the iranian—backed lebanese group, hezbollah, says it has launched a barrage of rockets at northern israel, in response to tuesday's beirut explosion that killed a top hamas official. us secretary of state, antony blinken, begins his latest trip to the middle east and the wider region for talks — his fourth since hamas�* october attack on israel. police in london confirm they're investigating potential fraud offences in relation to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub—post masters by the post office. the uk health security agency issues a week—long cold weather alert as parts of england still struggle with floods following a week of heavy rain. hello, i'm lauren taylor. let's return to that breaking news we brought to you earlier. an alaska airlines flight

from the us city of portland has made an emergency landing after part of the aircraft blew out in mid—air. listen to this emergency call from a member of the cabin crew. social media video shot inside the boeing 737 max 9 shows a window section missing. the passengers remain in their seats, oxygen masks dangling, looking remarkably calm. alaska airlines said the 177 passengers and crew landed safely back at portland. it has temporarily grounded its 65 max aircraft for inspection. the aeroplane has a chequered safety record. in 2019, it was grounded worldwide for 18 months after two fatal crashes. for more on this, i spoke to aviation expertjohn strickland. well, it's certainly come as fresh news to me this morning, just prior to the interview. looking at the photos,

it's clear a section of fuselage equivalent to one window frame area in the row of seats affected. i would stress at this point, we know very little except that has happened, the aircraft was able to safely land. there would have been an element of depressurisation, although the aircraft was at a lower than cruising altitude, apparently it was at about 16,000 feet — that's roughly half of what an airline would be cruising at during the flight. but nevertheless they needed to get the plane down safely, which fortunately was done with all lives protected. i would stress as well that while we know little apart from the information and the evidence we have seen of this window frame that's come out — or the fuselage section around the window, i should say — this is certainly nothing to do with the reason for the aircraft being grounded for that 18 month period you mentioned. that was to do with software on a flight control system in the cockpit. it was a very major issue which has been fully resolved and now

there are hundreds of this aircraft around the world operating safely. but i think it is understandable, looking at the photographic images so far, that alaska is taking a naturally cautious approach by grounding their fleet. we will have to see in the coming hours what happens in terms of whether any more directives or advice is issued by boeing or indeed the us regulatory authority, the faa. after that 2019 incident, there's been nothing of this kind of magnitude since then? that's what you're saying, it's been plain sailing for this particular airline or aircraft type? yeah, once this aircraft went back into service, which was about two years or so ago now, it's had a really good safety record. there was an enormous amount of work done after the tragic losses of two aircraft — there was one loss in indonesia,

a lion air aircraft, and one in ethiopia, an ethiopian airlines plane, both linked to the same software system problem on the aircraft called the mcas system. as we said, there was a grounding order put in place worldwide. it was really an extremely challenging time and of course the loss of life was the first consideration on those two flights, but it became a very challenging time for boeing in terms of its reputation and investigation by global authorities. so they were at pains to restore the reputation of themselves as a business and indeed the aircraft itself. the boeing 737, of which this is a family member, is an aircraft that has been in service in different versions for 50 plus years with a great safety record. so they needed to restore that, and that had been done. something of this kind looks to be completely different.

for a section of fuselage to break loose is not remotely a common thing to happen... sorry to interrupt, we'rejust looking again at that picture of the section missing there. what effect would that have on the handling of the plane? in this case the 177 passengers and crew all off the plane safely, it landed safely at portland, but what kind of effect would it have for the pilot when something like that happens? talk us through that. i must stress, i'm not a pilot myself, but i don't believe it would have a significant effect on the handling. it's a piece of fuselage, it's relatively contained. the primary issue would be that the aircraft would not be able to remain pressurised, but it seems — and i'm stressing i only have very early information here — it looks like the flight was on descent to portland or had recently departed. if it was at 16,000 feet, that is a significant altitude, but nowhere near normal cruising altitude, which is typically around 30,000 feet, so the issue of pressurisation would be less

extreme at that level. there could have been loss of cabin pressure, certainly the pilots themselves would have undoubtedly donned their oxygen masks to protect their abillity to control the aircraft, but in terms of the aircraft itself, it would have been fully controllable in terms of their ability to get it down in a straightforward landing, given there is a piece of that fuselage missing. the powerful iranian—backed lebanese group, hezbollah, says it's launched a barrage of rockets at northern israel, in response to an explosion in beirut that killed a top hamas official earlier this week. a statement said they hit an air traffic control base in meron with 62 rockest. the israeli military said it had identified about a0 launches from lebanon, and that it had responded, without giving details. these are live pictures from the lebanese israel border. we will keep across those and bring you any developments from there over

the course of the hour. i spoke earlier with our correspondent hugo bachega who is in beirut about hezbollah�*s reaction following the killing of a hamas leader. it is interesting because this is happening a day after the influential leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah, gave a speech and he said this attack that happened here in beirut on tuesday, that killed the deputy hamas leader, would not go unpunished. and this suspected israeli attack killed saleh al—arouri, was a blow for hamas, but it also hit hezbollah because it was an attack that happened in a suburb of beirut that is a stronghold of hezbollah, so yesterday again hassan nasrallah vowing to retaliate and the group saying that these attacks that happened this morning were its initial response following this attack. what we've seen is that since the beginning of this war

between israel and hamas in gaza, hezbollah has been carrying out attacks, targeting israeli positions almost every day, but so far most of this violence has been contained to areas along the lebanon—israel border because israeli authorities have been warning hezbollah against escalating the situation, saying this could lead to a catastrophic response, not only for hezbollah, which is this powerful organisation supported by iran, but also for lebanon. and here todayjosep borrell, the eu foreign policy chief, is having talks with the lebanese authorities, including the caretaker prime minister, to talk about the situation along the lebanese—israeli border amid fears that the escalation of tensions there could lead to a major confrontation between hezbollah and israel. 0ur correspondent shaimaa khalil is injerusalem. she gave this update about israel's

response to the latest attack of hezbollah rockets. we have heard from the idf that they responded to the rocket attacks on northern israel, in the latest statement from the idf, they said that they responded to what they described as "a terrorist cell responsible for the launches." they also said that they identified a0 launches coming from lebanon. i also just want to bring you the latest from khan younis in gaza. we've heard from the palestinian red crescent there, saying that artillery and heavy gunfire from drones reported in the vicinity of al—amal hospital in khan younis in the gaza strip, and that's for a third day now. there's been sustained fighting, sustained bombardment in central gaza in those three main refugee camps, al—bureij, al—nuseirat and al—maghazi, people trying to flee further south to deir al balah, deir al balah itself that area that the people

were told by israel to go to for safety has also been bombarded. there's been also heavy shelling and heavy artillery, tank artillery in khan younis. and we've heard from both the idf and our sources on the ground, the idf saying that they have killed numerous hamas militants from ground and from the air and destroyed a number of tunnel shafts and also destroyed a weapons storage facility. what we've heard, the effect of the civilians, the palestinians on the ground in khan younis is that there's been bombardment and strikes in every direction in khan younis, really, artillery and shelling with hundreds of families trying to flee to rafah — that's the southernmost city — as the ground offensive continues. people have been arriving, casualties have been arriving at the european hospital. we also understand that 18 people have been killed in one air raid on a family home and that number includes two displaced people as well in khan younis.

health officials in gaza say 18 palestinians have been killed in an israeli attack on a house near khan younis. the idf says it has found military equipment stored in bags with a united nations logo. communications director of unwra, juliette touma, told me more about the situation in khan younis. we have several shelters that unrwa runs and i visited one of them myself and already a few weeks ago, it was overflowing and overcrowded with people and i guess, similar to what you seeing in other of southern gaza. people arejust what you seeing in other of southern gaza. people are just on top of each other and there is no place in the shelters any more so they are resorting to either staying in the open, some are in their cars, some are renting just a room here and there at very high prices and the

bombardment continues, the displacement continues. in many cases, we had even our own staff being displaced four to five times. with had some reports coming in, the gaza health ministry saying it —— the idf 22,000 dead, 50,000 injured. just in terms of the numbers injured, how are the hospitals coping with that number of cattle to? , , , ., coping with that number of cattle to? , , , to? these numbers are absolutely staggering- _ to? these numbers are absolutely staggering- they _ to? these numbers are absolutely staggering. they keep _ to? these numbers are absolutely staggering. they keep increasing. to? these numbers are absolutely i staggering. they keep increasing by the hour. at unrwa, we also lost 142 colleagues who were killed since the war began. this isjust colleagues who were killed since the war began. this is just what we were able to confirm. i'm afraid the number is much higher than that. hospitals and medical facilities,

like other civilian infrastructure, they lack the basics, including medicine and other material to treat the wounded but also the patients, including the chronically ill. well, this all comes as the us secretary of state anthony blinken is beginning a fresh round of talks on the conflict with regional leaders. mr blinken will first meet with turkey's president, recep tayyip erdogan, in istanbul on saturday and will be visiting israel next week. i want to take you live now to istanbul where mr blinken is meeting turkish foreign minister hakan fidan. nearby however, these pictures show protests against mr blinken being in the country with signs saying "yankee go home." we'll bring you more on that as it continues. well, this all comes as the us secretary of state anthony blinken

0ur north america correspondent anthony zurcher is traveling with the secretary of state and sent this update. us secretary of state antony blinken has a number of goals for this, his fourth trip to the mideast since the october 7th attacks. he wants more humanitarian aid to reach civilians in gaza. he wants hamas to release remaining hostages held in gaza. he also wants to try to keep this conflict from spreading throughout the region. that is going to be a challenging task given recent missile attacks from houthi rebels on shipping in the red sea, attacks on us military bases in syria and iraq, as well as the growing conflict between israel and hezbollah in northern israel and southern lebanon. antony blinken also wants to begin a conversation with israel and with the regional powers, arab powers, about what happens after israel winds down its military campaign in gaza. there are some very real differences between what the united states envisions for palestinian self—rule in gaza, what israeli officials have proposed so far,

and what arab partners to the us would be willing to go along with and help with. a senior state department official told me just yesterday that rhetoric coming out of the israeli leadership makes it more difficult for the united states to try to convince arab nations to lend a helping hand, to be part of a multinational coalition to rebuild gaza and help the palestinians. now, anthony blinken�*s meetings start here today in istanbul with turkish president recep erdogan. he continues on tojordan, several gulf states, a potential meeting with mohammed bin salman in saudi arabia, several days in israel and finally a day stop in cairo. it is going to be a frenetic series of days of shuttle diplomacy for the us secretary of state as he tries to control this conflict and exert american influence in the region.

in the uk, the metropolitan police has confirmed it's investigating potential fraud offences, in relation to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub—postmasters by the post 0ffice. around 700 people were blamed for accounting mistakes caused by faulty it software, which made it look like money was missing. some were wrongfully imprisoned, in a scandal which was recently dramatised on itv. 0ur reporter, vincent mcaviney, has more details. mr bates vs the post office has brought to light a story for years those in power wouldn't believe. for the post office branch managers across the country over two decades, it's been a nightmare they couldn't escape. i haven't got that money. and i don't know where it's gone. noel thomas, a former sub—postmaster in anglesey, was one of those wrongly sent to prison in 2006. this week has offered some catharsis

after years of torment. the rest of the country knows how the government and the post office have dealt with us over the many, many years. it's been 18 years for me. and, you know, it's been hell for a lot of people. after a long battle, the court of appeal quashed noel and 38 others' convictions. but no—one responsible has been convicted for their role. now, the metropolitan police has confirmed it's investigating potential fraud offences arising out of the prosecutions, relating to monies recovered from sub—postmasters of prosecutions or civil actions. the force is already looking into potential offences of perjury and perverting the course ofjustice. two people have been interviewed already under caution. but no—one has yet been arrested. as a result of the four—part itv

drama, lawyers who act for claimants say that dozens more potential victims have come forward, finally ready to face their trauma. these people have been so heavily damaged psychologically by the post office and their actions, they've been so fearful of coming forward and going through the process again. now, what the drama has done is brought awareness, huge widespread sympathy to these people. so alongside that, family encouragement, and speaking with other sub—postmasters who have been on this journey, they have finally found the courage to come forward. the post office has once again apologised for the distress this has caused. this drama has brought to attention the greatest miscarriage injustice in uk history. justice delayed might bejustice denied. for hundreds of postmasters, there's hope justice may finally be delivered. the us supreme court has

confirmed that it will decide whether donald trump will be kept off the 2024 ballot in colorado and also other states. the colorado state supreme court removed trump from the primary ballot, citing the constitution's 14th amendment to claim he should not be allowed to run because of his role in the january 6 insurrection. michael fanone is a former washington dc police officer who was very badly injured in the capitol riot — suffering from a heart attack and a brain injury. here's his assessment three years on. we have seen a continuation of politically inspired violence in the aftermath of january six and obviously nothing to the same scale that we witnessed on that day but we have seen attacks perpetrated against law enforcement, against the fbi, threats made to elected officials, threats made tojudges. really anybody that opposes malaga

and the former president, he knows that simply mentioning them leads to his followers attacking them, threatening them, i wouldn't even call them dog whistles any more, are overt threats, he knows exactly what he is doing. there's been a wave of arson attacks on schools in bangladesh that were due to be used as polling stations in sunday's election. and police have arrested three people in connection with a fire on a moving train. four people died in the blaze, which flared up on the outskirts of the capital, dhaka. officers said those detained had been found in possession of petrol bombs. two of the train�*s passengers are also being questioned in connection with the fire. there've been a number of acts of sabotage in bangladesh ahead of sunday's parliamentary election. the vote is being boycotted by most opposition parties who say it's a sham. well, prime minister sheikh hasina's awami league—led alliance is set

to win a fourth straight term in the election. the main opposition, former prime minister khaleda zia of the bangladesh nationalist party, is boycotting the poll after hasina denied her demand to make way for a neutral caretaker government to run the election. akbar hossain has more. sheikh hasina is now the longest—serving prime minister in south asia. for the last 15 years, her government has been widely criticized for human rights violations and undermining the democratic process. many people believe that a one—sided election will only worsen the country's economic and political situation because the west may not accept the results. there were widespread allegations of vote—rigging and fraud during the last two general elections. noor allam is a rickshaw puller in the northern district of rampur. he says he lost confidence in the electoral process. translation: they don't need our votes. _

they will win the elections anyway. it doesn't matter whether we go to polling centres or not. countries should fulfil their commitments. the united states, european union and britain are putting diplomatic pressure on bangladesh's government to hold a free, fair and credible election. but without participation from opposition parties, the election is neither inclusive nor competitive. candidates who are taking part in the elections are either ruling party men or their sympathisers. translation: right at the moment, i we can't say whether the elections i will be competitive or not, but our main objective is to hold a vote election. we are working on that. many observers believe that the upcoming elections will turn bangladesh into a one—party state, an allegation often rejected by sheikh hasina's awami league party.

some breaking news to bring you here in the uk — the crown prosecution service has said that a 16—year—old boy has been charged with the murder of 16—year—old harry pitman, who was stabbed to death on primrose hill, north london, on new year's eve. a clean—up operation for communities is underway across parts of england this morning after days of heavy rainfall led to more than 1,000 homes and businesses being flooded. will batchelor reports. water levels may have peaked, but as they recede, they reveal a trail of destruction. homes flooded, treasured possessions lost, gardens completely submerged. the water actually started coming through the floor. not through the door coming through the floor. some said it's gone down, but it's going to go back up. some have said it's going down, some have said it is coming up. so at the end of the day, all i know is i've got, what, five, six centimetres of water in my house?

when this resident of gloucestershire, human and canine return, that's when the real work will start. and for thousands, it has already begun. somerset back open. while these neighbours in stevenson, hampshire tried their best to unblock drains, though, not everyone was so helpful. as they tried to recover some kind of normality, many know this will probably happen again. it's the second time this house in hampshire is flooded. the last was in 2007. while angie's home near bridgnorth in shropshire has flooded three times in the last year. it is what it is and you've just got to wait till it decides to go away. and it's notjust homes. this farm in lincolnshire was completely submerged for the second time in four years when a river burst its banks. for now, all the farmer can do is move his livestock to higher ground, hoping the land recovers in time for lambing season. the prime minister, rishi sunak, is facing calls from opposition

parties to convene an urgent cobra—style task force to protect homes from further damage and to visit areas hit by flooding. he says the environment agency has people on the ground in all the affected areas. meanwhile, many communities are doing their best to help each other. this was in nottinghamshire, where the river trent was at its highest level in a quarter century. with a cold snap predicted next and more rain likely, it's going to be a long, hard winter ahead for many. will batchelor, bbc news. more on that story on our website. and also latest on that post of a scandal on there as well. —— post office. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. for many of us, it's been a dry and a fairly quiet start to the weekend. good news, of course,

after the recent heavy rainfall and the storms that we've had, the flooding now should start to subside, but we've had lots of blue skies this morning. this was the scene in south lanarkshire. but you can see from the satellite image here, for many parts of the uk we've had clear skies and that's been extending its way out into the atlantic as well. the reason for that is high pressure, which is building in now across the united kingdom. and what that does is it stops the atlantic weather systems coming in, those rain bearing weather systems moving in. so things are certainly looking more settled for the weekend and into next week. for the rest of today, we've still got quite a bit of cloud across eastern areas. one or two showers here, showers easing across parts of wales, just limited towards western coastal areas, one or two towards cornwall as well. maximum temperatures get into about six to eight degrees celsius for most of us. it's a lovely afternoon with some dry weather and some sunshine. through this evening and tonight, the cloud across eastern areas may

just drift a bit further westward, but there'll be some clear skies across most areas and it's going to be quite cold, actually. there's going to be some frost, particularly towards the north. in the west, temperatures here minus one, minus two degrees celsius. where you keep some cloud, perhaps frost free temperatures staying just above freezing. but as we go through sunday, there could be a few showers coming into northeastern areas of england. the cloud may start off and tend to lift and break. there'll be some sunny spells across most parts of the uk on sunday afternoon and temperatures about 4 to six degrees celsius, but a chilly two degrees there in glasgow. as we go into next week, this area of high pressure remains. it doesn't look like it's going to move very far at all for the next five days. so the outlook is drier. but beneath that area of high pressure, we've got an east or north easterly wind drawing in that colder airfrom scandinavia. so the temperatures will be at or below the average for the time of year. on monday morning, some patches of mist and fog — they should lift and clear away, some frost around as well.

but plenty of dry weather with some sunny spells. temperatures in the face of it, about three to five degrees celsius. but we have that rather brisk east or northeasterly wind. it's going to feel more like this. so perhaps feeling like freezing across central areas. and then for the rest of the week, it remains largely dry and settled. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines... alaska airlines grounds boeing 737 max 9 planes,

after a section of fuselage including a window fell off mid—air, forcing an emergency landing. the iranian—backed lebanese group, hezbollah, says it has launched a barrage of rockets at northern israel, in response to tuesday's beirut explosion that killed a top hamas official. us secretary of state, antony blinken, begins his latest trip to the middle east and the wider region for talks. he's among a number of top western diplomats there hoping to make a push to calm tensions. police in london confirm they're investigating potential fraud offences in relation to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub—post masters by the post office. the uk health security agency issues a week—long cold weather alert as parts of england still struggle with floods following a week of heavy rain. now on bbc news, the arts interviews: sir anthony hopkins.