Good morning. It is going to be fairly cloudy and wet today across the central swathes of the uk. To the central swathes of the uk. To the south of that mostly dry and mild. In the north, blustery showers with gales in north west scotland. Details later. Good morning. Its wednesday, 13th march. Rishi sunak is facing calls to hand back millions of pounds donated to the Conservative Party by a businessman accused of making racist comments about the mp, diane abbott. Tech boss frank hester is reported to have said ms abbott made him want to hate all black women, and that she should be shot. The Prime Minister called the comments racist and wrong. Our Political Correspondent Hannah Miller has more. Hello, rishi. How are you . Very nice to see you. When rishi sunak made this visit to a mill near leeds in november, his Helicopter Ride had been provided by one of his partys biggest donors, frank hester, Who Last Year donated £10 million to the Conservative Party, now alleged to have made com
Going to be able to turn things around straightaway, but we will get to work on all of that. And hollywoods biggest night kicks off later with all eyes on oppenheimer to see if it can break the record for the most wins at the oscars. The budget the government unveiled on wednesday has left the Shadow Chancellor with a major headache. Jeremy hunt cut National Insurance by 2p for the second time in six months, as well as adopting two of labours policies, which it planned to use to Fund Breakfast clubs in schools and extra nhs appointments, if the party wins the next election. Earlier, the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves spoke to the bbc s Laura Kuennsberg and started by talking about how they plan to raise money now. We are committed to the extension of working rights, including banning the National Welfare and is a key component of our growth plans, and britain has never had one before. The idea is to live it in private Sector Investment alongside a Government Endowment to invest in so
Hello, you will live with bbc news. I am anna foster injerusalem. A Us Military Ship has set off for gaza, carrying equipment to build a Temporary Floating Port for desperately needed aid deliveries. The us military confirmed that that ship left late on saturday from a Military Base in virginia on its way to the middle east. The un has warned that around a quarter of the population of gaza, more than half a million people, are currently facing famine, which is why this new way of potentially getting aid in is so important. And in the meantime, there is a separate aid ship with around 200 tonnes of food on board which is still waiting to set sail from cyprus, waiting to be given the green light to head towards gaza. That is part of a new maritime aid corridor that the eu announced just in the last few days and said that they were optimistic that it would become operational for the first time this weekend. And of course, all of this comes as the us President Joe Biden gave a new intervie
Now on bbc news, political thinking with Nick Robinson hello and welcome to political thinking, a conversation with, rather than a news interrogation of, someone who shaped our political thinking about what has shaped theirs. My guest this week is a daughter of what we still euphemistically called the troubles the 30 years or more of violence which scarred Northern Ireland and the british mainland divided communities and claimed the lives of more than 3000 people. Emma little pengelly is the new deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. She grew up on the border with the south, the place with the highest death toll outside belfast. Her father was arrested and imprisoned in france for involvement in Arms Trafficking for hardline loyalists back in the 1980s, something he still denies to this day, though, he did once say publicly he would oppose compromise to the bitter end, to the death. Compromise that is with people like the First Minister of Northern Ireland, michelle 0neill of sinn