hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. we begin with the latest on the israel—gaza conflict. america's top diplomat, antony blinken, has been meeting israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, for talks on a plan to govern and secure gaza after the war, while pushing for more aid, and protection of civilians. he's due to meet shortly with israel's war cabinet. it's his sixth visit to the middle east since the war began. the meeting between the two leaders comes as the un security council is set to vote later on a draft resolution proposed by the us, which ties an immediate ceasefire in gaza to the release of hostages held by hamas. washington has previously vetoed three ceasefire resolutions, but has grown increasingly critical of israel's military campaign. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell,

is injerusalem with more on what to expect from the talks. well, he's here on the last stop of his middle east tour. he'll be meeting the prime minister, also members of the war cabinet. we can expect to hear some more demands from the us, at this time when tensions are quite high with its ally israel, for more aid, more desperately needed aid to be allowed into gaza, where you have this threat looming of a manmade famine because of the very severe shortages of food. now, on top of that, mr blinken will be discussing, i'm sure, the ongoing talks in qatar with mediators acting as go—betweens for israel and hamas, trying to secure a new ceasefire deal in exchange for the release of some of the remaining israeli hostages who are held in the gaza strip. on top of that, we do expect mr blinken to talk to the israelis about their plans, their declared plans for an offensive in rafah

in the very south of the gaza strip, on the border with egypt. they say that they have to act there against remaining hamas battalions in the area if they are to win their war, to achieve their war aim of dismantling hamas in the gaza strip. but, of course, that area is where you have something like 1.5 million gazans, most of them displaced by the ongoing fighting, told to relocate there for their own safety by israel earlier in the war, now living in very desperate conditions. and so the us and others in the world have been speaking out against such an operation, saying that the cost with innocent lives would just be too great. they're trying to persuade israel to look at other options, perhaps much more targeted operations in that area.

as talks continue to stall, aid workers in gaza say a ceasefire is needed urgently to get more aid in. unicef has told the bbc that the "devastation in gaza is unlike anything most people have ever seen", adding that a ceasefire could be "almost gaza's last hope." a un—backed food security assessment this week said 1.1 million people in gaza are struggling with catastrophic hunger and starvation, and a famine is imminent in the north. the kremlin says russia's "special military operation" in ukraine has now turned into a "state of war" — a major escalation in the official language used to describe the conflict.

it started as a military operation, but is as this bunch was formed there, the press secretary said... he has since said two other journalists, saying that the legal status of russian operations has not changed. more than 150 drones and missiles targeted power stations and transmission lines across the country. the state hydropower company said a strike hit the largest dam in separate

—— in zaporizhzhia. regional governor, ivan fedorov, says seven buildings were destroyed in zaporizhzhia and 35 were damaged by missiles overnight, and there is an as yet unknown number of wounded. a power line feeding the region's nuclear plant was also cut. joining me now is vitaly shevchenko, who is the russia editor at bbc monitoring. first of all, what can we make of these comments by the kremlin? do they signal any kind of shift? i don't think so, frankly. the kremlin has called what is going on between russia and ukraine a war before, and in reality, it'sjust words that don't really change the fact that russia is attacking ukraine. this second night of massive attacks has been one of the worst nights since this full—scale invasion began. 90 missiles, 60 explosive drones launched by russia at ukraine, primarily targeting its

energy and infrastructure. ukrainian officials say that this could potentially be the worst attack on ukrainian energy infrastructure since the start of this full—scale war. i have been speaking to my friends in my home city, zaporizhzhia, this morning. they described how buildings were shaking, how windows nearly got smashed out in several parts of the city. 0ne smashed out in several parts of the city. one of them spoke of armageddon as the hydropower dam was hit in central parts of the city. but it is car —— it is the city, which is now left without electricity. but the attack launched by russia overnight against ukraine

has targeted pretty much all of ukraine, from the north—east to the south—west. i5 ukraine, from the north-east to the south-west— south-west. is it fair to say that we having _ south-west. is it fair to say that we having seen _ south-west. is it fair to say that we having seen such _ south-west. is it fair to say that| we having seen such widespread attacks from russia in recent months? what could have caused this and what does this tell is about the trajectory of the conflict?— trajectory of the conflict? that's correct. this _ trajectory of the conflict? that's correct. this seems _ trajectory of the conflict? that's correct. this seems to - trajectory of the conflict? that's correct. this seems to be - trajectory of the conflict? that'sj correct. this seems to be pretty trajectory of the conflict? that's - correct. this seems to be pretty big and bad. what it tells us is that russia still has enough missiles to launch at ukraine, as well as drones, as well as the determination to destroy ukraine. volodymyr zelensky said this morning that while russia has been firing missiles, dozens of missiles, at ukraine, these missiles don't experience any delays in supplies, unlike western arms supplies to ukraine. . ~ unlike western arms supplies to

ukraine. ., ~ , ., unlike western arms supplies to ukraine. ., ~ ,, _, , , ukraine. thank you. of course, this is a significant _ ukraine. thank you. of course, this is a significant development - ukraine. thank you. of course, this is a significant development and . ukraine. thank you. of course, thisj is a significant development and we will continue following this story. in the meantime, there have been... we can actually go live now to kyiv. there have been widespread attacks across the country, there have been black out and at least five people have been killed. let's speak to zhanna bezpiatchuk from bbc ukrainian, who's in kyiv. what can you tell us about the impact of these strikes? this was the largest air strike on the ukrainian power stations. it is confirmed by ukrainian officials that it was really a massive attack, all at main power stations across

the country. it included the hydropower stations, including the biggest one in ukraine, and one of the biggest in europe. the dam wasn't touched by the strike, but there are big fires and it is expected that at least some substations of this big hydropower plant won't be repaired in the near future, it would be possible. in the eastern part of ukraine, there were heavy missile strikes and drones which russia lodged against ukraine overnight. the kharkiv region, and kharkiv itself, one of the largest cities in ukraine, is in full blackout. we know from our contact on the ground that the shops, for example, can face and hospitals in

kharkiv are working right now, because they have made lots of adaptations since the start of the war, they are using generators. the zaporizhzhia region is also on the verge of blackout. the region is home of the biggest nuclear plant in europe, the sensory micro—nuclear plant, and the power line which feeds this station was cut because of the overnight attacks. kyiv, the capital, has been relatively safe. it has the strongest, most powerful air defences, so here life is not interrupted by the overnight attacks. again, it was a difficult night, we didn't sleep, many people spent the night in corridors and bathrooms. it is difficult to come back to normal after that night.

thank you for that update on what is happening across ukraine after that spate of russian attacks overnight. russia has been carrying out intense bombardments across the north—eastern border of ukraine. entire villages are being evacuated, with hundreds of frail and elderly people helped to be moved to safety. it's all happening in the week vladimir putin secured himself another term in the kremlin — promising to continue the war in ukraine. 0ur eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford, reports from sumy near the russian border. nina hasjust lost everything she owns. they all have. ukrainian pensioners who've been forced to flee russian bombardment and abandon their homes. nina's pain is felt by everyone here.

villagers were evacuated under fire, by police, urging them on to safety. some had to be carried across bridges already bombed. this is sumy region, on the border with russia. the police video shows whole streets there destroyed in air strikes. translation: so the first thing i hear at this - temporary shelter is a plea for help for ukraine's soldiers. then anger at the man who launched this war, and just secured himself another six years in the kremlin. translation: putin is our enemy. what did he come here for? we never touched him. but so many people have been killed, so many tortured, so many have lost their arms and their legs. and what for?

most who arrive think they'll go home one day. confused, as well as scared. this is the latest evacuation of people from villages that are under fire close to the russian border, being brought here for safety. more ukrainians who've had their lives turned upside down by this war. baby katya's life began under fire. she's just a month old. her mother tells me her heart is aching to be home again, that it hurts. she just wants all this to end. it's not only the fighting that families are fleeing. they're escaping occupation, too, by russia, a life under vladimir putin's rule. zoya and her husband travelled three days to reach sumy from a village now full of russian soldiers. everyone coming from occupied territory gets a security screening by their own country.

then finally, zoya can tell her children that they're safe. she tells me she left because life under russian control scared her and it crushed her spirit. translation: as we were driving here, i started to cry. _ i breathed in the fresh ukrainian air. yes, we are ukrainians. we want our country to flourish, for our children and grandchildren to live in peace. i'm sorry. "it's very hard," zoya tells me, because she knows she's safer now. but ukraine is no closer to peace. sarah rainsford, bbc news, sumy. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

police in west yorkshire have opened an investigation into whether one of the conservative party's biggest donors committed a crime when he allegedly made racist comments about britain's longest—serving black mp, diane abbott. earlier, i spoke to our political correspondent, helen catt, about this latest investigation. we know that earlier this month the guardian newspaper reported that frank hester, who, as you said, is a major donor to the conservative party, he has given £10 million to the party, had told a meeting of his company in 2019 that the mp diane abbott made him "want to hate all black women" and that she "should be shot". now, he apologised for what he said was being "rude" to diane abbott. the prime minister had condemned the remarks as racist.

but the conservatives have been resisting pressure to hand back those donations. what we've got this morning is a statement from west yorkshire police, which says it is investigating what it describes as racist comments which were allegedly made at a meeting in leeds in 2019. it said that a complaint had originally been made to the met police's parliamentary and investigations team on the 11th of march, but had been passed to west yorkshire because of where the meeting took place, in horsforth, in leeds. now, it said that officers had since been working to establish the facts and to ultimately ascertain whether a crime has been committed, and it added that it recognised the strong reaction to these allegations and would appreciate everyone who had contacted them since that article was published. and this of course, looking at the background to this story, there has been a huge political row as a result of these allegations. there has, yeah. it dominated quite a lot of a week's worth of news, if you think back to last week,

and that's because there was the revelation of these comments, there was then downing street's reaction to it. the prime minister then saying that they were racist, and there were calls from the opposition parties and from some conservatives for the conservatives to hand back that £10 million of donations which the party has rejected, in effect it hasn't done that. there were also reports of potentially further donations either in train or already accepted by the conservatives which have neither been confirmed nor denied. so just when this all seemed to have died down a bit, what this opening of a police investigation does is to bring that all back to the forefront and put those questions again to rishi sunak. two white supremacists are suspected of carrying out two murders while on the run following a prison break in the us state of idaho. skylar meade, here on the left, and his alleged accomplice, nicholas umphenour, were caught after a brief car chase on thursday afternoon. police say they are both members

of a prison gang, the aryan knights. meade escaped after umphenour ambushed guards taking him back to prison from hospital, opening fire and injuring two of them. opposition figures in india have strongly condemned the arrest of delhi's chief minister. police surrounded the home of arvind kejriwal — a prominent opposition leader — in connection with corruption allegations relating to the city's policies over alcohol sales. a probe into the matter has already seen two of his top allies jailed. he was detained after several hours of questioning by india's main financial crimes agency. mr kejriwal's arrest comes weeks before voting starts in a general election. he is our south asia editor. it is a hugely significant moment,

as you say, that election start in a few weeks from now, it will go on for weeks. this arrest has triggered widespread condemnation by opposition parties because he is one of the top opposition leaders. his party is in power in the state of punjab, and they form part of an opposition alliance. his arrest has triggered anger, condemnation, saying it was a conspiracy to stifle opposition and dissent, and that is why the governing party is doing this. that is the accusation by his supporters. the ruling party deny this and say this is related to how they were favouring alcohol

retailers in delhi, so it is taking its own courts. this has caused a lot of anger and worries among opposition leaders. sports giant nike says it has no plans to recall or change the new england football shirt, after criticism following its decision to change the colour of the cross of st george on the back of the shirt. traditionally red and white, the new design features navy, light blue and purple. nike describes the design as a "playful update" and says the colours were inspired by the training kit worn by england's 1966 world cup winners. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has criticised the change, saying the flag was a unifier, and urged the firm to reconsider the choice. let's cross to wembley — the home of english football — and speak to our correspondent, ben woolvin. why is this causing such a fuss?

the new england shirt went on sale for the first time yesterday. i've got one of them right here, that is what it looks like from the front. the controversial part is here on the back of the collar. you can see the back of the collar. you can see the st george cross no longer in red but now in a combination of shades of purples and blues. nike says this is a playful refresh of the st george cross, designed to unite and inspire, but the redesign has been causing some controversy. one person i spoke to said he likes the new design regarding it as a nod to multiculturalism, but lots of people are calling on nike to go back to the red st george cross, including sir keir starmer. the controversy doesn't seem to be doing anything to harm demand for the new england shirt. when i bought this one this

morning, there was a small queue of people in front of me and shop assistants were taking calls from people asking if the shirt was in stock. they were saying to customers they expected it to be crazy busy. the new shirt due to be worn by the england side for the first time when they play brazil here at wembley stadiums tomorrow. what has the response been from nike about this? the? what has the response been from nike about this? , ., what has the response been from nike about this? , . ., about this? they are saying that the whole idea behind _ about this? they are saying that the whole idea behind this _ about this? they are saying that the whole idea behind this purple - about this? they are saying that the | whole idea behind this purple update on the st george cross was inspired by the winning england side of the 1966 world cup. they've all purple as their training kit, and 1966 world cup. they've all purple as theirtraining kit, and nike are saying that this redesign is a playful refresh, but certainly not one that was intended to cause offence. but of course we have been listening to some voices of fans was that people who take this very seriously

and are upset about this. yes. and are upset about this. yes, indeed. lots _ and are upset about this. yes, indeed. lots of _ and are upset about this. yes, indeed. lots of people - and are upset about this. yes, indeed. lots of people have i and are upset about this. yes, indeed. lots of people have a | indeed. lots of people have a different take on what these shades of purple and blue might seek to represent, and that is why it is a talking point, i guess. that is why people are saying that sometimes the original shouldn't be messed with. that is what various labour politicians, including the leader, sir keir starmer, seem to be saying. thank you. i just want to show you the most watched video on our website right now — pictures from minnesota, where a hot air balloon crashed into power lines, while trying to land during strong winds. the basket detatched from the rest of the balloon and burst into flames after coliding with the power lines. luckily, just two of the three people on board suffered minor injuries.

that is the most watched story on our bbc news website to get more on that. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. we've got a fairly unsettled spell of spring weather over the next couple of days, low pressure to the north of the uk. and that's going to be bringing us a story of some sunny spells out there today, but also some heavy showery downpours. it's feeling colder than recent days and pretty windy as well. so we've got that colder air mass working its way slowly further south, low pressure sitting to the north of the uk. so this weather front has brought some rain. we're going to see it slowly clearing away from the south coast into the afternoon hours and then we're all going to be in the clearer skies. but it is going to be windy, especially across parts of scotland, and we'll see some showers driving in. this is three o'clock in the afternoon, some showers across parts of wales, north—west england. fewer i think further

east across england, but temperatures ten to 12 degrees so certainly significantly cooler than recent days. the showers will be more frequent this afternoon across parts of northern ireland and scotland where they're a little bit wintry over the highest ground. i think fewer reaching the likes of aberdeenshire. but into this evening and tonight, we've still got these brisk winds, gusts about 60 miles per hour in the north, driving more frequent showers in from the north—west. fewer showers again for parts of southern and eastern england, but you could catch one almost anywhere through the night. and it'll be colder than recent nights with temperatures between about two to four degrees in our towns and cities, but a touch colder in the more rural spots. so heading on into the weekend, then, low pressure starts to move its way towards the east as we head through the second half of the weekend. that will mean the weather will start to improve. but for saturday, plenty of those showers rattling through on those brisk north—westerly winds. again, gales in the far north—west. some of the showers a little bit wintry over the higher ground of scotland. and there could be some hail and some thunderstorms mixed in as well. some sunshine in between the showers, but only nine or ten degrees.

it's not going to feel particularly warm, especially where you're exposed to the brisk winds. now into sunday, that's when we see things quieting down a little bit. still some brisk winds bringing a few showers in the north and the east first thing, some rain approaching from the west later on in the day, too. but actually, in between, not too bad. some sunny spells around and temperatures probably a degree or two warmer compared to saturday. looking ahead into next week, though, low pressure stays fairly close to the uk. we've got one area clearing away towards the south—east, another approaching from the atlantic. so i think it's not going to be a complete washout into next week. there will be some dry air and some brighter weather, but some showers around. those temperatures a little bit warmer later in the week.

taking a bite out of apple — us authorities launch a legal case accusing the tech giant of abuse of power. donald trump eyes $3.3 billion payout, as his online platform gets ready to join the stock market. welcome to world business report. apple is being accused of

monopolizing the smartphone market, crushing competition and driving up prices for consumers. the us department ofjustice and 15 states have filed a landmark lawsuit claiming the company violates antitrust laws. apple denies the claims and says it will "vigorously" fight the lawsuit. michelle fleury has more. more than 1 billion of us around the world own an iphone. for many people it's almost unthinkable that they would use any other sort. for me, apple works a little bit better than android. i've had android before. it didn't do too well with me. it's just what my parents always got to me, and it'sjust easy to stick with it but i've never really looked into anything else, which is the main reason why i've never switched. i think having an iphone is - practical because, like, i have... the rest of my family also has an iphone, i so they are just very compatible. all of which makes it one of the most successful companies. last year, sales ofjust the iphone made it more than £150 billion in revenues.

and that much profit, as well as so many customers,