hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. president biden is rejecting allegations from the international criminal court's chief prosecutor, who is seeking arrest warrants for israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and defence minister yoav gallant. mr khan is accusing the two of conducting war crimes and crimes against humanity in gaza. the prosecutor, karim khan has also applied for arrest warrants for three leaders of hamas, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the october 7th attacks. speaking at a jewish heritage month celebration at the white house, biden says there is no equivalence between israel and hamas. let me be clear, contrary to allegations against israel made by the international court of

justice what's happening is not genocide. we reject that. and will always stand with israel and the threats against its security. mr khan alleges there is evidence to suggest �*starvation�* has been used by the prime minister and his defence minister as a �*method of war�* against civilians. he also alleges israeli leaders killed wilfully, intentionally directing attacks against civilians. mr netanyahu has described the allegations as �*absurd'. in respect of hamas, the prosecutor alleges there is clear evidence they ordered mass murder, rape and the inhumane treatment of hostages. a panel of iccjudges must now decide whether they believe the evidence is sufficient to issue warrants, something which could take weeks or months. our middle east correspondent lucy williamson has the latest from jerusalem. today, israel and hamas found themselves attacking the same target. their leaders listed side by side at the international criminal court.

international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to everyone. no foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader, no—one can act with impunity. prosecutors accuse israel of a state sanctioned attack against gaza's civilian population, including extermination and using starvation as a weapon of war. and hamas of extermination, hostage—taking, torture and sexual violence, including rape. tonight, a very personal rebuttal from israel's prime minister. mr khan creates a twisted and false moral equivalence between the leaders of israel and the henchmen of hamas. this is like creating a moral equivalence after september 11 between president bush and osama bin laden. hamas also strongly denounced what it said was an attempt to equate the victim

with the executioner, and that the palestinian people, like all those under occupation, had the right to resist. in israel, the response from across the political spectrum has been outrage. israel's president said it was scandalous to equate the two sides. one opposition leader called it moral blindness. those in mr netanyahu's own party said it would only galvanise support. the israelis, when they feel that we are under attack, they realise it's not the prime minister being attacked, it's the idf soldiers, it's the citizens of israel, it's people who care about democracy, people who have moral clarity are under attack. so if you are talking about politically, it will support the prime minister. throughout this war, israel has insisted it is a democratic country with a moral army and a right to self—defence. seeing its leaders named alongside those of hamas has sparked widespread outrage here. but the prosecutor is clear — there are reasonable grounds to accuse both sides

of war crimes, including crimes against humanity. outside the knesset today, mr netanyahu's opponents had gathered to protest his handling of the war. for a prime ministerfacing such criticism at home, criticism from the international court might actually help. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. now to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in gaza. the new york times reports officials on monday sanguine of the first—aid shipments to arrive inside the territory through a us built peer was looted over the weekend. a world food programme spokesperson says crowds intercepted a convoy of 16 trucks that were loaded with goods and ran off. the organisation suspended deliveries from the pier on sunday and monday. iran is beginning five days of mourning, after its president, ebrahim raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash on sunday.

he had been travelling with the foreign minister through thick fog and rain, in a remote area near the border with azerbaijan. iran's supreme leader, ali khamenei, says the vice president will take over, until elections on june 28th. our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, reports. in the fog at first light on this forbidding terrain, the crash site was finally reached and the bodies pulled from this wreckage, including president raisi and his foreign minister, abdollahian. a journalist from iran's state tv reporting from this scene, the blue—and—white tailfin behind him. no—one survived when this helicopter came down in the mountains of north—west iran, killing eight people on board. they had flown in a convoy of three choppers, close to the border with azerbaijan. president raisi

inaugurating a new dam. the azeri president, ilham aliyev, says he bid him a friendly farewell. in tehran today, a sad goodbye — the grief of his faithful flock. and on social media, scenes of sorrow, but also, celebration. the bbc�*s persian service, which can't report inside iran, has been monitoring the messages. they see him, they call him, he is the president of the poor people. but the reality is, if you look at the mass majority of iranians, we know what we are hearing from inside iran and those people who dare to come on social media and express their opinions, we see there are huge numbers of people are expressing their excitement...his death. chanting on president raisi's watch, iran cracked down on unprecedented protests — a new generation lashing out

against strict islamic rules, restricting their freedoms. his sudden demise won't change iran's direction. it's a big mistake that western governments — they rely very much on people hostile towards iran for their analysis and for their information, and that's what makes them pursue mistaken policies that only backfire. in the islamic republic, the 85—year—old supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei, is the ultimate authority. raisi was seen as his possible successor. the hardliners control all the levers of power. as they start the process to select a new president, continuity is their top priority. lyse doucet, bbc news. for more on the fallout of mr raisi's death, i spoke to brian katulis, former staffer at the us national security council, now senior us foreign policy fellow at the middle east institute

what signs are there so far of any impact if any this is having on stability in the country?— having on stability in the count ? ., ~ country? so far, it looks like a run remain _ country? so far, it looks like a run remain stable. - country? so far, it looks like a run remain stable. it- country? so far, it looks like a run remain stable. it is. country? so far, it looks like a run remain stable. it is al a run remain stable. it is a regime that is quite repressive, actually run by the supreme leader. that repression allows it to maintain a pretty tight grip on being. the vice president will step into the position and there will be some transition but the reality is this deep brutal repression that the arena government uses against its own people will likely keep the situation quite stable for the time being. 50. stable for the time being. so, if raisi's death _ stable for the time being. so, if raisi's death of— stable for the time being. 50, if raisi's death of itself does not create any kind of power vacuum, he was seen though as a potential successor to the supreme leader himself, whenever that should happen. what happens to that kind of succession then? it complicates

the longer _ succession then? it complicates the longer term _ succession then? it complicates the longer term succession. - the longer term succession. no—one knows when the supreme leader will be gone from the scene but when that happens it seems that raisi was being groomed as his likely successor and there could be the struggle for power amongst the hardliners inside of the regime. the bigger open question is how much the iranian people will put up with this because when raisi died and when the news came out many people in iran was celebrating because he was seen as a brutal dictator and as we know iran does not respect the basic rights of many of its citizens. the bigger open question is how much the tens of millions of people of iran who do not like their government, how much they might use an opportunity of a transition from the supreme leader to something else to use that to lift up their voice more than they have already had. .,, more than they have already had. . ., had. those celebrations you're talkinu had. those celebrations you're talking about, _ had. those celebrations you're talking about, you _ had. those celebrations you're talking about, you expect - had. those celebrations you're| talking about, you expect there will be a crackdown on those? that inevitably will be. any

irradiance lift up their voice, whether in protest of the murder of mahsa amini and 2022, a young woman brutalised by radiant security forces, irradiance security establishment cracks down heavily on that. it is a... 2022... irradiance security establishment cracks down heavily on that and it is a republic of fear and this is when thing that i think many people around the world have increasingly seen as at the iranian regime will use all kinds of men... we look at the two people who have stepped into those roles, what is your view on those two individuals or what difference they may bake. they are not likely to

make much difference in how we run back is brought internally or how it projects its foreign policy. on the foreign—policy front the islamic revolutionary guard maintains much of the power and the relationships with a lot of the partners a run has around the region, the so—called axis of resistance, hezbollah and babylon, the theiss in yemen. again, and the children that does not seem there will be much change of result of this but i think the implications of a question marks it raises for longer term transition in rat and whether the people of iraq will have more of a voice than they currently do in the future of the country forward. and that all feats of course into the position in the wider region. we have seen the us and other regions working hard to avoid an all—out conflict between israel and iraq since october seven in particular. does this kind of succession struggle and change in personal and the reaction of the iranian people have any impact on that broader

dynamic, do you think? it could force the regime to look a bit more inward than it has been. but there are certainly wild cards in today's middle east, there is a war with no end in sight between israel and hamas in gaza. the iranian regime has tried to use a while for its own purposes to advance its influence across the region. but any time a country like iran experiences turmoil or uncertainty in the leadership ranks it does have an impact, it can have an effect of having it can have an effect of having it turn inward and be less adventurous and project less power across the region. but i think the reality is that iran for many decades, this current regime, has taken 70 steps to destabilise many of their neighbours and to attack their neighbours and to attack their neighbours directly as we saw not only in the attacks against israel last month but then earlier this year attacks by iran against pakistan and syria. so, isuspect

iran against pakistan and syria. so, i suspect that no matter what happens in this eternal transition period that iran will continue to play that sort of role in destabilising its broader neighbourhood. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making headlines: new research has shown that some people paralysed from the neck down have some movement restored by electrical pulses around the damaged area coupled with physiotherapy. a clinical study of the technique on 60 patients who had their injuries several years ago found that 43 showed some improvement in their hand movements. our science correspondent, pallab ghosh, has more. this is how it works— the brain sends instructions to move arms and legs from nerves in the spinal column. if there is a break, those signals are weakened. at the signals are boosted by electrical pulses from electrodes around the damaged area when coupled with

physiotherapy. so, this is a device that the patients use, it sends pulses of high—frequency electricity to these electrodes, which are attached to the patients�*s spine. and these are attached here and here, they are return electrodes to complete the circuit. if you want to learn more about that, you can have a look on the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. former president donald trump's lawyers have started their defence of the former president in his criminal �*hush money�* trial in a manhattan courtroom, after the prosecution rested. it followed a fourth day of cross—examination of the prosecution's star witness, mr trump's former attorney and fixer michael cohen. during his testimony, mr cohen admitted to stealing $30,000 from the trump organisation. it's the latest effort by the defence to discredit cohen. mr trump's legal team, once again, asked the judge to dismiss the case.

i think the case is going very well. we have advanced the determination of the case. this case should be terminated, it should not go anywhere. it should not go anywhere. it should be terminated right now. and new york space has to build up and new york space has to build up its system again. new york state cannot let this happen. cannot let this happen. there were no crime. we did nothing wrong and i want to get back to campaigning. iam representing millions and millions, hundreds of millions of people. defence lawyers also called former legal adviser for mr cohen, robert costello, as a witness, prompting some moments of tension. the bbc�*s nada tawfik has more on cohen and costello's testimony. this historic trial is winding down. prosecutors today rested their case, but before that the defence took another crack at trying to undermine michael cohen's credibility. the biggest blow they scored today was having michael cohen admit on the stand that he stole from his former boss, donald trump.

michael cohen admitting he invoiced the trump organisation $50,000 for tech services from a company, but he then only pay the company $20,000 and pocketed the rest. he said he did that because he was angry about his bonus being cut. but when the prosecution came back and redirect they try to rehabilitate their star witness, refocusing jurors to the fact that michael cohen is not the one on trial and that michael cohen said he had no doubt that donald trump had authorised him to pay stormy daniels c100 $30,000 hush money payment over several conversations in october 2016. but that the most dramatic moment of this trial yet occurred when the defence began their case and called a wildcard witness, robert costello, an attorney who offered his services to michael cohen when federal investigators were investigating him in 2018. the

prosecution had tried to paint robert costello as part of the pressure campaign to try to keep cohen and donald trump's bold. robert costello testified that michael cohen told him that michael cohen told him that he swore he had nothing donald trump. costello also saying he had cohen's interests in mind, not donald trump's. things got heated as the judge sustained several of the prosecution's objection. robert costello exasperated, mamad, geez, thejudge costello exasperated, mamad, geez, the judge angry about that took time to remind him about proper court decorum. but then he got extremely angry, accusing robert costello as staring him down in his own court. he cleared the entire courtroom and told robert

costello... how to properly behave. court resume but nonetheless that was the most striking moment of today and perhaps many moments — key moments of the trial. let's talk about this more now. anne—marie mcavoy former assistant to new york attorney in new york... thank you both forjoining me. . former federal prosecutor kept crossing the line and answering questions that were a sustained objection. questions that were a sustained ob'ection. . , ., objection. that is a trick i . uess objection. that is a trick i guess that _ objection. that is a trick i guess that sometimes i objection. that is a trick i -

guess that sometimes witnesses employ to try to get an answer evenif employ to try to get an answer even if they know it is going to be ultimately stricken from the record. once a jury hears it is has a chance of landing an impression on them. so he kept doing that and then at some point when the judge told him essentially to stay in line and answer questions when they are not objected to and are not sustained and do not speak out of turn, costello kind of gave this disrespectful gesture, kind of like rushing him off and also said loud enough for thejudge to hear, "gs". as though he was completely exasperated that his objections kept getting sustained, limiting his testimony. the judge saw this as a clear display of disrespect and one that had the possibility of

getting some inappropriate information in front of the jury. anne—marie, is this kind of intensity usually in high—profile, high—stakes case like this one? is a dead indicator of the pressure everyone is feeling? it can be. i think also though bob costello testified before congress a few days ago. he has been on the media circuit talking about his feelings about the case. and clearly he is exasperated by the whole situation. apparently he had hundreds of videos between himself and michael cohen that he tried to get in before the grand jury when he testified there and the da's office would not allow him to bring those into evidence. they only took

six of them apparently zof i think he is upset about the whole way the case has proceeded and i think that came through today, his feelings towards the whole process. and how does that interaction play with the jury anne—marie? it depends. he is a very seasoned attorney. i don't think they are going to be able to find any instances of... under oath. they can take it either way. they can take it either way. they may look at it and say, boy, that is a real lawyer there, who is trying to say something and they keep interrupting and not letting him get what he wants to say across. or they may look at it and say, boy he is a really obnoxious lawyer. unfortunately, obnoxious lawyer. u nfortu nately, lawyers obnoxious lawyer. unfortunately, lawyers as a profession is not well liked to start with. so that can add to that feeling that they do not

like lawyers and they may not like lawyers and they may not like him as a witness. it also depends on how they feel about thejudge. if they like depends on how they feel about the judge. if they like the judge then they may not like him going after, essentially sparring with thejudge. him going after, essentially sparring with the judge. but it is not unusual for lawyers to spa with judges but lawyers are not usually the witnesses and it is difficult many times for lawyers to be witnesses without reason because you are used to saying what you want to say and used to dealing with objections directly and (cross talk) very difficult to deal with. i have been a witness at court. and shayna, what is the timeline we know for what is left of the proceedings? it know for what is left of the proceedings?— know for what is left of the proceedings? it appears that after tomorrow _ proceedings? it appears that after tomorrow there - proceedings? it appears that after tomorrow there is - proceedings? it appears that after tomorrow there is not l after tomorrow there is not going — after tomorrow there is not going to _ after tomorrow there is not going to be anything again for an entire _ going to be anything again for an entire week until tuesday,

which — an entire week until tuesday, which is — an entire week until tuesday, which is the day after the long memoriai— which is the day after the long memorial day weekend. this is problematic timing. i think evelyn— problematic timing. i think evelyn was hoping, the judge was certainly hoping to be able to start — was certainly hoping to be able to start to finish summations, due the — to start to finish summations, due the jury charge and start deliberations. but it is not a good — deliberations. but it is not a good thing to have a jury start deliberating and then disappear for four— deliberating and then disappear for four days and then come back — for four days and then come back. there is some law related to that — back. there is some law related to that and _ back. there is some law related to that and it just seems too problematic and risky to attempt it. so because of that, tomorrow— attempt it. so because of that, tomorrow seems to be the last remaining _ tomorrow seems to be the last remaining bits of testimony plus— remaining bits of testimony plus possibly the judge conference but the jury will be gone — conference but the jury will be gone for— conference but the jury will be gone for that and then instructions to come back on tuesday _ instructions to come back on tuesday. to allow for a long

run with the jury going out in deliberations, is it going they may not like donald trump, they may come back right away or you may well have a hung jury or you may well have a hung jury where you have at least one who has said i cannot convict and then it will be a hung jury and then potentially a retrial somewhere down the road. ~ ., ., ., road. we will go through it all aaain if road. we will go through it all again if that _ road. we will go through it all again if that happens. - road. we will go through it all again if that happens. we - road. we will go through it all again if that happens. we willj again if that happens. we will wait to see what happens with the rest of those proceedings and when the jury agrees to deliberate. thank you to you both forjoining us on bbc

news. you can keep up to date with that story and plenty more of the news on our website, you can also check us out on your favourite social media platform. forthe favourite social media platform. for the moment that it is, back with you again shortly. the thank you for watching, stay with us here on bbc news. hello. we have had some late spring sunshine over recent days, also a few showers around — and we'll see a few more of them over the next few days. in fact, between tuesday and friday, the weather turns more unsettled. this is the rainfall we're expected to accumulate — and you can see, particularly across the northeast of scotland, some places will see close to 100 millimetres of rain by the end of the week, so things certainly turning more unsettled gradually. as for tuesday, after a bit of a misty, murky start, some scattered showers building during the afternoon, but they will be fairly hit—and—miss.

i think tuesday will dawn with some sea fog across the far northeast of scotland, aberdeenshire towards orkney, also some mist and fog around some other north sea coasts, northern ireland, too. some patchy rain i think almost anywhere by the afternoon, but the areas most likely to see it, perhaps some heavy showers for the southwest of england, 1—2 in the southeast, could be some thunderstorms around. showers fairly few and far between across parts of wales, northern england, but some heavy, potentially thundery ones likely tuesday afternoon across northern ireland, and a scattering of showers for central parts of scotland, as well. some areas staying a little bit murky close to the north sea coasts all day tuesday, and that sea fog will roll back in across parts of scotland as we head overnight into wednesday. we'll also start to see more persistent rain working in across this zone of eastern england and central scotland. and it'll be quite a mild night, with those temperatures staying well in double figures. now, into wednesday — and low pressure looks like it'll move in from the near continent, and just push its way gradually further north across parts of northern england and scotland, as well. so you can see

the blue and green colours indicating the more persistent spells of rain we're likely to see on wednesday around the east coast in particular. for northern ireland, wales, perhaps central and southern england, it'll be a day of sunny spells and some scattered showers, but temperatures down a notch compared to recent days — so highs between about 17—19 for most, but a little bit cooler close to some of those coasts. into thursday, we've still got low pressure — this time, it stalls across scotland in particular, so it's feeding in more moisture for parts of highland, aberdeenshire, for instance, as well. could be some localised flooding as those rainfall totals mount up. elsewhere, some sunshine, a few scattered showers, especially around some of those north sea coasts, and it is that bit cooler. so the middle of the week, fairly unsettled, some showers on the cards. it does look like the showers become fewer towards the weekend, and for some of us, those temperatures will be on the rise once again. bye— bye.

microsoft unveils computers with artificial intelligence features, marking a new era for pcs. this as britain and south korea kick off a major international summit in seoul on al safety. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. microsoft has unveiled a new range of personal computers that has generative ai capabilities

built directly into its windows operating system. our north america business correspondent michelle fleury has all the details. the future of the pc may be here. microsoft announced new conversational artificial intelligence features for windows pcs and a line of surface tablet computers. one of the features is dubbed to help you find anything you viewed on the pc in the past. there's also a live translation of 44 languages into english, and something for creative teams — for example, in microsoft paint, it draws an image based on your sketch. these are all powered with new ai chips to deliver longer battery life, and all this matters because today, most ai software runs in the cloud, which uses a lot of energy. being able to work on the device thanks to more processing power, that not only improves the data security, it's also more climate friendly.

microsoft is hoping its new ai checks will help kick—start