia are to re—establish diplomatic relations after seven years of hostilities in a deal mediated by beijing. regulators in the us have shut down silicon valley bank, one of the major lender to tech companies and startups. it marks the largest banking failure in the us since the 2008 financial crisis. the silicon valley bank had run

into trouble after it failed to raise enough capital to shore up losses sparked by rising interest rates. britain will give france nearly half a billion dollars over the next three years to pay for more french help in stopping migrants crossing the channel on small boats. the deal was agreed at a summit in paris between the uk prime minister rishi sunak and french president emmanuel macron. our political editor chris mason reports now from paris. heading overseas by train, the early service to france, arriving in the courtyard of the elysees palace... is france a friend ori foe, prime minister? a reminder that relations have been bumpy of late. but look at this, a warm parisian breeze, pleasantries and handshakes, arm in arm, hand in hand. the two leaders met for an hour and 20 minutes,

although we were eased out rather sooner. later, they almost gushed in mutual admiration. i believe today's meeting does mark a new beginning, an entente renewed. the french president said the summit was exceptional and a moment of reunion, of reconnection. and the prime minister set out why they thought a new deal for dealing with migrants was necessary. emmanuel and i share the same belief — criminal gangs should not get to decide who comes to our countries. within weeks of my coming into office, we agreed our largest ever small boats deal. and today, we've taken our cooperation to an unprecedented level to tackle this shared challenge. today's new deal will see more than double the number of personnel deployed here in northern france. this will be paid for in part by the uk more than doubling its annual funding for this.

some of the money will help build a detention centre in france, too, although it won't be fully up and running until the end of 2026. all part of the efforts to cut the number of people trying to cross the channel like this. the same question to you both, if i may — do you think you'll ever be able to arrange a deal where migrants leaving france for the uk are returned to france? what you've seen today is an unprecedented level of cooperation on tackling this shared challenge, cos that is what it is, it's a shared challenge. and going forward, there will be more that we can do. we started that last november. we've built on it today. first, i think we focus on what we have to do in the short run. second, this is not an agreement between uk and france, but an agreement between uk and the eu because to be in agreement are no more in a situation to be implemented. so this is something

now to be negotiated. in other words, a returns agreement isn't happening. brexit has been something of a stone in the shoe of uk—france relations for years, but the prime minister hopes he has shaken it out, with his personal relationship with the president and that new brexit deal for northern ireland which has improved relations with the european union. but, on the issue of small boats, rishi sunak acknowledges there is no simple solution to resolve the issue. and remember, this is one of his key promises — resolving the issue. personal relationships aren't everything in diplomacy, but they do matter. bromance under a shared brolly tells you rather a lot about how things have changed. but ultimately it's what it delivers that really matters. chris mason, bbc news, in paris. a quick update on our top story, the

news of the fat the bbc says it's highest paid presenter gary lineker will step back from fronting his flagship football programme. a bbc spokesperson assess some of our pundits have said they don't wish to appear in the programme while we seek to resolve the situation with gary and we understand that position and decided the programme on saturday will focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry. so a slimmed—down programme on saturday for the match of the day programme. police in the city of hamburg in germany say a gunman has killed seven people, including an unborn child, at a religious service forjehovah�*s witnesses. they say the attacker, who was a former member jenny hill has the details and a warning — some viewers may find her report upsetting as it contains footage of the events as they unfolded. in the quiet of a suburb, a man prepares to kill. caught on a mobile phone as he peers through a window, readies his gun. inside, jehovah's witnesses had gathered to worship. oblivious to his presence, his intentions. gunshots.

translation: l was filming - with my phone and only realised through the zoom that someone was shooting at the jehovah's witnesses. by the time police arrived, he was inside, a deadly rampage under way, but then he turned his gun on himself. it's emerged that he once belonged to this community, but he'd left the jehovah's witnesses on bad terms. translation: it's a horrible act, a very cruel deed. - we've seen a few things in hamburg, but a mass killing on this scale is new to us. we knew it from tv, but we didn't imagine it could happen in our city. and he brought terror to the streets. casualties rushed to safety, no time for stretchers.

at this point, no—one knew whether he was acting alone. by first light, a terrible tally — seven people shot dead, among them an unborn baby. bodies brought out as investigators scoured the building. revelations emerging, too. police confirmed they once investigated and dismissed a tip—off that the attacker, who legally owned a gun, was mentally unstable. this is a city in mourning, but it's a country in shock, too. shock which deepens with every fresh distressing revelation. and one question persists here — why? jenny hill, bbc news, hamburg. during the pandemic, british government loans were meant to help keep uk companies afloat. now a bbc investigation can reveal the inside story of a criminal gang who stole more than £10

million of taxpayers' money under the scheme. they laundered tens of millions more. after a final court case which ended today, a total of ten people have now been sentenced to prison for their role in the massive fraud. our correspondent angus crawford has the details. bags full of cash. bundles of dirty notes. they even needed a safe. now, after a series of court cases, the inside story of the gang that stole £10 million of taxpayers' money. i've never seen anything like it. it is the biggest one i know of. it's the biggest one i've seen, and it's probably going to be the biggest one we will see for a long time. when covid shut down the economy, the chancellor announced the bounce back loan scheme. well, today, we announced a brand—new loan scheme... £50,000 on offer for small firms with few questions asked. the gang used a network of bogus companies to make hundreds of claims.

ringleaders artem terzyan and deivis grochiatskij received long prison sentences. they have strong links to lithuania, and we've learned that directors of two of the companies used in the fraud are still living there. and here they are — yekaterina kobrina and povilas bartkevicius, a model and a chef. we just want to ask you where the money went? what money? the money from the bounce back loans. your name is on a company, bart solution, yes? and that received £10 million in your name. yeah, your name. i don't know anything. if i had some money or 10,000, i didn't work twojobs here. - povilas tells us he has no idea his

name was being used in this way. next, we tracked down yekaterina. nice to meet you. yeah, nice to meet you. i ask her about the company in her name. but i don't know anything, and you should ask other people. no comments, only with my lawyer. we have no idea if either of them knew what those companies were being used for, and the national crime office says their investigation is over. it was a colossal sum of money gone to some very bad people. lord agnew was the government's counter fraud minister until he resigned. appalled by the loss of billions of pounds from the scheme. i am worried that there is still a reluctance to grip this with real vigour. so, as we stand, do we think that those at the top of government have learnt the lesson of the bounce

back loans scheme? i would like to hope so, but i'm not convinced. so, where does that leave us? we've found two people whose names are on the companies which were used for the money laundering and the bounce back loan fraud. but we just don't know if they had any idea where the money came from and where it went to. and as for that money, are we going to find it? is the british taxpayer going to get it back? it looks highly unlikely. loans which kept firms afloat also made criminals rich. angus crawford, bbc news. scientists say a global effort is needed to protect the earth's orbit from the danger posed by space debris. they estimate that 100 trillion pieces of old satellites are not being monitored. the researchers are calling for a legally—binding treaty on managing the spacejunk. that is all for now on bbc world news.

hello, good evening. it's been a much quieter day of weather today, but there's a lot of lying snow still across northern england and north wales in particular. this is sheffield as recorded by one of our weather watchers earlier on today. look at the blue sky and the sunshine that developed, but of course, sunny skies by day, clear skies by night. it will be feeling bitterly cold tonight, and there will also be plenty of icy stretches. some localised met office weather warnings in force for ice. now, our deep area of low pressure's now pulled off into the near continent, so the winds have lightened. and with light winds and clear skies tonight, a widespread frost developing away from the far south—west of devon and cornwall, where we've got a weather front just approaching there. watch out for the icy stretches. some snow showers still across parts of aberdeenshire. where we've got the lying snow, temperatures could possibly drop as low as —10 to —12 degrees celsius. it may well be the coldest night in england so far this year. so, in summary, over the weekend, yes, a very cold start. it will be dry for many, particularly towards the east

on saturday, but more snow expected for northern england and scotland on saturday night. it will be turning milderjust about everywhere as we head through the day on sunday. and a little more detail, then. here's our approaching weather front on saturday morning into devon and cornwall. a little bit of snow perhaps for the moors of the south—west, some hill snow across parts of wales, possibly even to lower levels for a time. and also some snow over the higher ground of northern ireland. our weather front approaches the north—west of england towards the end of the day. the brighter skies towards the east will cloud over as we head through the afternoon. it's still feeling rather chilly on saturday. possibly still some snow showers across the central belt of scotland. and in that cold air, as our system marches its way eastwards as we head through saturday night, we're likely to still see some snow even to lower levels across northern england and scotland. but the snow will become increasingly more confined to the hills as we head through the second half of the night. why? because we start to tap into this milder air coming in from the south—west, and on sunday, it will

feel a lot milder. so really rather unsettled, turning wetter and windier from the west as we head throughout the day. all of this falling as rain, of course, and temperatures will widely get into double—figures, 10—13 degrees celsius. a lot of snow melt into the start of next week.