— paving the way for displaced palestinians to return to northern gaza from monday. president trump and his colombian counterpart trade threats of tariffs — after colombia turned back two migrant deportation flights. and, we report from belarus, as the authoritarian leader, alexander lukashenko — ally of vladmir putin — looks to have overwhelmingly won the presidential election. hello i'm carl naasman. we begin with breaking news out of the middle east. israel says — hamas will hand over six more hostages this week, including civilian hostage arbel yehud. israel had accused hamas of breaching their ceasefire terms — when she wasn't released along with other hostages on saturday. in return, israel will allow displaced palestinians to return to northern gaza from monday morning. in other developments —

egypt has rejected any attempt to relocate palestinians from gaza after us president donald trump said he'd like to see a—million—and—a—half of gaza's residents taken in by other arab nations. he told reporters that the strip was "literally a demolition site" and suggested it be quote "cleaned out". hamas says it will oppose any plan to relocate palestinians. for more on the situation, our correspondent, nick beake sent this update. just a few days ago, president trump was talking about the gaza strip as if it were a piece of prime real estate. he said it was a phenomenal location by the sea with the best weather. now, though, he's describing it as a demolition site and says it's over and that it needs to be cleaned out. and that has sparked a lot of concern today. critics saying that this sounds like language which is tantamount to ethnic cleansing, if palestinians have to leave gaza. mr trump was suggesting that the likes of egypt have to leave gaza.

mr trump was suggesting that the likes of egypt and jordan could take in more palestinians, and that people would be able to live in peace there. jordan has already got more than two million registered palestinian refugees, and the foreign minister has been saying that they've got this unwavering commitment to palestinians remaining in gaza while there is, of course, reconstruction of the place, which has been so badly damaged in the past 15 months. egypt has said previously that any sort of forced displacement of palestinians from gaza could jeopardise the peace deal that was signed back in 1979 between egypt and israel. in israel, there has been reaction from far—right politicians. they have welcomed the comments from president trump because ultimately they would like to see jewish settlers he said either plan could work at this point. so i think a lot of people waiting to see

what more he has to say. and just this past hour, the white house announced that the ceasefire deal between lebanon and israel has been extended to february 18. earlier on sunday, israel said it would keep its forces in lebanon in spite of both the idf and hezbollah�*s ceasefire agreement to withdraw its troops for the area. israel accused the lebanese military of not doing enough to stop the iran—backed militant group hezbollah from regrouping in the south. the lebanese health ministry accused the israeli army of firing at residents attempting to return to their homes in southern lebanon, killing at least 22 people and injuring more than one hundred others. for more on the arab league's comments denouncing trump s proposals as ethnic cleansing. i spoke to the former us deputy assistant secretary of defense for the middle east, dana stroul about what could have prompting this kind of reaction. lets start with some new comments from the arab league denouncing trump s proposals as ethnic cleansing. just explain why this is prompting that kind of reaction. walk us through why the almost off—the—cuff remarks from donald trump are prompting that reaction? it feeds a narrative that palestinians in the arab world have long suspected

about israel's motivations and americans intention, which is there is not credible commitment to in eventual palestinian state, living side by side with israel. but actually feeding this narrative that palestinians should be exiles and somebody are. two, the estimates for gaza reconstruction are over $80 billion and will take decades, talking about generations. something like saying palestinian should relocate, even on a temporary basis tojordan and egypt is generations displaced from their homes. and those are their homes. we know and we see pictures now of the gaza strip which has just been mostly destroyed. more than half the buildings destroyed or damaged. what are the other good options? where will people live? there's more than a million people. so when this reconstruction does eventually happen, where will they go? there aren't a lot of

good options right now. the international community does have experience, agreement and credible partners both on the israeli side and the international community side as well as the palestinians is moving from humanitarian aid to clearing out rubble, to a law enforcement presence on the grounds of the people have basic security for the day you work on the next steps, turn the lights on, getting kids back to school, getting people back in their homes. which we've done in post isis situations in syria and iraq is great examples the challenge in gaza is that there is no consensus on a non—hamas entity. israel remains opposed to working with any partner right now paves the way for indefinite israeli occupation or mogadishu on the mediterranean in gaza. these suggestions which were made aboard air force one by donald trump not being received well by the palestinians. what about in israel? how do you think the israeli government, maybe even

some far right leaders are taking these comments? certainly in israel there's a diversity of news. you could see immediately that the most extreme right—wing members of prime minister netanyahu is coalition embrace trump's remarks because that's what they've been talking about the whole time. that palestinian should leave the west bank of a leave gaza, go tojordan, go to egypt other places and those are parts of land that should eventually be part of israel. that is not shared across all of israeli society. of course long—standing us policy has been for a palestinian state. we're now hearing that israel will allow displaced palestinians to return to northern gaza.

we believe that should start monday morning, with that? it's really significant. what we saw it last 2a hours this is very fragile cease—fire began to unravel. because hamas is behaving like a terrorist organization that it is it committed to giving names and timelines for certain israeli hostages and then it didn't live up to its commitments. israel posited side of implementation. what we saw is qatar, when it wants to lean on how mosques get the agreements and to uphold commitments. there is now an agreementjust announced by netanyahu his office that we will see additional israeli hostages come out this thursday as well as following weekend. that probably is sending a message to israel that certain measures like preventing the movement of palestinians north actually works and that hamas is under pressure. i wanted to touch on the situation in lebanon at the deadliest day of fighting since the truce went into effect for that the white house says it's going to be extended until february 18 for that what you make of that? today was the end of phase one of the israel— lebanon cease—fire, the first 60 days. in those first 60 days the lebanese army was supposed to deploy style and completely

disarm as black ms caches. it's writers was posted move north his brother is behaving that terrorist organization that it is and did not adhere to its commitments. the government was not able to uphold under the cease—fire. israel does not have the security guarantees it needs. we see the white house back the position that the cease—fire needs to be extended. the british prime minister sir keir starmer held his first phone conversation with donald trump since the president's inauguration. downing street says the leaders stressed the importance of the close ties between their two countries — and they agreed to meet soon. 0ur political correspondent iain watson gave us this update. i think it's quite positive from keir starmer as point of view. it's within a week of the inauguration, he was not the inauguration. he had already spoken to president elect trump after the november election. that went in trump tower

quite well in september. i say quite well because of course donald trumps close ally elon musk has been denouncing keir starmer and his labour government on social media. it doesn't look like that was anything like the tone of this conversation. i'm told it was warm and personal. it does look as though both men went out of their way to try to find points of agreement rather than points of difference. a few examples, praise from keir starmer for donald trump's roll ahead of taking office in negotiating or helping to negotiate that cease—fire in the middle east. and of course the release of the hostages, something keir starmer praised his predecessorjoe biden for too. 0n the other side of this donald trump sent condolences to keir starmer with the death of his brother and also asked after the royal family and said he had great respect for them. it does look like they were trying to talk about issues where they could have a reasonable 45 minute long conversation.

there is no hint in readouts from the white house orfrom downing street that they really got into any policy detail in this discussion for the big areas of potential difference seem to have been left for another day or potentially sidestepped for the islands in the uk— us air base in the indian ocean, although they discuss trade neither of these readouts, the official accounts mentioned the other keyword, tariffs. which is what bandied about by the new president. interestingly, keir starmer described by donald trump as a liberal, some with philosophical differences from him also stressed in that call that he wanted to be used for economic growth and talked about an agenda of deregulation. something which would really be music to the presidency ears. if you don't mind if i let you go, we heard mention that they do have agreed to meet in person soon for that what can we expect there? that's right.

there will be a meeting soon. whether it will be the first overseas meeting remains to be seen. donald trump said to the bbc on air force one that it could be saudi arabia, could be the uk. i don't know if there's some kind of bidding war going on. there was the royal family but i'm told that's nothing to do with organizing state visits. it certainly no date that had been agreed during the course of the phone call. the understanding i think on both sides is that meeting will take place in the next few weeks. there is now a battle brewing between the us and colombia over president trump's policies on immigration and deportation. in the past hour, colombia ordered 25% tariffs on us imports — in response to trump's earlier threats of tariffs, travel bans, and sanctions against colombia. it all began when colombia blocked us military deportation flights carrying around 80 migrants from landing in the south american country. the colombian president said migrants should be treated with dignity, adding that they weren't criminals. president trump said on social media — that his retaliatory measures

are "just the beginning. colombia's foreign ministry says — they are now making a presidential plane available for the return of their citizens. mexico has also refused to let us deportation flights land on its territory. but on friday, two us military flights each carrying around 80 migrants were allowed to land in guatemala. donald trump has made removing unlawful migrants from the us a cornerstone of his immigration policy. meanwhile, raids by immigration, customs and enforcement are underway in multiple sanctuary cities across the us — from los angeles to chicago. the white house says 538 undocumented immigrants have been arrested so far. our correspondent noamia iqbal is following the story. immigration and tariffs were two issues that

donald trump talked tough about on the campaign trail. and tonight he's combined both those issues and carried out this major action against an ally. now colombia has pushed back returning those flights saying that they didn't like the way these undocumented migrants were handcuffed on a military transporter. those migrants are now back in the u:s.. the president of colombia has also threatened to hit back with his own tariffs. in fact, he has hit back with tariffs. now, if donald trump does go through with the tariffs and sanctions so far, they're only a post. it could impact americans in the sense that lots of items that are exported here from colombia, the cost could go up, such as coffee. up to a third of coffee from colombia is brought here to colombia. as we know, america is a big coffee drinking nation. but i think ultimately what this does show is that president trump is prepared to use the might of america to try and bend countries to fall in line with his policies, even if those countries are allies. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

let's look at some other stories making news. the chancellor rachel reeves says tech companies have a �*moral responsibility�* to remove violent content online. the home secretary, yvette cooper, has written to social media firms warning them that keeping extreme material available could encourage attacks similar to last yea r�*s southport murders. the killer, eighteen year old axel rudakubana, had repeatedly viewed violent content. greater manchester police say a nineteen year old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after an officer was seriously injured in cheadle. the force says a car hit the officer last night after she was called to reports of people acting suspiciously at a retail park and described the incident as "truly shocking". the government says its proposed reforms will "unclog" the planning system in england and drive economic growth. it's been suggested they could include support for a third runway at heathrow airport. some labourfigures have questioned the environmental implications. but the chancellor has

pointed to advancements in sustainable fuel, and says it could mean planes spend less time circling over london. you're live with bbc news. the election in belarus ? which is widely accepted to have been rigged ? has allowed the man often described as europe s last dictator to continue his 30 year rule. an exit polls claims to show alexander lukashenko winning by nearly 90% of the vote. while byelorussians were casting their ballots, he held a four hour news conference — where he said he had no regrets about helping russia invade ukraine, claimed some of the political opponents he jailed had chosen to be in prison, and announced any successor of his had to be a man as — in his words — a woman could not be a dictator. 0ur russia editor, steve rosenberg, questioned lukashenko at that conference — and sent this report from the capital minsk. alexander lukashenko could afford to smile

in a stage managed election. he was guaranteed victory. this you'd expect to see at a polling station, but not what happened next. with voting ongoing in a room next door. candidate lukashenko gave a 11.5 hour press conference live on tv. how can you call this a democratic election? i ask when all your main rivals are either in prison or in exile. trnslation: some are in prison and some are in exile. _ but you are here. everyone has the right to make their own choice. that's democracy. you said recently that people in belarus should be allowed to say what they think, and not have their mouths shut. so why not let your opponents out ofjail?

translation: prison| is for people who have opened their mouths too wide and have broken the law. that's only natural. what don't you have prisons in britain and america? the other candidates were more like spoilers than serious challenges. 0ne actually supported mr lukashenko. another was full of praise for him, though. in a strange election, i say. translation: but steve, this is | a whole new experience for you. j the last election in 2020 was followed by a brutal crackdown on protesters, who accused mr. lukashenko of stealing their votes. western governments dismissed the election as a farce. the eu's foreign policy chief has called the 2025 vote to a sham. translation: i swear to you, i couldn't care less _ whether you recognise our election or whether you don't. the most important thing

for me is that the people of belarus recognise it. his critics say that after 30 years ruling belarus, the most important thing for alexander lukashenko is staying in power. steve rosenberg, bbc news, minsk. hours after taking office president trump signed a slew of executive orders and one of those enacted an indefinite pause on refugee admission despite the years long vetting process they go through before coming to the us. and just days later an internal memo was sent to officals saying the us state department has halted spending on foreign aid projects, excluding israel and egypt. in total the us spent $68 billion last year on international aid and this change would affect everything from development assistance, military aid, humanitarian assistance, and risks cutting off life—saving services. live now to krish o'mara vignarajah, the president and ceo of global refuge, one of the nation s oldest and largest refugee resettlement nonprofits. on friday, your organization received a stop—work order

from the us government. walk us through what that means. seems what that means. like every day this week brought seems like every day this week brought us a new challenge. the administration suspended arrivals and cancel travel bookings for already vetted refugees of course on friday the administration to go further and direct resettlement nonprofits to halt all services for all refugees who are already here in the us. that's obviously very hard for us if we try to process and understand the implications of this was up to give you an example. we have afghan allies who risked their lives to protect our us troops. they are here, we have always served them to help support them, to keep our promise to them. just as we have special immigrant visas, special allies who are coming but at this upcoming week etc for that we don't know

how we serve them, how to be ensure that they aren't stranded at the airport, that they aren't homeless, that we can help their young children get enrolled in our schools? these are the challenges we're facing right now. to these are the challenges we're facing right now.— facing right now. to what extent do _ facing right now. to what extent do you _ facing right now. to what extent do you think- facing right now. to what extent do you think the l facing right now. to what - extent do you think the trump administration fully understood the fallout here, they're freezing this refugee programme would also affect people like you mentioned? those afghan citizens who did help the us military during the war there and now would face a threat from the taliban after they took control. i from the taliban after they took control.— from the taliban after they took control. i guess we hope that this is — took control. i guess we hope that this is just _ took control. i guess we hope that this is just a _ took control. i guess we hope that this is just a matter - took control. i guess we hope that this is just a matter of i that this is just a matter of a misunderstanding. certainly programmes like refugee resettlement, they are the gold standard in terms of how we that individuals, families who have gone to a different country, they applied to the united nations, they have gone through extreme vetting for the fbi, department of homeland security, cai, interpol, they waited their turn. and only when those applications have been processed had they come to

the us. it's very difficult for that we heard from president trump even this morning, we heard from vice president vance that they draw the line between legal immigration and other pathways for the refugee resettlement has always had pipe arguments support for the weave hope that we will be a better restart resettlement quickly as possible. you mentioned _ quickly as possible. you mentioned that this - quickly as possible. you l mentioned that this move quickly as possible. you mentioned that this move by the trump administration affects refugees that are already here is it right? what will this mean for people who have recently relocated from another country? recently relocated from another count ? , ., , country? these are refugees. they have — country? these are refugees. they have waited _ country? these are refugees. they have waited a _ country? these are refugees. they have waited a year - country? these are refugees. they have waited a year or. country? these are refugees. l they have waited a year or two in some cases, a decade. they come to the us under the commitment we made to help them in those first three months through the state department. for those families, when they start calling tomorrow morning, look we're here and promise to help us in terms of being a

roof over the heads of a young family, i will be honest, i don't know how we answer that. thankfully we have the generosity of the american people, congregations who have supported us as the largest faith—based profit. —— nonprofit. that support is often short—lived photo i do hope we have answers for them. president trump also ordered this 90 day pause in foreign development assistance aid. it's hard not to ask, if the goal of this administration is to reduce the number of immigrants are refugees entering the country could cutting off that kind of aid actually have the opposite effect? i5 actually have the opposite effect? , , . ., actually have the opposite effect? ,, . ., ., effect? is such an important question _ effect? is such an important question because _ effect? is such an important question because the - effect? is such an important question because the irony l effect? is such an important. question because the irony of this is that this work order, the suspension freezes aid to central america, which is obviously been a major source of migration outflows. we know this is one of the administrations top priorities.

i do worry that this decision would be counterproductive to those goals. obviously, we have seen addressing the root cause is a critical component of managing and controlling our border. ., u, managing and controlling our border. ., . ., ., managing and controlling our border. ., ., border. how confident are you that either _ border. how confident are you that either of _ border. how confident are you that either of those _ border. how confident are you that either of those decisionsl that either of those decisions might be reconsidered by the trump administration? i might be reconsidered by the trump administration?- might be reconsidered by the trump administration? i was at the state department - trump administration? i was at the state department for a - trump administration? i was at the state department for a fewj the state department for a few years. i know that transitions take time. you need to get secretary rubio and his team in place. i do hope as they think through the implications of this, they are sweeping. it's emergency assistance to maternal clinics for the clean water for infants. maternal clinics for the clean waterfor infants. support maternal clinics for the clean water for infants. support for refugees who are here in the us, including the afghan allies. i do hope rubio will change course.— allies. i do hope rubio will change course. krish o'mara vignarajah, president - change course. krish o'mara vignarajah, president and i change course. krish o'mara i vignarajah, president and ceo of global refuge, thank you.

the trump administration says — it issued the change in refguee policy because the entry of additional refugees would be detrimental to the interests of the united states. it did say it mayjointly make exceptions and admit refugees on a case—by—case basis when in the national interest, and there is no threat to america s security or welfare. let's turn to some other important news around the world. the un head, antonio guterres, has called on rwanda to withdraw its forces from eastern congo and halt support for m23 fighters advancing on the key city of goma. the un security council has been meeting to discuss the escalation in fighting which has seen four hundred thousand people displaced in less than a month. thirteen foreign peacekeepers are among hundreds of people killed in recent days. speaking at the un session, the country's foreign minister, said rwanda's forces had crossed into congolese territory in what amounted to a "declaration of war." sudan's army chief and de facto president, abdel fattah al—burhan, has praised what he described as the resilience and sacrifice of soldiers who defended the military headquarters in khartoum. he was visiting the site two

days after his forces broke through to the complex, which was surrounded by the the paramilitary rapid support forces for nearly two years. its recapture comes after other recent gains for the sudanese army. twelve million people have been displaced during the war. president trump issued an executive order — directing the federal government to take control of managing california's water resources — if deemed ineffective. trump has been critical of the state's response to the recent devastating wildfires. he also ordered a review councilfor the federal emergency management agency, just days after he threatened to close down the agency. it comes as califonia sees its first significant rainfall in months, bringing some relief for firefighting efforts and cleaner air. but also bringing the risk of mudslides — and toxic ash runoff. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there.

another name storm as we start off the new working week. this time it's been named by the spanish met service because of the effects that it will have on the iberian peninsula. it's storm herminia, but also some impacts here across the united kingdom, heavy rain and some strong gusty winds. there are met office weather warnings in place, and this time it's the southern half of the uk that will bear the brunt of the worst of the weather over the next few days. so the storm's been brewing out in the atlantic. it's been pushing this massive cloud and outbreaks of very heavy rain at times further northwards and eastwards through the night, that hook on the rain producing potentially still some very squally gusts of wind of up to 60 to 80 miles an hour, but clearing into monday morning. so this is how we'll start off the day. perhaps still some hill snow. just as that rain curls into southern central areas of scotland, there will be squally showers out towards the west and some very strong gusty winds. heavier rain pushing eastwards from northern ireland into north west england and eventually up into southern and central areas of scotland too. but very strong winds out

towards irish sea coast of up to 60 to 70 miles an hour, also for some western channel coasts too, and some of these showers are likely to have some thunder, some lightning and some hail in them, some very heavy downpours and strong gusty winds. temperatures six to nine celsius tended to be drier and brighter across eastern areas of england. an improving picture somewhat on tuesday is the area of low pressure starts to weaken and fill, but there will still be plenty of showers swirling around. there won't be quite so potent as they will have been on monday, though, and there will be some brighter spells. also some areas of cloud, more of a northwesterly wind. still quite blustery, particularly towards those western coasts. temperatures between six and nine celsius for most of us, and that area of low pressure clears away, only to be followed by another one that this time is going to be bringing some heavy rain at times towards southern areas of england in particular. now there's still a lot of debate on how far north this rain is going to get,

and if it does get further north than this, then over the higher ground, potentially there could be some snowfall. but for much of the northern half of the uk, largely dry. a few showers around. temperatures again six to nine celsius on thursday, though a ridge of high pressure. so much more settled. conditions generally dry. there'll be some sunshine, more rain, potentially on friday and through the weekend. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. today marks 80 years since the liberation of auschwitz concentration camp. in 2022, hardtalk spoke to a survivor of the camp as a young girl. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. never has it felt more important to remember the lessons of the greatest crime of the 20th century, the nazi genocide of thejews. europe is again witnessing a war of aggression, anti—semitism is on the rise and young people, according to the surveys, have an alarming level of ignorance about the holocaust. well, my guest today is tova friedman, one of the youngest survivors of the auschwitz death camp. now in her 80s, she's written a memoir and is using social media to tell her story. so is the world ready to listen and learn?