live from london. this is bbc news israel orders the evacuation of more areas of rafah in gaza — where over a million palestinians are sheltering. israel orders the evacuation of more areas of rafah in gaza — where over a million palestinians are sheltering. it comes as washington says israel may have used american—supplied weapons in breach of international humanitarian law in gaza. hundreds of people are fleeing continued clashes in ukraine's kharkiv region — a day after russia sent troops across the border. prince harry and meghan are in nigeria — as part of the duke's promotion of the invictus games. a contestant under investigation and protests on the streets — will politics overshadow tonight's eurovision song contest final? and the most powerful solar storm in 21 years — triggers spectacular celestial light

shows in many parts of the world. israel has called on residents in new parts of eastern rafah in the gaza strip to evacuate and head to what it describes as a "humanitarian zone" on the coast. the move comes as a un official warns that supplies are hitting "the bottom of the barrel" with no aid able to enter via gaza's southern border crossings. this is the scene live at a location, which has been labelled an �*expanded humanitarian area' by the israel defence forces. in a separate evacuation order on monday thousands were told to leave rafah, ahead of what israel called a �*limited' operation. there's been fighting in parts since.these developments have happened as a long—awaited us

government report has criticised israel's use of american—supplied weapons in the gaza war, saying it's reasonable to assess they have been used in breach of international humanitarian law in some instances. ourjerusalem correspondent yolande knell has more detail on what's going on in rafah these new evacuation orders in the eastern part of rafah suggest the israeli military is expanding its offensive. we have been hearing there was artillery in the centre ofthe city as well as the east, israeli gunships have been opening fire, but already as really tanks having circled an area to the east of rafah which residents were told to evacuate from so the tanks seem to be from so the tanks seem to be advancing. we have been told by

the israeli military that this is still a limited offensive in an effort against hamas which they see as a hamas stronghold and they say they have killed a number of terrorists and found tunnels in the area. this falls short, the indications are at the moment from the full—scale ground invasion of rafah that the us and other world powers have been warning israel against but we are already seeing this crisis developing in humanitarian operations with the severe shortages of food and clean water and fuel which has a big effect on the hospitals because we have had no aid coming in since tuesday when the rafah border crossing was captured by israeli forces. the eastern edge of the gaza strip, because of the fighting the

security situation means no supplies can get into gaza that way. thousands of people on the move and there are concerns about where they are being asked to go to muwasi that there will not be facilities to deal with the large influx of people. the israeli military calls this a humanitarian zone but it is not recognised as such, it has been expanded in recent days but those arriving in this coastal tent city have told us there are shortages of everything, there are no supplies, nothing to feed their children and that situation will not improve as long as the border crossings remain closed. this is happening as the us government report as publishing it is reasonable to expect

arms have been used in inconsistent ways with humanitarian law, has there been a reaction from israel? israel has been seen consistently it keeps to international law that investigate any alleged abuses of international law and that the force it is using in as that is proportionate to the threat it sees from hamas, in effect an existential threat. sam rose is director of planning at the un agency for palestinian refugees, unrwa and is in rafah. he's been telling me about the situation on the ground. the first evacuation

orders on monday covered about 100,000 people, they have expanded and what we were initially told was a limited scope evacuation towards the centre of rafah, a much more built up area so we estimate at least another 100,000 people in rafah covered by the evacuation order being instructed to move to an expanded humanitarian safe zone which is anything but in terms of the conditions of people find when they get there and our ability to provide assistance. take us through the area they are being asked to move to, what facilities are there. these are essentially sand dunes on the mediterranean that are crowded with hundreds of thousands of people who have already been forced to move, people living in shacks and tents by the side of a sandy beach road, very difficult for services, no water network infrastructure, sewage

or sanitation, temporary health facilities have been set up by agencies but these are already crowded and difficult spaces and it is notjust muwasi, it is also people being ordered, the northern part of the safe zone has been largely raised to the ground and whilst the attention of the world is on a rafah of the world is on a rafah we have also woken up to evacuation orders elsewhere, affecting me believe another 100,000 people in extremely built up an overcrowded areas, filled with civilians who are already very vulnerable. what are the conditions like in rafah? a lot of attention focused, whether the ground offensive will begin with still considerable number of people remaining.

people are exhausted and dejected, they feel abandoned and humiliated, they will do what they need to survive but they are done with all of this, you cannot imagine what people have gone through over the past few months and when we talk about families on the move they are extended families in gaza, the family unit is very important so when families move it is multiple generations from tiny babies all the way up to elderlyjust waiting to move somewhere else, gathering the paltry belongings and waiting for trucks to take them someone else. tell us the latest on how aid whether it is a fuel or medical or food is getting in to gaza. we were able yesterday

to bring in 150,000 litres of fuel, less than what we need for a day of operation but it is absolutely critical because we were facing a shutdown of hospital networks and water pumps and dialysis machines, telecommunications, things we have been rationing strictly, we are able to breathe out for a day but we still have no supplies, nothing has come in to gaza from the borders since sunday. this is a population a few weeks ago on the verge of famine so closing the supply lines is devastating. russian forces have launched a surprise new ground offensive in ukraine —

crossing the border into the northeastern kharkiv region. for months fighting has been focussed in the east — where russia occupies large areas. friday's attack may be an attempt to open a new front — and intensify pressure on kharkiv, which is the country's second largest city.small groups of russian troops with armoured vehicles pushed through the frontline — military sources say they advanced a kilometre, before being pushed back — amid reports of sustained russian shelling.these are pictures of volunteers helping people in settlements around kharkiv evacuate — getting out before the fighting gets worse. 0ur defence correspondentjonathan beale sent this report from kharkiv in north—eastern ukraine. well, there's no doubt these are dangerous and difficult times for ukraine.

remember, since the start of this year, russia has taken about 300 square miles of ukrainian territory. the focus of its efforts have been in the east, where it's been making slow but significant progress. but at the same time, russia has been massing forces, tens of thousands of troops just across the border from here, about 20 miles from the city of kharkiv, where i'm speaking to you now from. and in the early hours of this morning, some of those troops crossed the border, followed by what we're told from ukraine, massive air and artillery strikes, and that they now have a foothold in the kharkiv region. and president zelensky says they have repelled those initial attacks. but there are concerns there will be another wave in the coming days. but there's no doubt president putin believes he has a window of opportunity here, notjust because ukraine is outgunned and outmanned, but also because of that delay in us military

support, a delay of six months and that aid is only slowly coming to the front line. so these, as i say, are going to be difficult, dangerous months for ukraine. and already they're being stretched right across this 800 mile front. our correspondent in kyiv — james waterhouse — has been telling us this is for ukraine. it creates for ukraine an unwanted new north—eastern access to the front line and this is a front line which is more line which is more than 1000km long which ukrainian forces are struggling to contain. with the delays of the arrival of american weaponry and russia continuing to make it size count and take

ukrainian territory further south. crucially it is having to redeploy already stretched personnel to the kharkiv region to contain the incursion contain the incursion which we are told as being contained for now, there has been heavy fighting for the past 2a hours and whilst few think they are able to take cities like kharkiv because they failed the first time but it appears for now russia trying to form a buffer zone and extend the distance between russian territory and the fighting in ukraine because ukrainian forces have been increasingly shelling at targets inside russia so the question is what is going to happen next, we are containing it for now but is this russia building for something more. what does it tells about russia's mindset in terms of their confidence to make a move such as this. over the past six months, since october when we saw the

political delays to this £50 billion military package from the us, artillery, missiles, armoured vehicles, air defence, with the delays through politics russia has grown in size, mobilised more men at a faster rate, also heightened its manufacturing in terms of weaponry and grown in size and confidence and thus the momentum has gathered speed as well. it has taken territory notably in the east in donetsk, settlements captured and ukrainian forces have been building new defences up to 30 kilometres further back than the last ten we were there. time we were there. we are seeing russia trying to take as much territory as

possible, that aim has never disappeared and given that ukraine liberated some of that in 2022 you would imagine russia would be are seeing an kharkiv is whether russian forces have equip to to make a meaningful incursion to take all settlements and even cities and keep hold of them, it is never the ice concerning for ukraine and piles the pressure on kyiv to make the western weaponry account for something. count for something. at donald trump's criminal trial in new york, his former white house assistant, madeleine westerhout, kicked off this week's final day of testimony. she described a complex system to get mail — including cheques — from trump tower to the white house. (00v) earlier this week, the adult film actress stormy daniels testified — clashing with mr trump's defence team during a combative cross—examination. (biv)mr trump's former

lawyer and longtime fixer, michael cohen is expected to take the stand on monday. 0ur north america correspondent nada tawfik reports from new york this week saw testimony from one big witness, stormy daniels, and next week, another massive name, the star witness, michael cohen. donald trump's former lawyer is set to take the stand as early as monday. and it's really the moment that prosecutors have been building up to for the last three weeks of their case, piecing together testimony from corroborating witnesses and pieces of evidence as they went through what they allege was a conspiracy to hide information from the voting public, bringing figures like the tabloid editor of the national enquirer, david pecker, to outline a catch and kill scheme to buy negative stories and kill them before they reach the public to someone like stormy daniels, lawyer keith davidson, who outlines that the payment was being done

ahead of the 2016 election. then prosecutors moved into what they said was the cover up with testimony from donald trump's organization's former comptroller, jeff mcconney, and another accounting executive, deborah tarasov. and another accounting as they outlined the payments, the physical records, invoices, emails, ledgers and checks that they say all corresponded to the reimbursement of michael cohen for the so called hush money payment. and then stormy daniels, with her vivid, salacious testimony that was meant to corroborate her account that the alleged sexual encounter with donald trump did take place and that she was paid off to keep silent about it. now, the defense all throughout try to sow enough doubt injurors minds. but with michael cohen, he is a make or break witness for prosecutors. he has a history of lying under oath.

so he is problematic, but they're hoping that they have built up enough evidence to bolster his account when he takes the stand for the defense. they're hoping that they're able to attack his credibility enough to make jurors second guess everything he says. the latest coming in from gaza, evacuation orders from rafah to muwasi which has been designated a humanitarian safe zone by the israel army, the itis as the army says and owned 300,000 people from gaza have evacuated east rafah, does not say where they have gone the sense is at is to muwasi. if you want to keep

across the bbc news life page they have all the latest updates including interviews with rafah residents asking them where they are going and what the situation is. now — the eurovision song contest reaches its grand final on saturday night, with croatia, israel and switzerland among the favourites to win. meanwhile, joost klein, the entrant for the netherlands, has not performed in the second rehearsal for the grand finale on friday — while an investigation into an unspecified �*incident�* continues. klein's song �*europapa' is considered one of the front—runners at this year's contest — which final takes place later tonight. malmo and its giant cross stage. the lighting cube above it

weighs around 200 tonnes. modern eurovision is all about spectacle, and the people in charge are florian and frederick. i've got one word for this, wow. the new design with all the lights and technical wizardry is there to give countries more options, something which ireland has truly embraced. that is what makes this year's show so difficult and complex and challenging for the entire team, because there are so many options of what you can potentially do with this. each act, how long have they got to get onstage and get sorted? it's a very short time frame. 40 seconds. a0 seconds? # i went to hell and back. and the spectacle has changed the way performers write songs. switzerland's nemo, for instance, wrote his song the code

like a film script. going with the approach of writing something and imagining how- it could look onstage is not- something i have ever done before. you wrote the song thinking, "how is this going to look on a big stage", and how to create an event. yeah! i think that was definitely a big part of it. _ # rim tim tagi dim... but while staging is important, so too is a catchy song, a good performance — and then there are the other factors. take the netherlands — joost klein and europapa. following an incident that the swedish host broadcaster described as an altercation with a photographer, it was decided to pull him from the dress rehearsal while an investigation took place. the fans were not pleased. crowd boos. and the conversation about israel's

presence in this year's contest has had little to do with the quality of their song. but they are one of the favourites to win — it's going to be an interesting evening. david sillito, bbc news, malmo. 0ur correspondent sarah rainsford who's in malmo. here's the update she gave me in the last hour. what the organisers of eurovision as saying as there was an incident and they are investigating, the dutch perform other not turn up for the final rehearsal which is one thejury get to vote on, the props had been rolled out on stage and there was an announcement he would not be performing and there was quite a dissatisfied reaction, booing and jeering at that point. there will also booing when the israeli performer took to the stage, some people even turned their back because the major controversy is about israel participating in the

event. there have been protests against that here for days, another big one expected this afternoon, people who do not believe israel should be allow to take part in eurovision and that has overtaken in many senses the kind of normal eurovision party. there are plenty of people here for the music event but the protests are the loudest thing you hear these days and as well as the colourful banners and stickers there are a lot of stickers protesting against israel so it is an event which more than ever before politics has intruded on the usual party of cheesy euro pop. the most powerful solar storm in more than two decades has been hitting the earth, triggering spectacular celestial light shows in many parts of the world — and bringing possible disruptions

to satellites and power grids. such storms occur when the sun emits large clouds of particles, known as "coronal mass ejections" with scientists expecting this one to persist into the weekend. it's meant many people across britain have been able to see the northern lights — a phenomenon which isn't normally visible to people in southern england. this was the scene in the skies over 0xford. but these scenes in switzerland may have trumped the skies over the uk. these are pictures of the northern lights over swiss alps. helena wilkinson reports a tantalising glimpse of the spectacular light show that was about to unfold across the uk. at crosby beach in liverpool, people gathered to witness the breathtaking sight, a burst of colour lighting up the clear overnight sky. the northern lights made a rare appearance across the uk.

this was manchester, the city bathed in a bright, colourful glow. clear conditions meant parts of the country were treated to dramatic displays. this was the dazzling scene in hornsey in yorkshire. liam james, who captured the moment, described it as the best display he'd ever seen. even more southerly areas like basingstoke in hampshire were treated to the spectacle. the northern lights are caused by the earth's atmosphere reacting to charged particles from the sun. this is sort of a huge explosion that can be associated with the flare. but basically what happens is part of the sun actually lifts off the surface. so this plasma, the charged particles, the magnetic field that makes up the sun, part of it actually lifts off the sun and streams away into space. if you missed last night's display, there might be a chance to capture it this evening. helena wilkinson, bbc news.

stay with us here on bbc news. settled and warm again on friday with plenty of late spring sunshine around and temperatures rising across the four nations into the low twenties in celsius. the warmth is set to last as we head through the weekend. temperatures will remain above the seasonal average, warmest towards the east and it's still dry for the vast majority of us on saturday. of us on saturday. a scattering of showers with the real breakdown happening on sunday. heavy thundery showers out towards the western half of the uk. further east should stay largely dry and here is the area of high pressure that's keeping these dry settled conditions. for the time being. it will eventually push further eastwards into scandinavia, but we've got a bit of an easterly breeze and that's been dragging some mist and low cloud in from the north sea. but that will lift and clear across the south east of england and east anglia through saturday morning.

still maybe a hang back of cloud towards parts of the yorkshire lincolnshire coast though. lots of sunshine to start the day and we'll keep the sunny skies for most through the afternoon. but a scattering of showers across scotland pushing northwards, perhaps some heavy and thundery, but they'll be fairly isolated. it's still very warm, 2a degrees celsius in glasgow. chance for shower too across northern areas of northern ireland and north wales, a little cooler towards these north sea facing coasts with some of the cloud possibly lapping onshore again at times 25 or 26 degrees celsius in london and southeast england. so the high pressure starts to push further eastwards as we head through sunday. that allows for these low pressure systems to roll in from the west. and this weather front will bring a thickening cloud across the south west of england, west and wales on sunday morning. some showers across the western isles and western scotland pushing into northern ireland and the chance of some thunderstorms developing all across the western half of the uk. but it should stay drier further east again. there will be a lot of sunshine here and once again we could see

temperatures in the low to the mid twenties in celsius, but cooler out towards the west of course underneath the cloud and with the eventual rain. and here comes that low pressure system swinging in as we head through monday. it's going to give us quite widespread rain on monday, especially through the afternoon. so expect it to turn a lot more showery as we head through next week and there'll be a drop in temperature too. so unsettled and cooler as we head through next week. bye for now.

this is bbc news, the headlines... israel orders the evacuation of more areas of rafah in the gaza strip, where over a million palestinians are sheltering. that comes just after a government report which says israel's use of american—supplied weapons in the war in gaza may have breached international humanitarian law. hundreds of people are fleeing continued clashes in ukraine's kharkiv region, a day after russia sent troops across the border seeking to break through defensive lines. this comes as president biden gives the go ahead for more aid for ukraine. the most powerful solar storm in more than two decades hits the earth, triggering spectacular celestial light shows in many parts of the world. these storms occur when the sun emits large clouds of particles.

and prince harry and meghan are in nigeria —