live from london, this is bbc news. the grand final of the eurovision song contest is underway in malmo, sweden — against a background of protests against israel's participation. the israeli military says about 300,000 palestinians have left the city of rafah since they've been ordered to evacuate on monday. but the un warns they're moving to an area which lacks basic infrastructure. hundreds of people have been killed and thousands of homes destroyed by major flooding in northern afghanistan. thousands of demonstrators in georgia take to the streets of tbilisi in the latest protest against legislation that would force organisations to declare foreign funding. and the most powerful solar storm in 21 years triggers celestial light—shows in many parts of the world — with scientists expecting another display later this evening.

hello. the israeli military says about 300,000 palestinians have left the city of rafah since monday — when israel told them to move to a nearby district of gaza. the israel defence forces have declared a narrow coastal strip at al—mawasi to be a safe humanitarian zone, but the un says it has no running water or proper sanitation. israel is planning an assault on hamas fighters in rafah and has ordered tens of thousands more residents — from eastern districts of the city to leave. evacuation orders have also been issued for thousands of people in parts of northern gaza. last night, a us government report 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. israel launched its war on hamas following their attack in israel on october seventh.

from jerusalem, here's our middle east correspondent, yollande knell. another desperate exodus, palestinians fleeing in their thousands as israel signals it's now set to push further into gaza's southernmost city, issuing new evacuation orders. "what should we do?" hanan asks. "do we wait until we all die on top of each other? we've decided it's better to leave." israel has said it's taking action against hamas in one of its last strongholds and trying to bring hostages home. but with israel's capture of one main border crossing blocked off by fighting, this is the fifth day with no aid getting into southern gaza. there are now severe shortages of food. deepening the humanitarian crisis. so far, israel's military is describing its offensive in rafah as limited. but the world is watching to see if this turns into the full scale invasion that the country's allies have warned against.

and as israeli tanks and troops await orders near the gaza border, there's been another strong statement from washington. it says that with some of its strikes on gaza, israel may have used american supplied weapons in breach of international law. israel has consistently denied any violations. and yet the new report may have an impact on plans back here in rafah, where there's already a growing sense of emergency. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. i want to show you the scenes live in tel aviv right now, where there have been many hundreds of people out on the streets in. square, protesting and demanding the release of more than 130 hostages still being held by hamas in gaza. a short time ago police used water cannon to try and disperse the crowds. many there are also protesting against there are also protesting against the government of benjamin

netanyahu. there have been more than a week or so of ongoing conversations, discussions, in cairo to try and secure the release of the hostages and a ceasefire agreement but hamas and israel have not managed to come to a deal. and those talks broke up yesterday. the final of the eurovision song contest is now under way in sweden. throughout the day, an estimated 10,000 people marched through the city of malmo, protesting against israel's participation in the competition. the israeli performer, eden golan, is in tonight's final, but was met with booing when she performed her song, hurricane, yesterday. a norwegianjury spokesperson has resigned over the war and the french contestant stopped singing mon amour during the dress rehearsals to call for peace. meanwhile, the dutch artist joost klein has been disqualified from the contest after a backstage incident. an allegation of intimidation was made to swedish police by a female member of the production crew. avrotros, the dutch radio and television broadcaster,

has now announced it will no longer be announcing the points of the dutch jury at the eurovision song contest. 0ur correspondent, sarah rainsford, has more on the protests in malmo. it was a large march, as you said, around about 10,000 protesters. that's pretty much the same as we saw, i think, on thursday. they marched right through the heart of malmo, down the main shopping street, waving palestinian flags and chanting the main chants, the fundamental ones, "free palestine" and also "boycott israel". so a lot of passionate feelings, a lot of people who came out because they don't believe israel should be taking part in this year's eurovision whilst gaza is being bombed by the israeli military. and they wanted their voices to be heard. it was peaceful. there were lots of children in the crowd, people had come and draped flags over pushchairs. there were bicycles, there were people who had come with their pets, with their dogs, lots of pets in the crowd, too. there were also a lot of police. we saw plainclothed policemen keeping an eye on things, we saw riot police hanging backjust in case, and there were these

dialogue police, the community police liaison officers, all along the route. but it was an authorised protest and it was a control protest. ——but it was an authorised protest and it was a controlled protest. so strong feelings, strong voices, strong opinions being shouted out across malmo today but it all has passed off peacefully. of course, this is very different to the usual sort of eurovision party weekend. the atmosphere is very different here in malmo, and i was actually talking earlier to an israeli fan who has come to malmo for the eurovision song contest despite concerns before this week, essentially, about security here. now, he said he felt israel did have a right to be represented. he said he was cautious, though, himself. he is not covering his face in blue—and—white face paint and glitter as he said he would normally do. he called himself a superfan of eurovision and he is, he says, feeling tension here and feeling animosity from other eurovision fans. he also was very upset that people inside the arena were turning their back when eden golan goes on stage. he didn't like the fact that people were walking out and protesting.

but it was only in the arena that he felt he could wave his israeli flag safely. he did say he felt safe here in malmo because there are so many police, but obviously doesn't like the tension and these protests. but it was a peaceful protest, as i say. it's a big one. let's speak to our north america correpondent, will vernon, who is at a eurovision watching party in new york. welcome. much the most obvious place for a eurovision working party, tell us what is happening in new york? —— not the most obvious place. yes. not the most obvious place. yes, aood not the most obvious place. yes, good afternoon, _ not the most obvious place. yes, good afternoon, london. - not the most obvious place. ye: good afternoon, london. this not the most obvious place. 1353 good afternoon, london. this in new york city: though so i think you can hear me 0k, york city: though so i think you can hear me ok, it's pretty noisy here. i am at a eurovision watch party here in new york city. eurovision is becoming more popular in america, i've been speaking to event organisers here and bar owners, they tell me that with each passing year interest is going up, more parties, more events... cheering it has to be said that many

americans have never even heard of the eurovision song contest, believe it or not. but one event organiser told me that once people do know about it, once they learn about the camp, the colour, the craziness of it all, many americans are then hooked. now, in terms... and extra of the lgbt+ community, expats here, and to. —— are a mixture. but many americans are becoming interested in eurovision too, especially since the film starring will ferrell a few years ago, that really boosted interest here. believe it or not, the americans actually tried to do their own version of the eurovision song contest tonight years ago, they had singers from every us state and territory plus washington, dc competing in a singing contest. —— two years ago was up unfortunately it was a flop and was cancelled after one season. but there's lots of events going on across this

country today. the swedish embassy in the us, as we know, eurovision is in the us, as we know, eurovision is in sweden this year, they are throwing a big party. they are setting up something called an abba lounge, i'm not sure what that is but i like it! they said they had been overwhelmed with interest, tickets sold out long ago, lots of events here in new york city, too. so more interest in eurovision in the united states. cheering there have even been rumours in recent years perhaps america could soonjoin recent years perhaps america could soon join the contest. so i recent years perhaps america could soonjoin the contest. so i don't know about you, but i can imagine someone like taylor swift doing rather well on the eurovision stage. thank you. enjoy the party atmosphere there at that bar in new york city. in georgia, thousand of protesters have taken to the streets to take part in the "march for europe", demmonstrating against the government's plan to adopt a controversial law on foreign funding. it comes after nearly three weeks of continual protests, with critics describing it as the "russian law", saying the legislation would target

civil society and ultimately silence critical voices. the third and final reading of the bill will happen next monday. earlier our south caucasus and central asia correspondent, rayhan demytri, in tblisi sent us this update. this is the meeting point of these protests that are taking place, and people will be marching to tbilisi's europe square. this protest is taking place after a few days of a major campaign of intimidation against opponents of this controversial law, which people are protesting against. georgia has been swept with protest against the proposed bill on foreign funding for nearly three weeks now. the reason why people oppose this law is because it targets civil society organisations and people are really worried it will shrink the democratic space in georgia, but most importantly that it will close this window of opportunity, which this country has right now, tojoin the european union. georgia was granted eu candidate status last year,

and most of its western partners, most eu institutions, have urged the georgian government not to adopt this law. but the georgian government says that it is its sovereign decision, that it wants to ensure transparency of non—governmental organisations, and it is set to adopt this controversial law on monday. hundreds of people have died in devastating flash floods in the north of the country. a spokesman for the interior ministry told the bbc that most of the casualties were in the province of baghlan in afghanistan. emergency teams have been sent to rescue those stranded by the floodwaters. on friday, a massive torrent of water swept away hundreds of houses in several villages. dozens of people are still missing. a little earlier i spoke to our reporter sofia bettiza, who's been following the story. she gave this update. a state of emergency has now been declared in the part of the country in the north where the floods

are taking place. what has happened is the northern part of the country has been hit by unusually heavy rain, and that has caused the flooding we are looking at now. the bbc has been sent videos and images from people in the area and those show violent torrents of water sweeping through houses in several villages. there are people trapped in their homes, under the rubble, under the mud. we do not yet know the full scale of the damage, but as you mentioned, the un has confirmed that more than 300 people have died, more than 2000 houses have been destroyed, and many people have been left homeless. just how common are these kind of floods? are there links to climate change? do we know? there are many factors that contribute to flooding but climate change is definitely one of them, because climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.

interestingly, experts say that afghanistan is one of the countries in the world that is most at risk when it comes to climate change. it has been a very dry winter and that means that it was difficult for the soil to absorb such a huge amount of water. but also, we are talking about one of the poorest countries in the world that has been ravaged by decades of war. so when things like this happen, the country is not exactly well—equipped to deal with natural disasters. in terms of what happens next, there is a big search and rescue operation under way, but there are many people still missing. the fear is that the death toll could go up significantly. now it's time for a look at today's sport with hugh ferris.

the english premier league has new leaders, but now also two teams relegated after burnley�*s fate was decided yesterday. they're very likely to bejoined by luton, but nottingham forest couldn't confirm their survival with a game to spare. all three lost their games, but burnley�*s 2—1 defeat at spurs was terminal. burnley actually took the lead at the tottenham hotspur stadium as they searched for the win that would keep them alive, but micky van er ven scored spurs winnner late on to send burnley to the championship after one season back in the top flight i'm very lucky to be surrounded by good people, hard—working players, hard—working staff, and fans that have backed the club for generations. that is kind of who we try to do it for every single weekend. and, yeah, today the premier league is over, but tomorrow we start day one of doing everything we can to get back to the premier league.

day one of next season starts tomorrow for me, personally. luton are all but down, and while it isn't mathematically confirmed, their 3—1 defeat at west ham will very likely be the final nail. they too took the lead but conceded three goals in the second half to sit three points from safety, and with a significantly worse goal difference than their rivals. i was emotional at the end, i'm an emotional person. 0n the touchline, started getting in, i swear when the supporters reacted the way they did, it just got supporters reacted the way they did, itjust got me. what i've just set the players in the dressing room and the players in the dressing room and the staff, was thank you. they'd given me the best 18 months of my life. and so have our supporters. a point for nottingham forest in their match against chelsea at the city ground would have been enough to confirm luton�*s relegation. at one point it looked like forest were heading for victory, but late goals from raheem sterling and nicolas jackson secured

a 3—2 win for chelsea. forest, though, are all but safe with one game to go. manchester city have returned to the top of the table, for a day at least, after thumping fulham 4—0. two goals from josko gvardiol, one from phil foden, and a latejulian alvarez penalty means pep guardiola's side are two points clear of arsenal having played the same number of games. they've won their last seven premier league matches, averaging four goals a game. arsenal play manchester city on monday. wins too for crystal palace and everton. and there were three goals from the 87th minute onwards at bournemouth who were beaten 2—1 by brentford. newcastle and brighton drew. england won their first women's t20 interantinoal against international against pakistan in birmingham. the home side rallied after being 11 for 4, posting 163 for 6 thanks mainly to captain heather knight and danielle gibson. pakistan regularly lost wickets in their chase, mainly to england's spinners, with sarah glenn taking four to help her team

to a win by 53 runs. rafa nadal has cast doubt on whether he'll compete at the french open after another disappointing defeat on what is very likely to be his final year before retiring. he lost in straight sets at the italian open to hubert hurkacz. nadal has won this tournament ten times, but has struggled to reach his normalformidable levels on clay and struggled from the outset against the polish seventh seed, losing his first service game. and then on two further occasions as he lost the first set 6—1, then the second 6—3. it's in my mind, if it's closer one way or the other way, i've got to say... try my best, because it's not... physically, i have some issues. but not, probably, yet

enough to say... not playing in the most important event of my tennis career. and that's all the sport for now. back to you for now. thanks very much, see you later. russia says it's captured five settlements in the northeastern ukrainian region of kharkiv, since it sent troops over the border there on friday. ukraine disputes the claim. the local governor acknowledged heavy fighting was continuing, but described the situation as �*under control�*. more than 1700 people have been evacuated. the us—based think tank, the institute for the study of war, reported that russia had likely taken several villages. these are pictures of volunteers helping people in settlements around kharkiv evacuate. russia also claimed to have captured a village further south in the donetsk region. in the russian—occupied city of donetsk, the authorities say three civilians were killed and others injured in ukrainian missile strikes, one of which hit a restaurant. 0ur correspondent in kyiv, james waterhouse, has more. it creates for ukraine an unwanted new north—eastern access

to the front line and this is a front line at the moment which is more than 1000km long and it is a front line which ukrainian forces are struggling to contain, with the delays of the arrival of american ammunition and weaponry and with russia continuing to make its size count and taking ukrainian territory further south. crucially for kyiv, it is having to redeploy already stretched personnel to the kharkiv region to contain this incursion which we are told is being contained for now. there has been heavy fighting really for the past 2a hours and i think while few think they are able, even with the gathering of tens of thousands of russian troops across the border, few think they are able to take cities like kharkiv because they failed the first time around. but it appears for now to be russia trying to form a buffer zone, trying to extend the distance between russian territory and the fighting it is waging in ukraine, because ukrainian forces have been increasingly shelling

targets inside russia. so the question really, as president zelensky admits, is what is going to happen next, we are containing it for now but is this russia building for something more? prince harry and meghan are in nigeria this weekend as part of the duke's promotion of the invictus games. earlier, harry played a seated volleyball match with army veterans, many of whom were wounded in battles against the country's islamist insurgency. harry's team, dressed in yellow, took on a squad led by nigeria's chief of defence staff, the country's top commander. the prince's team took an early lead — but ending up losing the match 25—21. for more on the tour, i spoke earlier to our africa correspondent simi jolaoso in abuja. well, the duke and duchess have had a pretty busy second day here in abuja. they started off by meeting members of a local organisation that they support called nigeria unconquered, which helps wounded and injured service members and veterans,

of course, that we know is close to prince harry's heart. there he actually took part in a sitting volleyball game with the team, and they were really enthusiastic. they were chanting "team harry, team harry!" and afterwards he and meghan spoke to the families of those athletes. one girl offered meghan a bouquet of roses, to which meghan gave her a rose back and said that she was really happy to be there. then afterwards, they attended a reception that was hosted by the ministry of defence. that ministry is behind their visit to nigeria in the first place. there the duke of sussex gave a kind of recap of his visit to a military rehab hospital yesterday. he said when he was there, he met 50 injured soldiers that were lying in their beds. and he said he could feel the sort of low morale in the room. but two of those soldiers stood out

to him because they were smiling. he said one of them was even doing push ups. and that visit kind of reminded him of why he started the invictus games foundation. and afterwards, the duchess, meghan, she attended a women in leadership event where she co—hosted with the director—general of the world trade organization, dr ngozi 0konjo—iweala. and there she spoke about her nigerian heritage and the day she found out that she was 43% nigerian. she said she was really happy and the first thing she did was call her mother. and she just said that she was happy to be in the country and to find out more about her heritage, as well as interact with other nigerians. when she was asked whether she would come back, she said "absolutely." the northern lights might be visible in some parts of the uk again tonight after a stunning array of colours lit up the sky for many of us last night. one of the strongest geomagnetic storms for years meant they could be seen across large swathes of the country — as our science

correspondent pallab ghosh reports. technicolour skies not seen in parts of the uk for more than 20 years. this the scene injersey as a spectacular solar show was sent from the sun. the display is usually more visible in northern parts of britain, but such is the power of the sun's current activity, it was seen in the south, even as far as padstow in cornwall. a more familiar sight further north in crosby beach, in liverpool, people gathered to watch. this was the fourth bridge in scotland. this was the forth bridge in scotland. and in newry, in northern ireland, this was the scene. the colours are caused by solar storms on the surface of the sun. the story started 93 million miles away and two days ago. and what happened was the magnetic fields on the sun rearranged themselves, releasing a lot of energy and ejecting billions

of tonnes of charged particles out from the sun. this is an actual video of the sun taken by nasa's spacecraft. when its active, it emits really large clouds of particles called coronal mass ejections, like this one. when they reach the earth, the particles energise the gases in the atmosphere, making them glow different colours. 0xygen glows green, while nitrogen emits purple, blue and pink light. those in scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england should be able to see the display again tonight. pallab ghosh, bbc news. i want to take you live to malmo in sweden where the grand final of the eurovision song contest is now under way, and there are still many dozens of people hanging around outside, pro—palestinian protesters,

protesting against the inclusion of israel in the final tonight. there have been some chaotic scenes there in malmo earlier, there are many thousands of people out on the streets, with one report saying there were ants many as 10,000 people during the day. protesting, angry that israel has been allowed to participate in the competition. there is also protests taking place in israel tonight, there have been protests, rallies to bring the hostages home, more than 130 hostages home, more than 130 hostages still being held by hamas of course, in gaza for more than six months now. these protesters out in the streets, protesting against the government back, they are anti—benjamin netanyahu protesters, anti—benjamin neta nyahu protesters, they anti—benjamin netanyahu protesters, they want a change of government, they want a change of government, they are not happy with how he is leading this war coalition government, so many people out on the streets in tel aviv as well tonight, as there have been on saturdays throughout the last many months. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello. well, the show�*s not over yet. we have both a music spectacle on and, of course, a light display in the heavens. and once again, saturday night, a pretty good chance of catching a glimpse of the aurora borealis, or the northern lights. the viewing conditions will be good, if not excellent, across much of the uk with the clear skies and try about 11pm onwards. get your eyes used to that dark sky, away from any bright city lights if you can. now, here's the probability of the aurora occurring. this is just an approximation. so, the red colour is pretty much 90% to 100%, and then that chance drops off somewhat as you head southwards across the uk. but it really could happen almost anywhere, and there's some uncertainty even with that. now, the weekend weather forecast, some uncertainty, too. and the weather is going to produce a spectacle of its own.

in fact, thunderstorms in the forecast for sunday. now, let's get the outlook, then, for the rest of the evening and into the overnight hours. so, let's take a tour across the uk. around about midnight, where we are expecting the clear skies. you can see much of scotland, the aurora should be visible easily here and certainly out of town. beautiful displays of green and purple and violet, also a chance of catching it further south. very little in the way of cloud. if you are unlucky, you mightjust have to wait for that bank of cloud to clear away. and remember, the aurora isn't just a brief occurrence. it can last over a couple of hours, so there'll be plenty of opportunity to go out and check again. now, the temperatures first thing in the morning, typically around 9 to 13 degrees. so a relatively mild start to sunday with a lot of sunshine. and on sunday we start with high pressure just about in charge of the weather. and thanks to this high pressure, we will have had the clear skies and the chance to catch

glimpses of the aurora. but it is slipping away, that high, low pressure is moving in as are weather fronts, and these weather fronts will be responsible for sparking off some thunderstorms during the course of sunday. and some of them could be heavy, indeed, pretty nasty across western areas of the uk. and the temperatures every bit as warm if not warmer. highs up to about 26 degrees in london. that's it from me. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the grand final of the eurovision song contest is underway in malmo, sweden, against a background of protests against israel's participation. the israeli military says about 300,000 palestinians have left the city of rafah since they've been ordered to evacuate on monday. but the un warns they're moving to an area which lacks basic infrastructure. the un's world food programme says hundreds of people have been killed and thousands of homes destroyed by majorflooding in northern afghanistan. tens of thousands of demonstrators in georgia take to the streets of tbilisi in the latest protest against legislation they say will stifle opposition. and the most powerful solar storm in 21 years triggers celestial light—shows in many parts of the world — with scientists expecting another display later this evening.