attack. donald trump calls his court case a disgrace. the house of commons debates whether smoking should be banned forfuture generations in britain. tracking down a pro—kremlin troll — we'll reveal what happened when the bbc confronted a russian citizen over his false claims about the stabbing attack at the sydney shopping centre. sport now and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's jane dougal. we will know two of the champions league semi—finalists later as barcelona prepare to host paris saint—germain and borussia dortmund take on atletico madrid in the second of tonight's fixtures. on atletico madrid in the second psg go into this second leg with a 3—2 deficit after losing in paris last week and their striker kylian mbappe will need to put in a better shift after he failed to hit the target from three shots. however, the last time he played at the nou camp, he scored a hat—trick, so he'll be hoping to repeat that. meanwhile, german side

borussia dortmund are 2—1 down after losing to atletico madrid in the first leg. for this second meeting, dortmund will be without forward sebastien haller, who has has been ruled out with a recurrence of his left ankle injury. let's take a look at all the second leg fixtures for the quarterfinals. later on tuesday, barcelona host paris saint—germain at the nou camp, while atletico madrid are in germany to play borussia dortmund. on wednesday, manchester city and real madrid will meet at the etihad. it's 3—3 from the first leg. and bayern munich host arsenal — it's 2—2 from their first leg. well, england captain harry kane scored a penalty for bayern in the first leg and he's been speaking to the media today. it is no secret that the club set out to win the champions league, every season, so there is an expectation and if you look at our performances this year, there has been a different type of performance in the champions league, we have

been together more, willing to do more on the pitch, defensively, and in other aspects. it is a time to raise our game and a time for me and the players who have been in these situations, pressure situations, to step up and be counted. with 100 days to go until the games in paris, the olympic flame has been lit in athens. the ceremony took place in greece's ancient olympia, where the first olympic games were held in 776 bc. the flame was handed to the first torchbearer — gold medallist at the tokyo olympics, greek rower, stefanos ntsouskos. it starts an international torch relay, travelling through greece, france, and french overseas territories, before ending at the paris olympic games. after suffering many injuries, rafael nadal will make his return to clay at the barcelona open — he due on court shortly. he is due on court shortly. the 22—time grand slam champion pulled out

of this year's australian open injanuary with a hip injury, and missed atp events at indian wells and monte carlo. nadal has dropped to world number 644, and will take on italian flavio cobolli in his first match on clay since winning the french open two years ago. however, he wouldn't be drawn on whether he'd make this yea r�*s roland garros. i can't give you an injury update because the list is long... laughter i just want to think about what can happen, and i can tell you today i feel myself, good enough to be on court tomorrow, and that is so important and it means a lot to me to be able to play one more time here in barcelona. college basketball superstar caitlin clark has been drafted into the professional league as the first overall pick by the indiana fever. clark is the all—time leading scorer across men's and women's college basketball, racking up the most three—point shots ever in a single season —

a record previously held by professional player steph curry. she entered the wnba draft after finishing her final season as a senior at iowa university. this is the most competitive league in the entire world, less than 144 places, so you have got to bring it every single night and i think that is what i will do and that is exactly how i lived my college career. every single game, i prepped the same way, i prepared the same way and brought the same fire and energy, and that is the biggest thing going into the next stage of my career. and that's all the sport for now. a smoking ban for future generations is being debated in the uk's parliament today. the proposed ban means that it would be illegalfor anyone turning 15 or younger this year to ever be able to buy tobacco products. let's speak to david halpern, president of the behavioural insights team. thanks forjoining us. is there

evidence that having this sort of age cut—off can work, has it been tried anywhere? we age cut-off can work, has it been tried anywhere?— age cut-off can work, has it been tried anywhere? we tried it in the uk in a small— tried anywhere? we tried it in the uk in a small wave _ tried anywhere? we tried it in the uk in a small wave moving - tried anywhere? we tried it in the uk in a small wave moving from | tried anywhere? we tried it in the | uk in a small wave moving from 16 tried anywhere? we tried it in the - uk in a small wave moving from 16 to 18 and that showed significant reductions in smoking —— small way. the americans raised it to 21, smoking, but we will be ahead of the world. new zealand were planning to do this but they have stored so we will be ahead of the world. so even when these — will be ahead of the world. so even when these people _ will be ahead of the world. so even when these people are _ will be ahead of the world. so even when these people are 25, - will be ahead of the world. so even when these people are 25, 35, - will be ahead of the world. so evenj when these people are 25, 35, they are not allowed to buy any tobacco products? are not allowed to buy any tobacco roducts? ., ., , ' ., products? someone who is 15 today will not be able _ products? someone who is 15 today will not be able to _ products? someone who is 15 today will not be able to get _ products? someone who is 15 today will not be able to get tobacco - will not be able to get tobacco products, exactly.— will not be able to get tobacco products, exactly. how can you enforce that? _ products, exactly. how can you enforce that? shopkeepers - products, exactly. how can you enforce that? shopkeepers are | products, exactly. how can you - enforce that? shopkeepers are not going to ask adults how old they are? , , ., ., , are? interesting question. really aood are? interesting question. really good question- — are? interesting question. really good question. in _ are? interesting question. really good question. in principle - are? interesting question. really good question. in principle they. are? interesting question. really. good question. in principle they may have to do that, and so they may have to do that, and so they may have to do that, and so they may have to ask some things but the most important thing is that they are supported by the people concerned.

that is why the smoking ban works in the uk because for the most part people thought it is a pretty good idea. most smokers do not want their kids to be smoking, most kids do not want to be smoking, so there is a lot of support out there and you want that to be done with the heavy lifting but it is important that you get the enforcement and we should keep a lid on that. the get the enforcement and we should keep a lid on that.— keep a lid on that. the whole auestion keep a lid on that. the whole question of — keep a lid on that. the whole question of vaping, - keep a lid on that. the whole question of vaping, you - keep a lid on that. the whole question of vaping, you were j keep a lid on that. the whole i question of vaping, you were in favour of moving towards that as a help to prevent smoking, but that has been blamed in part because it has been blamed in part because it has become so popular amongst teenagers with bad health effects in themselves?— teenagers with bad health effects in themselves? that is quite right. we did suoported _ themselves? that is quite right. we did supported and _ themselves? that is quite right. we did supported and we _ themselves? that is quite right. we did supported and we still _ themselves? that is quite right. we did supported and we still do, - themselves? that is quite right. we did supported and we still do, but i did supported and we still do, but what we really need to do is get vaping into the hands of smokers are not into the hands of teenagers, thatis not into the hands of teenagers, that is the essence of the idea, —— and not into the hands of teenagers. we still think that is the right way

forward because smoking is extremely addictive and trying to quit with developing a 60% more effective than the alternative so it is really effective and it still the case that the majority of vaping in britain is used by smokers to quit but that is not true for disposable vaping because that has been disproportionately aimed at young people and that is problematic. the last thing why we were right to take that line, if we look at other countries which have banned e—cigarettes or vapes they have actually not done very well, it has not often been well enforced, so countries like india and brazil, have technically banned them, but they have not enforced, so levels of smoking including use of e—cigarettes and vapes is really high. the critical test case is australia against new zealand, so australia against new zealand, so australia was a world leader and it

took a hard line on vapes but it hasn't worked because they have not controlled them at the smoking rates have been drifting up in young people relatively new zealand which kept vapes available. the people relatively new zealand which kept vapes available.— kept vapes available. the cost to the nhs, kept vapes available. the cost to the nhs, how — kept vapes available. the cost to the nhs, how big _ kept vapes available. the cost to the nhs, how big is _ kept vapes available. the cost to the nhs, how big is it _ kept vapes available. the cost to the nhs, how big is it at - kept vapes available. the cost to the nhs, how big is it at the - kept vapes available. the cost to - the nhs, how big is it at the moment and is it a net cost despite the big taxes on tobacco products? has there been any research on forcing people to pay for their own health care if they have smoked and then get lung cancer? ., _ ., , ., cancer? you might say that is what smokers do. _ cancer? you might say that is what smokers do, when _ cancer? you might say that is what smokers do, when you _ cancer? you might say that is what smokers do, when you are - cancer? you might say that is what smokers do, when you are paying i smokers do, when you are paying fewer cigarettes, you are basically paying for the many billions by some estimates, 4 billion, and it is a very dark subject, is there a net cost benefit, if you factor in pensions, the state saves circa 10 billion a year of people die gun but is that what we want to do? maybe we

could get extra tax revenue if we started selling guns? obviously that is not what we once a day. we should celebrate if we can get rid of smoking. —— that is not what we want to do. in smoking. -- that is not what we want to do. , ., , ., ., to do. in terms of the question of freedom and _ to do. in terms of the question of freedom and people _ to do. in terms of the question of freedom and people who - to do. in terms of the question of freedom and people who say - to do. in terms of the question of freedom and people who say this| to do. in terms of the question of i freedom and people who say this is an assault on freedom, and they say what about the damage from sugar and alcohol, so good at society move in that direction? is there a strong health case for moving in that direction? it health case for moving in that direction?— health case for moving in that direction? , , , direction? it is very interesting question. _ direction? it is very interesting question. and _ direction? it is very interesting question, and it _ direction? it is very interesting question, and it is _ direction? it is very interesting question, and it is a _ direction? it is very interesting question, and it is a political. question, and it is a political question, and it is a political question in that sense, and if we believe in the nanny state and we think it is bad for our kids to smoke, but the thing with it is so unambiguously bad, which is not true in the same way, but you are right, the adrift of the argument is the same, and sold by do we want so much sugar packed into food products aimed at kids? —— and so why do we

want. so we can tax other things? thanks forjoining us. now to india where the general election begins on friday. most predictions suggest prime minister narendra modi will win another victory — his third consecutive mandate. mr modi has amassed a massive following of supporters, almost unparalleled in contemporary india, despite some seeing him as a controversial and divisive figure. from the uttar pradesh state which is a stronghold of mr modi's bjp party, yogita limaye reports. cheering narendra modi is the reigning superstar of indian politics. rallies like these are an integral part of an indian election, but only a few leaders have evoked such a response in the country's history. what we are seeing here

is the confidence of the party that very much believes it's going to win another resounding victory. and what we've also seen amidst the crowd is confidence about being indian on the global stage — one of the things that prime minister modi's tenure will be remembered for. mr modi is a divisive figure. but here, among his mostly hindu following, he can do no wrong. translation: he's like god for me. he's made women like us feel safe. translation: he's a good speaker i and he has built drains and roads. in villages and cities. no one had done that till now. building infrastructure has been one of the strengths of mr modi's government. a few miles from the rally in uttar pradesh, we saw a road that was made just over a year ago and met farmer ashoke singh transporting his produce.

translation: we can move freely now, and security is better, too. _ but unemployment and price rise are big issues for us. the realities on the ground might be mixed, but the picture that reaches voters, overwhelmingly one that the ruling party wants people to see. mr modi's bjp runs an exhaustive and unparalleled campaign, door to door, as well as on social media. it is a crucial power to influence what people believe to be true. ultimately, it will affect how they vote. yogita limaye, bbc news, mairead. when a man attacked and killed six people at a shopping centre in sydney last saturday — police were quick to say that they would not give

what they thought was the motive, before there had been an investigation. but that didn't stop some people from going online to speculate — including one man, who claimed — with no evidence — that the attacker was a 20—year—old jewish university student. the bbc has now tracked down the person who made that claim. he's this man — simeon boikov. he's been inside the russian consulate in sydney since last year, after a warrant was issued for his arrest for alleged assault. he posts under the name "aussie cossack" — and he was granted russian citizenship last year. with more on this — here's our disinformation and social media correspondent, marianna spring. marianna — you've been speaking to the aussie cossack. i have after the attack unfolded in sydney, there were a lot of rumours, and some people suggested the attacker could be an islamist terror

attack, a muslim person who carried out the attack, and also people falsely suggesting the attacker was israeli orjewish and they were these 20—year—old university student in particular, and that is not true, but aussie cossack was one of the first people to make those claims go viral and they were picked up from a small account that shed almost entirely anti—israel content and he began to post them on social media platforms and provide them to hundreds of thousands of people. i tracked him down and spoke to him about the social media frenzy. you are commenting but there is unconfirmed speculation, what you're doing now is what i did. i would disagree with you on that and the reason is because now it is very clear that ben cohen wasn't the attacker and so i am looking at and trying

to understand how those allegations are spread on social media and the harm they caused and that is part of myjob. i can tell you, the police, for whatever reason unknown to the general public, decided not to reveal the identity of the attacker for a very long time. it was only after ben cohen's father made an appeal demanding the police reveal the identity that everything came out. you can't expect the general public not to speculate. maybe a lot of people were doing it out of, you could say, responsible motives — they wanted to track down and ascertain the identity in a way to help the enforcement and help the community identify the attacker, i don't think anyone... totally. i agree with you but unfortunately, regardless of intent, whether someone didn't mean to cause harm or they did, ultimately the consequence was that a young man was targeted with these false accusations

and your post was one of many that contributed to that at the time. i disagree with you. my post was one of the first which put a stop to this and said, "no, stop, this is unconfirmed." in other words, unconfirmed, not factual, not accurate. basically, i fact checked it. uou can interpret it that way, you just don't want to. i don't think that is the case at all, i'm just looking at your post and there are various people who have re—shared it and commented below who haven't understood it to mean this could be untrue. instead, they have understood it to mean, this could be true, the harm that could cause as more people are then seeing it, spreading it under that time, it was spreading across social media and your account was by no means the only, there were lots showing this claim, some people may be trying to help out, didn't realise the harm, some people showing it perhaps in the cynical way, that triggered anti—semitic hate, abuse, there were also

people sharing false claims that the attacker was muslim and that also triggered islamophobic hate and harm... he's hung up. ok, brill. the interview ended abruptly and he stood by the idea that the allegations he shared were unconfirmed and that he had not spread false information. nevertheless, the social media frenzy spread across tiktok and x and the name benjamin cohen came up on my videos and other feeds of people i spoke to and a lot of this is about the people who spread disinformation which can cause serious harm to the falsely accused and also the grieving relatives who have lost loved ones during the attack. it is all —— also about social media companies, and the

incentive to do so, i reached out to be social media companies involved, and none of them got back to me. marianna spring, thanks. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

a new study has found that around one in four cases of breast cancer in the uk are preventable. with factors like alcohol consumption — or even choosing to breast—feed — having an impact on the chances of being diagnosed. the report points out that despite being the world's most common cancer, gaps in our knowledge continue to prevent effective action. let's speak to dr simon vincent, director of research, support and influencing at breast cancer now. this report is in the lancet today, so does it have any new information?

we know these factors of alcohol and even your weight can have an impact. this report is a global report looking at evidence across the world, so it is pulling together information we already know but having it all together it really gives a wake—up call to us in the uk as well as governments across the world, as to the challenge that we face. so we do know what many of these risk factors are for breast cancer, it is really challenging to see them laid out so clearly here but the good news is that there are things people can do about some of these things. things people can do about some of these things-— these things. what are the key risk factors? we _ these things. what are the key risk factors? we think _ these things. what are the key risk factors? we think up _ these things. what are the key risk factors? we think up to _ these things. what are the key risk factors? we think up to a - these things. what are the key risk factors? we think up to a quarter l these things. what are the key risk| factors? we think up to a quarter of all breast cancers _ factors? we think up to a quarter of all breast cancers could _ factors? we think up to a quarter of all breast cancers could be - all breast cancers could be prevented by risk factors that we can do something about, you have highlighted a few of those, alcohol increases your risk of developing breast cancer and being overweight,

as well, and also not being physically active is also a risk factor for breast cancer and also there are other things that can cause breast cancer and for many things we cannot pin down exactly why somebody is developing breast cancer but people can take actions to try and reduce the risk through some of those things we talked about. d0 some of those things we talked about. ,, ~ some of those things we talked about. i. ~ , ~ ., about. do you think this knowledge is not sufficiently _ about. do you think this knowledge is not sufficiently out _ about. do you think this knowledge is not sufficiently out there - about. do you think this knowledge is not sufficiently out there and - is not sufficiently out there and should the nhs and the government, should the nhs and the government, should they be pushing it? the information _ should they be pushing it? the information is _ should they be pushing it? tue: information is there should they be pushing it? tte: information is there but should they be pushing it? t"te: information is there but maybe should they be pushing it? ttl information is there but maybe not known enough and unfortunately some of these are maybe not very popular or easy messages to hear. many of our colleagues in other charities looking at other diseases will say that lifestyle can make a massive difference to lots of diseases and they are messages we need to get across about healthy living and there are things that government can do, policies that governments can take around food and physical

activity and alcohol that can make a difference, although it is a real challenge i know and the important thing we want to get across is that even small changes and starting now, irrespective of what might happen in the past, can make a difference to reducing the risk of developing breast cancer in the future. globally there are different patterns with alcohol consumption and also for how long you breast feed your children. that and also for how long you breast feed your children.— feed your children. that is right. breast cancer _ feed your children. that is right. breast cancer would _ feed your children. that is right. breast cancer would want - feed your children. that is right. breast cancer would want to - feed your children. that is right. breast cancer would want to get | breast cancer would want to get across that this is not about making people feel guilty or regretting actions they may have taken in the past and there are many reasons, like breast—feeding, many reasons why some women can and others can't breast—feed, and the last thing we would want is to raise anxiety or make people feel guilty, this is about taking what we already know and making changes from now which can make a difference to risk.

thanks forjoining us. this is a very unusual site. this flower can take ten years to flower and it is now in bloom in birmingham. if you would like to see this up close, you have got to wait, because i am going to show you in a few minutes but it is there in birmingham. they are trying to get it to pollinate by hand. our correspondent phil mackie has been to have a look. this is a very unusual site. towering over all the cacti and succulents in the arid house, the sapphire tower as it's known is an extremely rare gem. but getting to it isn't an easyjob. after its sudden growth spurt, it now stands at 3.5 metres tall.

it takes so long for the plant to gather the energy and be ready to flower. and then to create this masterpiece of flowering, it's just rare and really exciting to witness it. it lasts maybe a week or two and then it's gone and the plant itself dies. it's remarkable. nectar is literally falling out of it and in its natural habitat it would have all the pollinators flocking to it. but there aren't any hummingbirds in birmingham so alberto has to use a paintbrush to do the job instead. it's a very slow growing plant so it takes years to get to the flowering stage. word has spread and visitors have been making a beeline to see it. but they won't have very long. so normally it looks completely lifeless, absolutely dead. every ten years or so it gets enough energy to flower and in a couple of months it will completely die back again and look as lifeless as it did to begin with. once the flowers have faded, it will fruit, and later this year alberto will collect the seeds so visitors will be able to see the next generation of puya alpestri

in the nursery in the future. it's just so unusual and rare to see it. it doesn't really matter how many times you see it, it's just great. phil mackie, bbc news, birmingham. the sacred flame for the olympics has been lit at a ceremony in greece and it will make its way to paris. it always starts here at the birthplace of the olympics, in olympia. stay with us here on bbc news. hello, there. it's not been as windy today. there's still a number of showers around. if we look out in the atlantic, this is where we've got high pressure at the moment. and around that, there is some cloud coming in. we'll get some of that later tonight and into tomorrow. but ahead of that, we've still got these north to north westerly winds.

they are feeding in this colder air and a mixture of sunshine and showers, some of which could be heavy, had some threatening clouds already. and we're going to find some heavier showers pushing into the south east of england later on in the day. these are the temperatures, so we're still below average. could make double figures, though, across the central belt and 1a perhaps in south wales. but there will be some heavier showers as we head towards the end of the afternoon. those in the south east will move away. we'll see another band of showers pushing across northern england and wales and some further wintry showers overnight in northern scotland. but there will be some clearer skies around it as well and the winds will continue to ease down a bit, too. so it is going to be quite chilly out there with a frost more likely across the northern half of the uk. heading into tomorrow, and this is the cloud that's coming in from the atlantic that's going to bring a little rain to northern ireland and eventually into wales. but elsewhere, after a fairly bright and sunny start, we'll see the cloud building up. we'll see more showers breaking out, not quite as heavy, not quite as widespread as we've seen over the past couple of days. but if anything, after that colder start, temperatures could be a bit

lower in the afternoon, typically only ten degrees on wednesday afternoon. now that cloud comes on that weather front there, which sinks its way southwards around the high pressure. another weather front arrives overnight into thursday morning for northern parts of the uk. but with clearer skies and light winds across england and wales, there is actually a risk of a touch of frost here. sunny start maybe, but we've got more cloud for scotland and northern ireland. some outbreaks of rain, the heavier rain over the hills of western scotland. some of that rain pushes southwards into northern england with the sunshine hanging on towards the south west with cloud elsewhere and temperatures typically around 12 degrees. now the weather system bringing that rain is going to move very quickly southwards overnight and during friday. and then following on from that, we get the high pressure that's in the atlantic, finally building back towards the uk and that will bring us some much needed drier weather in time for the weekend. it could, though, bring a fair bit of cloud and it's certainly not going to be as warm

as it was last weekend.

live from london. this is bbc news. israel launches a diplomatic offensive, calling for mass sanctions on iran after its unprecedented drone and missile attack. it's displayed to journalists one of the missiles fired from iran on saturday. its military chief of staff says the attack will not go unanswered. donald trump returns

to court in new york, as jury selection for his hush—money trial continues. he calls the case a disgrace. we have a trump—hating judge, we have a judge who shouldn't be on this case — he's totally conflicted. a muslim student loses a high court challenge in london a high court challenge in london against a ban on prayer rituals at school. and the house of commons debates whether smoking should be banned forfuture generations in britain. hello, i'm geeta guru—murthy. welcome to verified live. we begin in the middle east, where the israeli government says it's launched a diplomatic offensive against iran, as it considers a military response to the missile and drone attack against it. the foreign minister, israel katz, has written to more than 30 countries calling for sanctions against iran's missile programme. he also wants them to designate the revolutionary guard corps

as a terrorist organisation.