welcome to the show. we begin with the unfolding violence in the middle east, and israel's closest ally, the us, says there will be a daily four—hour military pause in northern gaza to allow civilians to flee to safer areas. to allow civilians to flee to saferareas. president to allow civilians to flee to safer areas. president biden said he pressed israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for the pause. did minister ben'amin netanyahu for the ause. , ,, minister ben'amin netanyahu for the ause. , ., ., the pause. did you ask him to -ause the pause. did you ask him to pause for _ the pause. did you ask him to pause for three _ the pause. did you ask him to pause for three days? - the pause. did you ask him to pause for three days? yes, i l pause for three days? yes, i asked for— pause for three days? yes, i asked for even _ pause for three days? yes, i asked for even longer. - pause for three days? yes, i asked for even longer. the | asked for even longer. the israel defence _ asked for even longer. the israel defence force - asked for even longer. the israel defence force insists this doesn't amount to a ceasefire, and these pauses are intended to allow in humanitarian aid and help civilians flee south along the evacuation route, escaping the intense bombardment of air strikes in the north. the state department said there would be two humanitarian quarters for people to flee to. people are leaving gaza on foot, arriving at refugee camps in the south. talks continue to free more than 240 hostages held in gaza.

the palestinian group islamic jihad released videos of hostages it claims to hold. stills show hanna katsir, a woman in her 70s, sitting in a wheelchair. the second hostage is a teenage boy. both hostages sharply criticise israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu but it is not clear if they are reading from a script. the israeli army called the video psychological terrorism. there are growing concerns about the conflict spreading. drawing on countries like yemen. more palestinians left their homes — moving along salah al—din street, the road to southern gaza, after israel said they would not be attacked if they left the battle zone to the north. pauses in israeli combat operations were welcomed by the americans. all this raises the ghosts of 1948 for palestinians, when more than 700,000 of them fled or were expelled byjewish troops as israel won its independence.

israel never allowed them home. two of the gaza hostages were in new videos. hanna katsir blamed benjamin netanyahu, israel's prime minister, for their plight. so did yagil yaakov, who's 13. hostage videos are usually made under duress, so the bbc is not broadcasting them. and across the west bank, the other side of the occupied territories, more palestinians were killed as armed groups fought israeli raids. the gaza war is igniting the west bank. the israeli army's reprisals included the destruction of roads and infrastructure. existing tension and hatred have been deepened. the danger remains of the war spreading across the middle east. in yemen, the houthi regime, an ally of iran, posted more videos of attacks on israel with missiles and drones.

so far, they've all been intercepted by american and israeli air defence systems. muhammed ali al—houthi, a senior man in the regime, gave the bbc an interview from yemen's capital, sana'a. he said islam legitimized attacks on israel, which he called "the entity". do you think the war here in gaza and israel can spread elsewhere in the region? translation: if the americans and the british and the french l continue backing this entity, or to participate in the war alongside this entity, this would be a normal response and result of the american and european attacks and movements. there are people who say that you're attacking israel because iran told you to. translation: we in yemen en'oy freedom and democracy more b than the british people are given these days, jeremy. the british people these days are unable to express

themselves freely. the secretary of state, ie home secretary, is calling to stop all demonstrations that back palestine. where is the freedom and the democracy that you enjoy in britain? not a straight answer. they were digging through the ruins in khan younis, part of the area of gaza israel has ordered civilians to get to. what is certain is the dispossession and loss suffered by palestinians caught up in israel's war to crush hamas. they might have dreams of home. many already know that israel has turned their homes to rubble. jeremy bowen, bbc news, southern israel. for more on the security situation in the middle east, i spoke with the white house national security spokesman. we are seeing that there will be daily four—hour pauses in fighting, president biden said

he has asked for a pause longer than three days. why are we seeing these limited timeframes? i think it's important to remember, each pause will be localised and specific for various purposes. we are constantly talking to our israeli partners about the importance of humanitarian pauses, and each will depend on the purpose, and on the conditions on the ground. so, yes, we would like to see more pauses, we would like to see longer pauses to get aid in and people out, we will keep having that conversation with our israeli partners. president biden was asked if he was frustrated with prime minister netanyahu, and he said, "it has taken a little longer than i had hoped." what exactly is he asking for, from the israeli prime minister? we have been talking to them since the beginning of the conflict, to make sure they have what they need to go after hamas, and we are continuing to provide security systems, and also, we are urging them to conduct operations in the most careful, deliberate and cautious way

possible so that civilian casualties can be minimized. that is why the announcement is so important, to make sure that civilians can get out of harm's way, they are not in the line of fire, between hamas and the israeli defence forces. the humanitarian pauses will go a long way to helping with that. even with these four—hour windows, and the humanitarian pauses, the aid coming in will not include fuel. we have talked to many aid organisations on the ground, and from the un, that fuel is absolutely critical, especially for hospitals to function. is that going to be included? we are going to continue to talk to our israeli partners about that. we agree that fuel is a critical commodity, notjust for the hospitals, but certainly a primary requirement for the desalination plants, to create fresh drinking water, and so much more. we know that and we are working

hard to make sure we can get more fuel in there. it has been more than a month of fighting, so why is it taking so long? there are some concerns, certainly from our israeli partners, about hamas being able to abscond with that with that fuel and use it for their own nefarious purposes. we understand that, it's a legitimate military concerns. we wouldn't want our enemies to get access to fuel to continue to kill our forces. so it's a legitimate concern, we are working through that with our israeli counterparts. it also has a critical counterpart to alleviating the suffering of the palestinian people in gaza, and we are going to keep working really hard to find a mechanism to get fuel in and make it available to those who really need it, and deserve it, for humanitarian purposes, and be able to limit and prevent hamas from getting their hands on it. certainly that is part of the discussions but i want to be careful, i don't want to negotiate much in detail here. we heard that a conflict

involving lebanon is not inevitable, but the bbc interviewed the isa is a deal is contingent on a longer pause in fighting? i’m longer pause in fighting? i'm not going _ longer pause in fighting? i'm not going to _ longer pause in fighting? i“n not going to negotiate in public, but as you talked about, when you talk about securing the release of hostages, it's notjust the deal to get them released, its about getting them safe passage so they can get to safety, get to the medical care, get to theirfamilies. so in the context of getting hostages released, yes, you are going to have to have a pause in the fighting for at least a period of time, ours is not days, over a localised area, depending where the hostages are. that's part of the discussions but i don't want to negotiate in detail here.— don't want to negotiate in detailhere. , ., ., ., , detail here. just a follow-up, the un says _ detail here. just a follow-up, the un says a _ detail here. just a follow-up, the un says a ceasefire - detail here. just a follow-up, the un says a ceasefire is - the un says a ceasefire is needed not only to get aid in

but to get hostages safely out. so the us doesn't agree with that assessment?— so the us doesn't agree with that assessment? look, when we talk about ceasefire, _ that assessment? look, when we talk about ceasefire, that - that assessment? look, when we talk about ceasefire, that is - that assessment? look, when we talk about ceasefire, that is a - talk about ceasefire, that is a permanent cessation of hostilities, as you come to the end of a conflict. and you are beginning to talk about peace negotiations or the end of it. that is not what we support, the president was clear about that today, we don't support a ceasefire, because that would give hamas more advantage, time and breathing space. it would also legitimise what they did on october the 7th. the israeli defence forces are going after the hamas leadership and we believe they have every right and responsibility to have that valid fight and we will support them. what we do support is temporary pauses for specific purposes, getting hostages out and getting aid in.— and getting aid in. admiral, there is one _ and getting aid in. admiral, there is one more - and getting aid in. admiral, there is one more aspect, l and getting aid in. admiral, l there is one more aspect, an armed drone targeted a us base in northern iraq on thursday, the us carried out air strikes in syria on a facility used by

iran on wednesday. is this a sign that the conflict is already escalating? we believe the attacks _ already escalating? we believe the attacks on _ already escalating? we believe the attacks on our— already escalating? we believe the attacks on our forces - already escalating? we believe the attacks on our forces in - the attacks on our forces in iraq and syria, and our responses to those attacks are separate and distinct from what's going on with israel and hamas. i can't speak for what is motivating the proxy groups to increase attacks on us, but i can tell you, they have a choice to make. if they keep attacking our troops in iraq and syria, we are going to keep responding and they are responsible for those consequences.- responsible for those conseuuences. ., ., consequences. your colleague said they do — consequences. your colleague said they do not _ consequences. your colleague said they do not believe - consequences. your colleague said they do not believe a - said they do not believe a conflict involving lebanon is inevitable, but in an interview, the second in command for hezbollah said... what is your response to that? we would agree with our special

envoy, of course we don't believe it's inevitable that this conflict should be escalated. in fact, almost everything we have done in the early hours, and since, has been to try to prevent that outcome, by adding additional force in the region, two carrier strike groups, additional air missile defence, fighter aircraft, to send a strong signal to anybody, iran, hezbollah, that this is not the time to take advantage and escalate the conflict. to date, as you and i are talking, we haven't seen any of those actors take that step to deepen and widen the conflict. we will monitor closely and we have the capability to defend our national security interests in the region and we are not essay to use that capability if it comes to it.— to use that capability if it l comes to it._ -- to use that capability if it - comes to it._ -- we comes to it. thank you. -- we are not _ comes to it. thank you. -- we are not afraid. _ comes to it. thank you. -- we are not afraid. since _ comes to it. thank you. -- we are not afraid. since the - comes to it. thank you. -- we are not afraid. since the start| are not afraid. since the start ofthe are not afraid. since the start of the war. — are not afraid. since the start of the war, people _ are not afraid. since the start of the war, people inside - are not afraid. since the start| of the war, people inside gaza have been documenting their lives for our colleagues on bbc

news arabic. colleague was living in jabalia. news arabic. colleague was living injabalia. —— college. where can we go? on october the 9th, where can we go? on october the 9th. israeli _ where can we go? on october the 9th, israeli fighter— where can we go? on october the 9th, israeli fighterjets _ where can we go? on october the 9th, israeli fighterjets carry - 9th, israeli fighter jets carry out 9th, israeli fighterjets carry out a deadly air strike on jabalia north of gaza city. israel says it is targeting hamas infrastructure. translation: $5 hamas infrastructure. tuna/mom- hamas infrastructure. translation: m ., ,, y translation: as i am speaking to ou translation: as i am speaking to you now. _ translation: as i am speaking to you now. air _ translation: as i am speaking to you now, air strikes, - translation: as i am speaking to you now, air strikes, a - to you now, air strikes, a number of houses were targeted as i speak to you. i'm sorry i won't be able to speak for long because of the massacre. israeli planes bombed a number of buildings. some are still under the rubble. most of them are women and children. he

rubble. most of them are women and children.— and children. he stayed in north gaza, _ and children. he stayed in north gaza, he _ and children. he stayed in north gaza, he is - and children. he stayed in. north gaza, he is caring for his young cousins. 0n on october 13th, the israel defence forces warned i.i defence forces warned 1.1 million people in north gaza to move to the south. 0ctober october 14th, she leaves gaza city and travels south, sending voice notes to us during the journey.

0ctober october 20th, as air strikes continue in the south of gaza, thousands returned to the north. she is among them. 0ctober october 25th, he and his family are running out of food. 0ctober october 27th, her situation deteriorates.

the bbc lost contact with him following an air strike on jabalia refugee camp on october sist. she is still in touch with us. tonight she says she is still at home in gaza city, she says she is trapped and very afraid as they are surrounded by the idf. this is bbc news. britain told that home secretary faces questions on her future after defying downing street over an article accusing the police of bias. suella braverman claimed aggressive right—wing protesters were rightly met with stone response while so palestinian mobs were largely

ignored. the article was not cleared by the prime minister was my office. —— with a strong response. step away from politics and home secretary and all that kind of stuff, and put it in your own world. if you went to work and you chose to undermine the boss, then you did undermine the boss, then you publicly humiliated the boss, would it leave your job security prospect enhanced or diminished? a spokesperson for the prime minister said downing street is looking into the article but they added that rishi sunak had full confidence in the home secretary. miss braverman is popular on the right of her party, and is seen as possible future conservative leader. and she often takes a harder line than many her colleagues on crime and immigration. west virginia senatorjoe manchin says he won't run for re—election.

it comes at the end of the week which had little controversy. i discussed this with his communications director from 2013-2020, now communications director from 2013—2020, now a partner at a lobbying firm, and the editor of the website inside elections. starting with jonathan, the former communications director forjoe manchin, were you surprised with the news? i wasn't, i know he's been frustrated with the political bickering and the partisanship in the senate for years. it's a complaint he's had and something he has tried to fix. since he got to the senate. so i'm not surprised. i was a little surprised he did it today given how close we are to the filing deadline. but when manchin makes a decision, he announces it to the world the second it's set in his mind. i want to get nathan's thoughts — what do you think? if manchin had run for re—election, democrats were still

going to lose the seat. now that he is not running, republicans are definitely going to win the seat. manchin has an impressive track record of winning over decades in west virginia, but the state has been running to the right, towards republicans. i think the senator is smart enough that he felt the ground shifting underneath him, and he knew he was going to be in for a very difficult race. this just crystallises that democrats already that democrats already had a difficult path to maintaining control of the senate and this makes it a reality. as manchin said, speaking out and mobilizing the middle... possibly preparing a presidential run? i think we are seeing him getting ready to go around the country and see if there is a group of people in the middle who want to be a more powerful voice. i think he believes the fringes on both parties are destructive to the centre, which is where most of americans are.

i think he's going to try to mobilize those people and see if there is an appetite for something bigger than just mobilizing them and having conversations. something bigger, maybe even the presidency, let's see. nathan, you just said about what this means for democrats in 2024 — do they have any chance at this point of holding the senate? they have a chance, but they basically have to run the table. republicans need a net gain of two seats to gain control. right now, they have a net gain of one. if each party wins the seats they have now, and republicans win the white house, the republicans would have control because the new vice president would break the tie. if president biden wins re—election, republicans need another senate seat. they have six or seven other opportunities to take over a seat they don't already have, including two great opportunities in ohio, in montana, where trump is likely to win, even if he doesn't win the presidential race.

do you agree with that? i still think the democrats have a strong shout. john tester, well—known in montana... for those of us who have watched yellowstone, they don't take kindly to outsiders. brown has won repeatedly in his state. much like joe manchin — there was a recent poll put out which had manchin within a few points ofjim justice. had he run, he would have been a formidable opponent in the state. he has won a lot of races and he knows where every vote is personally. we won't find out, but that is a good point. nathan, now we have seen three republican presidential debates and donald trump is still far and away the leader, do you think we will start to see the field narrow even more? it doesn't look like it in the near future. particularly, you have both ron desantis and nikki haley believing they are

the one in the strongest position to be that alternative to trump. as long as everyone believes they have a path, no—one wants to cede ground. the presidential race is important to these senate races, and to the house races, because there is a strong correlation to how voters vote at the top of the ticket and down ballot. in 2020, only one stated voted a party for president and the other for the senate, and that was maine, where they voted for biden and senator susan collins, the republican. what happens at the top of the ticket has a down ballot effect. we saw some polls coming out this week that were pretty bad for the incumbent president biden, showing donald trump leading, in the new york times poll, in five swing states. do you think we will see a change of strategy from president biden looking ahead to 2024?

i don't think so, i would just suggest they act more like donald trump and tout his accomplishments. donald trump used to have a rally and a press conference and lots of tweets about nothing, no actual accomplishments. joe biden has had historic levels of accomplishments... i think he needs to get out more and sell it and tell it. i would also point out that the polls in those states, itjust so happens democrats keep winning every election, so the polls might show one thing, but democratic policies are actually what the voters liked, not republican policies. democratic policies whenjoe biden�*s name is not on the ballot? even though democrats had a great week in elections, it was in spite of biden, not because of him. he is still in a weak position. what democrats need is they need this election to be a choice between biden and a flawed alternative,

in donald trump, or focused on republicans. a reason democrats did so well is voters are focused on abortion access, and what republicans want to do... if the focus is — do you think president biden is doing a good job or not? that's not going to go well for democrats, so they have to make the case and point to the alternative which is going to be worse than the status quo. five seconds each, nathan first, is this going to be a trump biden match—up? yes, i think so. yes. thank you so much for being on bbc news. a new yorkjury has ordered robert de niro's production company to pay his former personal assistant more than $1 million. the company was found guilty of engaging in gender discrimination against chase robinson. she quit his company in 2019.

robinson says the star underpaid her, made sexist comments and assigned her stereotypically female tasks when she worked as an executive. de niro testified that her allegations were nonsense. he was not found personally liable in the civil trial. jared leto is going to great lengths and heights to promote his and's upcoming world tour. he climbed the empire state building in new york, saying the iconic structure was a testament of all the things that can be done in the world if we put our minds to it. he added that such inspiration was added that such inspiration was a driving force behind the band's latest album. he admitted the climb was harder than he thought it would be. his band, 30 seconds to mars, will kick off their tour next march. that is our show. some images right now of gaza city, where it is morning. seems to be relatively quiet. you can

see smoke rising on the horizon. we know the israeli defence forces have said they have encircled and made quite a bit of progress, so we will keep watching the pictures for you. thank you for watching bbc news, stay with us. hello there. the weekend is just around the corner and it could be cooler, but quieter. more details on that injust a moment. but for friday, we still got some showers around and they'll be a real nuisance first thing in the morning across wales and south west england, driven along by some strong to gale force gusts of winds on exposed coasts. the good news is that'll push those showers through at quite a pace, moving south of the m4 corridor during the early morning and probably clearing the kent coast before lunch. behind it, quite a clearance, some sunny spells coming through. the winds still coming from a northerly direction, that'll drive in a few showers across exposed coasts of scotland, northern ireland and maybe running down through the irish sea. but temperatures generally

a little bit more subdued than of late. we're looking at 7—12 degrees as the overall high. now, into the start of the weekend, it looks likely that saturday will be mostly fine and dry — there'll be some sunshine around. there will be some rain on sunday, but into the west and it will take its time. frost and fog could be an issue, too. so with this little ridge of high pressure building on saturday, hence the reason the quiet start, the wind direction still coming from the north — a cooler source. so temperatures are going to be struggling a little, but there will be plenty of sunshine. early morning fog will lift, sunshine come through and highs again peaking between 6—11 celsius, generally, across the country. now, as we move out of saturday into sunday, that frontal system starts to push in from the atlantic. it's going to take its time in doing so, but it will throw in a little bit more moisture into the atmosphere. so there's a greater chance of some more dense fog which could linger. so early on sunday morning, if you're heading out for remembrance services,

it's certainly worth bearing in mind that it could be chilly and it could be pretty murky. widespread fog, some of that pretty stubborn to clear away. and if that does happen, the temperatures really will be impacted. there will be some rain by the end of the afternoon out to the west as well, highs of 6—11 once again. now, as we move into monday and tuesday, we're back to more of a south—westerly wind and more frontal systems pushing in from the atlantic, which means it will get that little bit milder once again. but unfortunately, there's going to be showers or longer spells of rain returning for most of us. that's it. have a great weekend.

hey, i'm zof, with the catch up. our top story: hundreds of mcdonald's employees say they've seen things like harassment, sexual abuse, racism and bullying, after an investigation into how staff are treated. injuly, more than 100 mcdonald's workers told the bbc about a toxic culture. now one group are planning legal action and mps are going to question the company's uk boss. ed was 16 when he started working at mcdonald's and says a senior manager repeatedly asked him for sex.

i would get really upset about going into work and i would cry a lot before my shift. the uk boss of mcdonald's says after the first investigation, he immediately ordered measures to address things and says he's completely determined to root out any behaviour that falls below high standards the company demands. the dad of liverpool footballer luis diaz has been released by colombian rebels nearly two weeks after he was abducted in the family's home town in northern colombia. liverpool's boss, jurgen klopp, says diaz was really happy and the club are delighted by the news. and top gear presenter chris harris says co—host freddie flintoff is healing after his huge crash while filming for the show. the former cricketer was injured last december, but we don't know a lot about what happened. freddie was first seen back in public in september with scars on his face. and time now for ten seconds of a wavy world record.

australian surfer laura enever paddled into this huge wave,