live from london. this is bbc news. the taliban are reported to have banned female students in afghanistan from all forms of higher education. israel's defence minister says if the lebanon ceasefire collapses, its army will no

longer differentiate

for women in afghanistan. but now, the taliban are reported to have banned female students from enrolling for medical training. local media say the ministry of health ordered institutions teaching midwifery and nursing not to register female students. videos shared on social media appear to show women at multiple colleges protesting the ban. afghanistan has long had one of the highest rates of maternal deaths in the world, with one woman dying every hour due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. midwives can meet about 90 % of maternal, newborn and adolescent health needs — afghanistan urgently needs an additional 18—thousand trained midwives to meet the demand for skilled birth attendance what does this ban mean for the afghan women who were already struggling under the taliban rule? earlier, i wasjoined in the studio by my colleague sana safi from the bbc afghan service to explain. the news broke out yesterday. it was shared on social media but we couldn't confirm it.

this morning. one of our colleagues managed to confirm it with the ministry of health and they said, yes, this is happening. it's an order from our leader. we are not happy with it, but we have to implement it because the guy is saying so. so the women we contacted were told it's absolutely devastating as to how this was happening. some of the women who heard the rumour last night contacted their own institutions and the leadership to say, hey, i'm hearing this, shall i come in tomorrow? and they were told, yes, come in, everything is fine. we will see what happens. so they go to the classrooms around 930 in the morning. they hear screams and panics because somebody had found out or officially they had been telephoned and they spread the news. and sorry to interrupt. this is stopping them registering. so it's not affecting the women who are already there. as far as we know. no, this is affecting everybody. this is effective immediately. so whoever is in class, they were told to go back. back home. yeah, yeah, yeah.

this is like any other band. the first reports we had was just about registration, and it wasn't going to affect students who were already there. but you're hearing differently. because of access to information is a problem. it has always been a problem. it's very hard to get the full story out, but from what we are gathering, this is affecting everybody, those who are doing their studies now and those who will be continuing to do it in the future. stay with us. i want to also bring in zahra karimi, an afghan film director and the first female chairperson of the afghan film organisation. very good to have you with us. i know you can hear what sana was just saying. just clarifying. it's notjust the young girls or women coming to register, it's those already enrolled. and i wonder what your first reaction was when you heard. so it is sad because. because going to health institutions and health centres to get an education was like the last, last hope for girls of afghanistan to to receive an education,

because even those girls that they didn't like in midwifery education or they didn't like medicine in general, they went to these institutionsjust to, to to continue their education. so you see that even this last hope is shut down by the taliban orders again. and it seems that the taliban is still continuing, continuing to their fight against the girls of afghanistan. and theyjust want that to eliminate women of afghanistan from society, girls of afghanistan from society. and some of my students also because i teach, uh, script writing in afghanistan, some of my students, also, so they, they, they, they went to these institutions, health institutions. and they are very sad because, uh, because they say that, uh, this was the only hope that we could get out of home, our home.

and we can go like to the we be visible in the inside, the society. and also we also feel our visibility. but the taliban, uh, they decided 0k to the to close also these institutions uh, my, my very, very personal opinion is that that international community and international leaders, they must take action and they, they should not like, uh, interact with the taliban instead of interacting with the taliban. they should recognise, uh, genderapartheid, uh, in afghanistan. and, uh, they should really listen to the voice of women of afghanistan. girls of afghanistan. they really they really they really they should take action against the taliban and taliban must, must answer to their barbaric action, to their barbaric orders, to their barbaric decrees.

you know, this is this is something so beyond, beyond even it is beyond sadness. it is even beyond the tragedy. you know, what is going on in afghanistan and what is experiencing and witnessing girls of afghanistan right now. sarah, thank you so much for that. sana. one of the things that seems so clear, this doesn't only slam the door to women trying to get an education. the only bit of education that was available. it affects women who are trying to have a baby with one of the highest, uh, rates of maternal death in the world with this desperate need there is for midwives. this is affecting women on every level, this decision. absolutely. it's not just affecting women on every level. those who are giving birth, those who need to, those who are planning families. but as sarah was saying, it was the only public space for women. the women saw that that was the only space they could go to and be with each other. so it's the erosion of women

from society, even in places. health was the reason health was chosen by many women was this was seen as the need sector. this was seen that, oh, this is protected from the edicts. that's why women went and wanted to go to health rather than any other sector, because they said, well, even the taliban would probably allow us to go to health because it's important. it's needed. like you were saying, it has the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. but with this, you have got absolutely no space for women to leave and do anything. primary education is allowed, but even that is now. people worry that even that that would be next. in the next half hour. we have heard that south korea has declared martial law. the

president made a late night television address. let us bring in michael bristow was be looking into this for us. this has come as a price to many. what we know about why has been done? we what we know about why has been done? ~ ., ., , , done? we are not entirely sure wh and done? we are not entirely sure why and he _ done? we are not entirely sure why and he has _ done? we are not entirely sure why and he has taken - why and he has taken this action. it does not seem to have been any warning. there was no warning is going to make this announcement. it seems to take the law people by surprise. the opposition parties have called for the politicians to return to parliament. the opposition parties are suggesting that they disagree with this decision and oppose it. it appears from looking at the initial reports coming out of south korea that the people in south korea that the people in south korea that the people in south korea were surprised and don't fully agree with what the president has done. this gives him sweeping powers in south

korea. he says he is doing it because of the threat from north korea, but at the moment, we are not clear what that threat is. over the last few months, over the last few years, there has been for many decades tensions between north and south korea. but it does not seem to have been anything in particular over the last few weeks backwardly to this really dramatic decision. you have to remember that south korea is a liberal democracy. they have elections. there is open media. for this to happen there is a big surprise, to say the least. the main opposition democratic party is already responding and saying that they should not have happened. can you explain the political system there? how is parliament made up? does the present have a majority in the parliament? he present have a ma'ority in the parliamennh present have a ma'ority in the parliament? he doesn't have a ma'ori parliament? he doesn't have a majority in _ parliament? he doesn't have a majority in the _ parliament? he doesn't have a majority in the parliament. - majority in the parliament. that is one of his problems. he can power a couple of years ago

in the presidential election very narrowly from his rival. but earlier this year, they were parliamentary elections and the president has my party lost power, lost ground in those elections. the opposition took control. this often happens in liberal democracies. we are not unused see different parties being a different governing positions. in america, for example, you might have the president from one party and the contrast is controlled by another party. that is not an unusual situation. the president has indicated so far this is necessarily politics that had forced to do to do this. he suggested that there is a genuine threat of infiltration from communist forces from the north koreans. he has not yet explained what that threat is. it does not appear to be anything to do with the workings of politics in south

korea. that seems to have gone on reasonably normally over the past few months. it is on reasonably normally over the past few months.— past few months. it is good to see yom _ past few months. it is good to see yom we _ past few months. it is good to see you. we will— past few months. it is good to see you. we will bring - past few months. it is good to see you. we will bring you - past few months. it is good to l see you. we will bring you more on this as we get it. the bbc has said it will not broadcast two masterchef celebrity christmas specials in light of the controversy surrounding one of the presenters, gregg wallace. but the corporation said masterchef: the professionals would continue to be shown as planned. gregg wallace has been accused of inappropriate comments and actions by contestants and production staff. he denies engaging in sexually aggressive behaviour. with me is our media and arts correspondent, david sillito. last week, it was decided that gregg wallace will step away

from further filming after the bbc approach the company that makes it with allegations from 13 people about inappropriate behaviour that goes back over a 17 year period. there was an investigation into his behaviour back in 2018. they felt his behaviour had been an acceptable onset. the question though was what would happen to the programmes that were already in the can. a decision was made that masterchef, the professionals, which goes out on bbc one would continue. however, the episode went out last night, but the decision has now been made that the christmas specials that were due to go out are not going to go out. some repeats of inside the factory, are also in the bbc schedule. they are rolling

back on all of his can contain continuing to go out.- back on all of his can contain continuing to go out. have we heard anything _ continuing to go out. have we heard anything else _ continuing to go out. have we heard anything else from - continuing to go out. have we i heard anything else from gregg wallace? he issued an apology yesterday. wallace? he issued an apology esterda . ., , wallace? he issued an apology yesterday-— yesterday. there has been a treat yesterday. there has been a great deal. _ yesterday. there has been a great deal, hasn't _ yesterday. there has been a great deal, hasn't there? it| great deal, hasn't there? it was a comment he made on instagram saying that after he had worked with 4000 people, only 30 have come forward with complaints. he said it was middle—class and middle—aged women he was blaming. then 24 hours later, there was an abject apology. since then, silence from gregg wallace. we wait to hear anything more in the future. ukraine has insisted that nato membership was the only "real guarantee" for its security , as foreign ministers looked set to rebuff kyiv�*s push for an invite ahead of donald trump's return to the us presidency. trump has vowed to press for a quick deal to end russia's war, leaving kyiv scrambling to position itself ahead of his january inauguration.

the nato secretary—general, mark rutte, has been speaking this morning in brussels. he reiterated the alliance's support for ukraine in its war against russia, as it enters winter. israel and the eu must work closely together in our support for ukraine. ukraine is entering another crucial winter and russia's aggression shows no sign of abating. just the opposite, putin is ramping up his rhetoric and reckless actions. he is using ukraine as a testing ground for experimental missiles and is deploying north korean soldiers in this illegal war. putin is not interested in peace. he is pressing on, trying to take more territory because he thinks he can break ukraine's resolve and ours. but he is wrong. ukraine has a right to defend itself and we have a duty to help them, so we need to continue our steadfast support.

earlier us secretary of state antony blinken spoke about the importance of the nato alliance. the reason so many countries are invested in this alliance, the reason that new countries, finland and sweden, have joined the alliance, the reason the alliance is stronger than ever is because we all know it's the best guarantee against war, the best means to prevent conflict, the best means to ensure our collective security. and that's because injoining nato, every ally takes a pledge that an attack on one is an attack on all. and that means that any would be aggressor knows that if they take on one nato country, they have to take on all of them. and that is the best way to deter aggression in the first place. and that's why i think you see a stronger alliance, a bigger alliance, a determined alliance, and will continue to reaffirm that today and tomorrow.

around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

in a warning to the lebanese government, israel's defence minister has threatened to �*penetrate deeper�* into lebanon if the ceasefire collapses — and warned that if it fails, israel will no longer differentiate between lebanon and hezbollah. his comments come amid growing concern about the stability of the ceasefire, after israel and his brother launched attacks against each other on monday. both sides say they were retaliating to violations of the truce agreement, and today, israel has issued fresh warnings for people in lebanon to keep out of towns and villages in the south of the country. earlier, we spoke to our correspondent, yolande knell in jerusalem. she told us just how much pressure the fragile ceasefire is under today. i mean, a lot of pressure. and those were really strong comments that came from the israeli defence minister as he was up on israel's northern border, close to lebanon, visiting troops there. we understand from reports also

that lebanese officials have been approaching the us and also france, which of course brokered this ceasefire deal less than a week ago and asking them for help, really to shore it up. a lot now depends on this mechanism that was created to sort of supervise, to monitor the ceasefire with the ability of both sides to report violations to it. the update today on the situation in gaza. what are we hearing? well, there's been an important development regarding post—war plans for gaza, because this has been something that's very much been missing from a lot of the conversations. and we've had the main palestinian factions, hamas and fatah, meeting in cairo for talks brokered by egypt. and what we understand from negotiators on both sides is that they have come up with this plan for a technical committee,

10 to 12 individuals that could take over different sections of the palestinian arena after the war. they could supervise health, education, aid and reconstruction. other parts of the economy and of course, regional mediators, including egypt, along with the us., have really spent many months now trying to get some kind of a ceasefire deal between israel and hamas. they failed to do so up to now. and this is really kind of a last ditch effort that we've been seeing in recent days by the biden administration to try to get talks going again. so this is happening within that context. now, israel up to now, of course, it has been saying its aim is to destroy hamas, its military and its governing capabilities in gaza in the wake of those deadly 7th of october attacks that triggered the war. but israel has also been

opposing very strongly the idea of the palestinian authority, headed by the palestinian president mahmoud abbas, dominated by the fatah faction basically governing parts of the occupied west bank. it's been very much opposed to the palestinian authority having a role in gaza after the war. of course there was a similar scenario after the end of the walk. skirmishes kept happening. what we're seeing now, is more political posturing. both sides are trying to test the limits. they are trying to test the resolve

of the supervisory mechanism thatis of the supervisory mechanism that is meant to oversee the ceasefire. knowing that the lebanese army does not have enough troops yet to deploy all over the area mentioned in southern lebanon. here we have both sides basically signalling that they may have signed this agreement, but they can still inflict harm on one another and are still political forces to be reckoned with. {iii are still political forces to be reckoned with. of course, we have been _ be reckoned with. of course, we have been closely _ be reckoned with. of course, we have been closely following - have been closely following what has been happening in syria over the past few days. there's been a large offensive against assad regime. they have taken over aleppo. what you see happening next, given that the syrian regime has control? the s rian syrian regime has control? the syrian regime _ syrian regime has control? tie: syrian regime has control? tie: syrian regime has control? tue: syrian regime has control of the sky, but that is less than

the sky, but that is less than the control that it gives to have a few years back. that is largely because of our share has moved some of his aircraft to ukraine to deploy there. so it has fewer aircraft in syria. and also on the ground, the assad regime's forces also weaker than before because of iran. here we have a link between the syrian landscape and the lebanon scenario, in the sense that iran backed forces assad relies on in syria have been weakened as it result of the confrontation with israel. if they move troops from lebanon for the assad regime or weapons, they will be breaking the terms of the lebanon ceasefire and the agreement with israel. it assad, is in a way, weaker than before. this is why the rebel groups in syria are taking advantage of this moment.

francis phrasings fresh instability. person—macro has tried to force through a budget. tried to force through a budget-— tried to force through a budaet. , , ., budget. this is the moment the prime minister _ budget. this is the moment the prime minister said _ budget. this is the moment the prime minister said he - budget. this is the moment the prime minister said he would i prime minister said he would haggle no more. they could either backing or voting out of office. france could plunge the financial turmoil. office. france could plunge the financialturmoil. barniersaid they were entering unknown territory. but the leader, marine le pen, said bring it

on. she said the french have had enough. the things of gone from bad to worse. france is in a financial pickle with soaring debt. trouble here could spread throughout europe. the crisis, is it hard, political. spike by this summer's elections. it is a gridlocked parliament unable to agree on anything. marine le pen wants to be france's next president. the wholesome strong cards right now. she is gambling that any fresh chaos you will be blamed on this man and not her. president emmanuel macron, arriving in saudi arabia. he has never looked so politically fragile. you may cling onto power, but is promised to strengthen the centre ground of french politics is in trouble. we are

caettin politics is in trouble. we are getting some _ politics is in trouble. we are getting some more - politics is in trouble. we are getting some more reaction| politics is in trouble. we are - getting some more reaction from south korea. the president has declared emergency martial law. the leader of the opposition democratic party and said that this declaration is unconstitutional and described it as wrong and they are going to block it. hello. not a bad day weatherwise, call for some of us but quite a lot of dry weather. we will see further dryer interludes through the rest of this week. things look pretty changeable, though, there will also be spells of wind and rain and it will be cold enough at times for some hills no, including in association with this frontal system pushing its way in from the west. this ridge of high pressure has been given the dry weather for most of us today, that is the next frontal system already approaching, bringing some rain to parts of northern ireland, scotland and some snow over the higher ground. several centimetres of the highest ground in scotland, maybe a little of the tops of the

pennines as this frontal system slips south—eastward. not much more than a band of cloud kind but as it clears and the sky is clear and temperatures drop away, we could have some icy stretches to contend with across central and eastern parts of scotland as we go through tomorrow morning for to buy well. but we are in one of these drier interludes with some spells of sunshine. however, here comes the next system at which the west bringing rain into northern ireland, parts of western scotland. ahead of that weather front we start to bring in some slightly milder air, sub—belfast, and plymouth, 11, colder further east. the difficult to flaunt all bringing rain on misleading, strong winds for a time in the north—west of scotland, easily gusts of 70, maybe 75 miles per hour in the most exposed spots with this area of low pressure. you can see another frontal system racing in from the west for thursday, sojust a brief dry interlude this time for

rain returns from the west. a pretty bad day for money. a windy day for many is welcome but it will be a milder day as the weather system swings away eastwards, again, we see a drier interlude, spells of sunshine, showers of the north—west, these will be wintry of a higher ground, back into some colder air at this stage. and then a huge amount of uncertainty in our forecast for the start of the weekend, an area of low pressure set to move close to the uk. some models take it to the south of us, some bring it a bit further north, does bring the threat of some very heavy rain and potentially some strong winds.

bell bell live from new york live from new york at the opening bell — at the opening bell — this is business today. this is business today. a cautious start on wall street a cautious start on wall street after yet another record close— after yet another record close— with all eyes on friday's happy are you at work? with all eyes on friday's crucial us jobs numbers. crucial us jobs numbers. and coming up — he's the world's richest man — but how much richer but how much richer should he get? should he get? a judge overrules elon musk�*s a judge overrules elon musk�*s massive tesla pay deal — massive tesla pay deal — worth at least $56 billion. worth at least $56 billion. plus, teaching plus, teaching an old cat new tricks. an old cat new tricks. jaguar unveils its type zero zero. jaguar unveils its type zero zero. but can it claw back its status but can it claw back its status in the luxury car industry — in the luxury car industry — and win over a new generation? also coming up — how