live from london, this is bbc news. president biden�*s set to sign a $95 billion foreign aid package for ukraine, taiwan and israel today — after us lawmakers gave it final approval. it comes as israeli strikes intensify across gaza — in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks. america's top diplomat — secretary of state antony blinken has arrived in china — where he's expected to warn against providing military support for russia. after more migrants die in the english channel, we ask how the british government's new plans might affect those trying to reach our shores. former labour minister, then crossbench peer, and renowned campaignerfor welfare reform — frank field, has died at the age of 81.

hello, i'm nicky schiller. welcome to the programme. we start this hour with reaction to the news that us lawmakers in the senate have approved a $95 billion aid package for ukraine, israel and taiwan. president biden says he will sign the bill later today and that more arms and equipment will be sent to ukraine within a week. the overwhelming vote in favour of the deal marks the end of six months of deadlock amongst us politicians. the measures approve around $61 billion in long—awaited aid for ukraine alone. it also designates more than $26 billion in aid for military support for israel and humanitarian aid for gaza. and $8 billion for taiwan and us indo—pacific allies. president biden said it showed that america stood resolutely against tyranny and oppression. president zelensky said it reinforced america's role as a beacon of democracy and leader

of the free world. the senate majority leader chuck schumer said america had shown its allies it would not turn its back on them. a lot of people inside and outside the congress wanted this package to fail, but today those in congress who stand on the side of democracy are winning the day. to ourfriends in ukraine, to our allies in nato, to our allies in israel and to civilians around the world in need of help, help is on the way. to ourfriends in ukraine, america will deliver more ammo and air defences and basic supplies that you need to resist putin on the battlefield. chuck schumer. we have had reaction from china in the last couple of hours. foreign ministry spokesman wang wenbin said:

well, the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has just landed in china to meet with senior officials in beijing and shanghai. china and the us, the world's two biggest economies remain at odds over trade, technology, taiwan and ukraine war and antony blinken is expected to warn beijing against exporting components that help russia's war efforts. washington says moscow uses chinese machine tools and microchips for weapons deployed against ukraine. laura bicker is our correspondent in beijing and gave us this assessment of the likely conversations between the two countries.

the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is heading to china to try to stabilise ties between the two worlds largest economies, and there will be discussions on everything from trade to human rights. but top of the agenda certainly for both sides will be ukraine, middle east and taiwan. now, let's deal with, first of all, the taiwan bill that has gone through congress. there has been reaction here in beijing. they strongly oppose the united states aid package to taiwan, and they say that this will encourage separatists on the island. now, china believes that the self—governing island is part of the mainland. it is one of china's red lines that they believe america should not cross. so antony blinken should expect some strong reaction from his counterparts when he meets them over the coming days. when it comes to ukraine, the united states believes that china is supplying russia with components that could be used for weapons. now, beijing has not supplied moscow with any arms since the start of russia's invasion in ukraine. however, the us believes that china is supplying moscow with components that can be used for weapons. they want those supplies to stop, and that is something that

antony blinken is here to say. now, when it comes to that accusation, beijing says it is preposterous and they oppose that also. but they have also got a part to play when president putin is expected to visit here in the next coming months. so it may well be that washington will want to push china to try to encourage president putin to end his war in ukraine. and then, of course, there is the middle east, where america will also be looking to china's leadership in the middle east if they can work together on that. and that's before they come to even the tricky conversations over trade where president biden has accused china of cheating by subsidising their firms. this is a tough agenda over just two days, and it's one that is trying to, as i said, stabilise ties. but it will be tricky for both sides. laura bicker. back to that aid package approved by us lawmakers. it included $13 billion in military aid for israel. our middle east correspondent,

yolande knell, has the latest. we have had israel's foreign minister israel katz coming out quite quickly thanking the us congress for this, noting there was overwhelming bipartisan support, saying that this sends a strong message to israel's enemies. of course this package was passed after there had been some congressional democrats who had been saying in recent weeks that further military aid to israel from the us should come with conditions attached because of concerns about the conduct of the war in gaza. but this doesn't seem to have been the case, and if you break down that $17 billion that's heading the way of israel, it's about 5 billion for replenishing and expanding its air defence system, the real value of that has been proved time and time again in the past six months or so as the war in gaza has raged on and we have had the new threats emerging to israel, the likes of the direct attack by iran

using drones and missiles earlier this month for the first time coming directly from iranian soil. then you have also included in this money further billions of dollars that were going towards advanced weapon systems, to enhancing weapons production, to buying supplies and services from the us. and then if you look at that separate money which is included in the same legislation for aid going to israel, that is $9 billion of humanitarian assistance said to be for civilian suffering in conflict zones around the world, but a big portion of that going to palestinians in gaza. meanwhile on the ground we have had more shelling in gaza. indeed, more israeli air strikes targeting in particular what they say are rocket launch sites with rockets fired from, again at israel, including some of the southern israeli cities in recent days. and intense shelling reported by palestinians up—and—down the length of the gaza strip.

there have also been evacuation notices given to palestinians living in certain neighbourhoods of beit lahia in the north. this is an area israel had previously declared it had cleared and had withdrawn its forces from that area, and it shows, many analysts are saying, that this really is evidence that hamas has an ability to regroup and come back and pose a threat in these different areas that are said to have been cleared already by the israeli military. the israeli media is looking forward very much to what might happen after thejewish passover holiday, expecting that this long delayed operation, ground offensive in rafah in the very south of the gaza strip, could finally start with the israeli military said to be preparing plans to evacuate large numbers of people. of course, the us and others have really been against the idea of a ground

offensive against remaining hamas battalions in that area, saying there would be huge humanitarian consequences with something like a million palestinians crammed up against the egypt border, people that fled the fighting in other parts of the gaza strip. rishi sunak is visiting germany to meet his german counterpart olaf scholz. it is mr sunak�*s first trip to berlin since becoming prime minister in october 2022. defence spending is on the agenda, as is the middle east, and ukraine. ispoke spending is on the agenda, as is the middle east, and ukraine. i spoke to our berlin correspondentjessica parker and she outlined what is likely to be discussed today. as you were saying, defence spending and the defence picture overall, european security i think is top of the agenda. i mean, there are some sort of details in there about specific areas of cooperation, types of weapons that the uk and germany can develop jointly together. but i think this is also very much about the politics

and the signals it sends. so, rishi sunak, of course, yesterday in poland announced that the uk would be hiking defence spending to 2.5% by 2030. that is certainly the ambition anyway, there is obviously a uk general election happening later this year, but that was big news, as a key member of the nato military alliance. for germany, i'm told, that we won't be getting any major announcements today along those lines. germany has onlyjust started to hit the 2% nato military alliance spending target, the first time since the early 90s, alliance spending target, the first time since the early �*90s, and it looks like it is having to do that through some one—off funds, it is not quite clear how they will sustain that. but, all that being said, and all that mathematics, both the uk and germany have been key backers of ukraine, the top two after the us in terms of national countries. so i think they will want to send a joint signal to president putin

that they will continue to support ukraine, but i think there is probably some messaging going on from europe as well to donald trump, because of course, donald trump hoping to be re—elected as president of the united states, and he has made it pretty clear that he got very annoyed with countries he felt weren't meeting their spending commitments last time. there have been fears that he wouldn't support countries who he felt weren't meeting those commitments. so i think there are some signals that they are trying to send across the pond as well to the us, ahead of the american elections later this year as well. that's jessica parker that'sjessica parker in berlin. more than 50 survivors of a migrant boat disaster — in which five people died off the coast of france — are recovering in england, having declined to be rescued by french authorities. the incident took place just hours after parliament approved a bill to allow the uk to send some asylum seekers to rwanda. the government has said the new law will reduce illegal channel—crossings but some migrants have said it won't deter them from trying. as graham satchell reports. the beaches of northern france and what's becoming an almost

nightly ritual is about to play out — this time with fatal consequences. a group of migrants protected by people smugglers heads to the shore. above, french police are watching every move, communicating with colleagues on the ground. as the authorities move in to stop the boat, a battle. fireworks are thrown. smugglers use sticks to protect the migrants. eventually, it works and the boat moves out to sea. "we're not allowed to go in the water," this policeman says. "did you notice they had sticks? and there are children, too, so we had to be careful." we now know five people died here, just offshore — three men, a woman and a seven—year—old girl. you can hear the cries for help. help! the prime minister, rishi sunak, on a visit to poland, said new legislation to send migrants to rwanda will act as a deterrent. this will help us stop the boats. people need to know that if they come to our country illegally, they won't be able to stay.

the processing centre in rwanda has been ready for almost two years. the government hopes some asylum seekers will arrive in the summer. opposition parties have called the rwanda plan ineffective and at more than £250 million, expensive. what i would do is use that money to build up our border security, to take down the gangs that are running this vile trade and stop those boats arriving in the first place. it's thought almost 300 migrants made it to dover yesterday. numbers arriving are up, as are the numbers of those perishing in the sea. graham satchell, bbc news. our correspondent simonjones is in dover. he explained what has happened to those people who arrived in the uk yesterday.

i reckon 350 arrived yesterday, we will get the number confirmed later by the home office. initially people are brought ashore in dover having been picked up by the lifeboat or the border force and taken to the area just behind me for an initial processing that usually involves a health check. then there will be some sort of screening before people are taken on to a migrant processing centre a few kilometres from here at manston. people will generally spend a couple of days they're having security checks. they may express an interest in claiming asylum here and then be dispersed around the country. but now, given the law has changed, these people are being told they will not be allowed to pursue that asylum claim in the uk, and instead the government will look to transport them to rwanda. we know yesterday that among the people brought back to shore by the lifeboat was a group of 58 people who had been on board that dangerously overloaded boat that got into difficulty resulting in five people losing their lives. so in addition to the processing here, i know the authorities, the national crime agency and kent police, will be wanting to speak to them about exactly what happened

on that boat, what led to those five deaths. that information will be fed back to an investigation on the other side of the channel that is being led by the french authorities. you've covered this story for many years from dover. particularly during the summer, the calm waters do seem to allow those people to take the risk to get across the water to the uk. we have had numerous government initiatives over the years to try to reduce the number of people making the crossing. but people point out that the biggest deterrent is the weather. on a day like today, although the sun is out, it is pretty choppy out there on the water, and particularly over in northern france, it is very windy. we are unlikely to see any crossings at all. yesterday it was a very different picture, the sea was incredibly calm and that's why we saw multiple boats launching from the beaches of northern france,

pretty much simultaneously, in the early hours of yesterday morning in an effort to overwhelm the authorities. in terms of the boat that got into difficulty, we understand that initially 50 people had paid smugglers to get on board that boat, but then as it was launching, a group of around 60 people emerged from woodland nearby and basically tried to storm that boat to get on board it, so when it took to the water, 112 people on board, unprecedented in terms of numbers, so unsurprisingly quickly it did get into difficulty. but that is now part of an investigation here and on the other side of the channel. simonjones live in dover, thank you very much indeed. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

i want to show you some pictures of something you don't see every day in london of two escaped horses that have been running around. look at this. they were seen running in

central london. the police say officers were waiting for an army to collect the animals after they were safely contained. in a statement, the police said at around 8.40 in the police said at around 8.40 in the morning, we were called to reports about horses that had become loose and were travelling through the city. they went on to say, our officers have contained the two horses on a highway near limehouse and they are waiting for an army horse box to collect the horses and transport them to a vet. so you saw those pictures of two horses running through the streets of central london. the good news is that they have managed to be contained by the police and they are waiting for a vet. it must have been quite a sight. it hasn't been confirmed where those horses are from, but there are reports that they are from there are reports that they are from the household cavalry. we will bring you any more as we get it. a bit of

a frightening incident, but it has been contained. the united states has taken another step towards forcing the chinese company behind tiktok to sell the video—sharing app orface a ban. senators passed a bill which gives bytedance nine months to give up its us operations. let's speak to our tehcnology reporter chris vallance. what happens now? what have the us lawmakers agreed overnight? this what have the us lawmakers agreed overniuht? , ., , ., what have the us lawmakers agreed overniuht? , ., ., , . what have the us lawmakers agreed overniuht? , ., , . ., overnight? this was a piece of legislation _ overnight? this was a piece of legislation bundled _ overnight? this was a piece of legislation bundled with - overnight? this was a piece of legislation bundled with other| overnight? this was a piece of - legislation bundled with other bits of aid for ukraine and other legislative moves, and essentially, they have voted to force bytedance to divest its holdings in tiktok or face a ban. senior republicans say this was good news for americans. mark warner, the democratic chair of

the senate committee, sought to reassure millions of us tiktok users that they hoped a buyer would be found for the app and that they would be able to continue to enjoy it. no immediate reaction from tiktok, but they have previously accused lawmakers are trying to trample on the free speech rights of 170 million users. it is interesting, _ 170 million users. it is interesting, because l 170 million users. it is. interesting, because this 170 million users. it is- interesting, because this had 170 million users. it is interesting, because this had had support from democrats and republicans in the us.- support from democrats and republicans in the us. what happens now? president _ republicans in the us. what happens now? president biden _ republicans in the us. what happens now? president biden has _ republicans in the us. what happens now? president biden has said - republicans in the us. what happens now? president biden has said he - now? president biden has said he will sign it into law when it lands on his desk. we have kind of been here before. there were previous moves to try and get a us company to take over tiktok. those foundered because of legal challenges. many people are expecting legal challenges in this case. previously, tiktok has said it would use its legal resources to try and fight this kind of move, so we can expect a drawn—out battle around this. but

for now, if you excuse the pun, the clock is ticking.— clock is ticking. millions of americans _ clock is ticking. millions of americans use _ clock is ticking. millions of americans use tiktok, - clock is ticking. millions of l americans use tiktok, some clock is ticking. millions of - americans use tiktok, some people have businesses on tiktok itself. how likely do you think it is that it will get banned in the us? anyone who saw the — it will get banned in the us? anyone who saw the grilling _ it will get banned in the us? anyone who saw the grilling in _ it will get banned in the us? anyone who saw the grilling in front - it will get banned in the us? anyone who saw the grilling in front of- who saw the grilling in front of congress of the chief executive of tiktok will have seen the strength of feeling across party lines in the us. so there is certainly a political will. obviously, us. so there is certainly a politicalwill. obviously, in the us. so there is certainly a political will. obviously, in the us there are constitutional protections over free speech. so there are constitutional protections overfree speech. so never say never, but if you are tiktok, you have to be thinking, this time things are getting real.- have to be thinking, this time things are getting real. chris vallance, a technology reporter, thank you. you can get

more on that on the bbc news website. to australia next. police in sydney have arrested seven youths after a counter—terrorism operation — saying an attack could have been likely. officers said the raids were linked to the stabbing of a bishop at a church in the city last week. after the attack, riots led to several police officers being injured. some of the other day a's news now. israeli forces buried more than 300 palestinians in a mass grave as a medical complex in gaza are incredibly troubling. it said it was seeking the israeli government's response. earlier, israel's military rejected the palestinian allegation calling it baseless and unfounded. it said its attack against hamas militants in the area was precise and targeted. hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of people have taken to the streets of the argentine capital buenos aires to protest against budget cuts to public universities. it's the biggest protest yet against

austerity measures brought in by the president who won elections last november vowing to slash public spending and reduce the budget deficit to zero. italy has passed a controversial law allowing anti—abortion activists to be present in government funded abortion clinics. pro—choice campaigners worry that it will add to the pressures on women who are considering a termination. before coming to power italian prime minister giorgia meloni had promised not to touch abortion law. to northern ireland, where former democratic unionist party leader, sirjeffrey donaldson, has arrived in court. he's accused of historical sex offences. the 61—year—old was arrested at his home in march. he's said he will strenuously contest the charges, which include an allegation of rape. our ireland correspondent jennifer o'leary has the latest on the case. sirjeffrey donaldson arrived outside nereo magistrates�* court where he was met by his solicitor

and faced quite an intense media scrum as he made his way into the courthouse. this morning is due to be charged in relation to a number of historical sexual offences. including rape. —— newry. the details of those charges will become apparent later this morning. the 61—year—old was last month arrested at his home. he faced a day of questioning at antrim police station and was charged that day with those alleged sexual offences. the next day the party that he led announced his immediate departure as leader. he had not been seen in public since his sudden political departure. that sight of him this morning in the last few minutes is the first time he has been seen for a number of weeks. he has previously indicated that he strenuously denies the charges. he will not be asked to

formally enter a plea at this morning�*s court appearance because it is his first. the please will come in later court proceedings. jennifer o�*leary reporting from newry. finally this half hour, the us military are trained to deal with the unexpected. but take a look at what turned up on the runway at macdill air force base in tampa in florida. a three—metre — or ten foot — alligator. the large reptile was spotted next to the landing gear of that refuelling aircraft. as you can see the gator was wrangled and captured by wildlife experts. what was it doing there? officials say it may have wandered into the base searching for a mate. the alligator was released into a nearby river with the air force posting, "our newest toothy airman has been relocated to a more suitable environment off base."

rather than than me wrestling that alligator! stay with us here on bbc news. hello again. rather like the last few days, west is best in terms of temperatures today, but even here, temperatures are a bit lower than they have been. if you have an allergy to tree pollen, oak tree pollen is at its peak at the moment and the levels today england and also wales. we�*re still pulling in this northerly flow, the air coming straight down from the arctic, blowing in a lot of cloud and some showers along the east coast. but the wind really accentuating the cold feel to the day, and here we will see some showers on and off as we go through the course of the afternoon. a few showers getting in across south—west wales and also into south—west england, but a lot of dry weather. areas of cloud at times, but sunny spells. and these are our temperatures, up to 13 degrees. but don�*t forget, it will feel cooler than these temperatures are suggesting because of the wind in the east. now, through this evening

and overnight, we start dry. there�*ll be some clear spells. we�*ve also got a weather front moving southwards across scotland, getting into northern england by the end of the night with some showers, wintry on higher ground, and it�*s going to be cold wherever you are. a few showers in wales, the southwest, and also the southeast, certainly by the end of the night. this is the weather front that�*s moving southwards through the night and will continue to do so through the course of thursday. still bringing in some showers, and as we go through the morning, they�*re not going to be particularly heavy. but as they get into central southern england into the afternoon, you could catch the odd sharp one here and there. a lot of dry weather around, too, but there�*ll be some scattered showers and it�*s not going to be as windy, so it�*s not going to feel as bitter as it has done along the east coast. but temperatures still out towards the west, 11 to about 13 degrees. beyond that, we�*ve got an area of low pressure that brings showers into the south on friday. but then another one brings rain up

from the south, heading northwards during the course of sunday. now, with it, it�*s going to bring in some milder air. so you can see the first one. and here�*s the second area of low pressure moving north, butjust how far north it gets is still open to some question. so with it, it�*s notjust going to bring higher temperatures than we�*ve had, but also some rain. so as we go into the outlook period, it certainly does remain unsettled. there�*ll be rain, or indeed, there�*ll be some showers, but note how the temperature slowly rises.

ben king this is bbc news, the headlines: biden�*s set to sign a $95 billion foreign aid package for ukraine, taiwan and israel today — after us lawmakers gave it final approval. johnny timpson — one of the government�*s dementia champions — resigns in protest over the treatment of unpaid carers. former labour minister and welfare campaigner frank field, an mp for 40 years, dies aged 81. and at least two horses which were seen on the loose in central london, with one seemingly covered in blood, have now been recaptured. officials are waiting for vets to attend to

them.