labour's red light on its green investment policy. the main uk opposition party �*stands down�* its multi—billion pound environment plan. brazilian police investigate allies of former presidentjair bolsonaro for their role in an attempted coup. and scientists at oxford university use virtual reality to understand why 80 million people speak with a stammer. let's turn to the latest in the israel—gaza war. the us says it will not support any underprepared israeli military operation in gaza's southernmost city, rafah — warning of the risk of �*disastrous consequences�* for the people there. on rafah, we have seen those reports and we have yet to see any evidence of serious planning

for such an operation. and to conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in an area where there is a million people sheltering would be a disaster. israeli forces have continued their offensive against hamas in the southern gaza area — and there�*s been reports of large explosions in rafah. people there said israeli missiles hit two houses, causing multiple casualties. aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if israel forces enter rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced palestinians have taken refuge. the us secretary of state antony blinken is returning to washington, 2a hours after the israeli prime minister said the war would continue until israel is completely victorious. benjamin netanyahu appeared to reject outright a response from hamas to a proposed cease—fire plan, but secretary blinken believes there�*s still room for negotiation.

let�*s hearfrom our middle east correspondent, nick beake. a senior palestinian official has told the bbc that a new round of talks are now under way in cairo and egypt is a really important country, along with qatar, the gulf state, because those two are intermediaries in what are indirect conversations between israel and hamas. the united states are also involved as well. and what we�*re hearing from anthony blinken, the us secretary of state, the top diplomat from the united states, is that there is some common ground and that there is still an avenue to pursue some sort of ceasefire. certainly the palestinian official who�*s been talking to us this morning said that the talks would be extremely difficult and extremely complicated. the thing is, if you look at the press conference last night at which benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister here, was speaking, he said that the peace proposals that have been put forward by hamas were completely unacceptable. and in fact, he said israeli forces

would be advancing in gaza and moving towards rafah, which is a city of more than a million people. now, lots of them had come to this place because they�*ve been forced to leave their homes elsewhere. so you�*ve got the prospect, according to the prime minister here, of an increased and more intense military operation. of course, that is going to lead to an imminent breakthrough in the peace talks. interestingly, from what mr blinken was saying last night, he said he absolutely supports the goal of destroying hamas. and he said he also thinks all the time about the hostages who were taken on october the seventh. but he also said the wider picture here needs to be addressed, particularly within israel. and he says that although hamas, to use his word, dehumanized the people of this country on october the seventh and that hamas continues to dehumanize the hostages, he says that is not a licence to dehumanize other people. and of course, he was referring to the palestinians in gaza

and their ongoing suffering. a funeral has been held in baghdad for abu baqr al—saadi — one of three people killed in a us drone strike. a us interior ministry official said two kataeb hezbollah leaders — including al—saadi — and a driver — died in the strike. iraq�*s army said the attack in baghdad on wednesday night threatens security and stability in the region. bbc arabic�*s lotfi habib sent this update from baghdad. supporters of the iraqi pmu gathered in downtown baghdad for the funeral of the man who was targeted by american drone attack. feelings of anger are evident among the crowds, who chanted slogans condemning the united states and calling for the immediate withdrawal of the american forces from baghdad. even before this event started, official reactions emerged as the spokesman for the iraqi

commander—in—chief stated that, he repeated us attacks undermines the bilateral talks the iraqi government initiated with the american side to set a timetable for the american forces to withdraw from iraq. as for the armed group, their statements route vowed to retaliate for the american attack, but only if the iraqi government has failed to take steps that might include requests or submitting requests to the united nations security council toissue the united nations security council to issue a statement calling for the immediate withdrawal of the american presence in iraq. bbc news, baghdad. queen camilla has spoken about how king charles is fairing at an event at salisbury cathedral this evening.

the queen was speaking with a member of the wiltshire air ambulance when she provided an update. ido i do hope he does well, ma'am. he's involved in — i do hope he does well, ma'am. he's involved in services, _ i do hope he does well, ma'am. he�*s involved in services, he was very touched by all the letters and messages. that�*s very cheering. we have more evidence today of how our world is warming, according to data from the eu�*s climate monitoring service, copernicus. for the first time, global average temperatures have been more than 1.5 degrees above pre—industrial levels, for a full i2—month period. many scientists say a combination of greenhouse gas emissions and dramatic sea temperature rises are to blame. but, in recent months, a natural climate—warming phenomenon known as el nino has also given air temperatures an extra boost. here�*s our climate editor, justin rowlatt. this is where the electricity

company sse plans a £2 billion water battery. the hydroelectric plant, the biggest engineering project in the highlands since the �*40s, will store excess renewable power. so, here is the plan. they are going to build a dam 92 metres high and 600 metres long, across the end of the glen to create a huge reservoir. but here is the really clever bit. the whole project is designed to exploit the key weakness of renewable energy sources like wind and solar. they are great when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. then they often generate so much electricity that the price goes to zero. in fact, there are wind farms here in scotland that are sometimes paid not to supply electricity to the grid. at times like that, turbines will pump water up to the new reservoir.

when it�*s dark or the wind isn�*t blowing and electricity is scarce, the water can be released, spinning the turbines to generate enough electricity to power three million uk homes for 2h hours. the benefits are that the consumer, the uk consumers, are going to save money. we are going to use less oil and gas to match supply with demand, which is good for everyone and helps us achieve our climate goals. sse has already spent £100 million digging this tunnel. but heavy engineering like this does not come cheap. and the breakthrough has been finding a way to give investors confidence in the finances of a project that could still be running in 100 years�* time. now, the government doesn�*t want to put in any public cash, so the plan is to create a floor, a guarantee of minimum revenues. but, in return, it will also impose a cap on prices to make sure the project doesn�*t make

too much profit. and more projects like this will be needed as the switch to renewable power continues. sse says once the funding mechanism is finalised, it will press ahead with britain�*s biggest battery. justin rowlatt, bbc news, the scottish highlands. a new world record for energy generated by nuclearfusion has been set at the uk—based jet labouratory. nuclear fusion is considered the holy grail of energy because it could potentially produce vast amounts of clean power. here�*s our science reporter esme stallard with more. the power plants that currently generate energy. for us, they�*re called nuclear fission. what we�*re talking about here with fusion is when we try and bring two particles together and that process releases energy, which potentially we can use.

now, as you said, that in this experiment, not a lot of energy was created. it�*s a really, really hard experiment to do. it�*s the process that powers the sun. so we�*re talking about very high temperatures and very high pressures to get these particles to come together. so no mean feat. so complicated and difficult to do, but achieved today even in that small way. it does, though, mean, doesn�*t it, that we�*re still a very long way off from being able to develop this sort of thing into a power station for unlimited clean energy? yeah, we�*re still taking very, very small steps of certainly not the case that we can heat all our homes with this process. but there is still a lot of enthusiasm from the community and also from the uk government and european governments that this is something worth investing in. the government recently announced £650 million will go to uk nuclear over the coming five years. so something that is still very much being supported even if we might not

see anything particularly useful from it for a good few decades. yeah, we�*re still a long way off that on the i�*m looking at the numbers here sort of after 2050 i think is the number i�*ve seen today. how safe is it? because as soon as we start talking about experiments like this, people will worry about its safety. just explain that this is relatively safe, isn�*t it? it is. so the international atomic energy agency, which oversees all these different agencies working on nuclearfusion, says it is very safe. the fact that it requires such high pressures and high temperatures means it�*s not self—sustaining, so it�*s not going to run away with itself. also, there�*s very little waste produced, unlike with nuclear fission that we currently use for our energy, and that waste decays a lot quicker so we�*re not left with it so much. so certainly not something really for the public to be worrying about. it�*s good to have you explain that. thanks so much. brazilian police are investigating

several top allies of former presidentjair bolsonaro for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2022 election. their homes and offices have been searched. mr bolsonaro�*s lawyer said the former president had agreed to surrender his passport, as requested by police. the authorities say they�*ve issued 33 search warrants and four arrest warrants. for more on this, i spoke to our brazil correspondent, leandro prazeres. it�*s one of the main, if not the most prominent figure at a position for the opposition parties here in brazil. and brazil remains to be a very polarised country. so his allies and his supporters there have been very vocal against this raid and explain what the potential outcome against this raid. and explain what the potential outcome of these investigations are. as i said, mr bolsonaro saying he�*s agreed to surrender his passport as was requested by the police. but what is the potential sentence

if anyone is found guilty here? well, they haven�*t been formally charged yet, but according to the brazilian law, if someone is one of the investigators, one of the people who are investigated right now, if they are convicted, they could take up to 12 years in prison. and it�*s not the first time there have been allegations of corruption at this level and children about the stability and talk to me about the stability of politics in brazil. because mr lula da silva is saying his job now is to restore faith and trust in the political system. and this is one way of doing that. but it�*s been a turbulent decade for politics in the country, hasn�*t it? yeah, brazil...brazil has been facing a very turbulent time, as you mentioned, in terms of its democracy. former election was a very disputed one, which was, of course, due to this polarisation process that brazil has been going on. what we what we are still waiting to see is how this raid

and all these investigations against mr bolsonaro will have an impact on his base and also as a whole in the brazilian society. yeah. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. this is the letter that has divided opinion among parents at girton glebe primary. the trust, which runs the school, has decided to extend the christmas holidays this year, cutting the time children spend at school by six days. this is a problem for some parents, single working parents who are going to have to either take another week off of work to look after their children or pay for childcare. the fact that they haven�*t actually asked parents what they think and tried to engage with us is really concerning. government guidance suggests state schools should be open for 190 days during the academic year. easton learning alliance�*s plans

fall short by a week, but as an academy, it can choose what to teach, how to spend its money and as in this instance, set its own term dates. the trust told the bbc the five days of teacher time would be redirected across the academic year. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. - you�*re live with bbc news. it�*s chinese new year this weekend and millions of people in china are on the move as they head to their hometowns to celebrate with theirfamilies. our china correspondent, laura bicker, has been speaking to people in beijing about their hopes ahead. some new year wishes need spiritual intervention. many young people in beijing come to the lama temple to pray for a job. a slowing economy means millions of graduates are out of work. this dragon year, they�*re clinging to the hope that will change,

as well as dressing up for the occasion. translation: the economy has been sluggish. _ you need to have good ideas and back yourself, but praying to the buddha and the burning incense, that will also help. all: happy new year! even the very young have theirfuture in mind. "i want to get top marks in my exams every time," says this ten—year—old. at beijing train station, families are bundled up and loaded up for the long journey back to their hometowns, and with good reason. the sun may be shining in the capital, but heavy snow and ice brought some highways in the south of china to a standstill. thousands were stranded in their cars, dozens of trains were delayed or suspended, and passengers were stuck at wuhan railway station for hours. these ladies have a long journey

north to see their 90—year—old mum, and they�*re doing all they can to ensure this year is lucky. translation: l was born - in the dragon year, so this year i've bought red clothes and red pants for a prosperous - and thriving new year. translation: i hope everyone has i a safe new year and you all get i money in your pockets. those left in beijing settle in to their celebrations. traditional costumes have become popular with young people, along with this one new year wish. "money, big money," she says. whatever their dreams for the future, this week is for food and for family. and for many, this will be their first new year together since the start of the pandemic, and they�*re determined to savour it. laura bicker, bbc news, beijing. a volcano in south west iceland has erupted for the third time since december.

the lava is spewing from a long fissure — and has reached a crucial road that leads to the already damaged town of grindavik. our science editor rebecca morrelle has been looking at why these eruptions keep happening. a fiery start to iceland�*s day, but these spectacular fountains of lava are causing more disruption on the reykjanes peninsula. a pipeline supplying heat and hot water to 30,000 people has been engulfed by molten rock, and a road to the blue lagoon tourist attraction is now cut off. it�*s the third eruption since december, but scientists knew it was coming. now that these eruptions are appeasing themselves, are repeating themselves, the scientists now have a much better idea of where there is a breaking point for the magma to come through the ground, so they�*ve been tracking how the ground is inflating as magma is coming up from deep, and now they can tell with a lot more certainty when to expect the magma to start breaking

through to the ground. iceland sits on the boundary of two tectonic plates which are pulling apart from each other at 2cm a year. this stretches the earth�*s crust — its outer layer — making it thinner, which affects the type of eruption. this isn�*t a cone—shaped volcano, like italy�*s mount etna, where the lava comes out of more or less the same place. instead, on the reykjanes peninsula, the magma is loosely held over a much larger area, and it forces its way up through cracks — orfissures — that run in lines and can be miles long. this map shows the fissures created since december, and the latest one is over here — it opened up in the same area. a road into the town of grindavik has been swallowed up, but this time the town itself has been spared. but a major concern is a nearby geothermal power station. sensors have detected the land around it lifting as magma flows underground. barriers have been built to try and protect this vital infrastructure.

the last series of eruptions in this area happened 800 years ago, and they lasted for decades. so do scientists think the same thing is happening now? there is evidence for about three of these types of episodes in the last 4,000 years in this area. so this is proceeding as expected at the moment. what we�*re expecting is a series of these relatively small, relatively short—lived eruptions pushing out lava flows through fissures and building up the peninsula further. researchers are closely monitoring the area. they�*re learning more with every eruption. the question is, how long will this new era of volcanic activity last? scientists think it could be many years — or even centuries. rebecca morelle, bbc news. more than 80 million people around the world have a natural stammer, meaning they know what they want to say, but have difficulty saying the words. now, scientists at oxford university

are measuring brain activity and using virtual reality — to try to understand why people stammer. our correspondent felicity baker reports. just so you know, i have a stammer. for people who stammer, every word matters. i always found it hard to say the word meaning "the next day", and i try and say t—t—t—t...tomorrow. i have a st—ammer... aiden has stammered all of his life. now he wants answers. there�*s still quite a few un...known questions about the causes and potential t—t—treatment. so when i heard about the fact that there was this research happening in oxford, i was quite happy to take part and help out with it. your task is to memorise these words and to speak them out loud... scientists are measuring brain activity in people who stammer.

they�*re trying to understand what happens in the moments before they speak. the team is also using virtual reality to understand why people seem to stammer less when they�*re alone. we�*ve got a spaceman, a mosquito and a horned character. when aiden played this game, he hardly stammered at all. they are immersed with this working memory t—task. - we want them to...verbalise while doing it. _ when they are focused, . they become more fluent. growing up as a person who stammered, i always wanted to know what caused it. could the answer lie in my d—dna? ironically, that�*s a word i find very hard to say. at university college london, scientists are also investigating whether stammering is in our genes.

this machine will run all the processes of dna isolation. the samples will be compared with people all around the world. we are trying to find out about the biology underneath the stammering, because we�*re interested in what are the little pieces of the puzzle in the brain that are not quite synchronised when people speak, and that would explain why people are less fluent. and by understanding the biology, we understand better perhaps how to support treatment in the future. stammering has a huge impact on people�*s lives. many learn how to hide it. i didn't really start to tell family until my 405, actually, and even though my sister is a speech therapist, i didn't tell her till i was 40. others often avoid words they know they can�*t say — sometimes even their own name. i�*ve even had moments where i�*ve not called myself peter. i said hi, i�*ve introduced myself as michael.

and that�*s the most unbelievable feeling, like, "what am i doing?" science may well provide answers in the future. until then, more acceptance should ensure every voice is heard. felicity baker, bbc news. i spoke to aidan strong — we just saw him in felicity�*s report. he�*s raising awareness for people who stammer. he says representation is vital in helping people with a stammer feel less isolated. as my own personal experience and also talking to quite a few other people who have stammers kind of growing up. it�*s incredibly easy to f—feel like y—you�*re the only person who has this. so i think that being able to see there�*s other people out there who have s—stammers and who can achieve all of the goals that they�*re after, i think that�*s important to have.

and it�*s not about overcoming a stammer, is it? and that�*s an important distinction. just to explain what you mean by that. yes. so again, this is quite a personal thing and it�*s kind of a case of everyone�*s s—stammer is d—d—different. but i think it�*s important when we talk about...representation, that we talk about a—a—access patterns rather than the idea that everyone who�*s stammers can just overcome it if they try hard enough. because this just isn�*t the case for quite a few p—people. look at the weather with thomas, see you soon. hello. well, as predicted, the winter

wonderland did arrive in the areas where it was forecast. so mostly the northern hills of wales, northern england, some in northern ireland and scotland, too. here�*s a picture from wakefield, beautiful snowflakes there, but elsewhere rain, heavy rain. and these are the stratus and the nimbostratus rain—bearing clouds shrouding the tops of the skyscrapers in london. ok, let�*s have a look at the radar, then. where it�*s blue, it�*s raining. this was earlier on. where it�*s white and grey, that�*s sleet and snow, so that weather front is moving northwards into scotland. now another clump of rain heading towards the south of england, and warnings from the met office for snow and ice are still valid across parts of the country. so you can check that online. so the forecast through the night, particularly heavy rain moving in from the south, moving northwards. could be 40—plus millimetres of rain in some areas. across the north and the north—east there, i think it�*s that mixture of sleet and snow, particularly across the higher ground. but that thaw is setting in, a rapid thaw from the south. you can see 11 degrees in london in the morning, and further north about 11—5 celsius.

so the weather map for friday shows the low pressure still close by. here�*s the weather front. north of the weather front, it�*s still pretty chilly. that easterly wind drawing in the colder air from scandinavia. here we have that west—south—westerly, so that mild air coming in. and i think again across the highlands and the grampians, further snow to come on friday, again met office warnings for that. the rest of the country, it�*s a case of often cloudy weather, showers continuing through the day and into the evening hours as well. not a pleasant picture for some of us on friday and friday night. that takes us into saturday. the low pressure still with us. that weather front still there affecting the north—east of scotland, but already you can see turning milder. nine degrees in glasgow, seven in aberdeen. and the low is still with us on sunday, but this clump of rain, i think, grazes the north—east of england and also eastern scotland for a time, but out towards the west and the south, i think the weather�*s going to be drier and brighter with just a scattering of showers.

now, the outlook through the weekend into next week, it looks as though things could settle down a little bit as we head into monday and eventually tuesday with high pressure building in, at least for a time. bye— bye.

hello, i�*m christian fraser.

you�*re watching the context on bbc news. the first year ever, or the first 12—month period ever, when temperatures have exceeded 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels. that 1.5figure we hear a lot — it is an important boundary. in recent weeks and months, they've been going a little wibbly—wobbly about whether they were keeping the promise or not. and today, they have lobbed that number into a skip. what we're announcing today is that we won't be making . further investments, . and therefore we won't reach the 28 billion _ which is effectively stood down. guess, take a look in the skip. you�*ll see labour has dropped the pledge to spend £28 billion a year on green projects. £28 billion a year is now £24 billion over the whole parliament. it�*s been an agonising process for labour — we�*ll have analysis and reaction to the u—turn, and the way

it�*s been handled. ukraine�*s president zelensky has sacked the head