let's recap what's been happening in iran. in what is feared to be a ratcheting up of the conflict in the middle east, explosions have been heard in iran. two us officials have confirmed to our broadcast partner cbs news that it was an attack from israel. our middle east correspondent, had been following israel's reaction. israel's military has not confirmed any offensive took place inside iran. we have the israeli media reporting widely this was an israeli attack and, of course, quoting foreign media reports, particularly those from the us, which have sources, both israeli and american

sources, both israeli and american sources, confirming this was indeed an israeli strike. now, all weak people have been on tenterhooks waiting for some kind of response. it was made very clear by israeli officials they did not think they could let it pass. that was after an unprecedented direct attack from iran on israeli territory last weekend. it was really the form of response that was in question and when it would happen. people wondering if the state of uncertainty would continue through the upcoming jewish passover holiday, for example. we have had some ministers coming out, particularly the national security minister, who is known as a firebrand and on the far right, he had previously been calling for israel to go crazy in its response to restore its deterrent in the region. he said this response appears to be too limited. he is the only major official we are hearing

from at the moment. others are keeping extremely quiet about all of this. . , , ., , ., , ., this. has there been any attempt to ian this. has there been any attempt to [an for this. has there been any attempt to plan for what _ this. has there been any attempt to plan for what could _ this. has there been any attempt to plan for what could be _ this. has there been any attempt to plan for what could be a _ this. has there been any attempt to plan for what could be a retaliation | plan for what could be a retaliation from iran to all this? or is there an expectation that things have calmed down and they are not putting in place any special measures? i suppose the hope, having had world leaders calling for restraint all through the week, pointing at the risk of a wider regional war at a time when already the war is raging on in gaza, they have been asking for israel to keep things limited onceit for israel to keep things limited once it became clear israel to plan a retaliation. it does look like this is a limited response but it is carefully calibrated. but we don't know if this is israel's full response of course. it is telling that the israeli military has not increased the state of alert in the country, it has basically said there is no change in the instructions it hasissued is no change in the instructions it has issued to the israeli public.

there was one attack from israel and syria. tell us a little bit about the other elements to this that are going on still. fit the other elements to this that are going on still-— going on still. of course we have been hearing _ going on still. of course we have been hearing also _ going on still. of course we have been hearing also in _ going on still. of course we have been hearing also in the - going on still. of course we have been hearing also in the past - going on still. of course we have| been hearing also in the past few hours that there was an israeli attack, again nothing confirmed by the israeli military in syria, targeting air defence systems there, and also something similar been reported related to lebanon. there have been warning sirens alerting people to possible incoming rocket fire from lebanon with the powerful lebanese armed hezbollah operating there in the north of israel. this remains still somewhere where people are very much on edge. there is a thought that iran's proxies could come into action here and there could be further retaliation on that basis, although we have had the

reuters news agency coming out quoting a senior, unnamed iranians source saying they don't see what happened overnight as being an attack on iran. they are trying to really portray that as being an infiltration of iranian airspace. isfahan is the location of iran's nuclear site. the international atomic agency has confirmed there is no damage to iran's nuclear facilities. the director general continued to call for extreme restraint from everybody. he said nuclear facility should never be a target in military conflicts. our security correspondent frank gardner has outlined his assessment of the current situation. my my assessment for what it is worth is this crisis is over, it has been averted. it does not end the problem is, but the realfear of averted. it does not end the problem is, but the real fear of the tit—for—tat escalating exchange of fire between israel and iran for now

at least appears to be over. why? let's take it back to april the 1st. there was a devastating air strike on iran's consulate in damascus. it flattened it. it was a targeted, precision strike which israel did not say it did, but everyone knows it was israel. it killed 13 people, including two top iranian generals. iran vowed a strong response. the region held its breath, the middle east held its breath for 13 days, and then we got the answer. last weekend over saturday night into sunday morning there was a barrage, an attack by iran against israel with 330 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. nearly all of these were shot down by israel, by these were shot down by israel, by the us navy, by the raf, byjordan's air defences and possibly even the

saudis. so nobody was killed in that but it was still the first time that iran had done a direct attack from iranians soil against israel on its own territory. so not using proxies like hezbollah in lebanon and the houthi is, but a direct attack. israel felt it had to respond and all this week we have seen urgent appeals by the west, israel's friends in the us and elsewhere, saying please don't respond forcefully, leave it at that, take the win, president biden said. we shot down all the missiles, you are safe, nobody got killed. you have made your point. but israel still felt it had to respond to try and kind of show that it can still deter iran. what we have seen this morning is a very limited, calibrated, symbolic strike. very important

where it has hit. the fact there is no damage that we can see, no casualties, that is fine. iran said it will not respond, that is great. but look at where it hit. isfahan province, that is home to iran's uranium enrichment facility and several nuclear facilities and several nuclear facilities and several airbases, several military centres, and israel is making the point that it can strike there and it could strike in a much stronger way if it chose to. and at 11:30 gmt, 12:30 bst we will be answering all your questions on the iran—israel tensions live during your questions answered. so get in touch and send in your questions using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions — or email yourquestions@bbc.co.uk. in other news today people in india have begun voting in what is being called the largest democratic exercise ever held. prime minister narendra modi is looking to win

a third successive term. for more on this, i spoke to south asia correspondent samira hussain who's in delhi, and arunoday mukharji, who's following the election from chennai. just today, there are 166 million eligible voters. that is the combined populations of france and the uk, and then some. so i think thatjust gives you the sense of the scale. and what they've done is, they have, all, there is voting taking place, in 21 different states across the country. and part of the reason what makes voting here such a big, monumental task is not only the size of the population, but it's also the size of the country, and the diversity within the country, and because, according to indian law, you cannot be more than two kilometres away from a polling booth. so, you are a situation in which you have electoral officials that are travelling five hours, sometimes on animals, to be able to take a voting machine

to one resident perhaps in a remote area in a forest. and if i could bring you in on that point, arunoday mukharj, what are the practicalities where you are and what have you seen to try to deal with that? well, i am in the city of chennai in the southern indian state of tamil nadu, i am in a location which is close to a cluster of about six polling booths, so you can see the lines snaking out behind me. you can see them lining up, and these are the glimpses that greet us across the city of chennai in various pockets wherever we go, there is heavy police presence and of course a lot of lines all through the day as we see people coming out _ to cast their votes. this state is very politically significant, there are 39 lawmakers who are sent to the indian parliament from here and all 39 of those seats are voting here.

if i give you a quick political glimpse of what this state really means, this is a state where regional parties have always dominated, so can other national parties, whenever we talk about indian politics we hear about the ruling party, the congress party, but those parties have always had to align with regional parties here to contest elections. as far as the ruling bjp is concerned, which is currently governing india, they are looking to increase their footprint here in this state, they have never really done very well in this state, and in the last elections they had a vote share of less than full percent, which is why you have seen the star campaigner of the bjp, of sorts, prime minister modi, starting his big 2024 political campaign from this state, he has been to this estate eight times in the last for months, indicating the bjp's desire and need to register its presence here in the southern state of tamil nadu. from an economic point of view, when we speak to a lot of the people as we walk around the city, and voters, the general

conversation is talking about two major aspects, one of them, the lack ofjobs for the educated youth, and also the need to control prices. to bring you in on that, samira, the jobs and prices, how is that viewed in delhi? look, there was are issues that you have heard about in tamil nadu and they are issues which you can hear about spread across the country. there is a real issue when it comes to the educated young men, especially, and the crisis ofjobs here. look, mr modi is campaigning on his record of economic growth, on some of his values of indian and hindu nationalism, and that is ultimately what we are looking at here in terms of what happens going forward. mr modi is looking to keep his currentjob, he has been in powerfor a decade now, and it would be an historic win, only one other leader in india has been able to stay in power that long, if he does win. but there are opposition parties of course here, that are

bandind together, forming an alliance to try and combat some of that popularity. and give us also where it goes next from here. obviously we have talked about the scale of it and the practicalities and the timeframe. when do we eventually get results? the results are actually supposed to come on the 11th ofjune. and that is just an indication of how long it takes for all of this voting to start happening at the counting. because they are using electronic machines, really, even though the voting starts now, it will still be another several weeks before we actually find out weather mr modi keeps his currentjob. and you mentioned earlier some of the issues, arunoday mukharj, which you have found from speaking to people, aside from the jobs and prices, what do you think the focus will be when people come to cast their vote? well, this is primarily the main focus. we have been trying to understand from them the major issues, and whenever we talk to them

to understand what has really been the general life like over the last couple of years, this is the primary concern that they have voiced. we also spoke to a first—time voter, 19, who cast his vote for the first time, we spoke to him and he talked about interesting aspects, like, while tamil nadu has always been this big business and industrial hub and has attracted investments, which also reflects what political parties talk about nationally as well, _ attracting investment, taking india to the big global stage, the importance of also all of that transforming into real development is something that the voters have also been talking about. so, it all boils down to what they can get from the elections, most importantlyjobs and how they manage their household budget. that has been the primary issue. nationally speaking, this has been a state and obviously we are also bound by certain poll regulations which is why we cannot go too much into detail about the major issues in the state, but

broadly speaking, when we look at the state of tamil nadu, 39 seats, that is about 7% of the total indian parliament which has 543 seats, this really is going to set the tone for the coming days because if the bjp, which is ruling the country at the moment, manages to make some sort of inroads here in the state of tamil nadu, it will be a sign of things to come, a change of political landscape, really, that this state has seen over the past several decades, where two major regional parties have dominated the scene, the dmk as well as another one. and in the last elections, in 2019, the dmk won 38 out of the 39 seats. so that is really a brief political picture of the state. but the larger issues which i mentioned are resonating across the country when we talk about price rises, unemployment and other issues which have been raised by both parties.

prime minister rishi sunak has called for an end to the uk's "sick note culture" in a speech on welfare reform. in a speech in the past hour, mr sunak said he is considering moving responsibility for assessing fitness to work away from gps to "specialist work and health professionals" in england. a record high of 2.8m people are out of work as of february 2024, according to the office for national statistics. we must be more ambitious in assessing people's potentialfor work. right now the gateway to ill health benefits is writing too many off, leaving them on the wrong type off, leaving them on the wrong type of support and with no expectation of support and with no expectation of trying to find a job with all the advantages that that brings. in 2011, 20% of those doing the work capability assessment were deemed unfit to work. but the latest figure now stands at 65%. that is wrong. people are not three times sicker than they were a decade ago and the world of work has changed

dramatically. now, of course, those with serious, debilitating conditions should never be expected to work. but if you have a low level mobility issue your employer could make reasonable adjustments, perhaps including adaptations to enable you to work from home. and if you are feeling anxious or depressed, then of course you should get the support and treatment you need to manage your condition. but that does not mean we should assume you can't engage in work. let's speak to our political correspondent, harry farley who is in westminster. how controversial is it to move the decision away from gps to someone else on this issue of fitness for work. ., ., ., , ., work. the royal college of general practitioners _ work. the royal college of general practitioners have _ work. the royal college of general practitioners have welcomed - work. the royal college of general practitioners have welcomed this i practitioners have welcomed this call for evidence. they say they are assessing sickness can be part of the normal conversation, but they are welcoming the call for evidence. it is worth pointing out a few of the statistics behind rishi sunak was my argument that he is making

today. they are quite staggering, a record number of people out of work, 2.8 million, 850,000 more since the pandemic. the prime minister makes the argument that half of those who are out of work say they have depression or anxiety and he says he worries that we as a country are over medicalised mental health. he did say that if people had mental health problems they should have access to support and pointed to investment the government was making investment the government was making in that. but the argument he is making today, in his words, what is good for you and he says a conservative government will reform welfare. a really important caveat here is this is all after the next election. what we are hearing today is a call for evidence, consultation, it is not a change happening straightaway. rishi sunak is saying a conservative government in next parliament will reform welfare. really what we are getting here is a glimpse of the

conservative manifesto going into the general election and the conservative party are quite far behind in the polls going into the election. ~ . . behind in the polls going into the election. ~ ., ., ., , election. what are the other party sa in: election. what are the other party saying about _ election. what are the other party saying about the _ election. what are the other party saying about the idea? _ election. what are the other party saying about the idea? labour- election. what are the other party saying about the idea? labour say for the past _ saying about the idea? labour say for the past 14 _ saying about the idea? labour say for the past 14 years _ saying about the idea? labour say for the past 14 years there - saying about the idea? labour say for the past 14 years there has - saying about the idea? labour say i for the past 14 years there has been a conservative government and these are reheated ideas and point to the fact that they claim the conservative government is out of ideas and say this is a minor alteration to the welfare system. the lib dems make the point that some of these announcements we have heard before. they say it is a reheated announcement and the government has seen a stagnation of the economy with people choosing between eating and heating. the greens say it is cold—hearted, in their words, to see the crisis of ill health as anything other down to posterity. a range of responses from the parties and obviously there are local elections coming up in a couple of weeks for time on make a second. but what we are seeing is rishi sunak ahead to the

conservative manifesto for the general election we are expecting next year. and the arguments that he is going to be making as to what a conservative government could and would do if it was elected after the general election.— general election. harry farley, thank you- _ let's turn to the war in ukraine now where two russian missile attacks are reported to have to have killed at least nine people in the central region of dnipropetrovsk. the station in the main city dnipro came under attack, and several homes were hit further east in synelnykove. officials say at least fifiteen people were injured. president volodymyr zelensky said the attack highlighted the need for every city to have adequate air defences. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has more on this. kyiv has been heavily fortified, if you like, in terms of air defences, with the supply of western patriot missile systems, which have proven to be incredibly effective against russian air attacks. however, russian forces have adapted as well.

so, what we see now are slightly less often, less frequent, attacks, but they are at a much greater scale. as you say, last night, russia launched 22 missiles, 14 drones, and they are designed to overwhelm air defences. but when we are talking about eastern cities like zaporizhzhia, dnipro, odesa in the south, which is also attacked, they are less well defended, and missiles get through. and we have seen images ofa burning building next to dnipro train station, and we are told across that region, at least nine people have been killed, three of them children. and i think president zelensky, he will continue to ask for much—needed air defence systems, and those asks have been answered, to a degree, over the past 24 hours, where we saw in the latest g7 summit countries including germany announcing more of those patriot defence systems will be delivered, but what ukrainians are

waiting on is the detail, when those systems will arrive. so, this is a continuation of russia's tactic in this regard, as well as ukraine both having to defend and having to weather this kind of storm. let's get more now on our main story — explosions have been heard in iran. two us officials have confirmed to our broadcast partner cbs news that it was an attack from israel. state television in iran reported explosions near an army base and an airport in the central city of isfahan, activating local air defence systems. blasts have also been reported in the country's north—west. let's speak to our middle east business correspondent sameer hashmi, who's in dubai. what kind of political reaction are you hearing n the region? this was something that was anticipated for a while and even in the region they were expecting some sort of retaliation from israel. in

that sense, if you look at the reaction of the country, so far we have only heard from a man which has come out and condemned the attack by israel, but we are beginning to hear from the uae and saudi arabia right now. usually these countries take a bit of time to react to these kind of developments. but since the war started in october, saudi arabia and the uae in particular have tried to take the middle path, they have not tried to take sides. they have condemned israel when it comes to the gaza war, but after the attack that was launched by iran, they called for de—escalation. i think the gulf countries are trying hard to strike a balance because they don't want to get drawn into this war. saudi arabia have been traditional rivals with iran for a long time, but last year we saw some sort of truce between the two countries brokered by china. since then there has been constant dialogue between the two countries. there has been some sort of tension

is cooling down. the same thing with the uae. the tension between the uae and iran has cooled down. other countries have some sort of relationship with israel. the uae also has a diplomatic relationship and sign some accords a few years ago and they continue to trade with them. both of them want to avoid taking sides. however, there are some reports that are not confirmed that they did share some sort of intelligence with the israelis and the white house last week before iran launched an attack on israel. it will be interesting to see how they step forward on this issue because if this escalates then they might take some side or decide how to react to that. that will be the next thing to see. teiiii to react to that. that will be the next thing to see.— next thing to see. tell us a bit about the _ next thing to see. tell us a bit about the oil— next thing to see. tell us a bit about the oil markets - next thing to see. tell us a bit about the oil markets reactingj about the oil markets reacting overnight to the strikes. what does that tell us? the overnight to the strikes. what does that tell us?— that tell us? the oil markets immediately _ that tell us? the oil markets immediately went _

that tell us? the oil markets immediately went up - that tell us? the oil markets immediately went up after. that tell us? the oil markets i immediately went up after the that tell us? the oil markets - immediately went up after the news came out that israel had launched an attack. but it has come down by 0.7% up. there are no concerns about the physical supply of oil. there is enough supply in the market globally. that is not a concern for the market. but the bigger issue is that if this war escalates and right now there are signs, especially if you look at the statements coming out from iran, that they have played down that act and it gives a sense to the market that there is a chance that this might escalate. i think the biggest concern for the oil markets is going to be if there is an escalation and whether israel chooses to attack the energy infrastructure of iran. iran is the third largest supplier of oil in the opec, it has a capacity of about three to 3.5 million barrels of oil a day, which makes it a crucial source of oil. that is what the oil

markets want to keep a watch on. they don't want to see the infrastructure leads to a shortage of oil supply in the market. thank ou ve of oil supply in the market. thank you very much- — of oil supply in the market. thank you very much. you _ of oil supply in the market. thank you very much. you can _ of oil supply in the market. thank you very much. you can catch - of oil supply in the market. thank you very much. you can catch up| of oil supply in the market. thank- you very much. you can catch up with all the stories we are covering on the website and we have got a live page there as well. i will be back at the top of the hour with a round—up. to stay with us on bbc news. hello. some drier weather is on the way for most parts of the uk this weekend, but it doesn't look as if it will be warm and sunny — there will be quite a bit of cloud around. and today's cloud is going to continue to bring a scattering of showers with some sunshine in between. and it's still quite breezy out there. showers will continue to run in across parts of central and eastern england and also in the south, we're clearing away our morning weather front. for western areas the winds start

to ease a little later, the winds are still brisk, and given that at this time of year the sea is at its coolest, it will feel quite bracing on the north sea coast. but 14—15 outside of the wind should feel pleasant, and we should get more sunshine this afternoon in northern ireland, west of scotland, western parts of england and wales. but this evening and overnight the chilly breeze continues to feed showers into eastern parts of england. patchy cloud and rain coming into the north on the next weather front but for most of us, because the showers clear, and the cloud, it will be colder than last night, with a fairly widespread ground frost. so, gardeners, beware. this high pressure might well also lead to some mist and fog in the west first thing but it hangs around all weekend, so the dry weather is with us, but we will see quite a lot of cloud with the weak weather front, no more than the occasional light shower, keeping the easterly breeze flowing into eastern areas, so we may well have an east—west split. chilly wind for parts of eastern england, perhaps one or two showers. the rain, patchy rain, in the north, and then just generally a build—up

of cloud on saturday. it looks as if west will be best for sunshine and perhaps also in eastern areas in between the showers later on but still quite chilly here, given the wind direction. only 13—14, just a little below par for the time of year. and it looks like another chilly night on saturday night, with a touch of frost. so that means that if you are out early heading off to the london marathon, it will be a cool start for the runners and spectators, and we are expecting temperatures to get into the low double figures, 12—13 at best, during the day, with the keen wind blowing and quite a lot of cloud. it looks as if we will see some good sunshine further to the west and perhaps for northern ireland, up to 17—18. but at the moment it's looking quite chilly again.

live from london. this is bbc news. this explosions are heard in iran. us officials say it's — israel's response to this week's attack. an iranian official says there is no plan for immediate retaliation — and state tv says there is no damage reported. g7 foreign ministers are in italy — with the crisis expected to dominate their agenda. while the european commission president urges restraint from all parties.

hello, i'm lauren taylor. world leaders are calling for restraint on all sides, after an apparent israeli air strike on iran. explosions were heard in the country and two us officials told our broadcast partner cbs news that it was an attack from israel. state television in iran reported explosions near an army base and an airport in the central city of isfahan, activating local air defence systems. blasts have also been reported in the country's north—west. video online shows iranian defence missiles being fired into the air. commercial flights were initially diverted around iranian airspace, but iranian media say all restrictions have now been lifted. isfahan is the location of iran's nuclear sites. the international atomic energy agency has confirmed there is no damage to the facilities. in a social media post, the agency's director general, rafael mariano grossi, continued to call for extreme restraint from everybody, and said nuclear facilities should never be a target

in military conflicts.