a spokesperson for the prime minister sir keir starmer says britain respects the independence of the international criminal court after it issued arrest warrants for the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, his ex defence defence secretary and a hamas leader. the icc said there were reasonable grounds to believe benjamin netanyahu and yoav gallant bore response of latifah war crimes of starvation, crimes against humanity of murder and other inhumane acts. netanyahu accused the icc of anti—semitism saying his country wouldn't be disturbed from its moorings. the white house fundamentally rejects the warrants against senior israelis. the icc has also issued an arrest warrant against hamas mohammed deif, a key architect of the october seven attacks. israel said it killed mohammed deif earlier

this year. just to remind you, britain is saying it does accept the arrest warrants�* independence, of the icc, according to sir keir starmer�*s spokesperson. european leaders are saying the same, america saying they don�*t accept these findings. today is the 50th anniversary of the birmingham pub bombings, which killed 21 people and injured more than 200. survivors and relatives are using the occasion to urge the government to hold a public inquiry into what remains britain�*s biggest unsolved mass murder. a special i2—part bbc documentary series has been exploring the impact of the bombings and the ongoing hunt for the perpetrators. here�*s a brief trail from the series, which is available on bbc sounds. november the 21st, 197a. a night like any other in the heart of an english city... ..until... phone rings. there is a bomb planted in the rotunda and there's

a bomb planted at the tax office in new street. 21 people were killed that night in birmingham. it all pointed to the ira. this is the story of the worst unsolved mass murder in modern british history. the pub bombings — a new series from in detail on bbc sounds. we can speak now to the presenter and producer of that series, ed barlow, whojoins us from birmingham. and, just tell us a bit more of the background, what actually happened in these bombings? figs happened in these bombings? s you happened in these bombings? is you have just heard, the you havejust heard, the headline is that a 21 people lost their lives that night and more than 200 were injured when bombs were planted in two busy city centre pubs. officially they have never owned up to it but everyone recognises it was the work of the ira, coming in the work of the ira, coming in the early 70s when there was a period of ongoing campaign against the british basically and the ira brought the battle to the streets of mainland

england. to the streets of mainland england-— to the streets of mainland encland. �* , , ., , england. and 'ust tell us a bit more about _ england. and just tell us a bit more about the _ england. and just tell us a bit more about the impact - england. and just tell us a bit more about the impact of- england. and just tell us a bit more about the impact of the | more about the impact of the bombing site on the victims�* families over the many years but this has been going on? literally this afternoon, i�*ve been at one of the memorial services in birmingham and one of the family members today was saying, if you think time heals, that is just not the case. 50 years is a long time but the way people have spoken when i have been interviewing them and talking to them, it could have been last week, last month, it is that raw. i think part of the problem is that there are still so many unanswered questions. to this day, we still don�*t formally know who did it, nobody rightfully brought to justice. tell us how you went about making this series and the challenges you faced? in challenges you faced? an obvious challenges you faced? in obvious challenge as this happened a long time ago. some people i would have loved to speak to are no longer around, simple as that. with the passing of time, people�*s memories shift a bit or stories develop and theories come into play and there has also been a very practical challenge of accessing documents, that is

something ifaced as accessing documents, that is something i faced as a journalist but i note legal teams throughout the years and even the pleas to extent have faced challenges so a lot to pick and different people have different opinions. if i had to say one thing i�*ve learnt, not many people see things exactly the same, there are more than two sides to the story. the families — two sides to the story. the families of _ two sides to the story. the families of the _ two sides to the story. the families of the victims - two sides to the story. the families of the victims have been calling for a public inquiry into the bombings, what more can you tell us about that and is that at all likely? i can't answer if it is at all can�*t answer if it is at all likely, can people who know about these things think they have a reasonable request. andy street, the former mayor of the west midlands worked very closely with the families in recent years, spoke to him recently, he worked very closely and got all the all the information the home office apparently needs to make a decision on this thing. the home office in response to a question from me recently said we are still considering it, we will make a decision shortly. watch this space. ed barlow, thank you — watch this space. ed barlow, thank you very _ watch this space. ed barlow, thank you very much - watch this space. ed barlow, thank you very much indeed. | if you want to hear more from the survivors, a bbc news special, �*i was there:

the birmingham pub bombs�* is available to watch now on bbc iplayer. you can also listen to the podcast �*in detail: the pub bombings�* on bbc sounds. much more there for you. the former british health secretary matt hancock has been giving evidence at the inquiry into the uk government�*s handling of the uk government�*s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. this is the scene live from... we can�*t give you that, sorry, but he has been giving evidence today. the third time he has been appearing before that inquiry. matt hancock was the health secretary from july 2018 to june 2021 health secretary from july 2018 tojune 2021 and that was during the height of the covid pandemic and he has been asked specifically about the health care system, the capacity in hospitals and an intensive care units. also how close some hospitals came to collapsing and also asked about ppe and the longer term impact of covid, let�*s have a quick listen. covid, let's have a quick listen. .,. . covid, let's have a quick listen. ., . ., listen. facing a pandemic of this scale — listen. facing a pandemic of this scale for— listen. facing a pandemic of this scale for the _ listen. facing a pandemic of

this scale for the first - listen. facing a pandemic of this scale for the first time | this scale for the first time in living memory, what i can say accurately is that i and all those around me and the team in the health system did everything we possibly could. does that mean in a system that employs 1.4 million people in the nhs, with another 2.5 million in social care, that every decision was perfect? of course it wasn�*t. every decision was perfect? of course it wasn't.— course it wasn't. you are watching — course it wasn't. you are watching bbc— course it wasn't. you are watching bbc news. - course it wasn't. you are i watching bbc news. there course it wasn't. you are - watching bbc news. there was no one quite like him in british politics, the words today of tony blair describing his former deputy prime minister john prescott who has died aged 86. his achievements including playing a major role in securing the landmark kyoto agreement on climate change. his family said he suffered a stroke in 2019 and had been living with alzheimer�*s. here�*s our political co—respondent, harry farley. a boxer in his youth, john prescott�*s infamous punch

in the 2001 election campaign cemented his image as a political bruiser. he laterjoked that he was connecting with the electorate. then prime minister tony blair responded saying, "john is john". prime minister. this morning, sir keir starmer paid tribute. as one of the key architects of a labour government, john achieved that rare thing — he changed people's lives and he set the path for us all to follow, and i will always be grateful to him for that. and mr speaker, he did it all in his own way, with humour, with pride, passion and total conviction. he truly was a one—off. a towering pillar of new labour, john prescott spent ten years as deputy prime minister under blair. he oversaw a sprawling department covering the environment, transport and the regions. it was a long way from his birthplace

in prestatyn, north wales. he failed the 11 plus, which wanted him through his life. at 15, he left school to become a ship�*s steward. he wasn�*t new labour�*s slickest politician. those five pledges are essential. you can see i can�*t find them. with his union background and working class roots, he was the glue holding blair�*s movement together. i can�*t use the boards of old labour, i have to use the old ways. he was highly intelligent. that was sometimes masked by people he used to make fun of his speeches and his use of the english language, but he was an incredibly direct communicator. and even if the syntax never quite made sense, the sentiment was very powerful and made complete sense, and i found him, you know, we had our disagreements from time to time, but he was loyal, committed and an enormous help to me and he had a fantastic gut instinct about politics. as well as a bridge

between new and old labour, he was also a councillor holding together the increasingly level of partnership between blair and gordon brown. he remained one of labour�*s best communicators, despite the occasional mistake. can we do that again? sorry, we are live at the moment, mr prescott. will you agree to do that? he often didn�*t see eye to eye with others in labour�*s hierarchy, such as peter mandelson. he is called peter. this year, after many years of not having been in contact, he comes onto my phone one sunday morning on facetime and says, "is that you, peter?" i said, "yes, john, it is, how are you?" he said, "i want to tell you i forgive you". i said, "what are you forgiving me for, john?" he said, "well, you were treated not well. you were the meat in the sandwich, you always got

a good kicking, and i want you to know i forgive you". i said, "do you mean forgive me or sympathise with me? he said, "yes, that as well". and we talked for another ten minutes or so and then he was off, and that was just this year, it was lovely. by the end of his decade as blair�*s deputy, prescott�*s influence was diminished after revelations about an affair with his secretary. this party has given me this party has given me everything and i tried to give everything and i tried to give it everything i�*ve got. it everything i�*ve got. i know in the last year, i know in the last year, i let myself down. i let myself down. i let you down. i let you down. so conference, ijust so conference, ijust want to say sorry. want to say sorry. behind john prescott�*s living image was a political heavyweight, labour to the end heavyweight, labour to the end with a unique with a unique ability to connect. ability to connect.

john prescott there and in the john prescott there and in the last couple of minutes, the king has paid a tribute to lord prescott saying, i am deeply saddened to learn of the death of lord prescott. i remember with great fondness his unique and indomitable character as wallace�*s infectious sense of humour. my thoughts and greatest sympathies are with his wife, family and loved ones at such a difficult time. he goes on to say, i�*m sure very many people will recognise and greatly appreciate the decades

icy parts of the country, quite icy as we head into friday morning. especially where we see the wintry showers form, more snow showers in northern and western parts of scotland, wintry showers for northern ireland. heading to wales, north—west england and may be a dusting of snow through that midlands towards east anglia so icy conditions because we will have a widespread frost. it may not be as cold as it was last night exceptin be as cold as it was last night except in scotland were temperatures as could be as low as —10 again. could be quite windy around some north sea coast, showers moving away, many eastern areas will be dry but out to the west, we will keep some scattered showers going but the snow mainly over the hills. snow levels are going to be rising because of get a westerly breeze and that is going to bring in less cold air so temperature is could get up air so temperature is could get up to six or 7 degrees. more significant changes come over the weekend. that is mainly due to this deepening area of low pressure, storm bert, the second named storm of the season, bringing wet weather

into the cold air so we could see some snowy conditions across this part of scotland in particular, icy as well and thatis particular, icy as well and that is why we have this amber warning from the met office, quite treacherous for a while. other parts of scotland, northern england, starting with snow but probably turning to rain for most areas as the wet weather sweeps northward and eastward, snow levels rising onto the mountains. heavy rain could lead to local flooding and on top of that, very windy. strongest winds, gusts 60—70 miles per hour through the irish sea and into the north—west but not a northerly wind, a south south—westerly wind, a south south—westerly wind and that will bring in mild air, noticeable across those western areas. it continues to get milder everywhere as we head into sunday. there is a storm bert loitering out towards the north—west of the uk, that weather front bringing some rain overnight and retreating back to the south—east during the day on sunday. around the centre of the low closer to the low, this is where we have those really strong winds again, lots of showers, windy

elsewhere mind you, with sunshine and if you showers and still mild, we are looking at a temperature is in england of 16 degrees.

live from london, this is bbc news. the international criminal court issues arrest warrants for israel�*s prime minister, it�*s former defence minister — as well as a hamas millitary commander, who israel says it killed injuly. there are conflicting reports over whether a russian weapon which hit dnipro in ukraine was an intercontinental ballistic missile. tributes tojohn prescott — former deputy prime minister of the uk and a towering labour figure, who�*s died aged 86. the king has described him as a unique and indomitable character, as well as his infectious sense of humour. and these are pictures from iceland, where lava is spewing from this volcano near the capital for the tenth time in three years. the international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for the israeli prime minister, his former defence

minister, and hamas�*s military leader mohammed deif over