israel is stopping the organisation from delivering lifesaving aid to people in northern gaza. philippe lazzarini said in a post on x that israeli authorities informed the un that they will no longer approve any unrwa food convoys to the north. he added: "this is outrageous and makes it intentional "to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man—made "famine. "by preventing unrwa to fulfil its mandate in gaza, "the clock will tick faster towards famine and many more "will die of hunger, dehydration and lack "of shelter. "this cannot happen, it would only stain our collective "humanity." mark lowen has more from jerusalem. without unrwa getting the food out on the ground, there are few alternatives. i mean, another body, the world food programme, which is another un agency, has managed to get a few trucks in to northern gaza in the last couple of weeks. but this appears to be a very direct attack on unrwa itself. i mean, the head of unrwa, philip lazzarini, was actually blocked by the israelis from entering gaza last week. and i went to a briefing with him, i met him, and he said what he described was a very direct attack by israel on the functions of that un agency. and he said that since january, he has not had any contact with the israeli government direct. now, why is that? well, because injanuary, the israeli government accused some members of staff of unrwa of participating in the 7th of october hamas attacks on israel. that prompted some western governments to actually suspend funding of that un body, unrwa, and it really prompted the biggest crisis in relations between the two, between the two sides — between the israeli government and unrwa — in decades. and i think that this decision today if confirmed by the israelis — but it appears to be, because unrwa has announced it — would be another step in the breakdown in relationship between the two sides. and i have to say, it comes at exactly the same time as the head of the un, the secretary—general of the un antonio guterres is in egypt, criticising the israeli government for its conduct of the war and for depriving gaza of aid. so it appears to be a pretty direct attack on the un itself. earlier, i spoke to hani almadhoun, director of philanthropy for unrwa usa, a non—profit that fundraises here in the us to support the work of unrwa worldwide. a powerful statement on x. what are the stakes here? people are starved. my sister went to a hospital and she met with a kid who is on the brink of dying because of malnutrition. these are real people and real neighbours and unfortunately we see unrwa under siege essentially, and they are not able to deliver aid in gaza so it is tying our hands during circumstances that are dire, unfathomable, and what can we do? we are trying to help and fundraiser but there are miles of aid outside of gaza waiting to be allowed in. for some reason, due to the lack of political will, we are not getting that anywhere near delivery for people who need it. and if unrwa has its hands tied, who can or will be in a position to deliver aid? as you know, in the usa, the organisation presenting today are about promoting unrwa's work because this is an organisation and the person who runs it is a veteran of the us army for 20 years. this is not some shady organisation. it has been around for 75 years and it finds itself — at odds — now we hear about new arrangements where the israeli authorities are working with essentially armed gangs and thugs to distribute aid and working with the un agency and this is notjust about unrwa. unicef wants to help. they are not able to. world food programme wants to help and they are not able to, and there is real, dire consequences to what is happening, and we know that at least 15 palestinian minors have lost their lives because of what is going on, and food is just miles away and things like flour, rice and basic commodities are being denied — lentils and chickpeas are not there. my own family is in north gaza and they are struggling every day. they do not know when the next meal is coming. with the war still raging in gaza, there are calls from the far—right in israel forjewish settlers to return to gaza where israel had settlements until 2005. the idea has support from ministers in israel's hard—right government, including the minister for public security itamar ben gvir. a prominent settler leader has told the bbc that she already has 500 families signed up who are ready to move immediately. there are 700,000 jewish settlers in the israeli—occupied west bank and eastjerusalem. settlements are considered illegal under international law. israel disputes this. from the west bank, our senior international correspondent 0rla guerin reports. the hills of the west bank, palestinian land eaten away for decades by illegal israeli settlements. they are an obstacle to peace, the un says. but now, many on israel's far right want to bring settlements back to gaza. like yehuda shimon, who has raised ten children in this settler outpost in the west bank. he lived in gaza in the past and claims a god given right to return. do you want to go back? do you think that others will go back? we must do it. it's part of israel area. this is the land that god gave us. and you couldn't go to god and told him, "ok, you give me, i give other people." no. these are the 21 gaza settlements that were demolished in 2005. but daniella weiss is already mapping out a new gaza, without the more than 2 million palestinians who live there. the 78—year—old is the grandmother of israel's settler movement. gaza arabs will not stay in the gaza strip. who will stay? jews. africa is big. canada is big. the world will absorb the people of gaza. how we do it? we encourage it. palestinians in gaza who wish to remain in gaza, are you saying they should be forced to go? palestinians in gaza, the good ones will be enabled. i'm not saying forced. i say enabled because they want to go. if they don't want to go... no, no, they want. if they don't. .. the arabs want to go. if they don't want to go... no, no, they want to go. if they don't, what happens? normal people don't want to live in hell. what you're talking about sounds like a plan for ethnic cleansing. you can call it ethnic cleansing. you call it refugees, whatever you want. if you want to call it cleansing, if you want to call it apartheid, you choose your definition. i choose the way to protect the state of israel. also embracing a return to gaza, itamar ben—gvir, israel's far right security minister, a settler himself. he was among about a dozen ministers at this conference entitled settlement brings security. "it's time to go back home," he says. "it's time to return to the land of israel." most israelis oppose going back to gaza, but since the hamas attacks on october the 7th, it is being talked about out loud. and some already have their eyes on prime real estate, in the utter devastation of gaza, where the death toll among palestinians is 32,000 and counting. i have friends in tel aviv. so they say, "don't forget to keep for me "a plot near the coast in gaza because it's "a plot near the coast in gaza," because it's a beautiful, beautiful coast. beautiful, golden, beautiful place. it's beautiful no more, after almost six months of israeli bombardment. jewish settlers may never get to the beach front, but much of gaza has already been erased. 0rla guerin, bbc news, in the west bank. a russian court has charged four men suspected of a deadly assault on a moscow concert hall. they've been ordered into custody pending a trial set to take place in may. authorities say at least 137 people were killed after four gunmen fired at concert goers and set the crocus city hall on fire. sunday was declared a national day of mourning for the victims. the islamic state group has released graphic footage, which appears to back up its claim of responsibility. president vladimir putin has suggested, without evidence, that ukraine is involved. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg reports from moscow. in moscow, wherever you looked, wherever you turned, you could see this was a country in mourning. and in shock. across russia, flags flew at half mast for the victims of the concert hall massacre. and at the scene of friday's attack, crocus city hall, the queues grew longer and longer. the national day of mourning experienced most acutely here. there was an outpouring of sympathy, a mountain of tributes to the dead. as well as leaving flowers and candles, people have also been bringing soft toys and sweets, because amongst the dead there were children. they have also been leaving messages. one is addressed to the attackers and it reads, "you are scum, we will never forgive you." among the crowd there was a mixture of grief and anger. it was a big shock because i live nearby and i saw it from my windows. it is horrific. and the big tragedy. "such a terrible loss," says natalia, "i'll never "forgive or forget." "bring back the death penalty for terrorists," he says, "for sure." this is how the attack had begun. with gunmen in the foyer and desperate attempts to take cover. the attackers moved on to the auditorium. by the end of this, more than 130 people were dead. four suspects have been arrested. tonight, the suspected gunman appeared in court. russia claims they were captured trying to flee to ukraine and had contacts there. kyiv fiercely denies any link to the attack. the islamic state group says it was behind the shooting. and on this day of mourning, silent prayers from a sombre—looking president putin. the kremlin says he lit a candle for the victims in church at his country estate. and russia is praying that there will be no more attacks. if there are, that will test people's faith in the president to keep them safe. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner provided context on why the islamic state group would attack russia, if it was them. well, there are a number of reasons. one is syria. so is have, in the past, put out statements — and quite recently — saying, we will never forgive and forget. because in syria, russian air force and russian forces are fighting isis, is, islamic state, as are the americans. secondly, there's afghanistan, where the taliban are fighting is—k which is the khorasan wilayat — that's the province of, or the branch of isis that operates in afghanistan, in that area. and back in september 2022, isis attacked the russian embassy in kabul. so they consider that the russian government is an ally of the taliban and the taliban is their enemy. and also, there are a number of disputes that they've got with regimes in that part of the world. the third reason, i think, which is perhaps the most pressing, is that there is there's recently been quite a crackdown, a clampdown by the fsb — that's russia's domestic security agency — against suspected jihadists inside russia. of course, russia is at war with ukraine. sorry, it's a special military operation — that's what it's officially called in russia, but it's a war by any other name — and that's really where the kremlin�*s attention has been. so i think there's a legitimate question to be asked as to whether russia took its eye off the ball here with this. france raised their terror threat level on sunday in the wake of the deadly attack in moscow. french prime minister gabriel attal said: "given the claim "of responsibility for the attack by the islamic state "and the threats weighing on our country, we have decided "to raise the vigipirate state, that's france's national "security alert system, to its highest level: emergency "attack". the escalation comes just months after the level was lowered injanuary. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the chancellor says the conservatives will retain pensions. jeremy hunt said they would keep the triple lock under the current government system. state pensions rise in april in line with whatever is highest out of inflation, wage increases or 2.5%. when we came to office in 2010, pensioners were more likely to be in poverty. now they are less likely to be in poverty and that is important because unlike adults of working age, pensioners cannot work. they have retired and we need to respect that but the second thing is that it is an expensive commitment and you can only make that commitment if you are confident you will deliver the economic growth thatis deliver the economic growth that is going to pay for it. you alive with bbc news. the captain of a british warship in the red sea says attacks by the iran—backed houthi movement are becoming more dangerous, as they launch more ballistic and cruise missiles — which are harder to defend against. the houthis say they're targeting merchant vessels and warships in solidarity with palestinians in gaza. 0ur defence correspondent jonathan beale is the first journalist to board the destroyer hms diamond as it carries out its mission to defend shipping in the red sea. security, security, security. this is coalition warship listening channel one—six. the royal navy's hms diamond, sailing in the red sea towards danger. they're here to protect merchant shipping and, for this mission, to escort a naval task group. and they're armed and ready. this task group has now entered the high threat area. and, as you can see, they're preparing to run the gauntlet with the houthis. in the operations room, the ship's nerve centre, they've already donned fire protective clothing. with their powerful radar, they can track multiple objects from hundreds of miles away. and this is what happens when they identify a threat. firebomb, 293 at 165! siren sounds the drills they've rehearsed many times before. air threat warning red, air threat warning red. missile inbound to the ship, starboard quarter. time to go — two minutes. but now it's deadly serious. this, one of two occasions we witnessed when the houthis fire ballistic missiles, travelling at more than three times the speed of sound. the missile has splashed the water north of the task group, therefore air threat warning now yellow, air threat warning now yellow. between the time it's fired and by the time it impacts, you've got about two minutes to react. that's why we're in state 2, that's why we're wearing our clothing all the time, so that within that time frame, we'll be in absolutely the right posture to be able to deal with those. but yeah, it can feel a bit intense. obviously, someone's trying to potentially shoot something at you. houthi drones are the other danger. that's a uav, faring 350 range. it's now got two airborne in the north. obviously, our position now, we anticipate they may come south. air threat warning is... it's a potentially deadly version of hide and seek, but the drone doesn't spot them. this time, diamond hasn't fired its main sea viper missiles, but it's already shot down nine drones — seven of them in just one night in january. diamond's captain believes they have saved lives, but they haven't stopped increasingly sophisticated houthi attacks. it seems to me that they're using more advanced and more lethal weapons than they were in the earlier parts of the operation. and where are they getting those from? i couldn't tell you that, i'm afraid. i guess they're smuggled in from somewhere, but i'd be speculating. but diamond is looking out for suspicious activity. they board a dhow. it's declared stateless, but it's flying an iranian flag. the search finds nothing illegal. it's proving just as hard to stem the flow of weapons as to stop the houthi attacks. jonathan beale, bbc news, on hms diamond. counting is under way in senegal after sunday's presidential election. several opposition candidates conceded after polls closed this evening, saying they believe the anti—establishment politician, bassirou diomaye faye, has won. provisional results broadcast by local media gave an early lead to mr faye, putting him ahead of the former prime minister, amadou ba. senegal�*s governing coalition, which is backing amadou ba, said it was �*certain�* there would be a second—round vote and accused faye�*s campaign of attempted �*manipulation�*. up to seven million people were eligible to vote for the 19 confirmed candidates. turnout appears to have been high, especially among young people. the election comes after the outgoing president macky sall postponed a vote on february 3rd, prompting supporters of the opposition to protest in the streets. sall�*s decision was unprecedented and was condemned both at home and abroad. mr sall served two terms as president and is barred from standing again. earlier, i spoke to adele ravida, country director in senegal for the international foundation for electoral systems. she's been monitoring polling stations in dakar today. there has been so much attention on this election. what makes it so unique? so, in the past month, the date change four times and finally it was rescheduled for sunday, today, much 24. and finally it was rescheduled for sunday, today, march 24. senegal has been always considered as a beacon of democracy in west africa and never experienced any postponement in its presidential elections. so, when it happened last month, many called this event is a political coup by a president who did not want to give up the power. already, back injune, president sall mentioned that he would not run for a third mandate. this was not welcome by the population who started to make a big mobilisation and during the past month we had several demonstrations, including with three people that lost their lives. there are 19 candidates running for president, but what is also notable is who is not running. ousmane sonko — tell us more. ousmane sonko was declared ineligible. so, he lost his civil rights after he was arrested, but actually, there is a plan b for sonko. the opposition candidate now is bassirou diomaye faye, and the campaign, especially — they have both been released from prison a couple of days ago — before the end of the campaign and the couple of the days that they made at the end of the campaign, the campaign was done together. the slogan of the campaign was "voting for diomaye "is voting for sonko." sonko is not a candidate but there is a plan b. what issues are top of mind for voters? what changes do they want to see? so, the campaign topics were more oriented around unemployment or creation of employment, creation of social housing and also another important topic in the speeches in general is governments of natural resources . senegal recently discovered oil and exploitation will start very soon. thank you so much. thank you. simon harris has been confirmed as the new leader of fine gael, one of the governing parties in the republic of ireland. at age 37, the decision paves the way for mr harris to become ireland's youngest prime minister. he replaces leo varadkar, who announced on wednesday he was stepping down as party leader and taoiseach. while speaking to reporters, mr harris was asked whether a general election might be on the horizon. it's my view and my intention that this government should run full term. i am very conscious that governments take on a rhythm of their own. and i'm very conscious that all people need to act in good faith. and events can happen in irish politics, of course they can, but we've a lot of work to do and i don't think there needs to be any mystique around my intention, where you guys ask me every second day where my head is at. i am planning for this government, should i be lucky enough to form one and to become taoiseach. i would like to see this government run full term, and that's my intention, as of now. now, jasmin paris from scotland is the first woman to complete one of the world's most gruelling races — the barkley marathons in tennessee. 100 miles, up and down hills, through rugged terrain — she finished with just 99 seconds to spare before the 60 hour cut—off. jasmin has finally recovered her breath and spoke to the bbc. it wasn't until the last kilometre that i really sort of doubted that it was going to be possible. and at that point i was just so desperate to stop, to stop running and to walk. and i knew that i couldn't because i wouldn't make it. cheering i think it was just the thought that if i didn't make it this time, it was going to be by seconds and then i would have to come back and do the whole thing again. because i would never have let it rest. i was so oxygen deficient when i reached the end and the last few hundred metres, i couldn't even really see anybody. cheering and applause i knew there were people kind of cheering me on and there was lots of noise and... but i wasjust aiming for the gate and everything else sort of went blurry at the edges of my vision and ijust needed to make it to the gate, at which point i just sort of collapsed down in a gasping, kind of heap on the ground. cheering and applause so, i did it for me and i am super happy that i achieved what i set out to do. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. many of us saw some spells of sunshine on sunday and i think it was the sunshine that kind of offset the coolness of the air. now, there won't be as much sunshine around on monday — low pressure is moving in — and not got much snow in the scottish mountains at the moment but that is set to change over the next 2a hours. low pressure is developing to the west of the uk and this low pressure is going to be bringing outbreaks of rain widely over the next 2a hours. the rain already with us in northern ireland will continue to spread northwards and eastwards over the next few hours, reaching across wales, into western and central england, south—west scotland, too. northern scotland, one place where you are likely to see some frost but at least it should be a bright start to the day here. otherwise, a lot of cloud and rain around on monday morning. probably little, if anything, reaching east anglia and south east england, where it might actually brighten up for a time. temperatures about 10—12 degrees for most — that's near average for the time of year — but cold in scotland atjust sixes and sevens. and then, on the big picture, we've got a feed of cold air coming down from greenland around an area of high pressure. that's running into northern scotland, bumping into our advancing weather front. now, through monday night, it looks like we'll see a spell of snow. it's going to be quite high up in the mountains of scotland. 10—20cm on the way here above 300m elevation. the snow could come down a little bit lower than that, perhaps to 200m elevation. what all that means is monday night and into tuesday, there's a risk of disruption over some of the higher—level roads in scotland, maybe for some of the railway lines into tuesday morning as well. if you live down at sea level, well, you're more likely to see rain or maybe a bit of sleet mixed in. it will be quite windy across the far north of scotland as well. elsewhere, a bit of rain trickling its way eastwards across east anglia and south east england, the weather turning a bit brighter across the south—west of the uk. a cold day in scotland — temperatures really struggling here, particularly underneath that rain and hill snow. on into wednesday, got another area of low pressure forming. that's going to be bringing loads of showers across northern ireland, wales, southern and western parts of england. the showers notjust frequent, they'll be heavy with some hail and thunder mixed in as well, and temperatures just running a bit below average. these showery conditions last through the rest of this week and into the easter break beyond as well. that's your latest weather. bye for now. china makes a fresh pitch to foreign businesses at a forum in beijing as a slowdown in overseas investment continues. and the head of exxon mobil�*s guyana operation is questioned over a controversial drilling project in south america. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. let's begin in china where an annualforum attended by chinese policymakers and the leaders of global businesses is under way. chinese premier li qiang has downplayed concerns about the health of the world's second largest economy. he also pledged to give overseas businesses more access to chinese markets. foreign direct investment into china has continued to fall,