israel says it's preparing a more targeted operation in northern gaza to root out hamas while seeking to free remaining hostages. it comes amid more deadly israeli shelling of the gaza strip. and as ships in the red sea come under attack by iranian—backed houthi rebels, we take a look at how alternate shipping routes are driving prices up. i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. we begin with fresh concerns about violence spreading in the middle east, after a top hamas leader was killed in an explosion in a suburb of beirut on tuesday. thousands of people attended the funeral of saleh al—arouri in the lebanese capital on thursday. crowds carried banners with his picture and waved palestinian and hamas flags

through the streets. hezbollah — a powerful paramilitary and political group in lebanon — blamed that attack on what it has called flagrant israeli aggression. israel has not claimed responsibility. our middle east correspondent, hugo bachega, is in beriut with the latest. crowds gathered in beirut for the funeral of saleh al—arouri, the deputy hamas leader who was assassinated in an attack here in beirut, on tuesday. some people were carrying placards with his face, some were waving hamas and palestinian flags. and this assassination was a blow for hamas, but it also hit its lebanese allies, hezbollah, because it happened in an area of beirut that is a stronghold of hezbollah. so this has raised fears of a wider regional conflict, but there have been some indications that both hezbollah and israel are willing to take steps to avoid an escalation

in their confrontation. we heard from the israeli defense minister, yoav gallant, who said the israeli authorities were determined to change the security situation in northern israel to allow the return of thousands residents who have been evacuated because of those constant attacks by hezbollah. but he also said there was a short window of opportunity for a diplomatic solution to the crisis there. and those comments followed a speech by the influential leader of hezbollah — hassan nasrallah — in which he described the assassination that happened here in beirut as a flagrant israeli aggression. but crucially, he did not make any threat to act against israel. now, hassan nasrallah is expected to address his supporters again on friday, and any response from hezbollah is likely to be measured to avoid a strong israeli response and a potential catastrophic conflict

for lebanon. the israel defense forces have confirmed that three israelis who were considered missing since the hamas attack on 7 october are now recognised as being held hostage in gaza. according to israeli officials, this brings the number of people still being held to 132. 100 of the approximately 250 adults and children taken hostage during the attacks have been released. nearly three months after they were taken, the families of those who are still in captivity continue to campaign for their release. that includes the family of 35—year—old sagui dekel—chen. his step—mother gillian kaye described the international community's handling of the situation so far. iam nota i am not a politician. i am a parent, so i will say that we

understand that all of the players, the united states, qatar, egypt and israel, people are working to try to, we hope, move this forward immediately. hamas seems to be the problem and we are just asking, do more, everyone. and we are both wonderful experience with the american administration and president biden we know they're doing all they can, pulling every level that is available. we have to keep saying do more to everyone. separately, israel's defence minister, yoav gallant, has been outlining the idf�*s next stage of its operations in gaza. mr gallant said it would include a new targeted approach in northern gaza and a continued search for hamas leaders in the south. he also said that after the war, hamas would no longer control gaza. mr gallant said that as long as there was no threat to israel, palestinians would control gaza. a regional branch of the islamic state has

claimed responsibility for a deadly dual explosion in iran earlier this week. the country held a day of mourning on thursday, after 84 people were killed by explosions. they happened near an event to mark the fourth anniversary of the killing of the iranian general qassem soleimani in a us drone strike. washington says they are in no position to doubt the responsibility of isis—k, an islamist extremist group seeking to merge eastern iran with afghanistan. uk monitoring officials say a merchant vessel in the arabian sea was attacked by a group of armed people. it's the 25th attack or hijacking of a commercial ship in the region since mid—november, the majority of attacks happening in the red sea. houthi rebels have vowed to continue attacks on ships in the red sea in support of hamas, despite several countries warning of retaliation. most shipping companies are now avoiding the region and opting to take a safer route, adding about nine days to routes. merchants are now warning

consumers that their products could be delayed. carriers have already diverted more than $200 billion worth of trade over the past several weeks. the bbc�*s katy austin takes a look. the string of attacks on vessels by houthi rebels in the red sea means delays and increased shipping costs for businesses here in the uk. literally, 100% of the lines are delayed. the difficulty what we have is that a valentine's day order is no good to a customer and a consumer on 15 february. here's the problem — on this map, you can see the difference that avoiding the red sea makes to the journey of goods coming to europe from asia. they'd use it to reach the suez canal, through which 30% of the world's shipping—container volume passes. the alternative route is around africa's cape of good hope. the extra 3,500 nautical miles can take 10 days longer.

this animated video shows the movements of container ships in the few days after the first attack in november. compare that to the past three days. you can see just how many are now taking the longer route. today, next became the latest major retailer to warn deliveries of its stock could be delayed. hopefully, it would be resolved in the next month or so, but if it isn't, what we're likely to see is probably slightly reduced choice of the things we'd normally see in things like clothing retailers, in electrical retailers, and also maybe longer delivery times, particularly of new products, because they will take longer to take come from the factories in the far east to our stores here in britain. the united states, britain and ten other countries have warned rebel forces in yemen that they will face consequences if attacks on commercial ships continue, warning they posed a direct threat to freedom of navigation. i'm not going to spell that out but it is quite clear to me - that this is _ unacceptable, illegal. it is not to do with gaza

or israel, this is about. the freedom of navigation and the ability of ships . to carry their cargo - and the world economy, every economy, will sufferj if ships keep coming under attack in this illegal i and unacceptable way. global shipping has been rocked by other crises in the past few years — the huge container ship ever given got stuck in the suez canal in 2021, and the covid pandemic caused extensive supply—chain disruption. how much of a headache this latest problem becomes for businesses and consumers will depend on how long the threat to one of the world's biggest trade routes continues. katy austin, bbc news. joining me now to discuss all of this, is firas maksad — a senior fellow at the middle east institute. and an adjunct professor at george washington university. thank you very much for being with us in the studio this evening. firas, i'd like to start with the killing of the deputy hamas leader in beirut. and that impacting on the hezbollah stronghold.

the leader of hezbollah hassan nazrallah spoke yesterday, he said that this would not go unpunished but he seemed ambiguous as to exactly what a response could be. what do you think hezbollah might do, if anything? hassan nasrallah did not give it away yesterday, he will talk to maurice arutyunyan and perhaps reveal some. it's important to point out the current status quo that prevailed over the past 2.5 months since the conflict in gaza started suits hezbollah very well. hezbollah and the israeli and responses before agrees and warfare, taking the fight israel any form of cross border skirmishes and harassment, forcing it to divert resources and soldiers up divert resources and soldiers up to the northern border away from gaza, however show support to palestinians and microtubules stopping short of war. all—out war is not necessarily hezbollah plasma interests are if we were to reduce conclusions from yesterday, it seems indicate

hezbollah does not want to retaliate to the assassination in beirut even though it did cross hezbollah�*s guidelines, explicit warnings prior to the attack that if israel attacked hamas individuals in the baton, has well retaliate but it seems that being careful. i has well retaliate but it seems that being careful.— that being careful. i wonder ou that being careful. i wonder you think — that being careful. i wonder you think this _ that being careful. i wonder you think this leaves - that being careful. i wonder you think this leaves the . you think this leaves the government in lebanon. the country as well will be cognisant of the events and the war in 2006 and have that in the back of its mind. cannot do anything to cool the situation or do you think this is more in the hands of iran as a pack of hezbollah?— hezbollah? the israeli officials _ hezbollah? the israeli officials are _ hezbollah? the israeli officials are not - hezbollah? the israeli. officials are not missing a chance to remind the lebanese that they can do on to gaza and the lebanese didn't want that. level nine the suffering under the burden of a catastrophic economic collapse but even hezbollah�*s own constituency does not what war even though they support the group but at they support the group but at the end of the day as well as

the end of the day as well as the most part or nonstate actor in the world, much more powerful than the lebanese army and government and i'm afraid if the lebanese matt gutman is diluted issuing statements of condemnation and minor reports of the un calling for the israeli attack to be condemned. israeli attack to be condemned. i want to touch on the situation in gaza and we have had your comments from israeli defence minister us balard who said the idf will move to more targeted operations in gaza and has had as long as there is no threat to israel palestinians would control gaza after the war. what do you make of those comments, is it a change in turn? it comments, is it a change in turn? , ., ., ., turn? it is and will have to wait to see _ turn? it is and will have to wait to see housing - turn? it is and will have to wait to see housing of- turn? it is and will have to - wait to see housing of account thatis wait to see housing of account that is particularly given there are differences of opinion in the coalition government in israel. there is a lot of us pressure on israel and bibi netanyahu to move and started talk about the day after. i think what the israelis would prefer that we curiously want to maintain control of the security dynamics of gaza but a very open perhaps, perhaps more now,

to give some palestinians control over the administrative aspect or economic aspects of running the gaza strip. you mention — running the gaza strip. you mention some _ running the gaza strip. you mention some pressure - running the gaza strip. you mention some pressure from the us administration. what do you think the us can do here, looking at the regional tensions and the situation in the red sea as an example, to try to de—escalate things? we know the us does not speak to has followed directly but additively will be in the region. additively will be in the reuion. ~ ., additively will be in the reuion. ., �*, region. what could he do? it's the first time _ region. what could he do? it's the first time since _ region. what could he do? it's the first time since the - region. what could he do? it's the first time since the war . the first time since the war started 2.5 months ago that i'm hearing senior us officials very concerned about the prospects of the war frog leaping beyond gaza. lebanon is a primary contender in terms of a primary contender in terms of a second front but we also had a second front but we also had a killing of a primary priority earlier in israel, undertaken by the us. so i'm hearing concerns and for biden it does not bode well, it is an election year, a water middle east in which the us get a draft is not good for the polls

add geopolitically this is not whether they to be, its ministration wants to focus on great car commission, pushing back on china and russia, the war in ukraine, severe and tangled ina war in ukraine, severe and tangled in a war in the middle eastis tangled in a war in the middle east is not what they want but this is the way things are going now, the wrong direction for the biden administration. is there anything they can do, briefly? is there anything they can do, briefl ? ., , ., briefly? find lebanon they are enuuaed briefly? find lebanon they are engaged to — briefly? find lebanon they are engaged to and _ briefly? find lebanon they are engaged to and president - engaged to and president biden's and boys are in israel to try to broker an understanding. the parameters of those is one that would polyp on the way from the border. israel has not been able to bring back the 75,000 people who used to live in northern israel and are too afraid to return. there are discussions about potentially has developed pollard back from the border in exchange for an israeli withdrawal from disputed points on the border but it's still in the very early stages. firas maksad, a senior fellow at the middle east institute. good to have your analysis.

thank you. the white house says it has uncovered evidence that russia is using north koeran ballistic missiles against ukraine. it says russia used the missiles in at least two attacks this week. the us also says russia is also engaged in talks with iran to obtain close—range ballistic missiles. white house national security council spokesman john kirby condemned the moves. this is a significant and concerning escalation and the dprk support for russia. in return principle we assess that pyongyang is seeking military assistance from russia including fighter aircraft, surface—to—air missiles, armoured vehicles, ballistic missiles production equipment or materials and other advanced technologies. the most effective response to the russian horrific males against ukrainian people is continue providing you create with vital our defence capabilities and other military equipment and to do that we need congress to approve out supplemental request for ukraine without

delay. republicans in congress have blocked president biden's $61 billlion request for aid to ukraine for more than two months. republican house speaker mike johnson says the request will not be approved until a deal is met on us immigration policies. a court in argentina suspended changes to labour laws issued by the country's new presidentjavier milei. he wants to loosen laws on employment contracts, severence payments, and parental leave, without the approval of argentina's congress, which is controlled by the opposition. as a candidate, mr milei promised to take a chainsaw to government regulation and spending, arguing radical reforms are needed to avert what he calls social catastrophe in argentina. alongside opposition in congress, mr milei faces stiff opposition from trades unions who've called a general strike for later this month. there have been frequent street protests in the capital, buenos aires, since mr milei took office. another batch of us court documents in thejeffrey epstein case have been released. it comes after 900 pages

were unsealed, with dozens of references to the uk's prince andrew, including testimony from a young woman who says that prince andrew groped her. the documents name high profile associates and friends of the late convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. the records form part of a civil case against ghislaine maxwell, epstein's british ex—girlfriend who's in prison in the us for assisting him. prince andrew has previously denied all the allegations against him. 0ur north america correspondent gary 0'donoghue has more on what we know so far. jeffrey epstein was a billionaire financier but he was also a serial abuser of underage girls. he knew some of the best—known faces on the planet, from british royalty to pop stars, to former presidents. these latest court documents contain more than 60 references to prince andrew, and some to bill clinton. back in 2002, donald trump

described him as a "terrific guy" and a lot of fun to be with. neither of the former presidents have been accused of wrongdoing in the epstein saga. but prince andrew's long friendship with epstein was what ended his public royal role. these latest documents contain testimony from one woman, johanna sjoberg, who said prince andrew touched her breast while holding the hand of a puppet of himself against another woman's breast. buckingham palace has in the past categorically denied all allegations. another of epstein's accusers, virginia giuffre, said she met andrew on a number of occasions and was directed to have sex with the prince when she was 17 years old. despite a photo showing them together, the prince said he had no recollection of meeting her. and i've said consistently and frequently, that we never had any sort

of sexual contact whatever. in 2022, the prince settled a civil case brought by virginia giuffre against him for an undisclosed amount, and withdrew from public life. the documents also contain some bizarre elements, including an email to one—time girlfriend, ghislaine maxwell, who's serving 20 years for sex trafficking. in the poorly—spelt message, epstein offers to pay anyone who would deny that the late renowned physicist stephen hawking had taken part in an orgy on epstein's private island. many of epstein's victims, who endured years of not being believed, campaigned hard for the release of these names and documents. they were, of course, already being denied their ultimate wish — to see epstein put on trial — as he hanged himself before facing justice. gary 0'donaghue, bbc news. around the world and across

the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at a story making headlines in the uk. rishi sunak says the uk's much—anticipated general election is likely to be held "in the second half of this year." speaking on a visit in nottinghamshire, the british prime minister did not rule out an earlier vote but said his "working assumption" was that it would be later this year. an election has to be held by january of 2025. parts of the uk are facing hundreds of flood alerts and warnings as more rain is expected. nottinghamshire county council has declared a major incident in the county. it says this is due to rising river levels on the river trent caused by storm henk. the council says villages along the trent valley are most at risk, and that water levels on the river could reach their highest levels since 2000. researchers say they've created the first working semiconductor made from graphene instead of silicon. it paves the way for smaller, faster and more efficient devices. graphene, a form of carbon, is just one atom thick but 100 times

stronger than steel. many modern devises use it. you're live with bbc news. millions of young people in china are struggling to find a job as the country's economic downturn has led to historically high youth unemployment. it's believed more than one in five 16 to 2a—year—olds arejobless in china, although the government stopped releasing the statistics after last august. fixing the crisis could be one of the biggest challenges facing the government in 202a. 0ur correspondent laura bicker has been to southwest china to meet young people struggling to find work. joy is the first person in herfamily to get a university degree. 0nly around one third of her class have found full—timejobs. she is taking a job in sales, not her dream career, but she is determined to make

the most of every opportunity. do you think it is more difficult now than when your parents were growing up to get a job? translation: yes. the fact is that there are lots ofjobs. the trouble is whether you are willing to lower your expectations. these jobs don't have good prospects for your future. they offer low salaries and you are easily replaceable. that is why most people would rather stay at home than choose one of these jobs. some disillusioned graduates posted photos on social media suggesting their degrees were worthless. 0thers lay on the ground, lying flat it is called, a term used by young people opting out of the competition of modern life. as the number of young, unemployed people continued to rise, the chinese leader, president xi, came up with an idea. for decades, young people have left rural areas such as this, they have gone to big cities to study and find a job. he wants them to come back, get employment here, and revitalise rural economies.

the problem is young people are finding it is not that easy. manyjobs in the country are lower paid and require fewer skills. even in the city, at this job fair in beijing, there is a skills gap. most of the openings don't need a masters degree. mr xi wants the next generation to "eat bitterness". a way of saying, just suck it up. but after enduring years of strict covid lockdowns, many young people don't want a hard life. this woman has a marketing degree from a city a few hours' drive from beijing. after a few months of searching she has taken a job in customer service, for now. both she and her boyfriend want to work, but the pandemic also changed their outlook on life. translation: my parents are less educated. - the things they've encountered,

the places they've visited, are few and limited. they have never left their home province. they just want a stable life. but we want to see more things, see the outside world and think about what we really dream of. studying hard no longer guarantees a glittering career in china. the post—covid generation is adjusting its expectations and finding its own way through an ailing job market. leaders will hope to get a grip on this crisis in the next year in case it festers into a more troublesome generational discontent. laura bicker, bbc news. let's turn to some other news around the world. authorities says a sixth grade student was killed by a 17—year—old at a high school in perry, iowa. five others were injured in the shooting. police say the shooter, who was armed with a pump action shotgun and a small calibre handgun, was found dead with a self—inflicted gunshot wound. police also say they found

an improvised explosive device while searching the building. after more than 2,000 people plunged to their deaths off san francisco's golden gate bridge since it opened in 1937, the iconic structure now has a suicide net. work has now been completed on 20—foot—wide stainless steel mesh nets on both sides of the 1.7 mile—long bridge, that began in 2018. it comes after two decades of persistent advocacy from a group of parents who lost their children to suicide at the bridge. peru says a recent discovery of unrecorded bird species has set a record. the peruvian bird record committee says the country's total of 1,879 avian species makes it home to the greatest diversity of birds in the world. it's also big business for the country. peru says birdwatching draws in 25% of foreign tourism there.

finally, british actress glynis johns, who played mrs banks in the original mary poppins movie, has died at the age of 100. johns was a tony—award winning stage and screen star who appeared in dozens of films over her 60—year career. she was best known for playing the suffragette mother in the 1964 musical, mary poppins. johns also introduced the world to the sondheim classic, send in the clowns, during the original broadway run of a little night music in the 1970s. in a statement, her manager said that in her passing �*we mourn the end of the golden age of hollywood.�* you're watching bbc news. i'm helena humphrey, in washington dc. thanks for your company. remember there is plenty more news and analysis on our website or download our app. i'll be back at the top of the hour. dojoin me then.

hello. after the exceptional rainfall and the significant flooding of the last few days, you may well be pleased to hear that the weather is set to change. the next few days will be drier, yes, also colder, but i'm sure some lower temperatures will be a small price to pay for less in the way of rain. we certainly saw some rain on thursday in the south of the uk, thanks to this hook of cloud. that's an area of low pressure still close by for the first part of friday morning, still bringing some rain across eastern parts of england. we've also still got some showery rain from this weather system, centred across the north of scotland. so, as we head through the morning on friday, yes, still a little bit of rain across eastern england, quite a brisk wind, as well. still windy for the northern isles, and generally cloud and some showery rain across the north—east of scotland. further west, though, some brighter skies, some spells of sunshine and, while there will be some showers, there probably won't be too many, and a decent amount of dry weather. those temperatures a touch lower than they have been — 6 degrees for aberdeen, nine for cardiff, for plymouth, maybe 10 for

the channel islands. and then, as we head through friday night, we'll keep some quite large amounts of cloud, especially across the eastern half of the uk, with some showery rain. drier out west with some clear spells and just one or two showers. that will give rise to some fog patches and a touch of frost for some. temperatures across parts of northern england, scotland, northern ireland are likely to drop below freezing. so, frost and fog to start the day for some of us on saturday. quite a lot of cloud across the eastern half of england. that will break up to some extent, and i think we will see some spells of sunshine. just one or two showers here and there, but a much drier story than we've been used to. temperatures coming down again, 5—9 celsius at best. through saturday nights, the last remnants of this weather system really clearing away, as high pressure builds more strongly across the uk. that will set us up actually for the forecast for next week and certainly on sunday, we're looking at a lot of dry weather. some early mist and fog, touch of frost in places, but some spells of sunshine. small chance of one or two showers maybe across northeast scotland,

also grazing the southeast of england and the channel islands. and it certainly will be a colder—feeling day, 3—7 degrees. and actually, into the start of the new week, the winds will really pick up across the south, so that will add to what will be a really cold feel to the weather. but it'll be a mostly dry week ahead, some spells of sunshine with some frost and some fog at night.

the devastating consequences from the politically—charged war in the gaza strip spills over into the business community. plus, travellers continue to spend big, undeterred by the high cost of living. we ask why, and where. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. we begin this programme with the war in middle east. in the months since hamas' surprise attack on israel, which killed more than 1,000 people, the death toll on both sides have continued to rise. israeli bombardments have killed more than 21,000 people on the gaza strip, according to the hamas—run health ministry. now companies perceived to be supporting israel are facing boycotts in the middle east and elsewhere. as the bbc�*s michelle fleury explains. some major western brands have found themselves hit by a grassroots, often unplanned boycotts because

of their stance on the israel—palestine conflict. this includes mcdonald's.