taylor swift kicks off the seven—show australian leg of her eras tour on friday. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we begin in the us, where donald trump will become the first former president to go on criminal trial after a new yorkjudge set a court date for the end of next month. he is accused of falsifying business records in connection with payments made to an adult film star, stormy daniels. from new york our north america editor sarah smith reports. this is now a familiar scene. donald trump's motorcade arriving at a courthouse. today, as he tried and failed to get this case dismissed

or delayed, he argued these prosecutions interfere with his campaign to get back into the white house. how can you run for election to be sitting in a courthouse in manhattan all day long? i'm supposed to be in south carolina right now where other people are and where, again, this is where i should be. mr trump's also facing trial later this year in atlanta, georgia, on charges of election interference. the district attorney who brought the case against him, fani willis, has admitted having an affair with the man she appointed as the chief prosecutor. she was questioned about that in court today. defense lawyers want to have her disqualified because of that relationship. i think in one of your motions, you tried to implicate i slept with him at that conference, which i find to be extremely offensive. mr trump's already using this scandal to try to undermine the case against him. donald trump insists all the prosecutions against him are deliberately designed to try to stop him from being reelected president, even though so far they have, in fact, boosted his

political support. next month, he will become the first ever former president to face a criminal trial. sara smith, bbc news, new york. john zogby is a pollster and us political strategist. i asked him how prospective voters for the former president will view these developments. prospective trump voters are just fine, they are with their man 100%, and that is exactly who he is talking to, and especially during this primary season where we see he is racking up victories and he has solid support among republicans when he goes head—to—head againstjoe biden. that piece of it is working just fine for mr trump. john, the trial is expected to last about six weeks, donald trump says he will campaign each evening after attending court during the day, how feasible is that and how do you see that campaign working?

he is a 77—year—old man and that is a sort of thing that can be exhausting to anyone of us. i can't imagine doing it myself and i am almost there. that part aside, we know that he is very vigorous and he is energised when he is on the road campaigning, so it could very well be that it helps them. and he is seen then as being active in his defence. but we do also know that if he is found guilty of anything, and let's face it, this new york case and the porn star, are among the weakest charges against him but if he is convicted, then we see that he could lose as much as 25% of his base, and an even larger

percentage of independents, that is if he is convicted. donald trump's lawyer raised the issue ofjury selection and how complicated it would be to find unbiased jurors, what do you think the challenges will be there? what you want is an unbiased jury, who is unbiased in the united states of america, besides me? and i am out of that district. seriously, everyone knows donald trump and knows something about this case. opinions have been formed about donald trump. there's little among voters who would say, "oh, i am not sure where i stand about him". i think it's a daunting task, picking an unbiased jury.

now lets n ow lets get now lets get the latest on the israel gaza war. israel says it's detained dozens of suspects during a raid on the largest hospital in southern gaza. israel's military says the nasser hospital in khan younis was being used to hold hostages taken by hamas during the 7th of october attacks. hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by many western governments including the uk. the hospital's director has told the bbc that conditions inside are "catastrophic". our middle east correspondent lucy williamson has the story , and a warning , you may find parts of her report distressing. there's a time to heal and a time to run. beds made to be moved, stuck fast. buildings made to shield, caved in. a battlefield evacuation of patients in a city hospital as israel's special forces came in. hospitals offer no protection from israel's army. a message for hamas heard by all.

the israeli army now is almost about to enter the hospital. their protection against israel's powerful army, a table. one doctor spoke anonymously to the bbc from inside the hospital. we have a patient who needs care. but after the israeli army bombed the hospital directly, most of our health care worker here afraid about themselves and they have to leave the hospital. about a0 health care workers stayed at the hospital right now. israel had ordered people to leave the hospital. "when people went out, they shot at them and some were killed," mohammed said. "they said there was safe passage, but they approached us with a bulldozer and a tank.

"every half an hour, they let a few people go". with israeli forces surrounding the hospital, the army said it believed hamas fighters were inside. today, it said it had arrested several suspects there. because hamas terrorists are likely hiding behind injured civilians inside nasser hospital right now, and appear to have used the hospital to hide our hostages there, too, the idf is conducting a precise and limited operation inside nasser hospital. israel's army has been fighting its way through khan younis. homes turned to battlefields. street by street. the only relics from a previous life, its people. now fleeing to the border town of rafah, the last stop for civilians in this war. the red cross has warned of unimaginable carnage if the army follows them there.

but israel's prime minister has been clear he will fight hamas wherever it hides, and that rafah will be next. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. the russian president vladimir putin has said he would preferjoe biden, rather than donald trump, to win the us presidential election this november. in an interview on russian state television, mr putin said he'd rather work with mr biden, who was more experienced and predictable. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, reports from moscow. this was unusual. vladimir putin doesn't normally back a candidate publicly in a foreign election. but when russian tv asked, "who's better for russia, biden or trump?" his response. biden. translation: biden. he's more experienced, he's predictable. he's an old—school politician.

although we'll work with any us leader the american people put their trust in. the kremlin backing biden? now, that's odd when you consider what america's president calls vladimir putin. a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoralwaragainst the people of ukraine. while donald trump, the likely republican party nominee, has praised putin. yesterday, reporters asked me if i thought president putin was smart. i said, "of course he's smart," to which i was greeted with, "oh, that's such a terrible thing to say." trump's called putin a genius, too. if you were the kremlin, who would you be rooting for? which is why i urge caution, with a capital c, about these kremlin comments. i mean, just for starters, keep in mind that relations between russia and the west are so bad right now that any public endorsement by putin

of a us politician will not do that politician any favours at all. vladimir putin's comments on the us election may have done donald trump a favour, though. he can now tell his political opponents, "see, i told you, i'm not moscow's man." one things for sure — as the us election approaches, the kremlin is watching closely, because those in power here know that an american election can have consequences for russia too. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the white house has confirmed that it believes russia is developing a new anti—satellite weapon. it could be a space based nuclear weapon, that is neither confirmed nor denied. he says the weapon is not yet

active and doesn't pose a threat to anyone on earth was yellow i can confirm that it is related to an anti—satellite capability that russia is developing. i want to be clear about a couple of things right off the bat. about a couple of things right off the bat-— off the bat. first, this is not an active — off the bat. first, this is not an active capability - off the bat. first, this is not an active capability that - off the bat. first, this is not an active capability that has| an active capability that has been deployed, and there is no immediate threat to anyone's safety. we are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on earth. that said, we've been closely monitoring this russian activity and we will continue to take the safety very seriously. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. now it's time for a by—election update. now it's time for a by-election u date. ., ~ now it's time for a by-election udate. ., ~ ,, now it's time for a by-election udate. ., ~ , , , update. thank you, yes. rights are bein: update. thank you, yes. rights are being counted _ update. thank you, yes. rights are being counted in _ update. thank you, yes. rights are being counted in the - update. thank you, yes. rights are being counted in the two i are being counted in the two crucial by—elections, with results expected in the next few hours. wellingborough was called after peter bone's

suspension from the house of commons. turn there is 38%. it is common for turn out to be lower in by—elections. the conservatives, who won both seats at the last election, have played down the chances of retaining them. in a statement, they said these by—elections were always going to be hard, and the government of the day rarely went by—elections. the vote in kingswood in south gloucestershire was prompted by the resignation of former tory mp chris skidmore. turnout there was 37%. labour are hoping to take both seats, but in a statement said, we were always aware of the challenge ahead of us, with a large conservative majorities in both seats. there is a special live page “p seats. there is a special live page up and running on the bbc news website or app, and i will be back at half past with an update from both counts. you are life with _ update from both counts. you are life with bbc— update from both counts. you are life with bbc news. now to the war in ukraine. the head of nato, jens stoltenberg, has warned that the delay in approving new us military aid to ukraine

is already having an impact on the battlefield. he said he expected congress to eventually approve the aid package because a russian victory was not in us interests. the united states being by far the biggest ally, of course it's vital that that continue to provide support, and therefore i continue to expect that they will be able to make a decision, hopefully as soon as possible. and a short while back the german government has announced that chancellor olaf scholz and ukraine's president are to sign a bilateral security pact on friday. volodymyr zelensky will be in berlin for the signing. but on the ground in ukraine, russian forces appear close to surrounding what's left of the front line town of avdiivka in the donetsk region after months of heavy fighting there. ukraine's army is struggling with a shortage of ammunition and other military supplies. the bbc�*s andrew harding reports. ukrainian tanks heading into battle. we are close to the russian

lines here, and to a town the kremlin has been desperate to capture for months. inside avdiivka, it's not going well for ukraine. these troops are increasingly pinned down and struggling. in the ditch here, a wounded soldier needing urgent help. so what's going wrong for ukraine after two years of war? a simple answer can be found a few kilometres away. a ukrainian artillery team. last year, these men were firing 80 shells a day at russian positions around avdiivka. not any more. so these are the last two shells that you have? "yes," says the officer in charge, "and these two don't even work." it is an alarming situation. russia is now outgunning

ukraine by perhaps five to one. "we're upset," says oleksii. "it means our infantry in avdiivka "are fighting on their own without our support. "i'm worried it will mean a lot more casualties." speaking of which, more wounded arrive at a nearby field hospital. 24—year—old andrii has shrapnel in his ankle. ukraine, with a far smaller army than russia's, can't afford to lose many soldiers. in the next—door room, 48—year—old vadym was hit by shrapnel this morning as he stormed a russian position. "we just don't have enough weapons," he says. what would you say to american politicians who are saying they're not going to give more weapons to ukraine? "i would tell them to come here just once," he says. "then they'll understand

the blood and sweat required to build a peaceful world." and the surgeon has this warning. "i urge the west to be more decisive in assisting ukraine," says vitalii. "otherwise, their soldiers will end up "having to fight this russian evil, too." in the woods nearby, a live—fire training exercise. ukraine is racing to rebuild its war—weary army. but there aren't enough volunteers any more, so more conscripts are being drafted in to fill the ranks. ukraine is not losing this war, at least not yet. but if it's to stand any chance of actually winning, then it's going to have to train an awful lot more men like this and find a lot more weapons for what, right now, looks like it's going to be a very long conflict. andrew harding, bbc news,

in eastern ukraine. switching focus to news from the uk now. the uk tipped into recession in the second half of last year with the economy shrinking for two consecutive quarters. gross domestic product — a key measure of economic activity — fell by 0.3% in the last three months of 2023. that followed a contraction of 0.1% the previous quarter. it's the uk's third recession in the past 25 years. and the difficulty for the british prime minister is that one of his five key pledges was to grow the economy. our economics editor faisal islam reports. signs of the times in harlow town centre. on the one hand, some evidence of the struggle for hairdressers, retailers, restaurateurs and others on the high street. on the other, the need to fill recruitment gaps, too. it may look like a recession — indeed it is now officially a recession — but it's not a very normal one. we went to the foodbank

because some of the products are so expensive. for example, meat. never got any money, can't go out, everything's expensive now. things have changed. hopefully they're going to get better, or they'll get worse, won't they? we'll have to ride it through, like we've all done. - here's one way of comparing recessions. in the �*80s, �*90s and 20005, the hit to the economy can be seen here, both how deep and how long the recession lasts, with the worst during the great financial crisis of 2008 onwards. but here in red is what we've seen so far in the recession now confirmed to have started last year. and how things might pan out over the next year if forecasters are right. it is still a recession, but a more moderate dip. the bigger picture here, though, is an economy that's failed to grow over nearly two years. chancellor, do you accept that this is a recession? well, you know, the numbers speak for themselves. but the underlying picture here is that our plan has been to tackle inflation,

first and foremost. that does mean higher interest rates. and so that's why it's a very important period now, despite this challenging data, that we stick to a plan that is seeing inflation really start to fall. the shadow chancellor blamed the recession on the prime minister. having spent years in the slow lane, rishi sunak has now put our economy into reverse. this is rishi's recession. on the outskirts of cambridge, some house building is getting going. but, as this morning's figures confirmed, it's been a tough period for construction. in 2023, the word - probably was turbulent. the first nine months- were extremely challenging. as we came into the back end of the year, probably- the final three months, - there was a level of optimism if he and the forecasts are right, this recession won't last long. but that can't mask an economy that's failing to grow normally, or at all right now.

faisal islam, bbc news. now to australia, where taylor swift kicks off the latest seven—show leg of her eras tour in melbourne on friday. analysts say this 2024 tour will likely surpass the $1 billion mark in march, having already grossed more than a billion dollars in 2023, making it the most lucrative in music history. georgia carroll is a sociologist at the university of sydney. she was also one of the keynote speakers at the weekend's swiftposium. i asked her what kind of ideas were discussed. the swiftposium discussed everything about taylor swift from my own analysis of the economics of her fandom, through people from law and medicine and science and archaeology, it was super varied but a really great place to explore what makes her that cultural phenomenon she has become. what is that when you talk about the factors that make her who she is?

what are some aspects that come to mind? a lot of it comes down to the fact that she has been performing for 18 years now, which is a really long time, and the album coming out in april will be her 11th studio album, plus the re—records, so that's a lot of time and content for her fans to connect to. some of those fans became fans when they were teenagers and are now in their 30s, and she has kind of been a constant in their life, singing relatable songs with universal themes that are also just really good musically, they are high—quality, she writes all her music. they feel this deep connection to her, and she is good with her marketing and making them feel that she is connected back, and that she cares about them. a word on her social media campaigns, when social media took off, some predicted we would never see a truly global superstar again as fans

would stay in a niche, is taylor swift a counter example to that? from the earliest days of her career, taylor swift has leveraged social media, from myspace, tumblr, twitter, tiktok, she knows where her fans are and has managed to centralise them in a week lots of communities don't. rather than pockets of fandom, she has a globalfine community where everyone kind of speaks with one voice in one place and follows the lead of her marketing account taylor nation, and the instructions they offer, whether using specific hashtags or tweeting at specific times or sharing specific messages. she has managed to create this kind of universal wave of fans that we don't often see, and that is one of the reasons why we have such a proliferation of taylor at the moment, because it is everywhere you look, and when you look online, there are millions of people talking about

her in the same place. and before we go, let me tell you about this fascinating story. a female stingray appears to have become pregnant with no mate involved. charlotte, as she is known, has lived with five small sharks in a fish tank in a shop for eight years. simonjones has the story. years. simon jones has the sto . , ., , ., story. there she goes. now you miaht story. there she goes. now you might see _ story. there she goes. now you might see her _ story. there she goes. now you might see her a _ story. there she goes. now you might see her a little _ story. there she goes. now you might see her a little bit - might see her a little bit better. but who is the daddy? the pregnancy is a bit of a maritime mystery. but it seems for charlotte the stingray, it doesn't take two to tango. she hasn't shared a tank with the male of her species and at least eight years, she is now with pups. least eight years, she is now with pum— least eight years, she is now with --us. ~ , ., with pups. we believe that the rocess with pups. we believe that the process for— with pups. we believe that the process for charlotte - with pups. we believe that the process for charlotte to - with pups. we believe that the process for charlotte to be - process for charlotte to be preg na nt process for charlotte to be pregnant is being done by something called parthenogenesis, and that pa rthenogenesis, and that literally parthenogenesis, and that literally translates into virgin birth or miracle birth, and what happens is the female will develop the eggs, and then

the eggs will develop embryos. charlotte has been living at an aquarium with five small sharks, but experts say any sharks, but experts say any shark and stingray shenanigans will be unlikely, although dna tests will be carried out when the pups arrived. here at the london aquarium they have around 20 stingray of their own, but none of them have made quite as big a splash as charlotte. here no doubt they will be watching very closely what happens across the pond as charlotte prepares for her big moment. although other kinds of rays and sharks have been known to develop unfertilised eggs themselves, charlotte is thought to be the first of her species of stingray. you may work with animals for years— you may work with animals for years and _ you may work with animals for years and this doesn't happen, and the — years and this doesn't happen, and the sudden they come in one morning — and the sudden they come in one morning and you notice the behaviour is different or is there _ behaviour is different or is there is— behaviour is different or is there is there is a slight change _ there is there is a slight change-— there is there is a slight chance. ., ., , ,. change. charlotte is expected to rive change. charlotte is expected to give birth _ change. charlotte is expected to give birth in _ change. charlotte is expected to give birth in the _ change. charlotte is expected to give birth in the next - to give birth in the next couple of weeks, though all

this attention might be getting a bit much for her. simon jones, bbc news. that's all we have for you on this edition of newsday. you can find much more on the bbc website. thank you for watching, and stay with bbc news. hello there. we're certainly seeing quite a lot of rain so far this february, but it's also been incredibly mild with it at times. and this warm and wet story is perfect growing ingredients for those early spring bulbs out there. now, temperatures at this time of year should be sitting around 8—9 degrees as an average, butjust take a look at what happened during thursday. we saw temperatures widely into the mid—teens, and for some as high as 18 celsius. so, yes, it was incredibly mild. the mild theme is set to continue, perhaps not quite as mild,

but nevertheless pleasant enough. and on friday, we should start the day with some sunshine coming through. a westerly wind just feeding in a few isolated showers across wales and northern england, but on the whole, pleasant enough. bit more of a breeze down towards the south, and a cooler northerly breeze across the far north of scotland. so here, a little bit cooler, but generally temperatures between 12—14 celsius. now, into the start of the weekend, we've still got that little ridge of high pressure with us to begin with, but this weather front starting to push in from the atlantic. so, first thing on saturday, some early brightness in eastern areas, clouding over quite quickly and it will be quite drizzly with it as well. the further west you go, we'll start to see some rain, some of it heavy by the end of the afternoon. but still the wind direction coming from a southerly, so still those temperatures above where they should be for the time of year, 9—11; celsius the high. that rain will sweep its way steadily south and east overnight saturday into sunday

morning, so a bit of a contrast first thing on sunday morning. we could see some rain lingering for a time through the east midlands and down into south—east england, but it will slowly improve, brightening up across the far north in scotland, northern ireland, northern england, eventually western areas by the end of the afternoon. and in the sunshine, well, it'll still feel pleasant enough, but it could stay rather grey in the south—east through much of sunday. into the early half of next week, it's a similar weather story. we'll have one frontal system easing away, a ridge of high pressure building, but not lasting, another front pushing in. and the isobars squeezing together, the winds could be a feature. so it's not a wash—out by any means. there will be some sunnier moments. it stays relatively mild, but also some rain at times.

we are continuing coverage of the key elections in kingswood... we have our fingers crossed, this is the live democracy and live at the counts. this is where the kingswood declaration will be made. turn out there was 37%, meaning just shy of 35,000 votes cast in the votes. of

course by elections tend to see lower numbers of people voting in general elections that stand in general elections that stand in general elections that stand in general elections. the turnout at that time was over 70%. this is the scene live in kettering leisure village, where we will hear the wellingborough result we've also heard the turn out there, 38%. that is actually slightly higher than many party officials were expecting — the last turnout at the general election in the constituency was 64%, but as i've been saying, come for turn out to be lower in by—elections. this is a big test for the parties and would of course is expected to be a general election year. the conservatives hold the seats, labour are the main challengers. labourare the main challengers. no voters in kingswood, in south gloucestershire, on the edge of the city of bristol, have been to the polls following the

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