the president of cop28 sultan al—jabar said it's an "historic" agreement that sets the world in the right direction. but many had wanted a stronger form of words, calling for the "phasing out" of coal, oil and gas. our climate editorjustin rowlatt has been following the negotiations around the demands and interests of various groups. we waited and we waited and then... hearing no objection, it is so decided. ..with the bang of a gavel, the deal was done. applause and it got a standing ovation. so the hammer has just gone down here in dubai, and that is the fastest that an agreement text has ever been agreed. the president, dr sultan aljaber, he's calling this an historic agreement, but it is hedged around with questions and doubts. it calls on countries to contribute to ambitious actions to tackle climate change. now, i could do a single plate and claim to have contributed to doing the washing up, but would you consider that i had really pulled my weight? the president of these talks was in no doubt how important it was. now we can truly say that we united and we acted and truly delivered. there was support from many countries, especially richer nations. to have as strong a document as has been put together, i find, is cause for optimism, cause for gratitude, and cause for some significant congratulations to everybody here. and congratulations from saudi arabia, too, which had pushed hard to weaken the commitment. small island states are on the front line of climate change. many of their representatives were not in the room when the hammer went down and they were not happy today. there is a litany of loopholes, they said, and it won't do enough to tame climate change. the course correction that is needed has not been secured. _ what we really needed - is an exponential step change in our actions and support. that got a bigger round of applause than the president's speech. but the consensus does appear to be that this is a significant step forward. that is certainly the view of mr aljaber. this is a historic, historic, landmark, game changing agreement. only time will tell. thank you. he told delegates today that now the deal is done, it is up to them. they need to go back to their countries and take action on climate change. that is how the promise of this agreement will be delivered. justin rowlatt, bbc news, dubai. one leader who was there was us presidentjoe biden, but a short while ago, we did hearfrom him about the deal. in a statement, mr biden said... —— who was not there. the statement goes on to say... the statement there from the us president. there have been lots of reaction to today's climate agreement. earlier, i spoke to zahra hdidou, who is a senior climate and resilience adviser at action aid. she also attended the summit and she gave me her assessment on the deal. the agreement today, it was a starting point. and we recognise how difficult it is for so many countries to come to a consensus. but it's not a landing point. you know, it sends an important signal to the world that we're starting to transition away from fossil fuels, but the agreement lacks specific targets, a specific road map, and more importantly, the cash commitments from wealthy countries and the biggest polluters to actually make that transition a reality. let's break what you were saying down, then. what would you have liked to have been written in? you talk about, for example, cash commitments. what kind of money are we talking about and what sort of things would they fund? what sort of projects? yeah, absolutely. so, i mean, we're talking about the billions, really. we need a full investment into renewable energy and a full phase—out of all fossil fuels, notjust coal. we need to phase out oil and gas. and there were some concerns raised also about transition fuels. so really, it's a large scale investment into renewables that are needed. and, yeah, it's good to see that wealthy countries like the uk have been pushing for this and are finally listening to the voices of the global south, who have been suffering the worst impacts of climate change. but now wealthy countries need to walk the talk and actually go back home and start reversing some of these big investments into new oil and gas, for example, in the north sea, so that they can rebuild trust among the international community. overall, do you think having attended this summit yourself, it was a success, even though negotiations went into the early hours? as i say, i think it's a good first step, but i think that civil society, we're not entirely pleased with the outcome and we're expecting a lot more. we expect countries to make those cash commitments. and we were happy with the loss and damage fund that was agreed on in the first few days as well. that was a momentous occasion that made something to celebrate. but, you know, the pledges that are coming through to the loss and damage fund as well as, you know, the minimal commitments to to the fossil fuel phase—out, it's just a drop in the ocean compared to what's needed for true climate action and climate justice. there is plenty more on developments on that agreement at the cop28 summit on the bbc news website, so if you want to see more in that story, you can go there. now, to our other main story of the day. israel's foreign minister has said the country will continue its war with hamas — with or without international support. it comes a day after us presidentjoe biden said israel was starting to lose support because of what he described as "indiscriminate bombing that takes place" and follows the un general assembly voted "overwhelmingly in favour" of an immediate ceasefire in gaza. israel is keeping up the intensity of its offensive on gaza. the israeli army has released this video, showing combat operations in the gaza strip. it says it's carried out more than 250 strikes over the past 2a hours. but it also lost ten soldiers on tuesday, most of them in an ambush. the hamas—run health ministry in gaza says at least 50 people have been killed in the latest air strikes. this shows the aftermath of one strike in khan younis. witnesses say the heart of the city has turned into a ghost town. they say more than 18,600 people have been killed in the last eight weeks. unicef�*s james elder recently spent a couple of weeks in gaza, travelling to both the north and south for the un's children's fund. during his time there, he shared videos of what he saw — this is one of them. i'm now inside gaza, and the very first people i spoke to said, "we are just so hopeful for this cease—fire. "we need a moment to breathe." we keep saying it's a war zone. this is what it looks like. this boy has just been hit in one of the blasts we've heard. extraordinary thing is health staff are here immediately. 36 hours straight, here they are. they cannot continue. well, james elderjoined me in the studio a short time ago to discuss the latest from his visit to gaza. i started by asking him how he felt watching some of those videos back. i think still a great deal of sadness and frustration that that little boy who we saw there, who is ok, but that same day, ten minutes later, a parent took me to see her son who had been hit by a bicycle playing out on the street, and i got a call two days ago that it sounds like that boy has died, so all those children that i have seen and all the stories that i've heard, ijust know that they are being repeated moment after moment, day after day, and that whatever i saw and the war zone that hospital, is much worse, and that is what is hard to keep conveying. things gorse every day. it is the number of children who have been killed —— things get worse every day. summit never had a chance. that increases. it is fading in the news story in respect of people like yourself, but for parents and four children, that trauma is ongoing, and as we know, more is deathly for children, but for parents as well, that grief that they will not easily shed over years and years, that is what is happening while you and i speak.— while you and i speak. james, there were many — while you and i speak. james, there were many times _ while you and i speak. james, there were many times when _ while you and i speak. james, there were many times when people - while you and i speak. james, there i were many times when people watched you on bbc news, and wondered, a, why you decided to go to such dangerous places yourself and how safe you felt was stopped you were in the north, for example, while bombs were falling... it is important _ bombs were falling... it is important for _ bombs were falling... it is important for someone i bombs were falling... it is important for someone to | bombs were falling... it 3 important for someone to bear witness. there are incredibly brave journalist on the ground, but no foreign correspondence. there are convoys... people would ask for those food, water, medicine, but for me it was to talk to people and share stories, and i was lucky into she stay days in hospitals and days in shelters, but everyone's story took a little bit of your heart, shattered you a bit, and the narrative around, nowhere is safe, is not a storyline, it is a dangerous narrative, it is a narrative that needs to be reinforced, because nowhere is. there is no doubt i did not feel safe, i saw children who were bombed, near me, i know you and colleagues, we have had nearly 250 of them killed, so it is a dangerous, dangerous place. having said that, it is also a dangerous place to leave. there is a survivors guilt, if you will. that level of danger right now is probably much worse than when i was there, because as you just showed, now we have got as you just showed, now we have got a double threat of children, now we have the bomb from the sky and disease from the ground, and that is very, very real, more that it has been. it is notjust a perfect storm of disease, children are now in that disease. we had 100,000 cases of diarrhoea, more they have seen in gods of the last few years, and i spoke to a colleague before i came on here and he said, look, my wife and i said, we cannot have high expectations. my son is very sick, it is up to us as parents to do what we know and up to nature, that is all we got, and so this is the lack of safety, both from the sky in the ground and, yeah, ifelt that, but it is ever present for people they are stopped what i remember one story you shared with me that stayed with me and that was a young boy that you met, and you said he kept closin: his that you met, and you said he kept closing his eyes — that you met, and you said he kept closing his eyes because _ that you met, and you said he kept closing his eyes because he - closing his eyes because he lost both of his parents and it was the only we could see them still. so many stories you have shared. are there particular people that stay with you from your visit?- with you from your visit? yeah, there is that _ with you from your visit? yeah, there is that little boy. - with you from your visit? yeah, there is that little boy. there i with you from your visit? yeah, there is that little boy. there isj with you from your visit? yeah, i there is that little boy. there is a girl even today, a story literally we have not shared who came out of nowhere in gaza city by herself, 1a years old, and she was bloody, injured, she came across idf, who called unicef, and she has not spoken since, she has got no one. we don't know where family is, she is one of the many, many stories that are of children who just have lost everything. there are acronyms for this, children who have no surviving parents. but they are everywhere. when i was in a hospital on the last days before i left, it was chaos. i had been in the hospital a lot and i'd come to see a child... they have five or six days of applause. this is why we talked about a pause needing to be a cease—fire. the world wasn't able to do that and now a pauses turn into a horror show again for people, so we went across this hospital, there was little girl pulling at my shirt. she was six or seven, shejust had empty pulling at my shirt. she was six or seven, she just had empty bottles of water. she wanted clean water in a hospital and there was none for her. the right level of water for a family is about 15 l per person. survival level is three. we are below that survival level. as much as the story feels tired for people, they have to kind of understand now that we are going to see diseases spread, just as many children as had been killed by bombs and rubble, and thatis been killed by bombs and rubble, and that is why when we are saying, what else other than a cease—fire, there is nothing else other than a cease—fire, because a cease—fire creates zones of safety not just for bombs and for organisations like unicef to get in. while we don't have that, you have of hell raining from the sky and the ground. james elder, speaking to me a little earlier. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. a court in pakistan has charged former prime minister imran khan with leaking state secrets. he's accused of making public the contents of a confidential cable sent by pakistan's ambassador to the united states and using it for his political interests. he denies the charges. a major security breach has taken place in the lower house of india's parliament. this footage shows a man wearing a blackjacketjumping from the visitors' area onto lawmakers' tables. reports say two men intruded into the chamber, shouting slogans and spraying coloured gas. the suspects were later taken into custody. donald tusk has been sworn in as prime minister of poland at a ceremony at the presidential palace. mr tusk said his coalition government will play a constructive role in the eu, continue support for ukraine and repair the rule of law to unblock more than 35 billion euros of frozen eu funding. you're live with bbc news. british prime minister rishi sunak survived a crucial test of his authority overnight, with a victory in the house of commons on his flagship rwanda policy. the bill would pave the way for him to stop small boats coming to the uk with illegal migrants. some right—wing conservative mps had threatened to vote against the bill, because they don't think it's tough enough. in the end, none did, and rishi sunak got his bill through with a majority of 1m. exactly a year ago, the uk prime minister had pledged to eradicate the backlog of asylum—seekers applications by the end of this year. the home office has said it is on track to meet that pledge. but to do it, record numbers of asylum cases are being granted — and a record number of people have been withdrawn from the asylum system. nick eardley and the bbc verify hub have been looking at why those withdrawals are at a record high. i think the answer is they think they are on track. a minister was asked about this in parliament in the last hour, and he said, we are on track to deal with all of the cases that can be dealt with, which is slightly ambiguous language. but let's have a look at how they are doing it. just a quick reminder that this was the pledge from rishi sunak — the backlog, the legacy backlog, cases beforejune 2022, they would be dealt with by the end of this year, so a couple of weeks from now. this is what it looked like at the start of the year — 91,000 cases or so. it falls over the course of the year quite dramatically in the last couple of months, and as you can see, at the start of december here, it's around 18,000 cases still to be processed. as i say, the home office thinks it is on track to meet that target, but what is really interesting when we have drilled into the numbers is how the backlog is being reduced. let me show you this. this is a breakdown of how many cases have been dealt with since the conservatives came to power back in 2010. how many cases have been granted, how many have been withdrawn, how many have been refused. we only have the figures for the first nine months of this year. but already you can see there is a record number of cases being accepted. it is the highest so far since 2002. but by the end of the year, it is pretty inevitable it will be the highest number on record. there are a lot more cases being processed, as you can see, so it was always likely more would be approved. but what is also interesting is that the government sped up the system for some countries, for people from some countries to submit their applications. it means that they don't have to have a face—to—face meeting, they can do it on paper. have a look at this section here, the yellow bit — that is people who have been withdrawn or taken out of the system completely. it is also at a record high. it is three times bigger than it was last year and five times bigger than it was back in 2021. and, nick, exactly on that point, why are withdrawals, then, at a record high? this is interesting. so, someone canjust withdraw their application, say, "i don't want asylum in the uk any more," but a key reason seems to be the rules have changed this year. people are taken out of this number, withdrawn from the backlog, if they don't maintain enough contact with the home office or if they fail to attend meetings in the home office, and that seems really important for why that figure is so high this year, why it's made such a big contribution to bringing the backlog down. and then finally, that red figure there is important as well, the number of people that are being refused asylum in the uk. that portion is the lowest proportion of the total ever, the lowest percentage of people ever are being rejected as the government tries to get the backlog down. so it seems if they do make that target, it's in no small part because there's a record number of cases being approved at great speed and there are a record number of people being taken out of the system completely. and, matthew, just one final thing to mention as well, which is this graph here. this is the number of people in the backlog who have arrived sincejune 2022, so the ones that the government's not pledging to get rid of by the end of this year. and as you can see, it's going up and up and up, and in the last statistics, it was all the way up to 90,000 — a very similar figure to that legacy backlog they're getting rid of. nick eardley at the bbc verify hub, speaking to my colleague matthew amroliwala earlier today. in some breaking news, the bbc understands that the deputy director of the british museum is leaving the institution. katie razzall joins katie razzalljoins me in the studio for this. what more do we know about this? ~ ., , ., ., for this. what more do we know about this? ~ .,, ., ., ., this? within the last hour or so, a museum spokesperson _ this? within the last hour or so, a museum spokesperson confirms l this? within the last hour or so, a| museum spokesperson confirms to this? within the last hour or so, a - museum spokesperson confirms to me thatjonathan williams, the deputy director, will be leaving the museum. they have not given any timeline to this, we don't know whether he had stepped down voluntarily or whether he has been dismissed, but as you say, it is all in relation to this big story that broke across the world back in august, that 2000 items were stolen, missing or damaged. drjonathan williams oversaw a botched investigation into the thefts at the british museum back in 2021. after he was born by a doctor, who you met williams to say, he had seen three items that he believed belongs to the british museum that were on sale, on ebay, and with his evidence he included, he said i have been buying from the seller a lot of gems. essentially, dr gradel thought he was getting a great bargain because he saw these fabulous gems. they are not gemstones, their pieces of stone and glass that people used to whereas rings, necklaces, that is what they were, back in roman times, and they were very popular in the 19th century as well, so he had been buying them up and then he has a photographic memory, dr gradel, so he suddenly realised that three items actually could belong to the museum, and therefore he wanted to know whether the others did too. he presented all this evidence, including paypal receipts that links to the seller, he heard nothing from the bridge musing for some time, he kept pushing it eventually got a e—mailfrom dr william saying kept pushing it eventually got a e—mail from dr william saying they done investigation, there was no issue. clearly, later on, when they discovered there was an issue of the bridge musing has already accepted something was eerily wrong back then with that investigation, they didn't unconnected spot check and discovered one item was missing —— the british museum has already accepted. it came up it was 2000 items, stolen or damaged. let me ask ou about items, stolen or damaged. let me ask you about this — items, stolen or damaged. let me ask you about this 2000. _ items, stolen or damaged. let me ask you about this 2000. you _ items, stolen or damaged. let me ask you about this 2000. you mentioned i you about this 2000. you mentioned the three that were seen on ebay, but i guess some viewers would say, wouldn't it be obvious this many items would be missing from a prestigious museum like the british museum? you prestigious museum like the british museum? ., ., museum? you might mention so. the british museum _ museum? you might mention so. the british museum has _ museum? you might mention so. the british museum has 8 _ museum? you might mention so. the british museum has 8 million - british museum has 8 million objects, most of them are not on display, and around a million are not even catalogued or registered, so actually these, what were small items, in—store rooms, no member of the public could access them, only people who work at the museum and had the right protocols and passes couldn't get into the storerooms, —— couldn't get into the storerooms, —— could get into. but most of the items have ever been registered. the british museum did not know what it had in any sensible fashion and with the allegations are around an insider suspect was that he really only started to be discovered by dr gradel when he made a mistake and posted something that actually had been catalogued, in a very old catalogue, but as i said dr gradel has a for graphic memory so he remember the picture and i'd seen it online and are member that picture. he went back to that catalogue... about 20 seconds left, have we had any response from dr williams? we have not. any response from dr williams? - have not. we have approached dr williams for comment, we have had no response. qm. williams for comment, we have had no resonse. ., ., ., ., response. 0k, katie razzall, our culture and _ response. 0k, katie razzall, our culture and media _ response. 0k, katie razzall, our culture and media editor, - response. 0k, katie razzall, our culture and media editor, thank| response. 0k, katie razzall, our. culture and media editor, thank you for that. culture and media editor, thank you forthat. i culture and media editor, thank you for that. i will be back after a short break. hello there. given all the rain that we've had over the past few weeks, it's still pretty wet out there. but the next few days at least will turn drier and also the temperatures will be rising. now, this area of low pressure brought cloud and some rain and drizzle to eastern parts of england. that's moving away. the next weather system is coming in from the atlantic. but in between the two, well, we did have some sunshine earlier on, particularly in northern ireland and here in scotland. but where we have the clearer skies in the first part of the night, there's the risk that temperatures could fall just below freezing in places. but that window of clearer skies will close as the night goes on because all that cloud will come in from the atlantic. it's going to bring some rain and briefly some snow over the scottish mountains, perhaps the northern pennines, but it should turn back to rain later on in the night as temperatures start to rise. so these are the numbers by first thing thursday morning. and by this time, the rain will have cleared away from northern ireland and just about the whole of scotland. but we will see some further patchy, mostly light rain and drizzle affecting england and wales, and that cloudy, damp weather could continue across the south—east well into the afternoon, but otherwise we'll get some sunshine following on behind, a few showers for northern ireland and scotland, mostly in the north of scotland, where it's still quite blustery. but if anything, temperatures are going to be a degree or two higher than what we had today. as one weather system moves away, we look to see another one coming in from the atlantic as we move into friday. this is going to be focused more to the north—west of the uk. we'll see more cloud coming into northern ireland and also in scotland, showers in the north of the country being replaced by some rain and drizzle. elsewhere, it should be dry and a lot more sunshine more widely across england and wales, where the winds will be lighter. still, temperatures seven or eight degrees across eastern parts of england, but further west, it is much, much milder. and this milder atlantic air and some brisk winds will come rushing in across the whole of the country in time for the start of the weekend. we've got colder air to the north of that weather front, which may move southwards on sunday to bring some patchy rain. but on saturday, it's staying to the north of us, just bringing the chance of some rain in the north of scotland. again, it looks like it's going to be windy here and across northern ireland. the winds are lighter as you head further south, but there won't be as much sunshine for england and wales on saturday. but it is mild air and those temperatures will be widely 12 or 13 celsius. this is bbc news. the headlines. the cop28 climate summit ends with a landmark deal for the first time, calling on all countries to transition away from fossil fuels. misery in gaza — compounded by heavy rain as the israeli bombardment continues. more than 250 israeli strikes have been carried out on gaza in 2a hours, as the foreign minister says they'll continue the war — with or without international support. at least 53 injured after russia launches a wave of missiles at the ukrainian capital, damaging homes and a children's hospital. the man set to be the new chairman of the bbc says gary lineker�*s recent tweets appear to have breached the corporation's social media rules. welcome back, and let's stay with that story. the government's candidate to be the next chairman of the bbc says recent tweets about politicians by presenter gary lineker appear to breach the bbc�*s new social media guidelines. the former england footballer recently hit back at grant shapps, after the defence secretary questioned whether the match of the day host should express political views. this is what samir shah said to mps today. ——joining me —— joining me now is david bilodeau. —— sillito. -- joining me now is david bilodeau. -- sillito. , ~ i. -- sillito. gary lineker - everyone will remember _ -- sillito. gary lineker - everyone will remember him _ -- sillito. gary lineker - everyone will remember him of _ -- sillito. gary lineker - everyone will remember him of the - -- sillito. gary lineker - everyone will remember him of the great i will remember him of the great footballer of the england team and a very successful tv presenter — one of the highest paid at the bbc. and he has, well, it's