♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ narrator: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... nicole: at bdo i feel like a true individual,

people value me for me, they care about what i want, my needs, my career path, i matter here. ♪ ♪ narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. announcer: and now, bbc news. >> hello, i'm ben brown. you are watching the context on bbc news. >> i've had very good talks with putin and not such good talks with ukraine. they don't have any cards, but they are playing tough. >> here is the bottom line. president zelenskyy will sign that deal. you will see that in the very short-term. that is good for ukraine.

>> everyone welcomed our meeting. the fact the conversation is beginning is in itself a return to normality and recognized and welcome by absolutely everyone. >> what a to mulch was weak it has been. everyone who has planned for the transatlantic alliance will be even more worried after what president trump has been saying this afternoon. ♪ >> welcome to the program. donald trump accuses european leaders of not doing anything to end the war in ukraine. speaking to fox news radio, the u.s. president also said he doesn't think it is important for volodymyr zelenskyy to be involved in meetings to end the war. also, the british foreign secretary calls on hamas to return the body of -- after israel said a body returned on

thursday was not that of the israeli hostage. apple removes u.k. user access to the company's highest level data security tool over a request from the u.k. government. we will be discussing what that means. germany gears up to go to the polls on sunday. as the cdu look to emerge as the largest political force of the country. but we start this hour with breaking news. in the last you minutes, a 27-year-old man who stabbed the novelist salman rushdie in new york in 2022 has been found guilty attack left the writer bd in his right eye. let's get the latest on that the correspondent who joins me now following the trial. bring us up-to-date. >> this happened in 2022.

salman rushdie was in southwestern new york on stage. ironically giving a talk on how to keep writers safe. the 27-year-old was in the audience, purchased a ticket to go to the event. but rushed on stage and attacked him multiple times. the author had to be airlifted to hospital. it took him weeks to recover. he chronicled the incident in his latest book. in terms of the trial, it took less then two weeks and less than two hours for the jury to come back with their verdict. i was on call when he took to the stand and went into vivid description of what happened. he removed his glasses to show the jury how he lost his eye. this was never a case of who had done it. the incident had been witnessed by many people in the audience. they gave evidence at the trial. it was also live-streamed, the event. people saw it online.

so the prosecution case was clear-cut. the defense argued that the prosecution had not proven the intent, that he had gone to the event and it was more of a chaotic incident, not a premeditated attack. that was rejected by the jury. it took less then two hours to come back with the verdict. he will be sentenced at a later date. he's facing up to 32 years in jail. >> you are saying you were there when he took to the stand. he vividly described the attack on him and how those injuries he's still living with. >> he is. he lost one eye. he's also lost the movement in a hand. he suffered multiple organ damage. he even said during the evidence he gave that he thought he was going to die. in his book he also talks about

that incident. just a back story of him, some may know, others may not. he lived in fear for nearly a decade after -- was issued against him either then iranian leader in 1989 after his 1988 book came out in which he was accused of insulting islam and the prophet mohammed. he said even two weeks before the attack he wanted to live a relatively normal life. he did not want to have security around him all the time. then this incident two weeks later happened. he talked about how he feared this could have happened. i want to add the suspect never talked about his motivation of exactly why he attacked. also to mention he's facing a separate federal case. this involves terrorism charges. he's accused of providing material support and resources to the lebanese military group

has below from september 2020 in an attempt to carry out what was issued in 1989. he has denied those charges. >> thank you for bringing us up to date. u.s. president trump accused the british prime minister and french president of having done nothing to end the war in ukraine. his comments come days before both of them are due to visit mr. trump at the white house, with ukraine high on the agenda. donald trump was speaking to fox news radio. here is some of what he said. >> they only want to talk because of me. if i was not involved, they would not be talking to each other and russia would continue to go through ukraine. because they are going through, taking a lot of land. russia would continue to march through ukraine. if it wasn't for me, they would not be talking at all.

>> i think everybody agrees with that. we had mccrone coming in from france, stormer from the u.k. to move forward. >> they did not do anything. the war is going on, no meetings with russia, nothing. they have not done anything. macron is a friend of mine. i have met with the prime minister, he is a very nice guy. but no one has done anything. i have been watching this go on for years. i'm doing it for one reason, i hate the killing. i hate to see the young people killed. they are not americans, they are russians and ukrainians. i hate to see the killing. >> donald trump en fox news radio saying he's sick of resident solesky. earlier, the u.s. special envoy included a special visit to ukraine. he called discussions with president zelenskyy extensive and positive. but that can't hide the clear gap that has opened up between the united states and ukraine over mr. trump's demand for

america to have access in particular to ukraine's mineral deposits as a form of payment for military aid from the u.s.. we also heard from mr. trump's national security advisor who had this to say about american efforts to end the war in ukraine. >> under trump, this war will end. and it will end soon. he is the president of peace. it amazes me how many people in this town are clutching their pearls and having connection fits over what? because president trump is ready to stop the killing. stop the hundreds of thousands of people that are dying per year in europe. the largest war in europe since world war ii. and you see the same voices demanding a cease-fire in gaza post october 7. then oppose peace in europe. it makes no sense. with his leadership, we have opened negotiations, we are

sitting down with our host, the saudi's, and talking to the russians, understanding what they are going to need. understanding what the ukrainians are going to need. talking to all of the europeans. you can end a war if you don't talk to both sides, that is what we are doing. >> mr. trump's national security advisor. that is the american view. what is russia saying? speaking to the g 20 summit, russia's top diplomat said preliminary talks in saudi arabia with a possible peace deal for ukraine were a step towards repairing u.s. russia relations. >> everyone welcomed our meeting. everyone realizes this is not the end of the era of confrontation between russia and the west. but the fact the conversation is beginning is in itself a return to normality and recognized and welcome by absolutely everyone.

>> sergei lavrov. let's discuss this with matthew schmidt, at university of new haven. thank you for being with us. first of all, the latest trump comments, particularly about president macron and kia starling saying they have done nothing to end the war. a very smooth prelude to their visit to washington next week. >> i think we have to look at trump and put his statements in the context of his own ego. if you look at what he is saying, what pete hegseth has said, everybody in those comments comes back and says donald trump, the president of peace. donald trump is the only one who can do this, no one else. macron cannot do it. and so we have to see this as trump doing it not because he believes in this piece, not

because he believes there are things worth dying for. remember, this is the president who made fun of american soldiers who died in world war ii. i don't think he cares about establishing a long-term peace. he just wants to check a box to say he was the guy who stopped the fighting. >> how might he do that? ukrainians are worried he will make a peace deal. but principally with russia, with ukraine excluded, simply handing over the land they have already taken. >> that is the question. the ukrainians unfortunately are in a bad situation on the battlefield. at some point, probably will have to call in offensive operations, defensive operations. they have to stop the war. the problem is in the long term, they need a security guarantee. it is not clear at all how there is a credible security guarantee

if your chief ally or former ally, the u.s., is talking about you this way and talking to your enemy without you at the table. >> what do you think is driving donald trump's anger to volodymyr zelenskyy? he's talked about him in the last few days as being a dictator. he and the ladies interview said he's sick of him. >> it is simply ego. donald trump wants to be the center of the show. zelenskyy is someone who has all of the same skills on tv, in front of a crowd. he represents someone who is a heroic figure. donald trump wants to be the heroic figure brokering the peace deal and solesky is not letting him do it easily. >> meanwhile the russians, and we heard from sergey lavrov, they are decide -- they are delighted. >> because the entire senior

american cabinet repeated the russian narrative on this. they repeated russian cab -- propaganda in some cases word for word. it is a better success than they ever could have imagined. >> matthew schmidt, at the national security department. thank you very much. around the world and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news.

>> we are getting reports the israeli military say they are checking that hamas has handed the red cross a body said to be that of the hostage sherry be best. and her family, the israeli hostage who was not returned by hamas on thursday as planned, say they want answers rather than revenge. we are hearing from the israeli

military they are checking unconfirmed reports that following that, hamas has now handed over to the red cross a body said to be that of her. but we have not gotten confirmation of that. we are checking those reports and we will bring you more details. israel has confirmed it received the bodies of her children along with a veteran peace activist, but said the remains of a gazan woman have been handed over instead of their mother. this evening, the british foreign minister called on hamas to return the body to israel. in the saudi capital, arab leaders have been gathering to strategize over how to counter donald trump's proposal for an american redevelopment of postwar gaza and relocation of its more than 2 million inhabitants to neighboring countries. leaders of all six both states

met their egyptian and jordanian counterparts as part of a broader arab summit. arab states have strongly rejected donald trump's plan to create what he calls the riviera of the middle east in gaza. but stock about these developments with the former u.s. ambassador to co-weight and iraq. now president of the arab gulf states institute in washington. let's talk first about the current israel-gaza peace agreement and these clear tensions that have emerged in the last few days about the handover of hostages. what do you think happens to the next two stages of that peace agreement? we have hostage releases, but they have not gone smoothly. >> the first phase is proceeding in fits of starts. phases two and three have not

been negotiated in all their detail. it is important to continue for the israelis and hamas to put pressure on both sides to keep the exchange of israeli prisoners for hostages or the bodies of hostages taken on october 7. i think the real test is going to come when all of the hostages or their remains are close to being released, and israel and hamas will have to decide if they want to proceed into phase two. >> let's talk about this meeting of arab leaders, what to do about the long-term reconstruction of gaza. a response perhaps to donald trump's plans, much criticized plans for the riviera of the middle east. are they a viable alternative? >> they may be a viable alternative. a senior official at a conference in dubai said publicly there was not yet an

alternative to president trump's relatively big idea. this appears to be the first attempt by arab partners of the u.s. to put together an alternative. the six countries of the gulf with egypt and jordan who will listen to an egyptian plan for redeveloping gaza without evacuating the population of gaza to nearby countries. what we know about the plan so far is egyptians hope to phase the reconstruction, remove a few of got -- the gazans from one section of the gaza strip, get rid of the debris and redevelop that area. move the population back in and rotate around gaza for several years. the trouble is, as much sense as it makes, many other questions are harder to tackle that i presume they will be tackling today in riyadh. who will pay for this, who will provide security in gaza while this reconstruction is happening? who will deal with hamas and

palestinian islamic jihad, the remnants of those terrorist groups in gaza? what will the governance in gaza look like in the future? none of these countries want to govern gaza. but right now there is no viable alternative. maybe the most important question of all is well the israeli government accept an alternative by this group of arab countries? >> when you say who will pay for this, people say people like saudi arabia and the gulf states have lengthy of money, they can pay for it. >> you can say that. but we've also heard from saudi arabia and other countries that they are not interested in sinking a lot of money into gaza unless there is a stable political situation that will ensure that kind of investment will last for decades in the future and not be destroyed by another future war five or 10 years down the road. that is why the question of governance, security, and

finding a plan the israeli government can also agree to are also very important. >> thank you. the former u.s. ambassador to co-weight and iraq. we will also be talking to our correspondent with the latest on those hostage developments. meanwhile. apple has taken the unprecedented step of removing its highest level data security tool from customers in the united kingdom. that is after the government here demanded the get access to use data. the end to end encryption feature known as advanced data protection, allows only account holders to view items such as photos or documents they have stored online. in a statement, apple said it was gravely disappointed and added it will never allow so-called backdoor access users data. let's talk to the tech writer and broadcaster kate bevin who joins us. this is quite an outcome.

give us the background. >> this has been brewing for a wild. not just the government, but the previous government have always wanted access to data that you store on your phone. in the cloud or on your messages, whatsapp, etc. the tech providers have always pushed back going it is encrypted. we don't have access to that. it is sort of a loophole that data was held in icloud, it was encrypted, but apple had access to the key. they recently introduced the advanced safety protection which rather than apple having the keys, it gives the keys to the users so apple cannot get it. apple has withdrawn that in the u.k. so any data stored in icloud will be available to apple. it will still be encrypted, but they will have the keys to decrypt it. >> it is a conflict about

national security, personal security. >> it is. it is a real tension. some are not pleased about this because they are very keen. anybody who is involved, their data is available to law enforcement if necessary. it is also quite a dangerous precedent because maybe we trust our own government. but i would not want this to happen in other countries, more authoritarian countries. >> thank you very much. now as promised, let's bring you more on the development from the middle east concerning the body of the israeli hostage. a hamas official is quoted as telling -- saying that they have now handed over her body, according to hamas run al-aqsa

television. let's go to our correspondent who has the latest. what more can you tell us? >> this news was developing within the last half-hour. there were reports that started to come in that hamas said it was delivering the coffin containing her body. we've now had confirmation from the red cross quoted in the israeli media that they received a coffin from hamas and transporting it to israeli authorities. the red cross, the body which is the organization that collects the hostages over the last few weeks of the cease-fire agreement. that coffin will now be transferred to the forensics institute in israel for identification. there has not yet been a

confirmation of the israeli defense forces. we are waiting for comment from israel. they are looking into the reports. a spokesperson to the israeli media from the red cross saying they received a coffin. for her family, the turmoil goes on. because it is a matter of hours since they were told by the israeli forensics authority, the body the hamas claimed was hers, which was investigated by the forensics teams yesterday night in israel, was not hers, but indeed an unidentified gazan woman. hamas blamed what it called an unfortunate mistake suggesting there had been a mixup in remains under the rubble in gaza. you can imagine the emotional roller coaster, the whirlwind their family is on waiting to see if indeed this body if it

comes to israel is confirmed to be hers. >> it has caused huge anger in israel, some of the other hostage releases when those men appeared to be emaciated. what is the bigger picture in terms of the next phase of the cease-fire agreement? >> there was fury from the israeli government. israel's prime minister lashing out at hamas in a televised statement, calling them monsters and saying they lied, violated the cease-fire agreement by not handing over her body. similar words from the spokesperson of the israeli defense forces. yet it does not seem to be imperiling what is planned for tomorrow in tel aviv. -- not in tel aviv, but on hostages square in tel aviv to reaction as six living israeli hostages are handed over from

hamas to israel in exchange for more than 600 palestinian prisoners. that is still do to go ahead. >> thank you for bringing us up-to-date on the latest developments. from the middle east, we will be back mark later for further updates and confirmation if it comes through. if the body is hers. you are watching narrator: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... bdo, accountants and advisors, funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. ♪ ♪ usa today calls it "arguably the best bargain in streaming" that's because the free pbs app let's you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

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