a quick update on the story we begin the programme with, the advance on the programme with, the advance on the ukrainian town— in the last few moments, thejohn kirby has been speaking at a press conference and white house, saying unfortunately we are getting reports from the ukrainians that the situation is critical with russians continuing to press ukrainian positions every day. he said the town is at risk of falling into russian control, as ukraine pleads with the united states to pass legislation that will speed up united states aid for ukraine — that's currently being held up by republicans sitting in the house of representatives. ajudge in new york has refused a request by donald tump to dismiss criminal charges over alleged hush

money paid to an adult film star. the decision paves the way for the first—ever criminal trial of a former us president. the trial has been scheduled for next month. it's the first of four criminal cases mr trump faces. he's pleaded not guilty and says the cases are politically—motivated. here is the former president speaking to reporters. we're here for something that is not a crime. - nobody's ever seen anything like it. what it is is election interference. it's being run byjoe i biden's white house. his top person was placed | here in order to make sure everything goes right. this is a terrible time _ for our country, this is a real dark period for our country. his top person and others have been i placed into the da's office to makel sure they do a good jobi of election interference. our correspondent nada tawfik, who is outside the courthouse in new york, has more. these appearances at court have certainly become common for donald trump, as he seeks

to kind of boost his campaign. but he was really hoping here with this hearing that he could get this trial date pushed back. he wants his trials to come after the election, not during the primaries and the election year itself. but as this hearing began, donald trump, seated next to his lawyers, were told very early on in the hearing by thejudge that their motion to dismiss this case was denied and that the trial would go ahead as planned in march. now, certainly, donald trump faces several criminal cases, four in total, and so there was always a question about which he would go to trial for first. now we know it is for this hush money casem and it is tied to payment that were made to the former pornstar, stormy daniels, in the lead—up to the 2016 presidential election. and prosecutors allege that donald trump falsified business

records when he recorded that payment allegedly as a legal expenses and fees. so a decision there by the judge. now donald trump's lawyers had objected several times to this trial date, trying to get it pushed back — they said it amounted to election interference, repeating what their client, donald trump, had been saying outside court. but the judge was having none of that, saying that wasn't a legal argument. and prosecutors themselves saying that this trial date 25 march is three weeks after what is known as super tuesday, when most states vote in the primary to select their republican candidate to be the nominee for the republican party. so bad news there for donald trump today in that hearing. and it's notjust new york, elsewhere in the country as well, legal challenges for mr trump. talk us through what's been happening in georgia. yeah, there's a hearing in georgia, which is quite interesting. now, just to remind viewers —

that case in georgia relates to allegations that donald trump tried to overturn the election result in the state, that, you know, the vote went tojoe biden. there's that infamous phone call where donald trump is heard on audio speaking to the secretary of state, asking him to find the 11,000 votes he needs to beatjoe biden. now in the crosshairs, though, is the district attorney of georgia — of fulton county in georgia, fani willis. she is alleged to have begun an improper romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor in donald trump's case. and so, we've had today a friend of fani willis testifying to the timeline of when that romantic relationship began in relation to when she hired that lead prosecutor. so, while it is kind of separate to the actual charges in the case,

certainly we have seen many people raising questions about fani willis' conduct — and none more so than donald trump's base. so that hearing is focused on that. and then, i should just add that here in new york tomorrow, donald trump could get further bad news, because that's when we're expecting a verdict in a separate civil fraud trial here in new york on the fate of his business empire, and whether he'll have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars. john quinn is one of the us�*s leading criminal lawyers, and founding partner of the firm quinn, emanuel, urquhart and sullivan. i asked him if mr trump were found guilty of some or all or these charges, would that prevent him from running for president? kind of strange — i think you look at the statute books and come up empty—handed looking for a statute that says, "if you're convicted of a crime, you can't run for president." and of course, he's facing four prosecutions he's facing — this is just the first one now that's going to go to trial.

he's facing a prosecution in new york, in washington, dc, in georgia, and in florida. so it'll be very hard for him to run the table, i think, and to win all four of these. as you mentioned, numerous legal troubles here for mr trump. he denies all these charges. he said they are politically motivated and many of them being orchestrated byjoe biden and his political staff. out of all these cases which are going on, is there one in particular that you think mr trump should be worried about? well, i think he has his best shot at winning this new york case. actually, i think it's an aggressive theory of campaign finance fraud, the theory that he paid off the woman in order to preserve his candidacy, and therefore it should have been reported as a campaign expense. i think that's kind of an aggressive theory. if i were handicapping it, i'd think he has a better than 50—50 chance of winning that case. the florida case also, the

classified documents in the home. there's some precedent — there's a case called the clinton that's referred to vernacular as the "clinton sock drawer" case, which provides some support for the idea that he could have a good faith belief that he could have these documents in his home, and that would defeat a criminal prosecution. i think the two toughest ones are in washington, dc, where the veneer, the jury is almost likely to be all democratic. it's 95% democratic veneer there. thejudge is a democrat. i think that's a tough venue for him. and likewise, georgia, where there'll be 17 defendants. it's a democratic environment. three have already pled guilty and are presumably cooperating with the prosecution. it's going to be a circus there. so that to me, as to which is the most dangerous, it's a toss up for me between the dc case and the georgia case. when mr trump came out of the courtroom in new york earlier, one of the things he said to reporters was basically, "this is a waste of my time. "i'm supposed to be campaigning for the presidency, yet here i am

"in court in new york." does mr trump have to go to all of these hearings? well, you know, as a criminal defendant, you want to show up and appear, and presumably thejudge will order him to be there. whether he will testify or not remains to be seen. but i'm not aware of any rule that he has to be there every single day. he seems to make the most of these opportunities when he shows up. i mean, the first thing that'll happen in the new york case is jury selection. and it's going to be hard to pick a jury in this case. i mean, both the prosecution and the defence will try to find people who are unbiased and haven't already formed conclusions. an a case that's gotten publicity like this, that's going to be very, very hard to do. the jury selection process itself could take longer than the trial. and i would think that the president would want to show up in at least make an appearance and try to connect withjurors in the process of their being selected. here, a 16—year—old boy has died after being stabbed by two people wearing masks in bristol, in southwest england.

is the third stabbing death there in three weeks. police said the attack took place in a park in the city yesterday evening. they say there's no clear link to the fatal stabbings of two teenagers in south bristol last month. danjohnson�*s report contains some distressing details. these are the last moments of a teenage life taken on bristol's streets just as this programme went on air last night. in the passenger seat of the van is a 16—year—old boy who has just been stabbed. we are not going to show what happens as the door opens and he falls to the pavement. i just came out of the shop, and i saw the van was parked there and the guy was laying down on the floor. annie was trying to help. i can only imagine the pain he was going through. he was covered in blood, completely. really? yeah. on his back? on his back. 12 minutes later, paramedics and an ambulance arrived. i don't know if he was still alive, but he was unconscious, he wasn't breathing then.

they did the surgery on the spot, but it was too late already. it's really sad. half a mile away, this is the children's play area where he was attacked — detectives say by two people wearing masks, he rode off on bikes. we're told the boy ran from the park, looking for help. he made it to the main road here and a van driver stopped to assist him. they drove to the local police station, but they found that had closed nearly a year ago. this is the third fatal teenage stabbing in bristol in a month. others have been seriously injured, too. police say there is no evidence they are linked, but they had already announced extra patrols. now it's greater stop and search powers. what do you think is the root of the problem and what is the key to solving it? when you look at the age of those involved, the high levels of violence being used, the weapons that are being carried currently, it is like something i've not seen before.

we need to work with communities, we need to work with families, we need to work with schools to try and turn these behaviours around. 90 minutes after he was stabbed, all hope has gone. we don't yet know the name of this young man, but his life ended violently atjust 16 years old, leaving a murder investigation and so many questions of why this keeps happening. politicians in greece are voting whether to legalise same—sex marriage. if the vote passes, it would make greece the first country with a christian 0rthodox majority to do so. the bill was introduced by the country's centre—right prime minister, kyriakos mitsotakis. but about a third of his own mps are expected to vote against it. that means he needs the support of politicians in the left—wing opposition for it to pass. 0ur correspondent mark lowen

is following the story from rome. —— from lisbon. he explained how significant this is for greece. it's very significant, in terms of being the first orthodox—majority country, as you say, rich, and also the first country in southeast europe — a region that is surrounded by countries that have not legalised same sex marriage. the majority of the 15 eu members which do allow it are grouped in the west and north of the european union. so greece would become an exception to that. it is a country where many still feel rooted in the country's tradition and religion, and the powerful orthodox church has been fiercely against this, and has written a letter for prelates to read out in church services earlier this month in which they condemn the move. and that's reflected in views across society — so a recent poll found a very slim majority in favour

of the same sex marriage bill, about 55% — or between 53—55%. but the prime minister feels that this is a time for greece to to to catch up with many of its western european neighbours and to to pass a bill that would enshrine marriage equality and allow same sex—couples to adopt children. mark, as you mentioned, this is really teetering on the lines here, when it comes to public support. is the greek prime minister gambling his political future on this? i don't think so because he faces a pretty weak opposition at the moment. and the fact that he has felt confident enough to bring in this bill shows how stable he feels actually in power. he recently stormed to re—election a second term, and one might think actually that same—sex marriage would be a move that

a left—wing government or centre—left government might might try to introduce. but here you have a centre right prime minister who feels that now is the time for greece to, in effect, stand up to the orthodox church and pass this. and it is a sign of his confidence that he feels ready to sort of tread on the turf of a political move that is more associated with the left—wing and to push it through. and that despite the fact that up to 50 mps of his own, to 50 mps of his own 158 mps might rebel against him, he feels that he's got the support of of opposition parties and is likely to pass in a vote later on tonight. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news — bringing you different stories from across the uk. it could have been a minor disaster. this stretch of canal in swindon suddenly developed a big hole in its bank, right where it crosses the river ray — so all of the canal water could flooded out. the worry is that a small leak can grow into a bigger leak, and then, the water starts flowing, and that erodes it more and more. and you get almost like a chain reaction. so in theory, you could reach a situation where the entire

contents of the canal get dumped into the river below quite quickly. the council acted straightaway, getting teams out to put in a temporary dam and stop any waterflow. well, we created this coffer dam, which is to take the pressure off the particular problem. and also, it allows us to drain out the water and work on this side of the bank, to have a look at the bank. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. a charity which monitors anti—semitism across the uk says assaults and abuse targeting jewish people have reached a record high. the community security trust recorded reports of more than 4,000 elaine dunkley has this report. there are guards and high—rise fences, security is tight. this is a jewish school in manchester. inside the king david high school, pupils tell me they feel safe.

outside the school, they are experiencing increasing levels of anti—semitism. a few weeks ago, i was threatened, and i reported it, and the police have dealt with that. a person who would have been walking down the street, i have had people shouting at me from cars. and it has had quite an impact. i get public transport to school and ijust feel a lot more wary. actually coming to school there has definitely been an increased police presence around our school. thisjewish girls�* school in london was targeted and vandalised in the aftermath of hamas' attacks on israel in october last year. today's figures published by the community security trust are compiled from people calling their helpline to report anti—semitic attacks they have experienced or witnessed, and are also taken from police data. the report indicates anti—semitic incidents affecting school children have more than trebled, compared to 2022. it says 87 incidents took place atjewish schools. and 127 were recorded at mainstream schools.

and there were 111 incidents affecting children travelling to or from school. rabbi benjy rickman has been working with different faith schools across manchester for more than a decade, and says education is the key to tackling anti—semitism. when you can humanise the other, then you realise how much similarity exists between groups. and over the years, before our student population became more diverse, we took ourjewish kids to muslim schools, we did quite a lot of activities with schools in south manchester. some of the most beautiful moments are when you have those real nuggets of education when a young person goes, "0h, we are not so different after all." the government says it has ringfenced £7 billion to help schools in england tackle anti—semitism. these schoolchildren are hundreds of miles away from the conflict in the middle east, but say their lives here in manchester have changed significantly. i think it is quite important

to represent my identity, but it is the thing that makes me afraid. elaine dunkley, bbc news. a rocket has blasted off from cape canaveral, in florida, carrying a robotic lander which — all being well — will touchdown on the moon in a week. the nova c lander is carrying equipment to study precision landing, space weather, and other phenomena on the lunar surface. pallab ghosh reports. fuelled up and ready for launch, on board the 0dysseus spacecraft. three, two, one. ignition and lift—off. go, spacex, go im—i - and odysseus lunar lander. lighting up the night sky and on its way to the moon. you can see the blast from the rocket�*s powerful first stage, as it sends it hurtling away from earth's gravity. inside the rocket, separation of the first stage.

it'sjob now done. now, the protective nose cone peels away, the legs of the lander now in clear view. at the control centre, staff watch nervously at the next critical stage. im—i, odysseus lunar lander, separation confirmed. - the start of an eight—dayjourney to the lunar surface. beautiful launch. so exciting. and its mission... characterizing the surface of the lunar south polar region, which is an extremely challenging environment to operate in. and it's preparing us for sending humans to the lunar surface. a private company is leading this mission, one of many that nasa has turned to to help it send astronauts back to the moon and to build a continuous human presence. what is now envisaged is that you have missions almost every fortnight to the moon, and these missions are going to be much smaller, much nimbler, and they will go to various areas

of the moon that have never been visited by the apollo missions. that was more than 50 years ago, and the very last time the us was on the moon. if the 0dysseus lander succeeds, it'll be the first time a private company will have touched down — marking a new era in space flight. pallab ghosh, bbc news. queen camilla has met with british acting royalty, as she was joined by a dozen dames to celebrate 400 years of shakespeare. the event in london on wednesday night had a star—studded guest list, with performances from damejudi dench, gary 0ldman, and robert lindsay — as rachel mcadam reports imagine being in the same room as the stomach of these 12 dames. you

have jonah the stomach of these 12 dames. you havejonah lemley, louella benjamin and twiggy. and you can seejudy dench and vanessa redgrave at either side of queen camilla. they were all gathered at the grosvenor hotel, and london as part of ongoing celebrations to mark 400 years of william shakespeare.— william shakespeare. we've got a valentines present _ william shakespeare. we've got a valentines present for _ william shakespeare. we've got a valentines present for you! - william shakespeare. we've got a valentines present for you! the i valentines present for you! the event happened to be on valentines evening, and the host gave the queen to matching jumpers with a heart on them. he said he hoped they would keep the king and queen warm on those cold winter nights —— two matching jumpers. those cold winter nights —— two matchingjumpers. damejudy those cold winter nights —— two matching jumpers. damejudy dench matching jumpers. dame judy dench also matching jumpers. damejudy dench also read sonnet 116, one of shakespeare's most famous love sonnets. ., , ., ., sonnets. love is not love... or bends with _ sonnets. love is not love... or bends with the _ sonnets. love is not love... or bends with the remover - sonnets. love is not love... or bends with the remover to - sonnets. love is not love... or- bends with the remover to remove. oh no, it_ bends with the remover to remove. oh no, it is_ bends with the remover to remove. oh no, it is an _ bends with the remover to remove. oh no, it is an ever fixed mark that looks_ no, it is an ever fixed mark that looks on— no, it is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken — looks on tempests and is never shaken it_ looks on tempests and is never shaken. it is the star to every

wandering _ shaken. it is the star to every wandering mark whose worst unknown. that doesn't _ wandering mark whose worst unknown. that doesn't dames weren't the only acting legends in the room. actors like simon russell beale and brian cox were also there. and 0scar cox were also there. and oscar winner gary 0ldman performed a skit about an actor who jumbles up the lines of hamlet seppi don't bother with lines of hamlet seppi don't bother wit . ., ., , , lines of hamlet seppi don't bother with detection, lads, 'ust stick to introspection. h with detection, lads, 'ust stick to introspection, lads. _ with detection, lads, just stick to introspection, lads. be _ with detection, lads, just stick to introspection, lads. be kind, - with detection, lads, just stick to introspection, lads. be kind, bel introspection, lads. be kind, be good — and if you would, try not to stab your uncle. good - and if you would, try not to stab your uncle.— stab your uncle. applause queen camilla _ stab your uncle. applause queen camilla is _ stab your uncle. applause | queen camilla is continuing stab your uncle. applause - queen camilla is continuing role duties following the start of the king's cancer treatment, and last night's event was on a subject close to both their hearts. buckingham palace said... rachel mcadam with that report. a female stingray is making waves in the us, after she appeared

to have become pregnant with no male mate involved. charlotte, as she's known, has lived with five small sharks in a fish tank in a shop for the last eight years. simonjones has this report. there she goes, there she goes. now, you might see her a little bit better. hi, sweet baby. hi, sweet baby mama! but who's the daddy? the pregnancy is a bit of a maritime mystery, but it seems for charlotte, the stingray, it doesn't take two to tango. she hasn't shared a tank with a male of her species in at least eight years, but she is now with pups. we are believing that the process for charlotte to be pregnant is being done by something called parthenogenesis. and parthenogenesis literally translates into "virgin birth" or "miracle birth", and what happens is the female will develop the eggs, and then the eggs will develop embryos. look, it's flapping. it's flapping! charlotte has been living at an aquarium in north carolina with five small sharks,

but experts say any shark and stingray shenanigans would be unlikely, though dna testing will be carried out when the pups arrive. here at sea life london aquarium, they've got around 20 stingrays of their own, but none of them have made quite as big a splash as charlotte. but here, no doubt, they will be watching very closely what happens across the pond, as charlotte prepares for her big moment. although other kinds of rays and sharks have been known to develop unfertilized eggs themselves, charlotte is thought to be the first of her species of stingray. you may work with animals, you know, for months or even years on end and this doesn't happen. and all of a sudden, you come in one morning and you notice behaviour�*s different or there's a slight change. charlotte is expected to give birth in the next couple of weeks, though all this attention might be getting a bit much for her. simon jones, bbc news.

congratulations to charlotte. lewis is up next with the context, have a great evening. next, here's the weather. hello there. normally at this time of the year, maximum temperatures would be 8—9 celsius. now, today wasn't a record—breaker by any means, but it was unusually mild, particularly for england and wales — 17 celsius in worcestershire and also suffolk, and in the northeast of england, it was 16 celsius in durham. those high temperatures came because we had a southerly breeze, and we also broke the cloud up to give some sunshine here and there as well. but that was ahead of the rain. and, whilst it was 15 celsius in manchester for a while, we have seen the cloud thickening across wales and western parts of england with some rain developing. the rain's cleared away from scotland and northern ireland, but this band of rain will push southeastwards across england and wales. should be gone by the end of the night, and it's going to leave some clear spells, but a few showers towards the north and the west, and not quite as warm as it was last night, but still a mild start to friday. and friday should be a quiet day, really. we're going to find some spells of sunshine.

showers coming over the irish sea into england and wales, and a few showers for a while in the far north of scotland may well turn out to be quite sunny across southern counties of england, and the winds should be fairly gentle as well. those temperatures not quite as high as today, but 12 celsius in the central belt of scotland is above average, still around 14 in the southeast of england and across east anglia. now over the weekend, we're looking to the atlantic to see some rain. that first weather front is just going to fade away. this is the main feature of the weather through the weekend. that rain pushing its way eastwards, starting dry for many places i think on saturday. but there will be a lot of cloud, a few spots of rain ahead of the main rain band that's bringing some wet weather over northern ireland, moving a little more quickly over the irish sea into western parts of england and wales and into western scotland later on in the day as well. but still ahead of that, we've got temperatures reaching 13—14 celsius. if it does brighten up a little bit, that band of rain moves eastwards overnight. we're all going to get some spells of rain for a while.

it does clear away more readily from the northern half of the uk, but a different story further south where we could well hang on to some rain across parts of england and wales even into the afternoon. this rain pushing slowly south eastwards, eventually clearing wales more sunshine and dry weather for northern england, for scotland and also for northern ireland. barring the odd shower in the far north west of scotland, we're still in this quite mild air mass. so again, temperatures will be around 12—14.

hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. you're watching the context on bbc news. the fact that the us has not been able to make a decision so far has already had consequences. it is impacting the flow of support. ukraine is not losing this war, at least not yet, but if it's to stand any chance of actually winning, then it's going to have to train an awful lot more men like this and find a lot more weapons. 25 regions of russia - already produce drones.

we also see how they are unpacking and maintaining the very, _ very old ammunition . from the soviet times. it's getting very old, but it's still firing. . hello, welcome to the programme. we have a special report from the front line in ukraine. in some areas, soldiers have run out of munitions. the uk fell into recession at the end of last year. the prime minister's opponents say his promise to grow the economy is in tatters. reports that russia is developing a weapon to destroy satellites in orbit. the us national security adviser is briefing members of congress now. and in the world of artificial intelligence, one claim there's no evidence ai can be controlled. we'll see what that means in al decoded.

we start in ukraine — the eastern front,