israel's defence minister outlines plans for the future governing of gaza, after the war, even as the violence continues. thousands mourn the late hamas leader, killed in a suspected israeli attack in lebanon. concerns are growing about violence spreading in the region. and, as ships in the red sea come under attack by iranian—backed houthi rebels, we take a look at how alternate shipping routes may drive up consumer prices. hello, i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. israel's defence minister has been outlining plans for governing gaza once the war is over, even as concerns grow about violence spreading further in the middle east. in the �*four corner�* plan, israel would retain overall security control of gaza. a multi—nationalforce would take charge of rebuilding the territory.

neighbouring egypt would also have an unspecified role to play in the plan. and the document adds that as gaza residents are palestinian, therefore palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the state of israel. fighting in gaza continued alongside the plan's publication, with dozens of people killed in the past 2a hours, according to the hamas—run health ministry. us secretary of state antony blinken is due back in the region this week. he is expected to meet with palestinian and israeli officials. that comes 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.

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 of 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. firas maksad is a senior fellow at the middle east institute think tank, and an adjunct professor at george washington university. i spoke to him a little earlier about the spreading regional unrest from

the conflict in gaza. 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 again tomorrow, and we will all tune into that, and perhaps it will reveal some more. it's important to point out that the current status quo that has prevailed over the past 2.5 months since the conflict in gaza started suits hezbollah very well. hezbollah and their iranian sponsors very much prefer a grey zone warfare, taking the fight to israel in the form of cross border skirmishes and harassment, forcing it to divert resources and soldiers up to the northern border away from gaza, a way to show support

to palestinians and hamas but stopping short of war. all—out war is not necessarily hezbollah�*s interests. we heard yesterday, if we were to deduce conclusions, it seems indicate hezbollah does not want to retaliate to the assassination in beirut even though it did cross hezbollah�*s red lines, explicit warnings prior to the attack that if israel assassinated hamas individuals in lebanon, hezbollah would retaliate, but it seems that hezbollah is now being careful. i wonder where you think this leaves the government in lebanon. the country as well will be cognisant of the events — the war in 2006 and have that in the back of its mind. can it do anything to cool the situation or do you think this is more in the hands of iran as a backer of hezbollah? the israeli officials are not missing a chance to remind the lebanese that they can do on to beirut what they did

to gaza and the lebanese do not want that. the lebanese are suffering under the burden of a catastrophic economic collapse but even hezbollah�*s own constituency does not want war even though they support the group but at the end of the day hezbollah is the most powerful non state actor in the world, much more powerful than the lebanese army and government and i'm afraid that the lebanese government is relegated to just issuing statements of condemnation and filing reports at the un calling for the israeli attack to be condemned. i want to touch on the situation in gaza and we have new comments from israeli defence minister yoav gallant who said the idf will move to more targeted operations in gaza and has said 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 tone? it is and we'll have to wait to see how significant of a change that is particularly given there are differences of opinion in the coalition government in israel.

there is a lot of us pressure on israel, on bibi netanyahu to move and start to talk about the day after. i think what the israelis would prefer and what we're hearing is that they want to maintain control of the security dynamics in gaza but are very perhaps, perhaps more now, to give some palestinians control over the administrative aspect or economic aspects of 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 hezbollah directly but blinken will be in the region. what could he do? it's 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 second front but we also had a killing of a primary pro—iranian

militia leader in iraq, undertaken by the us. so i'm hearing concerns and for biden, it does not bode well, it is an election year, a war in the middle east in which the us gets entrapped is not good for the polls, and geopolitically this is not where they want to be, this administration wants to focus on great car competition, pushing back on china and russia, there is the war in ukraine, so being entangled 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? on lebanon they are very engaged diplomatically — president biden�*s envoys are in israel to try to broker an understanding. the parameters of those is one that would see hezbollah pull away 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 hezbollah pulling back from the border in exchange for an israeli withdrawalfrom 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. 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 solidarity with gaza, despite several countries warning of retaliation. the bbc�*s katy austin takes a look at what it means for business. 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. the extra 3,500 nautical miles 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 suffer if ships keep coming under attack in this illegal 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. the white house says it has uncovered evidence that russia is using north korean 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 spokesmanjohn kirby condemned the moves. this is a significant and concerning escalation. the most effective response is to continue to provide ukraine with vital air defence capabilities and other military equipment. to do that we need congress to approve our requests for funding for ukraine without delay. 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. 0ur political editor chris mason has more now on the potential strategy behind the prime minister's timing. why might he be tempted, then, by the second half of the year? if the election was in the autumn, in october or later, it would mean that he had two years as prime minister before the election. go earlier than that, where the opinion polls suggest he might lose, and he would end up with less than two years. 0pposition leader sir keir starmer has accused sunak of "squatting in downing street for months on ends". he said both the country and the labour party are ready for an election. there had been speculation that sunak could call a vote as early as may.

you're live with bbc news. more us court documents in thejeffrey epstein case have been released on thursday. it comes after 900 pages were unsealed on wednesday 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, that's 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. this is the first release of documents in this particular 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.

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 are jobless 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. zheng guling 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 bridge, that began in 2018. authroties injapan say the death toll from this week's earthquake has risen to 92. an additional 2112 people have now been confirmed as missing. thousands of rescue workers continue to search for survivoes, days after the devastating tremor set off landslides and a tsunami tens of thousands of residents are still in shelters. in england there have been hundreds of flood alerts as heavy rain continued to batter parts of the country in the wake of storm henke.

in england there have been hundreds of flood alerts as heavy rain continued to batter parts of the country in the wake of storm henke. there are fears the river trent could come close to it's highest water mark on record this century. it's the eighth storm since september to have hit the uk. 0ur repoter navtej johal has more from nottingham. storm henk may be gone, but it's certainly not forgotten. this is what it left behind in nottinghamshire, where a major incident has been declared and water levels on the river trent are as high as they've been in more than 20 years. the council is making the decision could see the river surging past their headquarters, but not every seat here was suitable for a good view. it's similar levels to that of 2000, so it's that serious, and we must ask people to be aware and stay safe. flooded roads are causing problems and making it harder for people to evacuate. in places it's become difficult to tell what's river, what's canal and what's supposed to be dry land.

in the village of east bridgeford, many people have never seen it so bad. we went to bed last night knowing the river was coming up, so my partner set the alarms to check it every couple of hours in the night. the river started coming into the property at 6:00 this morning. we've spent most of today keeping it out, which we did a very good job of until about 2:30pm this afternoon, where the river trent got the better of us. in radcliffe on trent, the fire service needed to be carried in at this static caravan park and rush hour was proving difficult. the yellow warning for heavy rain covers most of the southwest, southeast, and parts of the midlands, and there are more than 200 flood warnings across england. and in wiltshire tonight, flooded fields have led to flooded homes and frustrated residents. we've got water flooding underfloors, we've ta ken stuff u psta i rs. the council have the phone off the hook. the police aren't interested in closing the road,

i'm amazed there hasn't been an incident. the fire brigade isn't interested, no—one is interested. we were sat having a nice glass of wine by the fire and my partner's friend texted and said, i hope you are ok, and we were, like, 0k, what's going on? so we came out and went, oh, yeah. the rain is disrupting rail services and all sorts of journeys. it's difficult to get around, even for those who know the land best. this is gloucestershire. these cows and horses won't be roaming far on their new island in leicestershire. some have been able to see the lighter side of it all though. good afternoon, welcome to the rose and crown, riverside view, and probably the best guinness... the landlord of this pub has no chance of a dry january. some sad news from the world of cinema, glynisjohns,

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. the british actress 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 19705. in a statement, her manager said her passing marked the end of the golden age of hollywood. that's all for now, i'm helena humphrey. you are watching bbc news. bye for now. 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 northeast 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.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. israel's post—0ctober 7th assault on gaza continues unabated, and it appears to command the overwhelming support of the israeli public. but what of the roughly two million civilians who are arab israelis, many with family in gaza or in the occupied west bank. my guest is aida touma—sliman, a palestinian arab member of the israeli parliament. what does this war mean for the lives and the futures of israel's arab minority?