the conservative mp mark menzies is suspended from the party after being accused of misusing campaign funds, claims he disputes. the government says an investigation is under way. g7 foreign ministers are meeting in capri as ukraine's prime minister calls for international support — warning there will be a �*third world war�* if ukraine loses the war with russia. and police take down an international cyber—crime gang based in the uk, accused of industrial—scale fraud. hello, i'm annita mcveigh, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. the aftermath of heavy rain is being felt in across the united arab emirates and parts of neighbouring gulf countries, a region usually known for its hot and arid climate. flash—floods have killed 20 people in oman and one in the uae.

dubai international airport warned of "very challenging conditions" and advised some passengers not to turn up due to areas being inundated by water. 300 flights were cancelled on wednesday with hundreds more delayed, after the uae experienced its largest rainfall event since records began 75 years ago. dubai is the busiest airport in the world for international passengers. more than 86 million international passengers passed through it last year. that's more than london heathrow, amsterdam and paris. nirupa george is among the many passengers still stuck at the airport. she arrived in dubai yesterday from cairo, and is trying to get back to new zealand. we came to the airport this morning, we had already been delayed about three hours, and it isjust absolute chaos in terms of the number of people around. the staff are doing their best to try and mitigate the bottlenecks but the sheer volume of people means that there is hardly breathing room

when you are trying to get past check—in or the passport control. most people understand it is outside of the control of the airport and the emirates staff, although at one point when we were lining up at the transit i think i saw someone faint from the heat and there seemed to be a mini brawl that broke out. it seems to be testing people's patience, particularly children, but for the most part people have actually been quite calm and i think everyone is tired and just wants to get to their destination. let's ta ke let's take a look at the flight tracker app to see what is happening. some planes are in the air, some on the ground. let's get right up to date. let's get right up to date. joining me now is the ceo of dubai airports, paul griffiths. thank you forjoining us at this busy time. you are in a car, not driving, you are a passenger while

you are doing this interview. what is a situation with flights now both incoming and outgoing? first is a situation with flights now both incoming and outgoing?— is a situation with flights now both incoming and outgoing? first of all, i have to say _ incoming and outgoing? first of all, i have to say this _ incoming and outgoing? first of all, i have to say this is _ incoming and outgoing? first of all, i have to say this is unprecedented l i have to say this is unprecedented and uncharted territory for us. we have had 254 millimetres of rain in the last three days and the normal average for this time of year is about eight millimetres so you can see how dramatic the situation has been. not since records began have we seen rainfall of this magnitude. so it is a very challenging situation, however, the teams across the airport have worked very closely with the airlines to get as many passengers away as we possibly can and of course the big problem is that flight had been spread all over the region out of their weather precluded any arriving aircraft are coming. however, iam pleased to report that the airport is now 100% back to its operating capacity and

we are slowly working through the backlog. the we are slowly working through the backlou. ' . , ., backlog. the difficulty at the moment is... _ backlog. the difficulty at the moment is... 10096 - backlog. the difficulty at the l moment is... 100% operating capacity, tell us about the scale of the backlog. the capacity, tell us about the scale of the backlog-— capacity, tell us about the scale of the backlou. ., . . ., ., , the backlog. the total cancellations u . the backlog. the total cancellations u- to now the backlog. the total cancellations up to now have _ the backlog. the total cancellations up to now have been _ the backlog. the total cancellations up to now have been about - the backlog. the total cancellations up to now have been about 700 - up to now have been about 700 flights over the last few days and of course because dubai is her haven for very large aircraft that means many thousands of passengers are still seeking to complete their journeys so situation remains challenging but actually we are getting more departures away and thatis getting more departures away and that is allowing more flights to come in and passengers are being rebooked on a laterflight. we are working very closely with all of our partners, including our hospitality partners, including our hospitality partners to keep everyone refreshed and give them food, water and supply any welfare that is necessary for everyone. obviously, a very challenging time but the airport will be getting slowly back to normal operations in a very busy

morning since we been checking this morning since we been checking this morning at 3am four other airlines and nine o'clock for emirates. so flights out gradually getting back to normal but i think it will take 24 to 36 hours to clear the remaining backlog. we are doing everything we can to look after our customers and make sure their needs are provided. in customers and make sure their needs are provided-— are provided. in this extraordinary situation initially _ are provided. in this extraordinary situation initially you _ are provided. in this extraordinary situation initially you had - are provided. in this extraordinary situation initially you had many i situation initially you had many more passages in the airport then you would have anticipated at any one time. there were some issues around getting food, making sure people aren't enough supplies and so forth. what is your advice to passengers at the moment? i forth. what is your advice to passengers at the moment? i think at the moment — passengers at the moment? i think at the moment what _ passengers at the moment? i think at the moment what we _ passengers at the moment? i think at the moment what we are _ passengers at the moment? i think at the moment what we are suggesting i passengers at the moment? i think at | the moment what we are suggesting is if people can go to sources such as the airline website and find out exactly what the situation is for their flight and only when they have got a confirmed departure time should they then begin theirjourney

to the airport and please don't arrive any earlier than two hours before the scheduled flight departure otherwise we are going to add to the number of people waiting and as you correctly say, we can only handle so many people at the airport before it gets incredibly busy. so keeping everyone fed and watered and looking after them is obviously our priority and we are working very closely with the airlines to get everyone back to their intended destination as soon as we possibly can. {leia their intended destination as soon as we possibly can.— as we possibly can. 0k, paul griffiths, _ as we possibly can. 0k, paul griffiths, cso _ as we possibly can. 0k, paul griffiths, ceo of— as we possibly can. 0k, paul griffiths, ceo of dubai - as we possibly can. 0k, paul. griffiths, ceo of dubai airport. thank you forjoining us on one of the busiest days of your career. after that extraordinary amount of rain. after that extraordinary amount of rain. here in the uk, the conservatives have suspended one of their mps, mark menzies, from the party while they invesigate claims that he misused campaign funds. the times newspaper says the mp — who represents fylde in lancashire — is alleged to have used thousands of pounds from donors to fund

medical expenses and called a 78—year—old aide at 3,15am, asking for help because he'd been locked up by what he called "bad people" demanding money for his release. mr menzies told the paper he strongly disputes the allegations. labour says rishi sunak and the conservative party have serious questions to answer. let's speak to our polital correspondent, henry zeffman, in westminster. what is the times alleging? you are right to say alleging to these are just allegations at this stage but they are also pretty serious allegations and frankly pretty peculiar allegations. what the times is alleging that back in december mark menzies, the conservative mp for fylde in lancashire since 2010, found a former campaign manager, a 78—year—old former campaign manager at quarter past three in the morning and he said what he called bad

people had locked him in a flat any needed money to get out. he called it a matter of life and death, he needed £5,000. it is claimed in this article that later that morning a different woman, his office manager, paid him the money. at this point it was £6,500, from a personal bank account, and crucially that money was subsequently reimbursed from campaign funds, money donated in the expectation or be used for mark menzies's political activities. bbc news has contacted mark menzies for comment. in a statement to the times he said he strongly disputed the common mac allegations and he had fully complied with all of them. declarations of donations. what has been the conservative response? the conservative party has said they are investigating and it would not be appropriate to comment publicly further but one of the interesting

layers to this story is that the times said that the conservative headquarters were made aware of at least some of the claims about mark menzies several months ago, right at the start of this year, and grant shapps, the defence secretary, appeared to admit that this morning. he said the conservative party had been aware of some of the allegations for what he said was a while. so that raises a question, which the labour party are posing, of why the conservative party didn't suspend mark menzies is a conservative mp until yesterday when the story broke. grant shapps said thatis the story broke. grant shapps said that is because new information come to light at some point but the labour party are asking and they have just sent a letter to the conservative party asking whether the conservative party went to the police when they first glimpse of these claims and whether they have done everything they should have done. ,., u, done everything they should have done. chief political correspondent there. done. chief political correspondent there- thank _ done. chief political correspondent there. thank you. _ to the middle east now and qatar

says it's reassessing its role as a mediator between israel and hamas, more than six months into the war. qatar has had a key role, along with egypt and america, in trying to secure a ceasefire between israel and hamas and the release of israeli hostages. but doha says its efforts were being undermined by politicians seeking to score points. take a listen to qatar's prime minister. translation: unfortunately, i mean, we have seen that there has been - an abuse of this mediation in favour of narrow political interests. this means that the state of qatar has called for a comprehensive evaluation of its role. we are now at the stage to evaluate mediation and also evaluate how the parties engage in this mediation.

we heard about those conversations happening between benjamin netanyahu and afterwards he said israel would make its own decisions in its own way about any response but do you think in private mr netanyahu will be listening, thinking carefully about what was said to him? those appealed not to escalate the situation. i appealed not to escalate the situation. ~ ., ., situation. i think that not escalating _ situation. i think that not escalating it _ situation. i think that not escalating it in _ situation. i think that not escalating it in the - situation. i think that not i escalating it in the interest situation. i think that not - escalating it in the interest of the international community, especially the united states, europe, china, russia is another issue because they enjoy the high king of the oil prices, but most of the world, including jerusalem and tehran don't want war. however, after the unprecedented attack by iran, this was the most powerful in numbers and

explosives that were launched at any country in history in one night. with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. the russians haven't done it for... the unprecedented attack on israel should be retaliated until we establish israeli defence. iran is much more vulnerable than israel. they don't have the impressive missile defence that israel demonstrated the night between saturday and sunday and israel is in the core of interest of every middle eastern country attack by iran and will be attacked by iran. the saudis, the uae. this is why it's really retaliation will come. former

head of the — really retaliation will come. former head of the idf _ really retaliation will come. former head of the idf military _ head of the idf military intelligence. stay with us as we discuss what israel's response might be to that attack by iran last weekend. and we heard appeals from the uk foreign secretary lord cameron from the german foreign secretary as well yesterday urging him to not escalate the situation. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. we are still with tel aviv, discussing what israel's response might be from iran last weekend. based on your military experience, what do you think the response might be, what would the nature of that response be? it be, what would the nature of that reaponse be?—

be, what would the nature of that response be? it can be tit-for-tat, the same attack, _ response be? it can be tit-for-tat, the same attack, a _ response be? it can be tit-for-tat, the same attack, a missile - response be? it can be tit-for-tat, the same attack, a missile attack. response be? it can be tit-for-tat, i the same attack, a missile attack on iran. it can be an even stronger reaction, the nuclear programme of iran is a big concern to the international world unto israel. it can be not kinetic reaction, let's say a cyber attack. it can be re—establishing the rules of the game between iran and israel by attacking iranian terrorist leading activities in syria and lebanon, and it can be a long strategy of patients. let the international community take steps against iran, on their missile industry, on their drone industry, on their nuclear programme, on their oil, sanctions

and other steps that will weaken iran. because the goal is to change this terrorist radical regime in iran, destabilises the middle east, not only in israel, syria, yemen, iraq, everywhere.— not only in israel, syria, yemen, iraq, everywhere. former head of the idf iraq, everywhere. former head of the wp military — iraq, everywhere. former head of the idf military intelligence _ idf military intelligence directorate. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

ukraine's prime minister has told the bbc there will be a �*third world war�* if ukraine loses its conflict with russia, as he urges the us congress to pass a long—stalled foreign aid bill. dennis shmyhal expressed "careful optimism" that us lawmakers would pass the contested measures, which include 6i—billion dollars earmarked for kyiv. the house of representatives is set to vote on the package this saturday. mr shmyhal spoke with my colleague

sumi somaskanda in washington. the united states is one of our biggest supporters and investors in the ukrainian economy, and in the ukrainian defence capacity. we are waiting so much for this draft law, in one or other conditions which now are discussed in congress. so, we will be very grateful if it will be approved in saturday. we are waiting this for so much, and especially our guys and girls on the frontline. i can imagine you're watching that so closely, the vote on saturday as well — did you receive any assurances from your conversations on capitol hill from lawmakers, to say, this will pass, did they tell you that? we have some conversations today, some conversations we will have tomorrow. all the partners, all the congressmen, have a very careful optimism, for saturday, so we

share this optimism. and we need this money yesterday, not tomorrow, not today, but yesterday. we need this support, military support, yesterday, because the situation on the frontline is difficult enough. we need this support from our biggest partner, from the united states. at the same time there are some republicans here in washington who are sceptical, they don't want this bill even to be brought to a vote — what has your message been to them? if we will not protect, if ukraine will fall, so, the global system of security will be destroyed. and all the world will need to find, and will need to look for a new system of security. or there will be many conflicts, many such kinds of wars, and in the end of the day it will lead to the third world war. so, our mutual task is to protect democratic values, to protect existing, after the second world war, global system, global security system, and bring long—term and sustainable

peace on the european continent. so, russia must lose this war, an aggressor should be punished, and putin's regime should be destroyed at all, and only these factors will lead us to the sustainable and long—term peace. i just want to follow up on that, prime minister. we saw republican congressman mccall say last week that he thinks that russian propaganda is infected, that is the word that he used, some members of his party, that they are essentially repeating that propaganda. what do you think of that? we shouldn't forget that russia is leading war with ukraine on the ground but russia is leading war with the civilised world with western countries, in multidimensional spaces — in cyberspace, in propaganda and disinformation space.

so, here in ukraine we have war on the water, on the ground, in the sky, so, all of this now bring us to this obstacles, when we should understand that disinformation and propaganda is influencing here in the united states on many people, in european union, on many people, such as in ukraine. so, we should count on this and we should make our work and we should fight against this absolutely unprovoked, illegal aggression of russia and ukraine. correspondent at our broadcast partner, cbs. coming up this weekend, that vote. this vote has been in a stalemate

for months because some republicans wanted to tie ukrainian aid to greater immigration controls in the us's own borders. so why the move now? why is about happening this weekend? ., , , now? why is about happening this weekend? . , , , weekend? there has been this needle that they have — weekend? there has been this needle that they have threaded _ weekend? there has been this needle that they have threaded politically - that they have threaded politically and they think they found their moment to do this. they have package that includes $61 billion for ukraine, billions for israel, billions for the indo—pacific region but they have separated them up into separate pieces which they think get this through and otherwise gridlock us congress. there are defective in the republican majority party or don't want more us taxpayer money for ukraine but republican leaders think they can get this through by separating them up into chunks and they have the support of president biden and they released this package the same day us military leaders testified here at the us capitol that ukraine is running out of money, running out of munitions and

the delays have gone on too long. but that cross—party support is going to be crucial to get it passed, isn't it?— going to be crucial to get it passed, isn't it? not only is it crucial, passed, isn't it? not only is it crucial. it— passed, isn't it? not only is it crucial, it is _ passed, isn't it? not only is it crucial, it is now _ passed, isn't it? not only is it crucial, it is now the - passed, isn't it? not only is it crucial, it is now the new- passed, isn't it? not only is it| crucial, it is now the new norm passed, isn't it? not only is it. crucial, it is now the new norm in washington, dc, where minority party vote are getting everything through, including programmes and bills to keep the us government from shutting down. that is why the house speaker here, republican mikejohnson, is fighting for hisjob. his here, republican mikejohnson, is fighting for his job. his fellow republicans think is cutting too many deals with democrats. scott mcfarlane from _ many deals with democrats. scott mcfarlane from cbs. _ many deals with democrats. scott mcfarlane from cbs. thank - many deals with democrats. scott mcfarlane from cbs. thank you very much. thank you very much. foreign ministers of the group of seven leading industrial nations are meeting on the italian island of capri to discuss ukraine's urgent appeal for weapons. the g7 warned that ukraine risked being defeated by russia unless it received more air defences, as kyiv urged a change in western strategy towards the war. more than two years into russia's full—scale invasion, ukraine is facing a shortage of ammunition, with vital funding from the us blocked by republicans

in congress for months and the eu failing to deliver sufficient munitions on time. our correspondent jessica parker is there. what is the latest from the g7 meeting? {if what is the latest from the g7 meetin: ? , ., , , ., meeting? g7 foreign ministers are locked in discussions _ meeting? g7 foreign ministers are locked in discussions covering - meeting? g7 foreign ministers are locked in discussions covering a i locked in discussions covering a range of topics, from conflict in the middle east and fears of escalation but also what more can be done to help ukraine. and actually their foreign minister from done to help ukraine. and actually their foreign ministerfrom ukraine is here to talk with foreign ministers and they are making a particular appealfor air ministers and they are making a particular appeal for air defences at the moment. and more broadly there is a discussion about how to channelled more money into ukraine. as we have been hearing, this package of aid from the us stalled

in congress but now potentially signed, it could be unlocked in a vote later this week. that will be welcome news here amongst g7 nations but they are also looking at ways of channelling of finding other phones, one of those is a potential use of frozen russian assets, an idea that has been kicking around for quite some time. a lot more complicated, legally complicated than for example the us in congress passing an aid package and that is why it is been kicking around for such a long time and hasn't really happened. there are concerns about the legal implications. it is something the eu are looking at, the eu is represented here as well at the g7 and a number of the eu nations as well but that seems to be an idea of trying to find some extra money from other sources because the eu's top diplomat is here and he is saying that europe can't always be certain to rely on the us, it needs to be

more self—sufficient in terms of both trying to manufacture its own weapons but also support ukraine. irate weapons but also support ukraine. we heard the exasperation from president zelensky about that russian missile strike this week which he said wouldn't have happened if ukraine's air defences were stronger. presumably, he is making that message abundantly clear. yes. that message abundantly clear. yes, the are that message abundantly clear. yes, they are making _ that message abundantly clear. yes, they are making some _ that message abundantly clear. yes they are making some direct comparisons about apart. he was echoing those sentiments, saying that the strategy in terms of supporting israel seems to be to prevent destruction and death, whereas he said the strategy for ukraine seems to be helping ukraine recover from the damage. russia has continued to launch strikes on ukrainian cities, causing death and devastation so i think there is a

lot of pressure on countries to try and come up with more support but in terms of, yes, there is money, but there is also their manufacturing base for supplying ammunition. i spoke to me european defence boss, the boss of germany's biggest defence contractor, who said he thought it would be a decade before europe was in a position to actually manufacture enough weapons to both defend itself and support ukraine as well. so it isn'tjust a question of money, it is also a question of that industrial base as well. fin money, it is also a question of that industrial base as well.— industrial base as well. on the island of capri. _ the indonesian authorities have ordered the temporary closure of a major airport in the province of north sulawesi after a nearby volcano erupted five times. more than 800 people are being evacuated from the area around ruang volcano, as lava flows and flying molten rocks spread outwards. the area is one of indonesia's top tourist destinations and has been affected by ash since the volcano started erupting on tuesday. flights in brunei and east malaysia are also being diverted

to avoid ash clouds. and we leave you with pictures out of iceland, where another volcano has been erupting for the last few months. the lava and volcanic plume of gas has combined with the world famous northern lights to put on a wonderful display. this timelapse footage filmed on wednesday shows the amazing view over the eruption site in the south west of the country. stay with us here on bbc news. i truly started thursday morning, temperatures as low as —4 in the lake district. a touch of frost in the morning but the weather story is changing. high pressure trying to squeeze in from the atlantic, topping across a height of the weather front bringing topping across a height of the weatherfront bringing a topping across a height of the weather front bringing a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain. showery rain move on its way across

scotland, heavier bass sometimes, it will push its way into northern england and north wales. perhaps clinging on in the late afternoon, height here of 15 degrees. the rainbow sweep its way south through the evening and overnight. a blanket of cloud and rain preventing temperatures from falling too far here but still some clearing skies, a brisk north—westerly wind and some scattered showers, a ghoulish night to come in scotland. some shoppers with elevation —— cool night to come in scotland. tomorrow, a blustery day, north—westerly wind dominates, thus across eastern scotland, scattering of showers but showers should be few and far between with the wind direction and strength of the wind direction and strength of the wind direction and strength of the wind particularly in the east will make it feel quite cool. height of 8 degrees, elsewhere 11 to 14 celsius. the weekend, a west east

divide. if you get some sunshine there is a potential to see some warmth into the weekend, the exception along the east coast where temperatures may well struggle due to the wind direction again. high pressure is going to dominate the story. a weak weather front producing a bit more clout and showery rain from time to time but we are drawing in their wind direction from scandinavia and pushing over the cool north sea south never a great story here along that east coast. it means there is a potential for more cloud to pushing off the north sea during saturday. they will continue to be some breaks to the west, here is where we will see the highest values, between nine and 11 degrees generally unexposed east coast. sunday, stays cool and breezy, quite a lot of cloud. further west, the best of the sunshine and temperatures at northern ireland should be to 17 celsius.