we'll have the latest for you. welcome to the world today — an hour of international news from the bbc. we start in the us — as stormy daniels, the adult film star at the centre of donald trump's criminal trial in new york is giving testimony about their alleged sexual encounter in 2006, which the former president denies. mr trump's lawyers have won numerous objections to potentially salacious disclosures. ms daniels testified that she was approached in 2015 and threatened to stay silent about mr trump. prosecutors are trying to prove that just before the 2016 presidential election, mr trump instructed his lawyer to pay stormy daniels $130,000 in order to keep quiet about her allegations.

with the latest, here's our north america editor sarah smith. as donald trump heads to court, waving at the cameras, it looks much the same each day, but they're not the same. today, he had to watch a woman who claimed she had sex with him, testify about it. he is accused of falsifying business records when he marked a hush money payment to her as legal expenses. the legal expense that we paid was put down as legal expense. there is nothing more you could say. you don't have to put down anything like this, but we put down legal expense because it was illegal expense. is that right, mr attorney? —— because it was a legal expense. stormy daniels was paid $130,000 by mr trump to stop her going public with her claims of a sexual encounter, shortly before the 2016 presidential election. the court was shown this photograph of them together, as she described first meeting him at a golf tournament in 2006,

the day she said they later had sex. it was at this golf course, she said, that donald trump sent his bodyguard to invite her to dinner. when she got to his hotel suite, she laughed at him for wearing black silk pajamas, while he dangled the possibility of her appearing on his tv show, the apprentice. as the prosecution asked ms daniels about having sex with mr trump, she was frequently interrupted by objections from his lawyers. the judge appeared unhappy about the length of her answers and the level of detail she was describing. she said she started thinking about selling her story when she heard somebody else was planning to, saying, "i'd rather make the money than someone making money off of me." earliertoday, mrtrump posted on social media... he quickly deleted it. he's been warned by the judge that he could be jailed if he continues to post about witnesses in this trial. sarah smith, bbc news, new york.

let's speak to nada tawfik, our north america correspondent she's there for us, it sounds like at times there was a heated exchange, was there not, between ms. daniels and indeed the judge and the lawyers on both sides? daniels and indeed the “udge and the lawyers on both sides?— lawyers on both sides? yeah, certainly stormy _ lawyers on both sides? yeah, certainly stormy daniels - lawyers on both sides? yeah, certainly stormy daniels for l lawyers on both sides? yeah, l certainly stormy daniels for the dead judges liking it was going into too much detail, he said much of it he found into much detail. told her just to get as answer the questions that were posed to her. i can bring an upside from inside court right now. —— an update. thejudge is arguing for a mistrial. the guard rails for stormy daniels testimony and those guardrails were thrown out. he called it prejudicial

against trump and claims that daniels has changed her story about the alleged encounter. so it kind of attempts there by the defence to kind of come off this very tense nature of cross—examination to get the entire case dismissed as a mistrial, we'll see how thejudge responds. but nevertheless, the defence had tried to block stormy daniels from even testifying about that alleged sexual encounter that donald trump denies, but the judge had found that prosecutors should be able to introduce that to establish your credibility as a witness. where do we no your credibility as a witness. where do we go from _ your credibility as a witness. where do we go from here? _ your credibility as a witness. where do we go from here? well, - your credibility as a witness. where do we go from here? well, stormy| do we go from here? well, stormy daniels is still— do we go from here? well, stormy daniels is still on _ do we go from here? well, stormy daniels is still on the _ do we go from here? well, stormy daniels is still on the stand. - do we go from here? well, stormy daniels is still on the stand. she i daniels is still on the stand. she just got to the part of discussing the lead up to the 2016 election, when donald trump was running and when donald trump was running and when many people were offering to buy her story of that alleged

affair. and she said that ultimately, as she left it to her agent to negotiate a deal and she wanted to do it now because of the money, she said in 2015 it was one of the best years she had, she was doing well financially, but she just wanted to be safe. she just wanted the story out there. so she agreed to that hush money payment, and i think we'll hear more from prosecutors but of course then we will go to cross—examination by the defence. will go to cross-examination by the defence. ., ~ , ., , . the united nations says israel is not allowing humanitarian aid and workers into gaza through the rafah crossing — after its forces took control of the gaza side of the border with egypt. hamas has warned that the israeli incursion there aims to undermine efforts to secure a ceasefire. last night, hamas announced it had accepted proposals drawn up by international mediators — but the deal was rejected by israel as "far from meeting" its "core demands". a hamas delegation has now arrived in cairo for more talks.

a hamas spokesman said the ball is in israeli prime minister benjamin neta nyahu's court. paul adams reports from jerusalem. a deal may now be tantalisingly close, but in rafah, israel's military pressure is relentless. today, severing gaza's last link with the outside world, the crossing point into egypt. he and raising the flag, sending an unmistakable message to hamas. the noose is tightening. the sounds of approaching war echo among the displaced, hundreds of thousands of palestinians living in the sand against the egyptian border or next to the sea. "i don't know where to stay, heart medicines,

stay, this man says, "people are fleeing from rafah. "i have my children with me." gazans have been on the move since yesterday morning, heeding israel's latest warnings, not knowing if the coming days will bring relief or despair. translation: after what we have witnessed, they have said - multiple times that there will be a ceasefire, but we are frustrated and we have no hope. there is no big hope, only a small one. injerusalem, john and rachel have also battled with belief and fear. their son was abducted and badly injured on october the 7th. no sign of life until this hamas video two weeks ago. his parents nowjust daring to hope. when we heard the news that maybe there is a deal, we were cautiously optimistic,

and we remain cautiously optimistic. it is scary to have military actions going on, - there are innocent civilians including our son. - we just need this to come to an end and we need the mediators- on all sides and the two main parties to just sit _ in a room and hammer this out and don't come out - of the room without a deal. israel's defence minister says the rafah operation will not stop until hamas is eliminated all the hostages start to return. or the hostages start to return. talks are set to continue — a successful outcome still far from guaranteed.

let's speak to daniel levy, president of the us /middle east project and a former israeli negotiator with the palestinians. would do things stand now with this negotiation for a cease—fire? irate would do things stand now with this negotiation for a cease-fire? we are at a oint negotiation for a cease-fire? we are at a point we — negotiation for a cease-fire? we are at a point we haven't _ negotiation for a cease-fire? we are at a point we haven't been _ negotiation for a cease-fire? we are at a point we haven't been at - negotiation for a cease-fire? we are at a point we haven't been at for- negotiation for a cease-fire? we are at a point we haven't been at for an | at a point we haven't been at for an awfully long time now, where there is some kind of prospect. we are not there yet but i think the main sticking point remains this question of is this going to be a limited pause in the fighting after which the assault on rafah, the continuation of the deadly attacks inside gaza, 50,000 plus —— 15,000 inside gaza, 50,000 plus ——15,000 children, or is this going to be a sustained calm, as said in the document itself. the israeli prime minister is insisting that the war will continue and this is the analysis of many inside israel, many of the hostage families that are out

on the streets screaming and howling, protesting, the assessment is that the israeli government is committed to continuing the war and that perhaps what we see is both hamas and the israeli government testing the intentions of the biden administration. are they going to do what they can, including on the weapons transfers to israel, to force the hand of netanyahu? it may still take some time. were they going to fold and if this doesn't work they'll simply say, well, of course hamas is to blame and then go right back we started, unfortunately.- right back we started, unfortunately. right back we started, unfortunatel . ~ . ., unfortunately. what about the internal political _ unfortunately. what about the internal political pressure - unfortunately. what about the internal political pressure on | unfortunately. what about the i internal political pressure on mr netanyahu? where does that play into all this? i netanyahu? where does that play into all this? ~ , ., all this? i think it is that combination _ all this? i think it is that combination of- all this? i think it is that combination of the - all this? i think it is that . combination of the external all this? i think it is that - combination of the external and internal, because i think you only get to a potential internal tipping point if the external is

sufficiently robust. that is not just the us, the uk could send an important signal if it publishes the legal advice and makes its own designation on not sending weapons. at that internal question, what you haveis at that internal question, what you have is a more vociferous, angry protest but those protesters are still not tipping the balance. these are the kinds of protests, the kinds of numbers one saw over the judicial reform. you don't have even the so—called more centrist forces that have joined the cabinet leaving that cabinet or saying they will leave over this issue. you don't have a majority in the parliament to push netanyahu. so that's why i say inside, outside, thus far you're hearing not the netanyahu homebase but most of the rest of that kind of floating israel which hasn't really criticised the horrors that have been conducted, but you're hearing them say netanyahu is sabotaging a

deal, the move in rafah that is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis is not going to leverage a softening of the hamas position but it could undermine the ability to get that deal. it is also going to further complicate israel with cases pending at the international criminal court on war crimes and the international court ofjustice on israel's violations of the genocide convention.— violations of the genocide convention. . , ., violations of the genocide convention. ., , ., ., convention. daniel leavy, thanks for talkin: to convention. daniel leavy, thanks for talking to us. _ convention. daniel leavy, thanks for talking to us, thanks _ convention. daniel leavy, thanks for talking to us, thanks so _ convention. daniel leavy, thanks for talking to us, thanks so much. - still to come on the world today — the bbc understands the government suspects china was behind the hack of an armed forces payroll system. and tiktok files a legal challenge to a law that would ban app in the us unless it's sold to another company. around the world and across the uk. this is the world today on bbc news.

let's turn to a story here in the uk where the bbc understands the government suspects china was behind the hack of an armed forces payroll system.

prime minister rishi sunak, stopped short on naming the country responsible, but said a malign actor had compromised the payroll system. china has described the suggestion as fabricated and malicious slander. here's the uk defence secretary addressing mps in the house of commons. mr deputy speaker, for reasons of national security can't release security we can't release further details of the suspected cyber activity behind this incident. however, i can confirm to the house that we do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor, and we cannot rule out state involvement. this incident is further proof that the uk is facing rising and evolving threats, and as i said in my speech in lancaster house injanuary, the world is, i'm afraid, becoming somewhat more dangerous. 0ur security correspondent, gordon corera, explains why grant shapps stopped

short of naming china. we haven't had an official accusation against china, i think we should be clear about that. there is a process which is called attribution which the government does where it says, "we've looked at this incident and we think it was china". now, that can often take time. so, for instance, there was a breach of the uk's electoral commission, which happened about three years ago, and there's onlyjust been attributed to china. so that's how long it sometimes takes to publicly blame another country for something like that, because they want to be absolutely sure. so we have not had that public attribution of blame and we may not get it for some time. so there is an assumption, a suspicion from officials that this was indeed china, partly because of chinese behaviour in the past, because there had been these incidents where they've been going off on this kind of data set. brian lord is a former operation that gc hq, brian lord is a former operation that gc h0, and the protection group

international, thanks forjoining us here on the world today. what do you make of what is happening? some have blamed china, what do you think? i think the point he hasjust made is exactly right, attribution is a very very difficult thing and responsible governments do tend to be wanting to be absolutely sure of their facts before pointing fingers in that way. that said, the some of the nature of this type of attack is consistent with the historical activities of the chinese government, but is consistent with other adversarial governments as well. so while it's a fairly sound assumption to point the finger in that direction, i think the uk government, as it should be, needs to be absolutely sure that if it was china, china should be named. at the moment, i think simply because of the nature of these things, it does take time to have that level of assurance. find things, it does take time to have that level of assurance.- things, it does take time to have that level of assurance. and this is - re that level of assurance. and this is pretty embarrassing, _ that level of assurance. and this is

pretty embarrassing, isn't - that level of assurance. and this is pretty embarrassing, isn't it - that level of assurance. and this is pretty embarrassing, isn't it not, l pretty embarrassing, isn't it not, for the industry defence? it is embarrassing, _ for the industry defence? it is embarrassing, for _ for the industry defence? it is embarrassing, for a _ forthe industry defence? it 3 embarrassing, fora number of embarrassing, for a number of reasons. the first point the ministry of defence has made is that core operational data in other words the real deep deep secrets, the hope that the ministry of defence is not been compromised, but i think the embarrassment is one of two things. we shouldn't undermine the significance of an adversarial state or a malign actor as it's been called, having access to the names of potential addresses in the bank details of all of our armed forces. that creates a huge amount of un—settlement in the armed forces and theirfamilies. and the nature of the risk that they have, but more significantly as well, it is an embarrassment primarily because i think the issue is, how was this system breached? was a breach through the mod, or were re—led to understand through a universal contractor's —— external contractor. and their supply chain, for a ministry which is in the cross hairs

of other states in terms of cyber activity and indeed any other activity, particularly at this time of geopolitical tension, i think it is a great embarrassment that one of the most secure ministries of states has been breached whether directly or indirectly through a subcontractor.- or indirectly through a subcontractor. ., ~ , ., , or indirectly through a subcontractor. ., ~ , . subcontractor. thank you very much, brian, for talking _ subcontractor. thank you very much, brian, for talking to _ subcontractor. thank you very much, brian, for talking to us _ subcontractor. thank you very much, brian, for talking to us on _ subcontractor. thank you very much, brian, for talking to us on the - brian, for talking to us on the world today. tiktok and its chinese owner bytedance have filed a legal challenge to a law that would ban app in the us unless it's sold to another company. they called the act in extraordinary intrusion on free—speech rights. it has millions of american users. gary 0'donoghue is in washington with the very latest for us. tell us what he committed could mean for tiktok. jae

what he committed could mean for tiktok. , ., �* , ., , ., tiktok. joe biden signed a bill into law, as tiktok. joe biden signed a bill into law. as you _ tiktok. joe biden signed a bill into law. as you say. — tiktok. joe biden signed a bill into law. as you say. an _ tiktok. joe biden signed a bill into law, as you say, an ultimatum - law, as you say, an ultimatum effectively for bite dance to divest or face a shut down. , effectively for bite dance to divest orface a shut down. , and effectively for bite dance to divest or face a shut down. , and what the company is saying this is an infringement of the first amendment or free—speech amendment in the constitution. and they've had some success making the argument in other courts up till now, where individual states have tried to ban them. so this is likely to bubble all the way up this is likely to bubble all the way up to the supreme court eventually. and they will argue and have argued in this court filing that not only is this, there are constitutional problems but the demand put on them are as they put it, legally technically and commercially impossible. bytedance and tiktok have been spending a lot of money in the united states to persuade the authorities and users that their data is safe, they've got a whole kind of exercise called project texas where they've been spending

nearly $2 billion trying to persuade the authorities that the american�*s data isn't at risk to be transferred to the chinese government. that is the accusation from notjust republicans and democrats but from some other parts of the national security infrastructures here as well, and also one of the other concerns is that there may be, given that tiktok users are increasingly using the platform to get their news, there is some concern that that may be, that can easily influence or could influence the election coming up in november. gary, thank you. president vladimir putin has been sworn in for a new six—year term at a ceremony at the kremlin. putin, who's been in power as president or prime minister since 1999, now begins his new mandate more than two years after he sent tens of thousands of troops into ukraine. in march, vladimir putin won a landslide victory in a tightly controlled election from which two anti—war candidates were barred on technical grounds. britain, canada and most

european union nations decided to boycott the swearing? in, but france said it would send its ambassador. mr putin also said leading russia was "a sacred duty. 0ur russia editor, steve rosenberg reports from moscow. let's speak to james nixey, director of chatham house's russia, eurasia and europe programmes what you make of this inauguration? no surprise that the inauguration is going ahead, really, right? home going ahead, really, right? none whatsoever- _ going ahead, really, right? none whatsoever. they've _ going ahead, really, right? none whatsoever. they've done - whatsoever. they've done inaugurations before so they have to do one again, they have to make therefore a virtue of necessity and they make it look good, but plenty of pomp and circumstance, plenty of gold and bling, and this is designed to make putin look notjust among equals but reigning supreme amongst the russians, confidence and most importantly a winner as far as the word in ukraine is concerned. these were emphasised today in the

inauguration and will be on the 9th of may, the victory day parade. some countries are — of may, the victory day parade. some countries are boycotting _ of may, the victory day parade. some countries are boycotting the - countries are boycotting the inauguration, some are sending ambassadors. interesting that president mccone in france is sending one. i president mccone in france is sending one-— president mccone in france is sending one. president mccone in france is sendinaone. , ., sending one. i suppose that is to offset macron. it is the outlier, you might expect hungry, greece, slovakia these days, so france is definitely these days, so france is definitely the odd one out. mr these days, so france is definitely the odd one out.— these days, so france is definitely the odd one out. mr putin has had an unprecedented _ the odd one out. mr putin has had an unprecedented level _ the odd one out. mr putin has had an unprecedented level of _ the odd one out. mr putin has had an unprecedented level of power - the odd one out. mr putin has had an unprecedented level of power and - unprecedented level of power and another six years ahead. what do we think he's going to do with that time and that power? his priority is, time and that power? his priority is. number _ time and that power? his priority is, number one, _ time and that power? his priority is, number one, two, _ time and that power? his priority is, number one, two, three, - time and that power? his priority| is, number one, two, three, four, and five are to win that were in ukraine. he believes he can and he believes he's on the right track, they have a plausible theory of

victory which is predicated, has to be said, largely on the west not stepping up to the plate and not sustaining the course, not providing ukraine with insufficient assistance, they may well be right in that regard. 0bviously, he is... his mandate is secure, supposedly, but what is priorities are not are the betterment, enrichment of the russian population. that is way down his list of priorities. he's all about making the russian state grid again. find about making the russian state grid aaain. �* , , about making the russian state grid aaain.�* , , ,, about making the russian state grid aaain.�* , , ., again. and briefly if you could, do ou again. and briefly if you could, do you foresee _ again. and briefly if you could, do you foresee at _ again. and briefly if you could, do you foresee at any _ again. and briefly if you could, do you foresee at any point - again. and briefly if you could, do you foresee at any point in - again. and briefly if you could, do you foresee at any point in the - again. and briefly if you could, do i you foresee at any point in the near future, a time after mr putin? a time when he will no longer be leader of the country?- time when he will no longer be leader of the country? well, he is mortal, leader of the country? well, he is mortal. he's _ leader of the country? well, he is mortal, he's also _ leader of the country? well, he is mortal, he's also 71. _ leader of the country? well, he is mortal, he's also 71. this - leader of the country? well, he is mortal, he's also 71. this election gives him up until, for another six years, up until 77.

gives him up until, for another six years, up until77. he gives him up until, for another six years, up until 77. he could stand for another election taking him up to 83 years old, i suspect he can't last that long because the forces ranged against russia, systemic forces if you like, if the economy is so built on oil and gas exports and that's declining property if you like, it certainly means that russia will become poorer and poorer over the next... the next 12 years of his theoretical presidency. and therefore he won't be able to survive as a result. so we don't won't see putin around in 12 years' time. ., . won't see putin around in 12 years' time. . . ., ., ~ time. thanks so much, good to talk to ou. miss usa is relinquishing her title for her mental health. she represented the us at the miss universe competition. posting on instagram she said... " i prioritise decisions that feel best for you and

your mental health. " it has accepted her resignation, the organisation said the well—being of our titleholders is our top priority and we understand her need to acquire carries herself at this time. stay with us on the world today, more coming up including all the gossip from your vision which starts tonight. hello there. despite some cloud across northern areas, especially across scotland, much of the country had a pretty decent day today with a good deal of sunshine around. it felt quite warm through the afternoon. that's how we're keeping things for the rest of this week. always a bit more cloud across this northwest corner with some rain at times, particularly the north and west of scotland. by far, the bulk of the dry, sunny weather will be across england and wales. there may be the odd isolated shower here and there, but most places will stay dry. in fact, a pretty good looking week coming up all in all, thanks to high pressure which has been building in killing off the showers, pushing away the weather fronts. it's left a legacy of cloud, though, and that's what we're going to see again across parts

of the north of the uk and also some sea fog, some mist and murk here and there across the north sea coast in towards the irish sea as well, but generally dry for most with a few clear spells. temperatures 6—20 celsius. temperatures 6—10 celsius. high pressure then dominates. the scenes get a bit stronger across the country, so i think we'll see fewer showers for england and wales. but these weather fronts will bring thicker cloud, more of a breeze. outbreaks of rain to the northwest of the country, most places starting dry, a bit of mist and murk to start off with plenty of sunshine, england and wales, southern and eastern scotland, northern ireland. then we'll start to see splashes of rain with increasing breeze across the north and west of scotland into the afternoon. so13,11t degrees here, up to 20 for southern scotland, 21 or 22 in the warmest spots in england and wales, or winds generally like coming in from the south. light coming in from the south. wednesday night, most places dry again with clear spells, variable cloud. stays quite cloudy, breezy with outbreaks of rain across the northern half of scotland through the night and temperatures again six to around ten degrees. so, for thursday, then i think we'll see more sunshine

around across england and wales, a bit of a cloudy start. then the sunshine really gets going and i don't think there'll be any issues with the showers whatsoever — should stay completely dry. a bit more cloud for northern scotland. the odd shower here, but southern scotland, northern ireland doing pretty well. —19—20 degrees here, 22 or 23, the warmest spots across england and wales. high pressure continues to bring fine weather on friday and into the weekend as well, but it starts to retreat towards the continent and allows low pressure to take over initially from the west as we head through the latter parts of sunday. so it could be quite warm friday and certainly into the weekend across the south of the country. by the end of sunday, we start to see a few showers, i think, pushing into western areas. take care.

this is bbc news. the headlines. the adult film star stormy daniels is giving evidence in donald trump's hush money trial. the united nations urges israel to reopen two key crossing into gaza as talks are under way in cairo to agree to a cease—fire. prince harry is in london, but it's been confirmed that he won't be saying his father king charles this time. the eurovision contest kicks off in earnest tonight. who are the favourites to go through to the ground final? we will have all the very latest.

now to scotland, wherejohn swinney has been chosen as the new first minister after becoming the new snp leader. his predecessor, humza yousaf, formally tendered his resignation to the king today after announcing he would be standing down last week. with more, here's our scotland editorjames cook. john swinney is no stranger to this walk. he's been heading into holyrood since the day it opened. today, though, was different. it was the changing of the guard. and i call on humza yousaf. my heart will forever belong to scotland. so, to have the opportunity to defy the far right, to defy the racists, defy the bigots who told me to go home,