flood—hit valencia region, part of the 10,000 promised by the prime minister pedro sanchez. hello. welcome to the programme. we will start with development in the middle east. the un's children's agency says 50 children have been killed in 48 hours injabalia in northern gaza, which has been under intense israeli attack for weeks. unicef�*s director catherine russell said it was another example of the grave consequences of indiscriminate strikes on civilians. she said the entire population of northern gaza was at imminent risk of death from disease, famine and ongoing bombardments. ms russell also accused israel of targeting a unicef worker's car with a drone —

the worker, who was unhurt, was involved in a polio vaccination drive in northern gaza that had just restarted after the who was forced to postpone it in october because of heavy israeli bombardments, mass displacement and lack of access in the region. shortly after the vaccination programme restarted, a strike on one of the clinics injured six people, including four children. james elder is a spokesman for the unicef. he told me there needs to be some sort of accountability to stop the killing of children in gaza. we have seen an average of 35 girls and boys are killed every day over the course of this war, not over the course of a month, overa war, not over the course of a month, over a day. war, not over the course of a month, overa day. i war, not over the course of a month, over a day. i don't think view is quite granted it is hammy thousands and thousands are being killed. these most recent attacks are on residential buildings, they spent many days working in hospitals in gaza, seen children being trapped under a burning homes. you see the

impact. g residential buildings struck, more than 50 children killed. they are already living under siege and been denied health care. hospitals only come an underfrequent health care. hospitals only come an under frequent attack, patients are being killed. rescue workers who have such basic tools that they often just work by sound, where do you hear the scream of an old woman or child. there have been attacked as they are working to help people. they were under siege for that we have a 90% reduction intruder with these beauty wounds or with cancer been allowed to leave. —— with these agree to —— with these brutal wins. there is no accountability for killing thousands and thousands of children and the brutality is going to escalate every going to see that marketing to see the cycle of horror. that is a forgery which we are seeing and that has been gaza for a year. you are talking about

accountability. israel has always maintained that they're trying to stop hamas from recruiting. how do you take this argument cue i spent a lot of time in gaza it is impossible to think that in any realm of international humanitarian law nuke into teal —— killed ten or ii, 12 humanitarian law nuke into teal —— killed ten orii,1215,000 —— killed ten or11,1215,000 children. -- killed ten or 11, 1215,000 children-— children. one-year-olds, six-year-olds. _ children. one-year-olds, six-year-olds. the - children. one-year-olds, six-year-olds. the levell children. one-year-olds, l six-year-olds. the level of six—year—olds. the level of devastation is comedy think that you can cure that many children, to see the denial of aid —— that you can kill that many children, it see the denial of aid. to see hospitals systematically attacked, to see 90% of all the levels of cruelty as seen in gaza and the breaches of international humanitarian law, a couple stand out. one, we now have one child been allowed to leave gaza a day, we need around 50 with the wounds of war. we see

unilaterally designations of safe zones. i think unfortunately this war, truth was a very early casualty and the evidence is there for all to see and we should not get trapped into a war of words, we should understand numbers in terms of children killed, the numbers in terms of restricted in aid as to why hospitals and our battlegrounds and why yet again we have famine on the doorstep of gaza.— again we have famine on the doorstep of gaza. you can read more about _ doorstep of gaza. you can read more about the _ doorstep of gaza. you can read more about the situation - doorstep of gaza. you can read more about the situation on . doorstep of gaza. you can read| more about the situation on the bbc news website. people in moldova are voting in the decisive second round of the presidential election, but there are fears of russian interference. president maia sandu, who wants closer ties with europe, is facing aleksandr stoianoglo, who is supported by the pro—russian socialist party. a referendum two weeks ago narrowly backed a change to the constitution to include a wish for european union membership. that vote was much closer than expected, as were the first

round presidential results on the same day. they prompted accusations of a large—scale attempt, orchestrated from russia, to bribe moldovans against voting for ms sandu. 0pposition candidates and russia rejected the allegation. the chancellor, rachel reeves, has been defending measures taken in wednesday's budget, insisting achieving economic growth is her "number one mission". in the budget, ms reeves announced £40 billion of tax rises, including increases to employers' national insurance contributions and changes to inheritance tax, to pay for investment in public services. in an interview with the bbc�*s laura kunessberg, ms reeves insisted raising employer national insurance hadn't been on the agenda before the election and said ministers had faced difficult choices. 0ur political correspondent

shelley phelps has more. began by defending her budget. she also talked about a labour's national insurance contribution to employers because one of the group caught up because one of the group caught up in that our gp surgeries, social care companies and charities because of the way the health care system works in the health care system works in the uk. some of these bases delivering nhs services but not quite falling the nhs and they have faced a lot of pressure from gp surgeries and pharmacies for them to be exempt from that as other public sector organisations are. here's what rachel reeves had to say about that when she was asked whether she would rethink that policy.— rethink that policy. what i would say _ rethink that policy. what i would say around - rethink that policy. what i would say around social. rethink that policy. what i i would say around social care rethink that policy. what i - would say around social care is that in the budget, we provide a £600 million a point via local government for social

care and that is part of a 3.2% real terms increase in local authority budget this week. i know as well, there was not our project that the charity sector welcomed. project that the charity sector welcomed-— project that the charity sector welcomed. ,, . ~ ., ., welcomed. she talked about not bein: to welcomed. she talked about not being to their— welcomed. she talked about not being to their criticism _ welcomed. she talked about not being to their criticism but - being to their criticism but she basically is saying that although there was upset about this, the policy was here to stay. she is standing quite a famine that despite the pressure which will no doubt, i'm sure, continue next week —— much standing quite firm on that. it is also interesting that. it is also interesting that the chancellor rachel reeves said that you do not have any discussions about considering raising national insurance employer contributions before the election because it was one of the accusations phrased that they had not been honest about their plans for raising taxes. at the end of interview, it was a really interesting question from our colleague king spoke ask it was this about flask ——

from our colleague asking what is about class? raising taxes on private school fees. rachel reeves said this was not an act ideological budget. there's also been other news on the conservative leadership race with the kemi badenoch taking charge. what were some of the highlights from that? she charge. what were some of the highlights from that?— highlights from that? she was talkin: highlights from that? she was talking about _ highlights from that? she was talking about is _ highlights from that? she was talking about is where - highlights from that? she was talking about is where she - highlights from that? she was talking about is where she is l talking about is where she is thought her party had gone wrong under her predecessors and areas where she thought the policies had gone wrong. 0ne and areas where she thought the policies had gone wrong. one of things you said yesterday in her speech is at her party needed to be telling the truth, not keeping promises on things like immigration and tax which had been an issue for her party. she was also asked about some of their predecessors and where she thought they had gone wrong so when she was asked about, borisjohnson as she said that he had had some issues. it was interesting because she went on to have your views about the party kate —— party gate scandal where the

former chateau rishi sunak, borisjohnson were given fines in relation to breaking the law on covid structures. i in relation to breaking the law on covid structures.— on covid structures. i think a lot around — on covid structures. i think a lot around is _ on covid structures. i think a lot around is party _ on covid structures. i think a lot around is party kit - on covid structures. i think a lot around is party kit was i on covid structures. i think a| lot around is party kit was not why— lot around is party kit was not why i— lot around is party kit was not why i resigned. i think it was overblown i would not have created _ overblown i would not have created fixed penalty notices and that was asked not to go with— and that was asked not to go with our— and that was asked not to go with our principles. —— i think a lot — with our principles. -- i think a lot... ~ . with our principles. -- i think alot...~ . ., , with our principles. -- i think a lot- - -_ a lot... we are really starting to see the — a lot... we are really starting to see the dividing _ a lot... we are really starting to see the dividing lines - a lot... we are really starting to see the dividing lines of i to see the dividing lines of the new parliament imagine these two interviews and hearing the conservative response to the budget under its new leader of the opposition kemi badenoch. she talked about her views on the economy could not be more different from rachel reeves. she said it is better that a great read and talked about saying to support them and how raising taxes through employers would not grow the economy. a criticism that was made of kemi badenoch during her campaign was that she did not have much policy. at the time, she said she had wanted to talk about the core principles and it was

a bit early to be talking about policy. it was interesting in his interview that she did say she would refer to labour's adding of the vat to private school fees, she said that was something to do not agree with. a female iranian student has been detained by security guards after stripping to her underwear in public at a university in tehran. a spokesman for the islamic azad university said she'd been found to have a "mental disorder". but many social media users in iran say her actions were more likely a protest against the country's strict dress code. what has happened to her since being detained is unknown. let's speak to rana rahimpour, iran analyst and former bbc persian presenter. thanks forjoining us on bbc news. it is going to talk to you. how using this incident? the details are exactly what happened —— knock off is that he was happy it is still unclear. a lot of rumours are going around on social media

one thing that is clear is how this will win�*s protest has been received by large parts of the erroneous society. many believe that this is a very brave act of protest against compulsory hijab. —— received by large parts of iranian society. they say she was harassed by the so—called security offices or forces at the university. a member of the militia. she would not wearing a headscarf when he was entering the university and as a result of that encounter, the member of the militia tour that will win�*s close and in protest, she had taken them off. that does not come as a supply because the iranian regime has been suppressed radiant women and impose compulsory hijab on them and in 2022, we saw a peak of it when a women was killed while in the custody of the morality police and this oppression has

continued. this is a show of frustration, sj that the republic —— islamic republic of iran is refusing to accept. the news of the — iran is refusing to accept. the news of the other _ iran is refusing to accept. the news of the other woman's death is still very much fresh. do you think this has the potential to turn into something wider than? frankly, an hinu something wider than? frankly, anything at _ something wider than? frankly, anything at this _ something wider than? frankly, anything at this stage _ something wider than? frankly, anything at this stage has - something wider than? frankly, anything at this stage has the l anything at this stage has the potential to turn into something bigger. the rainy society is under immense pressure, they are living under the shadow of possible war between iran and israel. they are feeling the economic pressure, they are feeling the pressure, they are feeling the pressure of the ideology that the islamic republic of iran stands for. they don't see any hope for their future and on top of that, there is the oppression of women and social freedoms are anything, any small thing can be a judge —— triggerfor an uprising. trigger for an uprising. whether it triggerfor an uprising. whether it is this one or something else, it is difficult to

something else, it is