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tv   BBC News  BBC News  January 9, 2024 9:00am-9:31am GMT

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different and much betterfuture. two airlines find loose bolts on some of their boeing 737 max 9 fleet just days after part of the fuselage fell off a plane midflight. the alaska airline plane debris was found in this oregon back garden by bob — a physics teacher. my heart did start beating a little faster at that point because i thought, "oh, my goodness, people have been looking for this all weekend, and it looks like it's in my back yard". dog meat is off the menu in south korea, as the country's parliament bans the trade of the animal for human consumption. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. america's top diplomat is in key meetings today in israel. antony blinken is discussing the plan for the next phase of the war in gaza. the us secretary of states has been
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on another whistle—stop tour of the region — it's his fourth visit since the war began on the 7th of october. earlier, he met the president of israel, isaac herzog, who thanked the us for "standing steadfast with israel". mr blinken�*s visit comes as a senior commander with the islamist hezbollah movement was reportedly killed in an apparent israeli drone strike in southern lebanon. and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu was on the northern border, where he signalled that he's prepared, if necessary, to escalate military operations in lebanon. to the south, the death toll in gaza stands at more than 23,000, according to the hamas—run health ministry. here's mr blinken speaking as he met the president of israel, isaac herzog. i've just come from a number of countries in the region — turkey, greece, jordan, qatar, united arab emirates, saudi arabia — and i want to be able
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to share some of what i've heard from those leaders with the president, as well as with the prime minister and the cabinet later today. and, of course, we'll have an opportunity to sit with the families of some of the hostages and discuss our relentless efforts to bring everyone home, and back with their families. and there's a lot to talk about in particular about the way forward, so i look forward to these conversations. as always, it's very good to be with you. president herzog thanked washington for its support of israel. he also condemned south africa for filing a case against israel at the international court ofjustice — accusing it of crimes of genocide against palestinians in gaza. and here, with the hypocrisy of south africa, we will be at the international court ofjustice and we will present proudly our case of using self—defence under our most inherent right under international humanitarian law, where we are doing our utmost, under extremely complicated
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circumstances on the ground, to make sure there will be no unintended consequences and no civilian casualties. let's go live now tojerusalem and our middle east correspondent yolande knell. it's a busy day of meetings for the secretary of state and they are likely to be tough talks, aren't they? likely to be tough talks, aren't the ? , . ., , likely to be tough talks, aren't the ? , . ., ., they? they are indeed. he has a lot to discuss. — they? they are indeed. he has a lot to discuss, both _ they? they are indeed. he has a lot to discuss, both trying _ they? they are indeed. he has a lot to discuss, both trying to _ they? they are indeed. he has a lot to discuss, both trying to stop - they? they are indeed. he has a lot to discuss, both trying to stop a - to discuss, both trying to stop a regional conflict, looking at lowering the intensity of the fighting in gaza, and also looking, as he was indicating, to the future and a post—war vision for gaza. the indication is that this will give some kind of reassurance to israel's arab neighbours, who mr blinken has been meeting in recent days. he now has a day of back to back talks
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where he is looking to achieve so much, but events on the ground can easily overtake him here. the fighting still remains very fierce in gaza, from the indications of the past day or so, particularly in the centre and the south of the gaza strip, despite the fact that the israeli military are trying to give assurances that it is moving into a new phase of less intense, more targeted fighting. as mr blinken has also been trying to calm things down, a lot is going on behind the scenes diplomatically between israel and its neighbour lebanon. but we are getting indications of yet another strike in southern lebanon taking place this morning. that another strike in southern lebanon taking place this morning.- taking place this morning. that is not confirmed _ taking place this morning. that is not confirmed yet. _ taking place this morning. that is not confirmed yet. and _ taking place this morning. that is| not confirmed yet. and obviously, the conversation will also be about what a post—conflict gaza would look like? what a post-conflict gaza would look like? ., �* , ~ ~ what a post-conflict gaza would look like? . h �* ~ .,, like? that's right. the blinken has been saying _ like? that's right. the blinken has been saying he — like? that's right. the blinken has been saying he wants _ like? that's right. the blinken has been saying he wants to _ like? that's right. the blinken has been saying he wants to talk- like? that's right. the blinken has| been saying he wants to talk about the future governance of gaza. this is something that is considered to
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have been ignored somewhat by israeli political leaders. it has taken time for the israeli war cabinet to come around to talking about that and to have a brief plan published by israel's defence minister last week, giving an outline of what israel's strategy could look like, saying that palestinians will be allowed to go back to their homes. mr blinken has been saying that he thinks displaced palestinians must be allowed to go back as soon as conditions allow. but there are indications in israel's media that that could be tied to a new hostage deal to bring home the 100 plus hostages remain in captivity in gaza. home the 100 plus hostages remain in captivity in gaza-— captivity in gaza. yolande knell, a middle east _ captivity in gaza. yolande knell, a middle east correspondent - captivity in gaza. yolande knell, a middle east correspondent from l middle east correspondent from jerusalem, thank you. live now to nick maynard in cairo. he is a senior surgeon and clinical lead for medical aid for palestinians. he's been working in al—aqsa hospital in central gaza for the last two weeks.
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we were reporting yesterday that your organisation says it is no longer able to operate in the al—aqsa hospital. tell us more about why? al-aqsa hospital. tell us more about wh ? ., ~ al-aqsa hospital. tell us more about wh ? ., ., al-aqsa hospital. tell us more about wh? ., ., ., . why? thank you for asking me on. we have been working _ why? thank you for asking me on. we have been working at _ why? thank you for asking me on. we have been working at al-aqsa - have been working at al—aqsa hospital for the last two weeks, but on friday, we were withdrawn for safety reasons. i was operating on a serious blast injury during the day and at about three o'clock, i finished in theatres to come out and find that there had been an attack on the intensive care unit of al—aqsa hospital by the israeli defence force, and the area was no longer the conflicted ——
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deconflicted and we were told we had to leave. we have not been able to go back since. already, many local doctors and nurses had started leaving as the population of middle gaza from the main camps had all been ordered to evacuate to the south by the israelis. so many of the doctors were living there and had to leave with their families. all the foreign doctors have now left and many of the local doctors and nurses are leaving as well. haifa and nurses are leaving as well. how crucial were — and nurses are leaving as well. how crucial were the _ and nurses are leaving as well. how crucial were the operations of this particular hospital? i understand it was the main hospital in middle gaza? , ., . ., gaza? there is no functioning hosital gaza? there is no functioning hospital north _ gaza? there is no functioning hospital north of _ gaza? there is no functioning hospital north of al-aqsa - gaza? there is no functioning - hospital north of al-aqsa hospital hospital north of al—aqsa hospital at the moment and north of gaza. al—aqsa was supplying medical services to the whole of middle gaza. and it was receiving upwards of 500 patients a day from bomb
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blasts and gunshot wounds and also, of course, the other health needs of the population, although the predominant admissions were of course related to trauma. so without any sufficient health care staff, it will be an unmitigated disaster for those people living in middle gaza with effectively no health care facilities at all.— facilities at all. you have 'ust come back i facilities at all. you have 'ust come back from i facilities at all. you have 'ust come back from gaza. h facilities at all. you have 'ust come back from gaza. if e facilities at all. you have just come back from gaza. if you| facilities at all. you have just - come back from gaza. if you could paint a picture of what you have seen first—hand? i paint a picture of what you have seen first-hand?— paint a picture of what you have seen first-hand? i have been going to gaza for — seen first-hand? i have been going to gaza for many _ seen first-hand? i have been going to gaza for many years. _ seen first-hand? i have been going to gaza for many years. i _ seen first-hand? i have been going to gaza for many years. i have - seen first-hand? i have been goingl to gaza for many years. i have many friends and colleagues there, and since october the 7th, i and other colleagues in the uk have been talking daily to our friends and colleagues in gaza. to be honest, we thought we had a good idea of what was going on, and the reality is far
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worse. it's impossible to appreciate what an appalling situation gaza is in until you are there and seeing it and seeing the mass, indiscriminate slaughter of civilians. some of the horrors i saw and our team saw in al—aqsa hospital, will live with me forever. they were scenes i would never have expected to see in a civilised world, babies, small children coming in with limbs amputated, with the most appalling burns imaginable. absolute horror �*s. burns imaginable. absolute horror 's. . ~ burns imaginable. absolute horror 's. , . burns imaginable. absolute horror 's. ., burns imaginable. absolute horror 's. nick, i understand one of your colleagues _ 's. nick, i understand one of your colleagues working _ 's. nick, i understand one of your colleagues working in _ 's. nick, i understand one of your colleagues working in the - 's. nick, i understand one of your . colleagues working in the emergency department was affected by an air strike, and your organisation has found it tough because some of your staff have been caught up in the conflict? . ., .,
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conflict? yeah, i am out there with a uk based — conflict? yeah, i am out there with a uk based charity, _ conflict? yeah, i am out there with a uk based charity, medical - conflict? yeah, i am out there with a uk based charity, medical aid - conflict? yeah, i am out there with a uk based charity, medical aid forj a uk based charity, medical aid for palestinians. but map has wonderful local staff in gaza who work for map and one of the most wonderful staff members who we know well, her family was bombed just a few hours before we were leaving gaza. he was badly injured. her seven—year—old daughter was killed. 0ther injured. her seven—year—old daughter was killed. other members of the family were killed. it was appalling to see this happen, and really rams home to all of us the indiscriminate nature of the killing that is being inflicted on these patients and the civilian population of gaza. i{fillite civilian population of gaza. quite horrific. nick _ civilian population of gaza. quite horrific. nick maynard _ civilian population of gaza. quite horrific. nick maynard from - civilian population of gaza. quite horrific. nick maynard from the medical aid for palestinians organisation, recently returned from gaza, thank you for sharing your first—hand insights. gaza, thank you for sharing your first-hand insights.— gaza, thank you for sharing your first-hand insights. thank you for askinu first-hand insights. thank you for
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asking me- _ united airlines says it's found multiple bolts that need tightening, during checks on its boeing 737 max—9 aircraft. the inspections were ordered after part of the fuselage of an alaska airlines plane blew out in mid—air. here's our north america correspondent david willis. this giant hole opened up after a panel on the side of the plane dislodged only a few minutes after it had taken off with 171 passengers on board. there was just a really loud boom, which was so startling, and the plane just filled with wind and air. and it's just crazy, because that shouldn't happen, right? you know something's wrong and you don't know what. i didn't know where the air was coming from. the oxygen masks dropped. 171 planes of the same type remained grounded by the us regulator as the safety investigation got under way, and a massive search began for the missing panel — which landed in the back garden of a local physics teacher's home.
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when i went to investigate it, it was very obviously part of a plane. it had the same curvature as a fuselage. it had a plane—type window in it and it was white, which is why it was gleaming. preliminary investigations of planes belonging to both alaska and united airlines have uncovered loose bolts on the same panels, and the entire fleet of boeing max 9s is expected to remain grounded for several more days, at least. david willis, bbc news, los angeles. more on that story in the next half—hour, when we will be speaking to aviation consultant. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. new figures show retail sales increased byjust1.7%
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across the uk in december, significantly lower than the 6.9% rise in 2022. the british retail consortium says shoppers held back on their festive spending due to a lack of confidence in the economy. the group warned shoppers and retailers they of a "challenging" year ahead. the insurance firm admiral says pothole—related claims soared last year. they said customers made 40% more claims for pothole damage in 2023, at an average cost of over £3,000 per claim. higher—tech vehicles and a general rise in the price of repairs is thought to be behind the spike. as a cold spell hits much of the uk, a double—decker bus in kirkcaldy lost control yesterday after it hit freezing rain, crashing into parked cars before skidding into a garden wall and finally coming to a stop. it had been on its way to a local primary school. luckily, no passengers were onboard and no one was injured. you're live with bbc news. here in the uk, two formerjustice secretaries — one conservative, the other labour —
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are leading calls for the government to introduce legislation to quash the convictions of those caught up in the post office it scandal. the postal affairs minister, kevin hollinrake, said various options were being looked at to speed up appeals and compensate the victims. he said more talks would be held today, and he hoped to announced a solution "very shortly". let's get more on this with our chief political correspondent henry zeffman. henry, there has been much more attention on this given the itv drama, lots of politicians now focusing their attention on this. what is likely to happen? it is extraordinary, _ what is likely to happen? it is extraordinary, the _ what is likely to happen? it 3 extraordinary, the power of a tv drama. yesterday was very far from the first time this issue has been debated in the house of commons, but i have never seen this issue debated with so many mps present, and so much political energy and momentum
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and impetus behind it. what happens now? well, the government set out a fairly clear direction of travel yesterday. they have said they want to fix this. they want to get not just justice for the sub—postmasters, but also compensation. as kevin hollinrake, the postal affairs minister, acknowledged, the route to compensation one through getting the convictions overturned. that is what the government is focusing on, the way to get that to happen more quickly. way to get that to happen more cuickl . �* ., , way to get that to happen more cuickl . �* . , , ., quickly. and that is the question because there _ quickly. and that is the question because there has _ quickly. and that is the question because there has been - quickly. and that is the question because there has been some i quickly. and that is the question - because there has been some debate about whether it should just be a blanket quashing of all of the convictions, or whether it should continue to be case—by—case? convictions, or whether it should continue to be case-by-case? exactly that. one possibility _ continue to be case-by-case? exactly that. one possibility on _ continue to be case-by-case? exactly that. one possibility on the _ that. one possibility on the government's radar, it would be extraordinary, but would probably match the scale of political outrage there now is, would be for the government to propose and parliament to pass an act of parliament, a piece of legislation which would simply say all of the
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sub—postmasters convicted on this basis of the faulty computer system over this period, they are innocent, to basically void their convictions. that would allow them to go forward and claim compensation, although there are issues around the compensation scheme. that would be one radical option, but the government has pointedly not ruled it out. other options are just to make the existing appeals process easier, perhaps allow some sort of mass appeal or make it harder for the post office to contest those appeals against convictions. i don't know how that would work, but that is one option. and there has been some suggestion that some postmasters, not all, but some of them want that day in court. they would rather have their convictions in a court of law rather than by a swoosh of the parliamentary pen. the other question people are asking is what accountability there will be for the post office. there has been a lot of talk about whether the former head of the post office
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should have her cbe taken away. there has been a public inquiry going for some time but it hasn't had attention. if this itv drama had aired a few years ago, more people would have been watching this inquiry. those questions are being addressed by the statutory public inquiry to some extent. the findings of that inquiry, when they come, may produce some fairly awkward questions for the post office, for fujitsu. we also discovered last week that the metropolitan police are looking at the possibility of fraud taking place at the post office. 0bviously, post offices denied that and that is not to say they will not charge anybody, but there is a metropolitan police investigation ongoing. you mentioned paula vennellls, who was the chief executive of the post office for some of the key is in question. more than1 million people have signed a petition for her cbe to be stripped
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from her and rishi sunak, the prime minister, said yesterday that it is not in his gift, but he encouraged the honest forfeiture committee, a slightly elusive body that is not often used, to look into whether that should take place —— the honours forfeiture committee. paula vennells has not publicly commented since the itv drama came out, but has previously said she is very sorry for the distress caused to the sub—postmasters who she now sees were wrongly prosecuted. sub-postmasters who she now sees were wrongly prosecuted.— were wrongly prosecuted. henry zeffman, thank _ were wrongly prosecuted. henry zeffman, thank you. _ south korea's parliament has voted to ban the killing and selling of dogs for their meat. it's a move welcomed by animal rights groups. under the law, people who farm, butcher and sell dogs to eat will face up to three years in prison — though it won't be illegal to consume the meat. the bill to end the centuries—old practice is supported by pet lovers including the first lady and animal rights groups, but has faced protests from dog farmers. 0ur seoul correspondent, jean mackenzie, has the latest.
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this alleyway is one of the few places you can still come to eat dog meat here in seoul in one of these specialist restaurants. dog meat is considered a delicacy among some older koreans, but it's far less popular now with young people. many of them never eat it now or have never even tried it, and so consumption is falling. and when we spoke to people about the ban, the generational divide was stark. translation: we've eaten this since the middle ages. - why stop us from eating our traditional food? if you ban dog, you should ban beef. translation: more i people have pets today. dogs are like family now, and it's not nice to eat our family, so i think it's best to get rid of it _ under the new law, those who farm, butcher or sell dogs to eat can be jailed for up to three years, though it won't actually be illegal to eat dog meat. it's hoped that the ban on selling will be enough to stop
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people from eating it. the ban won't come into force for another three years to give restaurant owners and farmers time to find anotherjob or to transition their businesses. and the government has promised to support those who are forced to switch livelihoods. but the industry has been incredibly critical of this ban. they've argued that, given the declining popularity of dog meat, the government should have just allowed it to disappear naturally over time. translation: what are | we supposed to do now? we need to be compensated. i think we should accept dog meat, but raise and slaughter them in a hygienic environment. in contrast, animal rights organisations have, of course, welcomed this ban. they have been campaigning for this for a long time, arguing that the practice is cruel and the conditions on the farms where the dogs are kept are poor. previous governments here in south korea have tried to ban this as far back as the 1980s, but the current president and the first lady
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are known to be animal lovers. they have six dogs of their own, and this is thought to be one of the reasons the bill has now passed. news just breaking now, another earthquake measuring 6.0 quake has struck centraljapan. there has been no tsunami warning. this comes as the japanese government says the death toll from the country's new year's day quake has risen above 200. more on that story when we get it. but that news is that another earthquake has struck japan, but that news is that another earthquake has struckjapan, with but that news is that another earthquake has struck japan, with a magnitude of six. the company behind the latest american mission to soft—land on the moon has said the planned touch down may not happen. astrobotic said the propulsion system
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of its peregrine 0ne robot lander is faulty and the system is losing critical amounts of fuel, which made it difficult for the spacecraft to point its solar panels at the sun to recharge its batteries. the peregrine 0ne robot lander was launched on monday, and was due to attempt a landing on the moon late next month. joining me now is our science correspondentjonathan amos. yesterday, there seems to be some hope that they could get this craft to point to those solar panels and get things going again, but that hope seems to be fading now? yeah. hope seems to be fading now? yeah, i'm afraid hope seems to be fading now? yeah, i'm afraid the — hope seems to be fading now? yeah, i'm afraid the outlook _ hope seems to be fading now? yeah, i'm afraid the outlook is _ hope seems to be fading now? yeah, i'm afraid the outlook is very - hope seems to be fading now? yeah, i'm afraid the outlook is very poor - i'm afraid the outlook is very poor today. they have been trying to on get top of this propulsion leak. what seems to be happening is that it is losing propellant and as it does so, that is creating a force which is moving the spacecraft out of alignment, which means it is struggling to keep its solar panels pointing at the sun. you need to do
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that to top the battery up to then power your systems to be able to communicate with earth and do the other thing is that the spacecraft wants to do. to maintain the alignment, they are firing the thrusters on the spacecraft. and of course, that is using up even more of this propellant which is rapidly depleting. so astrobotic, the company behind this mission, issued a statement overnight saying that they had perhaps a0 hours before the propellant was exhausted and that the spacecraft would start to tumble. at that point, of course, those solar panels will not be pointing at the sun. the battery will discharge, and i'm afraid this mission will come to an end. fight! mission will come to an end. and then what — mission will come to an end. and then what happens? well, - mission will come to an end. and then what happens? well, that's| mission will come to an end. and. then what happens? well, that's it for astrobotic _ then what happens? well, that's it for astrobotic for _ then what happens? well, that's it for astrobotic for this _ then what happens? well, that's it for astrobotic for this particular . for astrobotic for this particular mission. they are one of three us companies that have been engaged by the us space agency to take
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scientific equipment in the first instance to the lunar surface, as nasa thinks about taking astronauts back there towards the end of the decade. astrobotic have other missions in the pipeline. they are going to put down a big roverfor nasa later. the other two companies, together with astrobotic, were going together with astrobotic, were going to do six missions at the moon this year. so the attitude from nasa is that it's a bit like a football analogy. they told me that you take analogy. they told me that you take a good number of shots on goal and hopefully, one or two of the bulls will go in and the others will learn from the experience of what has gone before. so yes, nasa has a risk appetite for this because these are low—cost missions, but they hope in the long run that these small private companies they have engaged will be able to routinely land on the moon. will be able to routinely land on the moon-— will be able to routinely land on the moon. ,. . the moon. our science correspondent jonathan amos. _ the moon. our science correspondent jonathan amos, thank _ the moon. our science correspondent
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jonathan amos, thank you. _ before we go, let's take you to the live shots of gaza and remind you of our headlines this hour. america's top diplomat antony blinken is in israel today to discuss the next phase of the war in gaza was that it comes as the hamas run health ministry says 57 deaths were reported in one central gaza hospital alone. we will have more on that visit and the rest of the day's using a short while. if you want any more, we are still running a live page on the balance from the middle east on the bbc news website, so check that out. do stay with us. hello. it's another cold, wintry day out there today. we've got some icy stretches around, some fog patches that are going to linger all day, particularly across parts of northern scotland. but for most of us, thankfully, it is going to be another dry day. still plenty of flood warnings out,
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but they're starting to reduce in number now. so high pressure driving our weather at the moment. quite a few isobars in the south. this is where we've got the breeziest conditions. breeze coming in from the east or north—east for southern england and wales too. still some wintry showers down towards the channel islands into the afternoon. also some snow flurries for the likes of dartmoor, for instance, as well. one or two light showers could come out of this cloud across north—east england and eastern scotland, but most places dry. plenty of sunshine for central parts of england, wales, northern ireland. temperatures only three to six degrees on the thermometer, but add on the wind chill and it's going to feel typically about minus two or minus three, especially towards southern england and the channel islands. into this evening and overnight, then, most of us looking dry again. we've got a bit more cloud filtering in across scotland and northern england as well. clearer skies further south and west. it's here that temperatures will fall lowest. so again, a widespread frost to start your wednesday morning, and i think we could well see some icy stretches and some fog patches,
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especially in the north. through the day tomorrow, we might see a few more showers pushing into north—east england and eastern scotland. they'll be a little bit wintry over the higher ground — the pennines, for instance, southern uplands and the north york moors. more in the way of sunshine further south, but we've still got that brisk easterly wind and temperatures will be up a notch on recent days. so we could see seven or eight degrees on wednesday. not much change into thursday, but we've got this area of high pressure still with us. quite a bit of cloud that's going to be rotating around that coming in from the atlantic and trapped underneath the high pressure, so fairly cloudy in the north and the east, i think. southern england, perhaps parts of northern ireland seeing a little bit of sunshine at times, and it's not as cold as it has been. so seven or eight degrees our top temperature on thursday. thankfully, again, mostly dry. things are then looking largely dry, but somewhat cloudy and murky, i think, for friday. but it's going to be all change into the weekend because we'll start to see this weather front pushing its way south, not bringing too much in the way of any rainfall. but it will introduce just a few showers and some colder air.
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so heading into next week, a real drop in those temperatures with the northerly winds developing and a chance of snow showers.
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this is bbc news. the headlines... tough talks in tel aviv. america's top diplomat, antony blinken, is in israel today to discuss the next phase of the war in gaza. we have to get through this very challenging moment and ensure that october 7th can never happen again,
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and work to build a much different and much better future. two airlines find loose bolts on some of their boeing 737 max 9 fleet, just days after part of the fuselage fell off a plane midflight. the alaska airline plane debris was found in this 0regon back garden by bob — a physics teacher. my heart did start beating a little faster at that point because i thought, "oh, my goodness, people have been looking for this all weekend, and it looks like it's in my back yard". a state of emergency is declared in eucuador as police try to track down the country's most powerful drug lord. the longest strike in nhs history came to an end at 7am, as junior doctors concluded their latest round of industrial action. 0ne hospital has told the bbc that the pay dispute has cost them £1 million because of extra staffing costs and lost income from cancelled operations. 0ur health editor hugh pym sent this report from milton keynes.

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