hello, welcome to this hour. we begin with the war in gaza — president biden has said the us will not supply heavy weapons to israel which could be used in a major assault on rafah in southern gaza. the president says munitions will be sent that allow israel to defend itself, but that the country would not keep washington's support if it carried out operations in densely populated areas. israel's envoy to the united nations said mr biden�*s remarks were "disappointing" and that a pause in the transfer of weapons will significantly impair israel's ability to achieve military objectives. more on that in a moment, but first here's more of what president biden said. civilians have been killed in gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centres. and i made it clear that if they go into rafah,

they haven't gone in rafah yet. if they're going to rafah, i'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem. we're going to continue to make sure israel is secure in terms of iron dome and their ability to respond to attacks like came out of the middle east recently. let's ta ke let's take you to the scene, looking out at gaza. you can see in the distance there, a heavy plume of smoke, a reminder that the conflict continues on. and heavy shelling has been reported in rafah in the south of the gaza strip this morning. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, told me more from jerusalem. we still haven't heard from the israeli prime minister's office. we do have some comments

in the past hour or so from the israeli foreign minister obliquely referring to this. he's written on x. "there's no war more just than this." and said israel will continue to fight until hamas�*s destruction. we've also had, in a characteristically quite shocking comment from the national security minister, the far right itamar ben—gvir. he has put on his x account "hamas heart biden." so there is a lot of upset here about these latest comments from the us president, the us, of course, israel's closest ally, and that will put pressure on this israeli coalition government as to what it does next, particularly with regard to rafah. and we know that there are also reports that from within the israeli defence establishment, a lot of concern there about what this means for such a critical relationship.

and all of this as we're hearing reports of heavy shelling in rafah this morning. that's correct. i mean, we've been hearing from a colleague who's working with us there, from doctors and other residents that there has been very heavy shelling. one man was saying as he was involved in bringing wounded people, including children, including a baby, and footage that we could see into the hospital in rafah, they said that this would be a limited incursion, but they're hitting very close to these two main hospitals. we know that already the use of another hospital has been put out of use effectively and that the kuwaiti hospital, some people have been leaving from there, too. and then on top of that, you know, you have the humanitarian situation made so much more difficult by the closure of these two important crossings, the rafah crossing, which israel took control of back on tuesday, the kerem shalom crossing. although israel says that is now reopened, no supplies are able to get in to the gaza side.

palestinian workers are not able to access there, we're told. and we've got the different un agencies saying really they're running out of fuel, hospitals are running out of fuel and very soon there will be no food either because food supplies are getting rapidly used up with so many people crammed into rafah. and a lot of people are really starting to flee to other locations, places like khan younis, also in the south of the gaza strip. but knowing that there's really very little suitable accommodation for people there and that again, it will be difficult for them to find supplies. earlier, i spoke to fawaz gerges, who is a professor of international relations at london school of economics. seems to me that president biden has finally realised that israeli prime minister has outmaneuvered them and has played them. he seems to be fed up. it's the first time that

president biden has used leverage. pausing an arms shipment to israel. but for your own viewers. american arms continue to flow to israel as we talk. you are notjust pausing the 2000 bombs, 2,000lb bombs that have done considerable damage to urban areas in gaza. in fact, president biden and the at the same time, in the same interview, he acknowledged that american bombs have killed palestinian civilians. but, of course, we know they have killed many palestinian civilians. so the reality now, i think president biden knows the ball in his court to prevent another humanitarian catastrophe in rafah. you have, as you said, as your report has said, you have 1.3 million civilians in rafah. most of them have been displaced from many parts of gaza. the humanitarian situation really is at a breaking point. no fuel supplies. food is running out. hospitals are being targeted again

by israel systematically. so we have to wait and see how president biden�*s next move will affect the decision by the israeli war cabinet in the next few hours and next few days. and, of course, all of this as the conflict continues on. and so indeed, the humanitarian suffering. we heard from my colleague yolande talking about real concerns about power, about hospitals, all of those things. they still continue as concerns. as you just mentioned, almost 35,000 palestinians have been killed, not to mention the 77,000 palestinians who have been injured. and we know the plight of the displaced people. i mean, you have... where where do you expect the 1.3 million palestinians in rafah to go, what part of gaza that has been raised by israel? i think my take on it is that this is the first time that the americans have used leverage against israel.

my take on it, it will probably speed up a ceasefire deal between hamas and israel and also the war cabinet in israel is unlikely to basically carry out all out assault on rafah. i think netanyahu knows now that the game is almost over that the tail cannot really wag the dog all the time. the americans have a lot of leverage. and i was also really surprised, pleasantly surprised when president biden was asked if he hear student protesters in america calling the president genocide biden and the president said, quote, unquote, absolutely, i do. this tells me that domestic pressure in the united states is having an effect on the decision making. president biden and finally has to take something in order to really stop netanyahu from, i mean, doing a lot of harm to the president in his presidential campaign in the united states and the standing of

the united states worldwide, notjust in the global south. there is plenty more coverage on the bbc website where we continue to run a live page with updates. there's been more reaction to the decision by the leader of the opposition — sir keir starmer — to allow the former conservative natalie elphicke to defect from the government's side to labour. some of his own party have criticised the decision. natalie elphicke, the mp for dover, says rishi sunak has failed on his pledge to stop the boats, but she had previously accused labour of having no plan to deal with illegal immigration. canterbury mp rosie duffield said labour mps were "baffled" by her "really peculiar" move to swap sides. but a senior party figure hailed her switch as "one hell of a coup". 0ur chief political correspondent, henry zeffman, told me that labour leader keir starmer and his allies are jubilant that

natalie elphicke hasjoined labour. and that's for the simple reason that they can now say to rishi sunak and to the voters that rishi sunak has promised to, in his words, stop the boats, stop the small boats crossing the channel. and the mp for dover, which is where so many of those boats arrive, has now publicly declared that she backs keir starmer to achieve that goal over rishi sunak. make no mistake, that is a proper blow in public relations terms for the conservative party, for rishi sunak. however, as you say, there is significant unease, mostly private, but a little bit in public from labour mps about this basically because natalie elphicke is quite right wing as they would see it as conservative mp saying she was probably on the right of the conservative party, although there's some nuances around that. and so there are labour mps who are saying, well, 0k, the party should be a broad church, but how broad is too broad? and there were also specific questions about the circumstances in which she became the mp

for dover in 2019. all a bit messy, but she succeeded her then husband, charlie elphicke, who had been the conservative mp for that seat for the best part of a decade after he was charged with sexual assault. he was actually later convicted and jailed and they're no longer married. but nevertheless, some labour mps are a little bit uneasy about some elements of that. russia is celebrating victory day — held each year to mark the defeat of nazi germany during the second world war. the centrepiece is a huge military parade in red square, beside the kremlin, in moscow. president vladimir putin used the occasion to warn that his forces were always ready for combat, and that he would not allow anyone to threaten his country. he also took the opportunity to praise the russian soldiers fighting in ukraine. translation: all the participants in the military operation, - those are our heroes. we bow our heads before your resilience.

together with you, the whole of russia believes in you. and the moral supremacy of your exploits. fore more, i spoke to katarzyna zysk, who is a professor of international relations and contemporary history at the norwegian institute for defence studies. by by delaying the air package for ukraine which allowed putin to make limited advances. so, there is also large—scale military organisation programme going on in russia.

russia after the initial shock in the first month of the war, they have managed to resume and significantly increase production of weapons. as i mentioned, there is the military reform that aims basically into building a soviet style mass army. there are many potential problems along the way that russia is facing. but we see a different russia that is fighting the war today. one thing we did also hear from president putin was some sort of acknowledgement his country is living through a difficult time. what did you read into that? i think for one, i believe it is very hard for the russian propaganda to hide russia is experiencing economic problems, that this war is carrying an enormous economic,

financial and human price. i think this is one potential reference to it. but i think putin is preparing the russian public it may take much longer. 0ne date for the victory in ukraine which has been discussed is 2026. so i think this is something the propaganda tries to prepare the russian public. it is also related to the fact there is a victory parade and the war against nazi germany is basically translated into the war in ukraine. this is a way of mobilising the public to prepare it for sacrifices, economic, financial and human. also russia has increased repressions, so this is something, this existential war russia is facing, that is how putin tries to present the war in ukraine.

around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

now, to the chinese president xi jinping's european tour — after visiting france and serbia, he's beginning two days of meetings in hungary. president xi was welcomed with a military parade in budapest — later he'll meet the hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban. beijing sees hungary as one of its closest allies in the eu — and there have been high levels of chinese investment there. 0ur correspondent nick thorpe is in budapest for us. there was a long essay by xi jinping in the hungarian media and pro—government hungarian media. he's been warmly welcomed. the prime minister and his wife were out at the airport to meet him there. so very much a popular visit from the government's point of view. and the prime minister here talking

about hungary wanting to serve as a bridge between china and the european union, whereas of course, some european leaders and of united states are warning yesterday, are suggesting that there is a that europe should be wary of a chinese agenda, that china is actually trying to drive a wedge between different eu members and between the eu and the united states. one thing that i think is quite significant is we're hearing that they could be an infrastructure project on the belt and road initiative announced after this trip. and of course, as we've seen in places like south asia, china, investing in countries like sri lanka, nepal, countries that surround some of its biggest rivals in that case, india, in this case, of course, trying to make inroads around europe. that's right. hungary has already attracted $16 billion worth of chinese investment, has talked that by the end of this year, that could increase

to as much as 30 billion. and as you say, infrastructure is very important as well as electric vehicles. there's a hungary, a budapest to belgrade high speed railway, which is full of chinese investment. that railway should eventually go all the way to the port cities of greece, to thessaloniki and piraeus. so a lot of chinese investment here into electric vehicles, green technology, into transport infrastructure. and again, one of the stories, we're not getting a lot of concrete details yet, but possibly investment into hungarian energy, including nuclear energy. and just before we let you go, just tell us more of what we can expect today. we've obviously seen the red carpet being rolled out in quite a welcome from hungary. what happens throughout the day? through the day, we're going to have these serious talks between the hungarian prime minister and the chinese president. but there's a big delegation with the chinese president, the ministers of foreign affairs, finance, trade, innovation.

they're all here, a 400—strong delegation. we're not sure where they're going to go, but they've got a lot of projects they could potentially visit. a new chinese car factory, that's a factory in szeged in the south of the country. rumours of a new car factory to be announced and all the used car battery factories already working or planned or under construction. so they've got a wide choice of places to go to. we don't know yet exactly where they're going to visit today. a british toddler who was born deaf can now hear unaided — after becoming the first person in the world to receive a new gene therapy treatment. shortly before 0pal sandy's first birthday, she was given an infusion in her ear that replaced the faulty dna with a working copy of the gene. experts from cambridge�*s addenbrooke�*s hospital say there's huge potential for this new treatment. 0ur health reporter, michelle roberts, has the story.

blows whistle. yay! 18—month—old 0pal is learning how fun making noise can be. yeah! she's the first person to get a new type of gene therapy treatment for an inherited deafness she was born with. her parentsjo and james say it was a really hard decision to make. it was really scary, but i think we'd been given a really unique opportunity with no real evidence that any harm or adverse effects was likely to come to her. and i think a lot of parents with, regardless of their difficulties their children face, to be given an opportunity to potentially make obstacles easier for her to overcome was a risk definitely worth taking. surgeons carried out 0pal�*s procedure just before her first birthday. the infusion replaces the faulty dna causing 0pal�*s genetic condition. a modified, harmless virus delivers a working copy of the 0tof gene.

that treats the sound sensing cells in the inner ear or cochlear. the new gene means they can carry the signals they should. 0pal�*s operation went to plan. gene therapy in her right ear and a cochlear implant in her left. just a few weeks later, she could hear loud sounds. absolutely mind blowing. i was at work at the time and you messaged me to say what had gone on. and i'm not sure i believed it at the start. kept my phone up. i said it wasjust a fluke, she must have reacted to something else. i got home from work and straight away, take the cochlear implant off, testing it out. banging from the bottom of the stairs. now she can even hear whispers in her gene therapy ear. that was 2a weeks post—surgery, and we heard the phrase "near normal hearing." she was turning to really soft sounds. yeah.

they played us the sounds that she was turning to and were quite mind—blown by how how soft it was, how quiet it was. they're sounds that i think in day to day life you might not even notice yourself, sort of thing. 0pal�*s part of an international study and experts hope the treatment could work for other types of profound hearing loss, too. this is a very specific gene for quite a rare type of hearing loss. so what i'm hoping is that we can start to use gene therapy in young children, restore hearing from a variety of different kinds of genetic hearing loss, and then have a more one and done type of approach where we actually restore the hearing. they don't have to have cochlear implants and other technologies that have to be replaced. big sister nora has the same rare gene as 0pal. for daddy? good girl! keys for daddy. more than half of hearing loss cases in children have genetic causes, so there's big potentialfor this new type of therapy.

michelle roberts, bbc news. what a lovely story. following in the footstepf of k—pop — which originates in south korea — there's growing hype over the global rise of p—pop... reporter hannah gelbart from the bbc�*s what in the world podcast has been to the philippines to meet one of manila's top bands — alamat — and find out if it could really be the next big thing. you've probably heard of k—pop orj—pop, but what about p—pop? it's short for philippine — or pinoy — pop, and it's flourishing. alamat is one of the biggest p—pop bands in the country. it has six members, each coming from a different region and singing in a local language, from tagalog to waray waray, bisaya and sambal. p—pop is definitely getting big. we are going to push filipino talent to our limits. like k—pop, p—pop bands are known for their rigorous training, edgy outfits and adoring fans.

p—pop sounds completely different. we aim to promote our culture through everything that we do, and that includes fashion, music and, of course, our dances. alamat's music is full of national symbols, myths and legends. they use lyrics and costumes to criticise the country's colonial past, and they address contemporary issues like the two million overseas filipino workers sending money home to their families from abroad. when i was a kid and my dad passed away, my mom had to flew overseas so she can provide for us. i grew up with my grandma, with my grandparents and my cousins, so i grew up full of love. while alamat has loads of filipino fans here and abroad, some p—pop bands like sbi9 have

already made an impact on the international music scene. we are definitely not rivals, but more of, "we are brothers "in the p—pop community." and that community isn't new. p—pop builds on original pilipino music, or 0pm, which has been around since the �*705. but this newer version is resonating with gen z filipinos. whereas k—pop has become one of korea's main exports and is a multi—million—dollar global business, p—pop doesn't yet have the same level of government support. alamat's name means "legend", and with or without that backing, this is a band that's determined to make it big. hannah gelbart, bbc news, manila. let's ta ke let's take you live to downing street before we end this half hour, and that is because the prime minister rishi sunak is at the moment meeting university leaders to

discuss greater protection for jewish students. the primers to has warned what he described as an unacceptable rise in harassment and anti harassment. we will have more on that —— the prime minister. hello. we've got a long awaited spell of dry and sunny weather for many of us over the next few days. not quite dry everywhere. a bit of rain around across the far north of scotland. and we'll also see some misty, murky patches during the mornings. they could be a little bit slow to clear. so, not wall—to—wall blue skies for the next few days, but high pressure is bringing a lot of dry, settled weather, with light winds, too. now, we're likely to start thursday morning with that patchy rain in the far north—west, but further south, i think some mist and some fog patches around here and there, particularly so for parts of the south—west of england and wales. could be some mistiness creeping into east anglia. around some of these irish sea coasts, the isle of man, towards cumbria, some of that fog

could be quite slow to clear. for scotland, there'll be some brighter spells across eastern areas — like aberdeenshire, for instance — but there'll be more cloud and outbreaks of rain moving in across the western isles, parts of highland too. that rain looks like it eases away, pushes a little bit further northward. so for much of the uk, dry with sunny spells, and that's going to lift those temperatures to somewhere between around 19 to 22 degrees for many of us. just a little bit cooler across the north of scotland. now, through thursday evening, overnight into friday, we've got some more rain that'll push across parts of highland. elsewhere, dry once again, relatively mild temperatures — in double figures for many of us. but again, i think friday morning could see a few misty patches that will gradually clear away. so friday itself, i think longer spells of sunshine on offer, light winds and those temperatures probably up a degree or so. so more widely, we're looking at temperatures in the low 20s, possibly the mid—20s in the south. still a little cooler than that for stornoway and lerwick, for instance. into the weekend, high pressure still close, but it slips away towards the east, and that willjust open the doors for areas of low pressure to try and move in from the west. but i think saturday itself, a good deal of dry weather. cloud will tend to bubble up through the day, and that could just

spark off one or two showers, perhaps northern england, southern scotland, but they'll be hit—and—miss. temperatures are again up in the mid 20s — could see 2a in one or two places. similar start to the day on sunday, but you'll notice these showers trying to push in towards the west. they could be quite slow—moving, potentially heavy and thundery in places. where it does stay dry, probably towards the south and south—east, we could well see temperatures again in the mid—20s, but then it looks like the showers will dominate as we head into next week. so, more unsettled weather on the cards for the start of next week. still a little bit warmer than average, but not as warm as the next few days.

this is bbc news, the headlines... president biden warns israel that the us will stop supplying some weapons if it launches a major ground invasion in rafah. new analysis reveals that more than 1,700 people in the uk could be living with undiagnosed hepatitis c — after receiving contaminated blood transfusions decades ago. and the second semifinal of eurovision is set to take place amidst heightened security , in anticipation of protests as israel takes the stage.

a bbc investigation has found that more than 1,700 people in the uk could be living with undiagnosed hepatitis—c after being given a transfusion containing contaminated blood. as many as 27,000 people were exposed to the virus the 19705, �*80s and �*90s — but official documents suggest that efforts by the government and the nhs to trace those who were most at risk, were inadequate. our health editor, hugh pym has this report. in the 20 years before 1990, up to 27,000 people had transfusions with blood that was contaminated with the virus hepatitis c. a quick diagnosis and treatment can save lives, but transfusion cases are still coming forward. the hep c trust says two newly diagnosed people call their helpline every month.

there are people still out there that have the virus that