the 1922 committee does still contain a great challenge to euro unity within the conservative party. there are already rebellions brewing over vat on fuel, defence cuts and rail privatisation. what are the core values that the conservative party has? motherhood, apple pie and staying in power, i would have said. it has been an unprecedented day in british politics. sir patrick mayhew comes to the commons to lay out chapter and verse on the government's secret dealings in northern ireland. talks with the ira are confirmed, despite all the previous denials. it was enough to send the reverend paisley into a rage, and in turn, he was thrown out of westminster for unparliamentary language. are you prepared to talk about ending violence? i want to see an end to violence. i want peace. john major and albert reynolds will agree on a joint peace declaration at downing street tomorrow. there is no future in violence. this is a historic

opportunity for peace. yasir arafat's whistle—stop tour of the hague, the european parliament in strasbourg, london and onto ireland should have been a lap of honour to coincide with the start of the israeli troop withdrawal from the gaza strip and jericho. but with that deadline passed, the palestinian leader's visit is more of an attempt to solidify his new—found status as an international statesman as he encounters increasing hostility at home. the man in the mosque is the man whose face the plo needs to have and to hold. when the plo blunders, it is hamas, the palestinian islamic movement opposed to the peace deal, that wins his support. russian troops are intervening in squabbles in former soviet republics. further afield, boris yeltsin has changed his tune and now warns that russia opposes the early expansion of nato to include central european countries. in london today, the russian foreign minister, andrei kozyrev, said moscow was intervening in its former empire only to keep the peace. for the west, the greatest degree

of anxiety centres on ukraine — a nuclear power, a large russian minority right on europe's threshold. the biggest problem we might face would be a crisis between russia and ukraine, which is not at all impossible, which would put tremendous pressure on central and eastern europe. students admit they are simply not sure what the rules of the mating game are. despite the so—called sexual revolution, there is a lot of naivety and misunderstanding. if a woman takes a man back to their room, the man is going to think he is in for a good time. i think sometimes they will know, they'll mean maybe but they won't mean yes. if a woman comes into the room and takes off her clothes, then it looks like he is on for a good time, he would say. but, in fact, often what women want is not full penetrative sex, and men just simply don't understand that. no, absolutely. what has happened to safer sex? you can't have the biggest change in sexual relations in 2000 years without a certain amount of confusion. i'm surprised there isn't more. from all of us on the programme — a very good night.

breaking news from around the world 2a hours a day, this is bbc news. anything now that comes through the border is a glimpse of hope for them, but it's not enough. it's a small drop in an notion, and this access needs to continue, the corridor in rafah needs to continue to be open so more supplies can get through. unicef is ready to do that work and we are hoping that this will be the case. i work and we are hoping that this will be the case.— will be the case. i also want to understand — will be the case. i also want to understand your _ will be the case. i also want to understand your take - will be the case. i also want to understand your take on - will be the case. i also want to understand your take on how l will be the case. i also want to l understand your take on how aid agencies are looking at this. israel has said it. 82 gaza if they say it is also being picked up by hamas. how do you ensure something on the ground, especially inside an active war zone? figs

ground, especially inside an active warzone? �* , ground, especially inside an active warzone? a ground, especially inside an active warzone? ~ , ., ., war zone? as you said, in volatile situations like _ war zone? as you said, in volatile situations like this, _ war zone? as you said, in volatile situations like this, they - war zone? as you said, in volatile situations like this, they are - war zone? as you said, in volatile situations like this, they are very| situations like this, they are very hard to predict, but we have very strong mechanisms in place that unicef has used before in similar, if not so harangued this conflicts where children were in urgent need of humanitarian support —— horrendous. there were risks one of the parties to the company would eventually misuse our humanitarian supplies. so we have various mechanisms in place. obviously in a situation like this, there is no 100% guarantee, but for sure there is their willingness and the dedication of unicef staff on the ground and our partners to be sure that these supplies go to those in need, 200 of thousands of children who have seen enough horror since the 7th of october.— the 7th of october. ricardo pires, we will have _ the 7th of october. ricardo pires, we will have to _ the 7th of october. ricardo pires, we will have to leave _ the 7th of october. ricardo pires, we will have to leave it _ the 7th of october. ricardo pires, we will have to leave it there, - the 7th of october. ricardo pires, we will have to leave it there, but thank you very much. appreciate you joining us and sharing those details you are picking up from your teams on the ground. no movement on the

trucks waiting to go into gaza. israel now says over 200 hostages were taken by hamas. but the identities of more people who were killed in the surprise hamas attack are still emerging. the bbc�*s middle east correspondent lucy williamson reports from nir oz. nir oz, three miles from gaza's border, is now a place of silence... explosion ..and noise. they're still finding bodies in the communities and fields near here. this woman, pulled out yesterday, naked and bound with metal wire. recovery teams say more than 20 children were found nearby, tied together and burned. deaths like this enough to break the living. hamas gunmen attacked early in nir oz, with drills to loot... ..and guns to kill. survivors say one in four people

are dead or missing. among them, a british man and his stepfather. —— among them, a british man and his mother's first husband. danny darlington was born and bred in manchester. a neighbour identified his body, but there's still no confirmation that he's dead. his mother's first husband, haim peri, lived on the kibbutz. haim used to cross regularly into gaza to drive sick children to israeli hospitals. he's just been formally listed as a hostage. haim and his wife, osnat, were hiding in this safe room this door held out against the first group of the militants, but they came back a second time. by that time, osnat was hiding behind this couch and haim decided the door would not hold and he should offer himself up. his wife was still hiding when a second group burst in, less disciplined, more destructive. the door to the safe room was open.

it was dark inside, they did not bother to look. danny wasn't meant to be in the kibbutz that morning. he stayed on an extra night and sent a text to his half—brother as the attack unfolded. that's the last i heard of him, and now i'm trying to help the family because the family are still in manchester and they are really in the dark. the family, in limbo, feels out of sync with israel's national mood. revenge is a very strong emotion which a lot of people have now, but now let's not talk about revenge because we lost the first act, ok? so let's. .. before winning the war, let's gather the remains and do whatever we can to get out of this hostage situation. israel is eyeing the next stage in this conflict — a major offensive in gaza aimed at destroying hamas —

while the families of those still missing here stay frozen in the hours after the attack. lucy williamson, bbc news, nir oz. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. polls have closed in two by—elections in mid bedfordshire and in tamworth in staffordshire. both seats were held by conservative mps until nadine dorries and chris pincher stepped down. the results are expected in the early hours of tomorrow morning. the covid inquiry has seen text messages where rishi sunak was referred to as "dr death" by one of the government's most senior science officers. the comment was made after he launched the eat out to help out scheme in 2020. another expert, professorjohn edmunds, said encouraging people to go to restaurants had sent the wrong signal about public behaviour.

the rmt union says its members — working for 14 train companies — have voted overwhelmingly to carry on with strikes in the next six months, in their dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. you're live with bbc news. the other big story we are tracking very closely on bbc news... police in scotland say a woman has died after being swept into a river in glen esk near brechin as storm babet begins battering the uk with rain and strong winds. hundreds of people are being advised to leave their homes tonight in parts of scotland as the storm hits bringing what may be unprecedented rainfall. a red weather warning — meaning a risk to life — is in force until midday tomorrow with heavy rain sweeping

through parts of northern and eastern scotland. fiona trott has more. the sea — sending a signal hours before the red warning comes into effect. this is lossiemouth earlier today. and here in stonehaven, another coastal community used to storms, but not like this. i think it's way over what it used to be. i don't remember this as much when i was young. i mean, i grew up here and it does seem to be a lot worse, these storms. and it's almost every year, every year, round about now, you get some big storm. we've seen some big storms but nothing with the froth like this. it's notjust here in stonehaven where they're protecting their property. here in brechin, it's a race against time for chris. it's bricks and mortar at the end of the day — somebody can't take it off you. a river can take it off you. flooding can take it away from you. what's going through your mind knowing this might be happening in the next few hours?

well, this was a retirement project. and i'mjusta bit... it'sjust not happening, is it? it's not happening... it's not happening. at paul and kim's housejust moments later, the official warning comes through. they're instructing people to leave their houses. i'm not going. are you going to? yeah. oh, aye. i'm not. i'm not leaving my dog, i i am not doing this again. no way! i'm not going. a tough conversation. and this is just one family in one town. will they and others heed the advice? we're not going to be able to eliminate the disruption. i'm afraid there will be significant disruption given the amount of heavy rainfall that's likely to fall. but we want to first of all prioritise people's welfare, and the way people can do that is listen to the advice, particularly in that red weather warning area. and the most important thing you can do is listen to the advice about travel.

so if you're in the red weather warning area, do not travel. is this what they could be facing? parts of ireland have already been flooded. this is middleton in county cork yesterday, a town completely submerged. back here in brechin, they're bracing themselves. hour by hour, the river is rising, and as the night draws on, what does that mean for the residents have decided to stay? fiona trott, bbc news, angus. we will be keeping an eye out on that story developing in the uk. let's return to the israel gaza war, and social media platforms have seen a surge in misinformation relating to the conflict, including doctored images and mislabelled videos. under its new stringent digital services act, the eu has written to social media firms tiktok and meta to formally provide information on the possible spread of what it calls disinformation, terrorist content and hate speech. the bbc�*s azadeh moshiri has more. this isn'tjust a simple request for information.

the stakes are high for these social media companies, and that's because of the digital services act. under this act, platforms with over 45 million users in the european union must assess potential risks of their platforms to those users. they must also report that assessment and put in place mitigating measures. and if they don't, the penalties can be severe. the eu can fine as much as 6% of a company's global turnover, and it could even lead to the potential suspension of their service altogether. the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, explained why this act was so important. thanks to our dsa, the digital services act, we are able to oblige the platforms to take hate speech and terrorist content down. we know that hate speech leads to terror acts. now, here are some of the statements from the social media companies. tiktok has said...

and they provided some figures. they said that... now, meta has said that... and these are their figures. they've said... and to put that into context, meta said... now, this request for information has come a week after the eu made a similar request to x, formerly known as twitter.

and so far, they've responded by saying that they've removed hundreds of hamas—affiliated users from their platforms. but of course, as this eu process continues, so does the war and the spread of misinformation. and that's why our bbc verify team has been looking into all of this, so do check our website. yes, do that. thanks for watching, but do stay on bbc news. hello. storm babet continues to bring hazardous weather, not least because of the amount of rain that is falling. a red warning from the met office covering parts of eastern scotland. this is the highest tier of warning the met office can issue. it implies a danger to life up to 250 millimetres of rain falling in the very wettest locations. no wonder that there is the ongoing risk of significant flooding.

a broader amber warning affecting parts of eastern and, indeed, northern scotland. and the rainjust keeps on coming. a soggy start to friday, but further south, there's quite a lot of rain in the outlook as well, across wales, central and northern parts of england, northern ireland, some really heavy downpours of rain becoming very slow—moving through the day. across scotland, the rain increasingly becoming confined to the south—east of scotland, at least the heaviest of the rain. it is going to be very windy. gusts of 50 to 60 miles per hour, even more than that across central and northern parts of the uk. lighter winds further south, a mix of sunshine and showers here, but a met office amber warning affecting parts of south—east scotland and down the spine of northern england in force from 12 o'clock on friday because we could see up to 120 millimetres of rain. that rain relentless, really, as we head through friday evening, and then actually moving back in across the eastern side of scotland, so that could exacerbate flooding issues here.

we start the weekend with temperatures north to south between 5 and 12 degrees and we start the weekend with low pressure still firmly in charge, bands of rain circulating around the low. still quite windy, in places in the far south—west and more especially up towards the north, but not as windy by this stage. but we will see further outbreaks of rain, especially across the eastern side of scotland, into northern scotland as well, places where we really will not need it. further south, a mix of sunny spells and showers or some longer spells of rain. temperatures north to south, 8 to 16 degrees. a cooler day for many. now, into sunday, less rain, fewer showers, lighter winds, more in the way of dry weather and some spells of sunshine. so the story of the weather through the weekend will be for things to slowly but surely calm down. that's all from me. bye for now.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines at the top of the hour, as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. presumably presidentjoe biden flew to the middle east because he believed he could achieve something positive in the midst of the war between israel and hamas. but by the time

he landed in israel, the plan to go on to meet arab leaders was off, amid the fallout from a deadly blast at a gaza hospital, the disputed circumstances of which have further heightened anger and the fear of what comes next. my guest is us democratic party congressman adam smith. how does the us navigate its multiple interests at this time of maximum danger? congressman adam smith, in washington, welcome to hardtalk. and let me begin with a very simple question — what do you believe

president biden hoped to achieve by flying out to the middle east?