the win, recognise iran has suffered take the win, recognise iran has suffered a double defeat — defeat since almost all their weapons were shot down, and defeat since the world can now see their true nature. also on the programme this lunchtime: a second mass stabbing in sydney. this was the momentjust before a before a bishop and several other people were attacked during a sermon being livestreamed online. and at the sydney opera house, a tribute to the six people stabbed to death over the weekend at a shopping centre. police believe the killer was targeting women. i'll be reporting live from new york where today donald trump becomes the first former us president to face a criminal trial. and sir salman rushdie tells the bbc he thought he was going to die after the attempt on his life two years ago. i think that was that survival instinct that was saying to me, "you've got to live, live."

and coming up on bbc news: arsenal drop points in the race for the premier league title after losing to aston villa. they are now two points behind manchester city. good afternoon. israel's war cabinet is meeting now to discuss options for retaliation against iran — after its drone and missile attacks on saturday night. israel says 99% of the iranian weapons were safely intercepted. one senior israeli minister says his country will exact a price on iran for the attack when the timing is right. but world leaders are urging israel to show restraint. from jerusalem, here's yolande knell. israel's air defences

called to action. in the early hours on sunday, fighterjets battled waves of iranian drones and missiles, fired at israeli targets. it marked the first time iran has attacked israel directly from its own soil. explosions could be heard widely, including injerusalem and tel aviv. israel says that 99% of more than 300 drones and missiles launched by iran were intercepted. some of those that got through hit here in the sensitive nevatim air force base in southern israel. nearby, seven—year—old amina hassouna was seriously injured when a missile fragment struck her house. translation: the children were frightened and wanted to run away from home. and that's when the missile hit our house. the israeli war cabinet met yesterday to plan its next move. one of its members, benny gantz, said israel would exact a price from iran when the time is right.

and last night, the un security council met in an emergency meeting following the attacks. israel called for sanctions on iran and reiterated its right to a response. this attack crossed every red line, and israel reserves the legal right to retaliate. we are not a frog in boiling water, we are a nation of lions. following such a massive and direct attack on israel, the entire world, let alone israel, cannot settle for inaction. we will defend our future. iran's ambassador to the un told the meeting that its actions, which were in retaliation for a deadly airstrike on its consulate in syria, werejustified. these countries, especially the united states, have shielded israel from any responsibility for the gaza massacre, while they have denied iran inherent

right to self—defence against the israeli armed attack on our diplomatic premises. amid rising tensions, the attacks have received widespread international condemnation. the scale and nature of iran's heinous assault, the first direct attack from iran on israeli soil, poses grave risks to the security and stability of citizens across the middle east. now, world leaders are pressing for de—escalation in a bid for calm in the region. the middle east is on the brink. the people of the region are confronting a real danger of a devastating, full—scale conflict. now is the time to defuse and de—escalate. all eyes are on israel and how it responds. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem.

so, how will israel respond and what are its options now? frank gardner is with me. i suppose the first question is whether israel does hit back against iran, and if it does, how and when it retaliates. there is a whole spectrum _ how and when it retaliates. there is a whole spectrum of _ how and when it retaliates. there is a whole spectrum of options - how and when it retaliates. there is a whole spectrum of options it - how and when it retaliates. there is a whole spectrum of options it has, | a whole spectrum of options it has, that they have been looking at. let's look at the minimalist and maximalist and go through them. minimalist is not to do anything, to take the advice they have been given by president biden and others, take the win, bank this one, store it up, the win, bank this one, store it up, the world is sympathetic with you for this, the world is sympathetic with you forthis, don't the world is sympathetic with you for this, don't take it any further because it will only escalate. maximalist is that they hit back, full—scale, hit iran's revolutionary guard bases, command and control centres. somewhere between those two is probably what they will do. they could do a cyber attack, which they have done before, allegedly, stuck a

virus into the iran nuclear programme. they could do assassinations, which they have allegedly done before, of iranian nuclear scientists. they could hit a properties, which they have been doing for the last few months and years in syria and lebanon and iraq. or they could go for a limited strike on bases from which these missiles were launched. that would still be seen as an escalation in iran would almost certainly respond. the middle east is kind of holding its breath right now to see which way they are going to go. ml its breath right now to see which way they are going to go. all frank, thank ou way they are going to go. all frank, thank you much _ way they are going to go. all frank, thank you much indeed. _ way they are going to go. all frank, thank you much indeed. , -- - way they are going to go. all frank, thank you much indeed. , -- all. thank you much indeed. , —— all right, frank. this afternoon the prime minister will make a statement to the house of commons about the iranian attack on israel, and how rafjets helped shoot down some of the drones that were launched against israel. our political correspondent harry farley reports now from westminster. westminster, buffeted once again by events in the middle east and the question of how to respond. the foreign secretary spent the morning touring tv studios to give his assessment. in many ways, iran has

suffered a double defeat. the almost complete failure of their attack. also, by making this attack, they've revealed to the world their true nature as the malign influence in the region. there was also this warning to israel. we are urging them, as friends, to think with head as well as heart, to be smart as well as tough, and to recognise iran suffered this defeat because the attack was a failure. the world can see what a malign influence they are. i think the right thing to do is not to escalate. any political opposition to the uk's role in shooting down iranian drones was relatively muted this morning. the liberal democrats are calling for a retrospective vote on the military action but that seems unlikely. rishi sunak will come to parliament this afternoon to give a statement. he will condemn iran's attack on israel. he will call for a calm response and he will argue that the raf�*s involvement was in britain's national interest. he will face questions about whether the uk will play any role in any retaliatory action

israel takes. he will face calls for a ceasefire in gaza. we now need to hear from the prime minister in parliament today. we need to hear about the reasons for the military action, the legal basis for it, but most importantly what the uk government is doing diplomatically to try to reduce tensions, to restore some stability and to pursue a path of peace and a ceasefire in gaza. westminster is watching israel nervously for what it does next. the desire here for de—escalation is met with calls from some for more sanctions against iran. harry farley, bbc news, in westminster. well, in a moment we'll talk to our washington correspondent gary o'donohue, but first to yolande knell injerusalem. yolande, israel's war cabinet meeting now with reports it's split on the timing and the scale of a response to iran's attack.

that's correct. we know that the israeli military has drawn up a list of possible action that could be taken against iran, and now the war cabinet, we believe it is already meeting, that we've not had confirmation of that. it is really weighing up those different options, and we've had an israeli official source who has been briefing the media that, really, this was such a large attack that happened that israel does need to respond in some kind of way. you have israeli politicians who have been saying that, really now, a powerful message needs to be sent to iran, basically as deterrence, to make sure it doesn't do the same kind of thing again. then you have other important voices, including key decision—makers in the war cabinet, who have been talking up the benefit of now building on the strategic alliance that was really shown in

countering iran, in thwarting that massive attack on saturday that involve the us, the uk, jordan and others. really, this is all feeding into the equation right now, and we have to see how it is going to go. yolanda, thank you very much. live to gary in washington. the united states is israel's closest, strongest ally, but it has advised that israel is not to escalate this any further. it that israel is not to escalate this any further-— any further. it is, but there is an exnectation _ any further. it is, but there is an expectation here _ any further. it is, but there is an expectation here that _ any further. it is, but there is an expectation here that israel - any further. it is, but there is an expectation here that israel will| expectation here that israel will have to do something. just really because of the sheer scale of what was launched against it over the weekend. this wasn't an isolated few attempts here and there. it was 300 plus separate munitions, including ballistic missiles, and i think the us administration realises that israel cannot let that rest. but it is urging restraint. i think the one

thing that has come out of the weekend's events is that a pretty chilly relationship over the last few weeks has warmed up somewhat, and that may mean that the white house and joe biden have a little more influence than perhaps they did two weeks or ten days ago, when israel allegedly hit that target in damascus, which seems to have been the initial spark for a run's attacks. also this week, i think this is another opportunity, and the administration sees it this way, to try and get that aid package to israel reunited in congress. it changes the weather somewhat in terms of the domestic political debate, and they will use this as an opportunity to put pressure on congressional republicans to cough up congressional republicans to cough up that money, notjust for israel, by the way, but for ukraine as well. 0k, by the way, but for ukraine as well. ok, gary, thank you very much. gary o'donoghue live for us in washington. there's been another mass stabbing in sydney.

a bishop and several other people were attacked during an evening sermon which was being livestreamed online. meanwhile, there has been this tribute at the sydney opera house to the victims of the weekend attack at a shopping centre which left six people dead and a dozen injured. the assailant was shot dead. our correspondent katy watson is in sydney with the latest. katy. two days after a brutal stabbing here in the shopping centre behind me, and once again there has been horror and fear, with a second attack on the other side of sydney. they are not believed to be related in any way but it is still harrowing. police have said that a man has been arrested. those heart are not suffering from life—threatening injuries, but they have asked the public to stay away, and videos seen on social media do show a lot of tension. australia has been reeling, and it has been an

difficult few days, especially here at bondi junction. across australia, flags flew at half—mast today, honouring the victims of saturday's attack. the names of all those who died have now been released. this was pikria darchia. originally from georgia, she spoke several languages. dawn singleton was a 25—year—old planning her wedding. jade young, an architect, mother and member of a surf life—saving club. osteopath ashlee good died protecting her nine—month—old baby. police say the little girl is now in a serious but stable condition. yixuan cheng, a chinese student — her picture is yet to be released. and this was the security guard faraz tahir, the only man killed as he tried to intervene in the attack. he'd moved here from pakistan. assailantjoel cauchi, who was shot dead by a police officer, had a history of mental illness. but authorities continue to search for motives, including whether

he was targeting women. well, the videos speak for themselves, don't they? and that's certainly a line of inquiry for us. it's obvious to me, it's obvious to detectives that that seems to be an area of interest, that the offender had focused on women and avoided the men. those who were closest to him spoke out earlier. to you, he is a monster. to me, he was a very sick boy. believe me, he was a very sick boy. this is a parent's . absolute nightmare when they have a child with mental illness, i that something like this would happen. - and my heart goes out - to the people our son has hurt. if he was in his right mind, he would be absolutely devastated at what he's done. _ do you have any reason to understand why he would have targeted women? yes. why? because he wanted a girlfriend, he's got no social skills, and he was frustrated out of his brain. what happened on saturday

has shocked this country, but with eight people still in hospital and the majority of those injured also women, the focus for australians is very much on those victims and hoping they pull through. when donald trump steps into a new york courtroom this afternoon, he'll become the first former us president to stand trial in a criminal case. he's been charged with 3a counts of fraud, relating to alleged hush money payments to the former porn star stormy daniels, before the 2016 election. he's pleaded not guilty. our correspondent nada tawfik is at the new york county criminal court for us now. and nada, donald trump making history today? and donald trump has tested the nation's legal and lytical lawns like never before, and it is moments away from becoming the first former

president to stand criminal trial. it's happening... he has remained defiant on social media, denouncing the case as a witchhunt. this is the only one of the four criminal cases he faces that doesn't relate to his conduct while in office. prosecutors here in new york instead allege that donald trump legally can spot —— illegally conspired to infants the 2016 presidential election when he paid a number of hush money payments to stormy daniels who alleges she had an affair with him, something he denies. she is expected to be a key witness in this trial, alongside his former lawyer turned archenemy michael cohen, who said mr trump directed him to make that payment. at first over the coming days, this trial will start with jury selection where both sides will try to whittle down hundreds of new yorkers to

compress a jury ofjust 12 people and six alternates. compress a jury of “ust 12 people and six alternates.— compress a jury of “ust 12 people and six alternates. thank you very much. the time is 1:17. our top story this afternoon: israel's war cabinet is meeting this afternoon to discuss retaliation against iran for its attacks on saturday night. still to come: a look at which theatre productions were the big winners at the olivier awards. coming up on bbc news: american scottie scheffler lived up to his billing of golf�*s world number one, wining the first major of the year, the masters. he put on the famous green jacket after finishing four shots clear. the author sir salman rushdie has been talking to the bbc about the knife attack which almost killed him. the award—winning novelist was stabbed 12 times on a stage in new york two years ago. he said he thought he was dying,

and that losing an eye in the attack "upsets him every day". he's been talking to alan yentob in new york. and just a warning that the interview contains some graphic description of what happened. oh, my god! screaming today at six, author salman rushdie has been stabbed... more breaking news tonight after author salman rushdie was attacked... august 2022. one of the world's most famous authors is left fighting for his life. it has shocked the entire world. author salman rushdie attacked. he was dressed in dark clothing and he had, like, a black covid mask, and hejust came sprinting up the stairs. in a major tv interview, he tells me what he remembers. i actually thought he'd punched me very hard. i didn't realise there was a knife in his hand. and then... then i saw the blood, and i realised there was a weapon. and then he just started... i think he was just slashing wildly at everything. so there was a very big slash

here across my neck, as well as the stab wound here. and there were wounds down the middle of my torso — one, two, three — like that. and there are two on the side over here. and then there was the wound in my eye, which was quite deep. it looked terrible — i mean, it was very distended, swollen, and it was kind of hanging out of my face, sitting on my cheek, like a...like a soft boiled egg. and... and blind. while this was happening, something extraordinary happened, in that the audience jumped onto the stage and... saved my life. talk about heroism — that's heroism. i was lying there on the ground, bleeding profusely, and i'm thinking, "i want my house keys." and i think that was that survival instinct that was saying to me, "you're going to live. live. live."

ijust remember the sounds of the machines and the ventilator breathing for him. that's... that's what i remember. and i thought, you know, at least he's come through this surgery. i thought... "at least i'm not a widow," is what i thought. shouting rushdie's life has been threatened before. in 1989, after the publication of the satanic verses, the iranian supreme leader, ayatollah khomeini, issued a death threat — a fatwa — calling the book an insult to islam. i had come to think of that whole episode as being ancient history. as i say in the book, i felt like a time traveller — it felt like somebody coming out of the past to attack me in the present. and so one of the first things i thought when i saw him coming at me is i thought, "oh, it's you." you know? "so it's you." the man accused of carrying out the attack

is hadi matarfrom newjersey. he pleaded not guilty to attempted murder. he took very little trouble to inform himself about the man he was planning to kill. he'd said he'd read a couple of pages — he didn't say of what — and that he'd watched a couple of youtube videos and decided that i was disingenuous. disingenuous. disin — and therefore right to kill. there's a sentence in the book where i say that language is a knife. you know, language is a way of cutting things open and revealing the truth. calling this book knife is notjust a description of the attack against me. the book is the knife. the book is my knife and it's my way of fighting back. and you can see the whole of that interview on the bbc iplayer — sir salman rushdie: the interview. a charity has warned that hospices across the country face

a devastating financial crisis because of rising staff costs. hospice uk says the centres, which provide end of life care for the dying, have a collective deficit of £77 million — putting services at risk. the charity has called for more government funding and mps will debate the issue today. sophie long reports. he was just a normal child, just running around, just like his sister, flying at school, doing really, really well. things started to change. noticed that his handwriting was starting to go off, he seemed to be struggling a little bit hearing. his walking changed — it was almost like he'd had like a mini—stroke type thing. ethan was diagnosed with a rare condition, adrenoleukodystrophy. the condition that ethan, who's nine years old, was diagnosed with results in symptoms similar to motor neurone disease and dementia. he's already lost the use of his limbs. eventually, he won't recognise

his parents or twin sister. they now rely on the help they get at the forget me not hospice in huddersfield, which supports children who have life—shortening illnesses, and their families. what we're able to do with every family that comes to us is support them in a really bespoke way to help them with their particular needs and to help them cut through some of that chaos that they're facing in a time of absolute trauma and uncertainty. there should be a hospice for children and adults in every town, in every city in this country. but forget me not hospice is facing a funding crisis. just 10% comes from the government. for the remaining 90%, they rely on charity fundraising, and that's becoming more difficult due to the cost—of—living crisis and climbing prices. and we start every single year with that degree of uncertainty. and what we say is that we'd like to be able to support families today, tomorrow and in the future. but can i, hand on heart, say that i can offer that certainty to families in three, four,

five, ten years' time? possibly not. at the ashgate hospice in chesterfield, six of their 21 beds lie empty due to a lack of funding. there are 220 hospices in this country, none of which receive the funding that they need from the nhs. this affects everybody, we're all going to die. it's part of what the nhs is legally required to provide and, at the moment, they're not providing the funding for it. we have to have a public debate in this country about how we fund end—of—life care. we wouldn't fund baby care, we wouldn't fund maternity care in this way. there would be an outcry, and with good reason. this place gives us support and comfort and gives ethan support and comfort. but more importantly, it gives him a sense of normality, because here, he can be himself. sophie long, bbc news. now, potholes are the bane

of every driver's life, but are they getting better or worse? well, the bbc has learned that nearly 21,000 potholes or other surface defects were repaired on motorways or major a—roads in england alone last year. that's slightly up from the year before. national highways says 96% of the major routes it manages are in a good condition. but the rac say there's no excuse for motoroists ever facing a pothole on a motorway. here's our transport correspondent, katy austin. they're the nemesis of drivers up and down the country. on the mao motorway in buckinghamshire, we saw quite a few. so we actuallyjust have gone over a pothole, which i couldn't really avoid because there's traffic on both sides. and i'm not even going that fast — i'm going about 50, because of the conditions. the driver of this car was in the middle lane of the m6 in late february, when he says a pothole burst

two of his tyres. it was quite scary. i think if we were in a vehicle that didn't have such advanced features, it would have been really easy to lose control of the car. to see a pothole of such significance, that could cause so much damage to a vehicle, was really surprising. with no spare tyre, jonathon and his passengers had to wait for breakdown and recovery services. the damage cost him £700, and he says the offending pothole was still there six weeks later. on all types of road — including smaller local ones — motoring groups say it's been a bad year for potholes. and it's not only car drivers who can fall victim. just ask this delivery business. i've never known, in 32 years of business, potholes being in the situation and the state that they are now. there's been damage to vehicles, such as you can see here, that are happening on a daily basis. and as a result of that, that's increasing insurance claims, and it's increasing the cost to our network.

the challenge with motorways is that it tends to be a far more high—impact collision with the pothole, and that, of course, can be extremely dangerous. national highways told us it aims to repair any potholes categorised as safety defects within 2a hours. the aa's advice if you hit one badly is to try to get over to the hard shoulder or an emergency area, or leave the motorway at the nearest exit if you can. katy austin, bbc news. the former strictly come dancing judge dame arlene phillips and singer nicole scherzinger were among the winners at last night's olivier awards. the event, which recognises the best of uk theatre, took place at london's royal albert hall. our culture reporter charlotte gallagher was there. star power on full display at the olivier awards. this year's nominations were full of household names — nicole scherzinger one of the winners after wowing critics and audiences in sunset boulevard.

she took home best actress in a musical. it is a really complete phenomenon. i never expected it, you know, ifeel like i've... it's like norma says, i've come home at last, but i didn't know it would be with this show. her co—star, tom francis, who performed during the oliviers, won best actor in a musical. another winner was the sherlock and league of gentlemen star mark gatiss. he won best actor for the motive and the cue, beating off competition from andrew scott, james norton, joseph fiennes and david tennant. i've known david tennant for 25 years, andrew obviously from sherlock for a very long time, and it's just amazing to be in that company. succession's sarah snook was another big name, taking home one of those prestigious trophies for her one—woman production of the picture of dorian gray.

are you in shock? very much in shock, yes. yeah, yeah. i think the, um... just even the architecture of the building is shocking — to walk into the royal albert hall and be like, whatam i doing here? what's this... ? here in the west end with the cream of the cream of london theatre. it's a dream come true. operation mincemeat, a show inspired by a real—life world war ii mission, won best new musical. another big winner was dear england, the play about gareth southgate and his england team. will close, who played harry kane, won an olivier at his first—ever awards show. and dame arlene phillips won herfirst olivier at the age of 80. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear. no awards for the weatherjudging by

that picture! it is never ending at the moment. it almost feels this morning after a pretty wild start on monday, that we have stepped back into winter. take a look at this, this is nottinghamshire, the cherry blossom tree are reminded that we are actually in the month of spring but we have seen gusts of winds in excess of close to 60 mph for some this morning. we have also, watch this, we have also had some snow showers. this is doncasterjust a few hours ago. the snow mostly on higher ground. but it's quite bizarre considering just a couple of days ago we had the warmest day of the year so far with 21.6 degrees in essex. ijust want the year so far with 21.6 degrees in essex. i just want to show you essex as we go through this week. look at this roller—coaster ride of temperatures, going from 21 down to 12 with some showers, it's going to feel pretty cool, and indication into friday that it mightjust be a bit more optimistic as we head into next weekend. more on that in the moment. let's get back to reality.

it's all about the low pressure.