that will appear at the same time. we'll tell you all you need to know. coming up on business today. on oil and gas after years of ramping details still aren't clear on exactly what each side will get, but ukrainian officials say they see

it as a good outcome. president trump described the deal as "very big" and said he visits washington on friday. joe inwood reports. could ukraine's vast untapped mineral deposits be the key to its continued fight? president zelensky has suggested so in the past. graphite and lithium are essentialfor making in everything from planes to power stations. these minerals, along with other rare earths, of it under russian occupation. it's not known exactly what the terms are, but it's said that us demands for half a trillion dollars have been removed.

made no mention of any deal, but it was confirmed to the bbc certainly it's ok with me if he'd like to, and he would like to sign it together with me. by explicitly linking us support to mineral rights, policy precedent. joe inwood, bbc news. and what does america

get out of it? out of the equation. successfully made a deal. and what is in it for the united states? that there is no argument about that, that they are valuable resources used in many modern technologies, for electric vehicles. the united states back into ukraine, at least for the foreseeable future. security guarantees. we've been hearing about it all week,

we don't know to what extent this agreement secures future is to some extent part of this. to the war, negotiations with president putin and as you say, the devil will be in the detail on friday, president zelensky is due to arrive in washington, where they will sort of sign, the two leaders will sign the deal and sort of, it'll be a big moment that yeah, it'll be a very symbolic moment because it will be...

a changing of the mood. so, yeah, a very high profile, no doubt it will be high donald trump for the first time in quite a while, so i think it does mark a change. seemingly being sidelined by the united states in terms of negotiations, and perhaps puts the eventual process towards peace back on track.

peter based. the british prime minister, sir keir starmer is preparing president trump has called for years for the uk and europe to spend more on defence. for politico and i asked him what welcome sir keir would receive at the white house. and i'm sure trump is grateful that the uk, came along with the us in not signing that ai framework in paris in the last couple of weeks.

and that they're not forced to sign a deal. president, if they give away the store to russia." week when we were, all eyes were on riyadh starmer�*s visit very important, but now we've got zelensky arriving as well at the end of this week. about, hey, come, us companies to and so they were almost pitching their own mineral deal and trump did not

take them up on that. into crimea or russia to take advantage of russian minerals. of the allies who are telling vance to keep ukraine of ukraine right now, but at the price of being almost he could tell his base, "hey, i got more money for the us." and before we let you go, daniel, iwant coming out of washington. resolution calling for trillions of dollars this is all part of trump's pre—election promises. his big, beautiful bill, as he calls it. talk us through what's going on. yeah. this was, they were about to

cancel this vote and send to get enough in their very slim majority, and they made it much more vague. in the specific bill. but this definitely lays the groundwork for republicans to potentially lose their control of the house you cut the taxes for the wealthy americans, a political price later on. and also, daniel, i want to ask you about what's as a white house reporter.

yeah, so first they were kicking out the associated press and now it used to be decided by a group ofjournalists now trump has taken it over, and he'll decide that have felt shut out. but this is a real change, and a lot of white house journalists are saying, hey, you should not dictate who is being allowed to cover you. really interesting, white house reporter for politico. around the world and across the uk.

let's go to central africa now, and survivors of a devastating prison fire in the democratic republic congo have told

the bbc they want justice, but don't expect to get it. which it's thought was started by male inmates across the country. our correspondent orla guerin has this report and a warning you may find some of it distressing. back to a place of horror. for the first time. pascaline and nadine want to tell their stories, both say they were accused of minor offences and jailed without being convicted.

where many used to sleep crammed together. within these walls, women and children were screaming for help when fire broke out in the night. no—one came. a month on, there are human remains among the ashes. and for these women, another trauma. the block next door.

there was a mass jailbreak from the men's section, thousands of prisoners making a getaway. but the women were still trapped — among them translation: instead of opening the door, . among the dead, there were 26 children,

a witness told us some started to die when police fired tear gas into the prison, though it was already ablaze. to escape, and something fell on her. she tells me esther was just starting to walk, and was without sin.

orla guerin, bbc news, goma. let's get some of the day's other news now. curfew is in place in affected areas. on emergency generators. the fertility rate in south korea has risen for the first time in nine years, adding to hopes south korea has one of the

world's lowest fertility rates. to try to encourage young people to get married and have children. ending dei programmes. big tech firms like meta and amazon have already ended or rolled back policies like using race and sex in hiring decisions. president trump has criticised dei policies as discriminatory. wealthy foreigners to buy us residency permits. the president says that for $5 million,

negotiators in cairo say an agreement has been reached for the release on wednesday of all the palestinian prisoners israel refused to free last weekend. they'll be exchanged for the bodies of four israeli of over 600 palestinians because hamas was using hostages for propoganda purposes. the ceasefire deal. weeks, six newborn babies have died from severe cold and have are allowed into gaza to provide shelter from freezing temperatures. this as the us middle east envoy, steven witkoff, earlier i spoke to said

shehata from bbc arabic. of hostages in return for the delayed over 600 detainees who were supposed to be released on saturday. this, the deal was agreed. this is good news, they can now look for the visit of the american special envoy to the middle east, the second stage of the deal. and talk us through the next stage. because it was supposed to start on the 16th day and now we are coming to the end of the first phase on coming saturday. so the most likely scenario will happen is the first there but no exchange

of hostages, nothing from gaza, permanent ceasefire, in return for the whole hostages from gaza to israel. this is the thing, but there is some criticism, some challenge for that. withdraw from the coalition and the coalition could see the ceasefire go through. or with the right wing? also it will come into summit on 4th march, to have a special different plan for of the grenfell tower inquiry

later today. in west london in 2017. the final report, which was published last september, found the fire was the result of dishonest companies, by the fire service. our correspondent graham satchell reports. from the construction industry and governments over the years was responsible for the deaths of 72 people human life was never a priority, and we lost friends, neighbours and loved ones in the most horrific way the inquiry criticised the regulation of tall

it made a number of recommendations. to oversee new products, fire testing, building control and the licensing of contractors. anything at least 18 metres high — is arbitrary and should change to reflect who lives there, particularly and it said a new fire safety strategy should be implemented the government has already agreed to implement personal if there's a fire. inquiry later today. at least 18 people have been killed in a bus police say the bus was one of three taking a group of adults on a study trip. and overturned into a ditch around 150 kilometres east of the capital bangkok.

to the naked eye. locals in west clifton in edinburgh gatherjust before sunset to see a spectacular sight in the skies. but higher up, the brightest star is actually venus, which we've got in the telescope now. with mercury also coming into view. of young and old alike. oh, yeah!

it's like a rainbow. it was a similar story at the banff national park, a dark skies area in mid—wales. you're going to look at venus. the wonderful crescent that it presents. and then as the lights hit in the atmosphere on venus, you can see this, like an orangey colour, sort of. it's lovely. it's beautiful. as planets orbit the sun at different speeds and distances, there are just a few occasions where they all appear in view from the earth. mercury, venus, mars and jupiter are visible with the naked eye. saturn is harder to see because it's low on the horizon, and for uranus and neptune,

you will need a telescope because they're so far away. every time you look at the night sky, you're in awe those who miss the planetary spectacle last night will have pallab ghosh, bbc news. you ina you in a moment for the top business stories. hello. the start of march. but we do have wednesday to get through first, the outbreaks of rain come courtesy of this frontal system working its way eastwards as we go through the day,

in the southern uplands. eastwards through the day, with sunny spells and showers northern ireland and scotland perhaps seeing a fair bit of cloud lingering into the afternoon with some northern scotland doing perhaps best of all for dry 7—10 celsius. now, during wednesday night, we see this band of cloud working its way southwards with some outbreaks of rain. a few showers into the northwest of the uk — but where we see clearing skies, temperatures will drop away down close to, or even below freezing in some spots as we head into thursday morning. and through thursday, well, we see this ridge

northern and western parts of scotland. should bring quite a lot of sunshine and temperatures of around 8—10 celsius. establishes itself more strongly, the winds will fall light, we will see quite a widespread frost and some fog, as well — and some of that fog could linger and then, a lovely—looking day, spells of sunshine, so that's how we end february — what about the start of march? with us into the weekend. now, this weather system tries to push in from the northwest — but running into our area of high pressure, this weather front just weakens. forecast on the bbc weather app.

it's a very big deal. but it's rare earths — and other things! a big u—turn at bp —

the struggling oil giant up renewables investment. tesla's share price falls sharply as european buyers shun elon musk�*s electric cars. the latest data is slightly encouraging, but dozens this is business today. we start with ukraine — as you've been hearing it's