live from washington. this is bbc news. israel orders more evacuations in gaza's southern city of rafah as it intensifies military operations. sweeping pro—europe protests in tbilisi, georgia, as the country moves forward with a bill critics say will clamp down on dissent. and — the eurovision song contest final takes place, without one of the competition's most popular performers. hello. i'm helena humphrey. glad you could join me. israel has ordered thousands more people to leave the city of rafah in southern gaza, as it presses on with its military campaign there against hamas. the israel defense 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 says that since monday, about 300,000 palestinians have already fled rafah. the us is still urging israel not to mount a full—scale assault on the city. and in the north, there are evacuations in the city of jabalia as the idf says that it has been carrying out air strikes. it says hamas fighters are regrouping there. from jerusalem, here's our middle east correspondent, yolande knell. another desperate exodus. palestinians fleeing in their thousands, as israel signals it is now set to push further into the 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 is better to leave." israel has said it's taking action against hamas in one of its last strongholds and trying to bring home hostages. meanwhile, with israel's capture of one main border crossing and another blocked off by fighting, no aid is 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 been warning against. and as israeli tanks and troops await orders near the gaza border, there has been another strong statement from washington. it says that with some of the strikes in 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 is already a growing sense of emergency. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. live now to brian finucane. he is a senior adviser for the us programme of the international crisis group

and an former state department lawyer. welcome, brian. i want to start with the us report on israel's conduct in the war — saying it has most likely violated international standards in failing to protect civilians in gaza, but has not found specific instances that would justify the withholding of military aid. what do you make of that? the report as you note avoids reaching specific legal conclusions about particular incidents. there are generally descriptions of attacks launched by the idf in gaza but the report avoids routine inclusions that could limit the

flexibility of the white house to continue providing us arms to israel. that is because us law, us policy imposed limitations, conditions of transfers to all countries, including with respect to the weapons used in violation of law of war. d0 the weapons used in violation of law of war. ,, ~ , the weapons used in violation of law ofwar. ~ , of war. do you think this report could have _ of war. do you think this report could have gone _ of war. do you think this report could have gone further? - of war. do you think this report could have gone further? yes. | of war. do you think this report i could have gone further? yes. in several respects. _ could have gone further? yes. in several respects. one, _ could have gone further? yes. in several respects. one, there - could have gone further? yes. in several respects. one, there is l several respects. 0ne, there is additionalfact several respects. 0ne, there is additional fact gathering that the us government could have undertaken. there are important notes on such inquiries but there is little evidence the us government conducted investigations that humour —— human rights organisations have been doing in gaza. in addition the report ignores whole categories of israeli conduct, notjust in gaza but also in the west bank with respect to

settlements, devolution of homes, both of which violate the geneva convention and strikes into syria which likely violate the un charter. the report turned a blind eye to certain violations of the law of war and a lot more generally by israel. the biden administration, for its part and those conducting the report, we should say say israel has not shed complete information that they can use in the verification process. you think the biden administration should be pushing to obtain this? ~ , , ., obtain this? absolutely. it is a cop out on the part _ obtain this? absolutely. it is a cop out on the part of— obtain this? absolutely. it is a cop out on the part of the _ obtain this? absolutely. it is a cop out on the part of the us _ obtain this? absolutely. it is a cop i out on the part of the us government to say that and again, the us is not like a media organisation, human rights watch or ngo. it has the tools available to gather this information even if israelis don't want to share it. i information even if israelis don't want to share it.— want to share it. i want to talk about the _ want to share it. i want to talk about the potential _ want to share it. i want to talk about the potential for - want to share it. i want to talk about the potential for a - want to share it. i want to talk-

about the potential for a full-scale about the potential for a full—scale ground operation in rafah. there seems to be some momentum there gaining pace. we know that around 300,000 palestinians have moved out of that area, a lot of them have gone to al—mawasi which the un says doesn't have proper sanitation, clean running water. you are an expert in international humanitarian war, if they were to move to that area, is that compatible with international humanitarian law? i do have expertise _ international humanitarian law? i gr have expertise but i want to step back. the biden administration has hinted at a red line with respect to a full—scale operation in rafah but fundamentally the red line needs to be a continuation of the war at all. the us needs to use its abundant leveraged, including through arms transfers, to bring about a ceasefire in the fighting over all rather than trying to adjudicate individual walls law violations as the report tries to to some degree.

the focus of the us government should be bringing about a ceasefire, allowing a two come in and releasing hostages held by hamas. �* . , ., ., ., , hamas. the biden administration has set out that that _ hamas. the biden administration has set out that that redline _ hamas. the biden administration has set out that that redline would - hamas. the biden administration has set out that that redline would be - set out that that redline would be an unfettered ground offensive there in rafah and the potential for more harm to civilians. if we do see that take place, netanyahu is adamant there will be an operation there, what would washington do if that redline is breached? it what would washington do if that redline is breached?— what would washington do if that redline is breached? it may be the case that israel will _ redline is breached? it may be the case that israel will try _ redline is breached? it may be the case that israel will try to - redline is breached? it may be the case that israel will try to slice - case that israel will try to slice the salami to some degree, take some action in rafah short of what they perceive what the white house was never redline will be but it will be a test of how serious the biden administration is on pushing back on the israelis and whether they will use us leveraged for rafah. they should be using the average for the

bigger target of bringing the conflict as a whole to a conclusion. brian, a senior advisorfor the us programme of the international crisis group, thank you for being with us. mt; crisis group, thank you for being with us. y , .,, crisis group, thank you for being with us. g , ., ., ~ crisis group, thank you for being with us. g , ., ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, says his forces are now fighting to defend seven villages in its kharkiv region. his comments come a day after russia launched a surprise incursion across the border. mr zelensky claimed none of the villages have been lost. but the institute for the study of war, an independent think tank, says it's likely russia now controls at least five. the local government says least one thousand 800 people have been evacuated. kyiv has been expecting a russian summer offensive for some time — including a possible attempt to capture kharkiv, ukraine's second city. 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, try 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? right now the final of the eurovision song contest is wrapping up. pro—palestinian demonstrations in the host city of malmo, sweden, have prompted increased security. when the israeli singer, eden golan, performed there was a mixture of cheering and booing in the audience. earlier the dutch entrant, joost klein, was disqualified following a complaint of intimidation made by a camerawoman. joost klein and europapa. with just hours to go, his eurovision dream is over. his team says they are shocked by his disqualification. fans realised something was wrong when it was announced he wouldn't be taking part in yesterday's rehearsal. it's now been confirmed he won't be competing tonight after a complaint from a female member of the production team about an incident on thursday.

it's been an eventful build—up to this yea r�*s contest. the presence of israel has provoked protest from those angry about events in gaza. the song, however, is second favourite to win. ireland's bambie thug has skipped a dress rehearsal because of a situation backstage. norway's jewelry spokesperson has withdrawn citing the inflame situation surrounding the contest. inside the arena rehearsals have continued as normal. the front runner croatia's big lasagne. certainly politics and drama in this run—up but the hope is by tonight, the spirit of the european slogan will prevail, united by music. david sillitoe, bbc news,

malmo. in georgia, protestors have taken to the streets to take part in pro—european demonstrations against the government's plan to adopt a controversial law, which critics say would push it farther from joining the eu and silence dissent. earlier our south caucasus and central asia correspondent rayhan demytri in tblisi sent this update. people are marching from different directions, just take a look, on that side of the river there are thousands of people with the eu and georgian flags all marching towards tbilisi's europe square. and on this side, it's the same... it's the same story. look at this sea of people. these protesters oppose this controversial bill, which the georgian government says it will adopt no matter what, on the transparency of foreign funding, dubbed by the protesters as the russian law because of the similarities that exist with the legislation that exists in russia. and they are saying that with its adoption, it would damage

georgia's democracy, it would silence critical voices, but most importantly, people are worried that if this law gets adopted, georgia will lose its once—in—a—lifetime opportunity tojoin the european union. tiktok is the latest tech company clamping down on deceptive ai in a year when half of the world is holding elections, announcing it will automatically label ai—generated content on the platform. my colleague caitriona perry spoke about the effort with tiktok�*s head of operations & trust and safety, adam presser. adam, thanks for joining adam, thanks forjoining us on bbc news. given that tiktok has decided to invest in al transparency, how concerned are you about deceptive ai? ., ~ , ., concerned are you about deceptive ai? ., ~ i. ., concerned are you about deceptive ai? ., ~ ., a, concerned are you about deceptive al? ., ~ ., a, concerned are you about deceptive ai? ., ~ ., ., ., ai? thank you for having me. one of the aspeets — ai? thank you for having me. one of the aspeets that _ ai? thank you for having me. one of the aspects that makes _ ai? thank you for having me. one of the aspects that makes tiktok - ai? thank you for having me. one of the aspects that makes tiktok such l ai? thank you for having me. one of| the aspects that makes tiktok such a special and joyful, vibrant community of over a billion people all over the world's authenticity.

it is the authenticity that comes through from creative voices when they speak to their audience and is they speak to their audience and is the authenticity that people expect when they are watching contact online. so giving users the tools to be able to understand what is fact and what is fiction online is really important. that is why we are making big investments in implementing new technologies so that any content thatis technologies so that any content that is posted on tiktok that has been created with our own ai tools is labelled as ai generated and content that is created on other platforms that have implemented this technology is labelled as ai generated, to make sure users have that ability to distinguish between what is real and what is not. halli what is real and what is not. half ofthe what is real and what is not. half of the countries _ what is real and what is not. half of the countries in _ what is real and what is not. half of the countries in the world will hold elections this year, as we know, deceptive actors will most likely target online platforms like your own. what are you doing specifically around elections come around democracy to try and detect

and stop that or can you stop it? keeping our communities safe is our top priority, especially through these really important civic processes. we have navigated in over 150 elections over the course of the last several years, all over the world so we work with partners like democracy works, to provide reliable information to people searching for information to people searching for information about the election in the united states for example. we also have 18 fact checking partners to ensure the content is reliable and has been verified.— to ensure the content is reliable and has been verified. tiktok is one ofthe and has been verified. tiktok is one of the big tech _ and has been verified. tiktok is one of the big tech companies _ and has been verified. tiktok is one of the big tech companies that - of the big tech companies that signed an accord earlier this year vowing to combat deceptive ai. that is self—regulation. would you welcome greater legal regulations from governments? there is an anything equivalent here in the us for example. we anything equivalent here in the us for example-— anything equivalent here in the us for examle. ~ , ., for example. we believe that facing these challenges _

for example. we believe that facing these challenges requires _ these challenges requires partnerships of all kinds. that includes private sector, civil society, government and others to be able to meet these challenges. we were really proud to have signs that tech accord and we are also excited we have joined the content authenticity initiative to be able to create more awareness about technologies like the content creator ensures. —— credentials. it definitely requires everyone's support and collaboration. this definitely requires everyone's support and collaboration. as you know, if the _ support and collaboration. as you know, if the us _ support and collaboration. as you know, if the us congress - support and collaboration. as you know, if the us congress has - support and collaboration. as you know, if the us congress has its. know, if the us congress has its way, tiktok will be burned here in the us unless the chinese parent company sells it and you are now suing the us government. do you understand the concerns that us politicians say they have about the ownership of the app? we politicians say they have about the ownership of the app?— politicians say they have about the ownership of the app? we believe the bill the us congress _ ownership of the app? we believe the bill the us congress recently - bill the us congress recently passed, that the president has signed violates the constitutional

rights of over 170 million americans who are using our platform every month. i am who are using our platform every month. iam hearing who are using our platform every month. i am hearing from these creators every day about how devastated they are, how anxious they are about this and it is our focus to really make sure we are continuing to implement first of their kind market leading protections to protect us user data and also to ensure the integrity of the content that users are seeing on our platform. the content that users are seeing on our platform-— the content that users are seeing on our platform. should american tiktok users be concerned _ our platform. should american tiktok users be concerned that _ our platform. should american tiktok users be concerned that they - our platform. should american tiktok users be concerned that they will - users be concerned that they will lose access?— users be concerned that they will lose access? , , . ., lose access? our focus is continuing to implement _ lose access? our focus is continuing to implement these _ lose access? our focus is continuing to implement these protections - lose access? our focus is continuing to implement these protections forl to implement these protections for user data and content integrity, and continue to support our creators and keep our platform safe, that is what we are focusing on. there are over 7 million small businesses in the us relying on tiktok every day to support their livelihood. 0ur relying on tiktok every day to support their livelihood. our focus is on continuing to serve them. tthere are renewed concerns about the fate of our oceans�* coral

reefs, amid warning sea temperatures. last summer, a mass bleaching event fuelled by climate change severly damaged reefs around the world, including in the us state of florida. that's where sea temperatures soared as high as 100 degrees fahrenheit, or 38 degrees celcius. now, restoration groups are growing more heat—resistant corals to help repair the damage.0ur north america climate specialist, carl nasman, has been speaking with phanor montoyamaya — with the coral restoration foundation. thank you so much for being here. you are recently out at these reef sites in florida where you operate. give us a sense, we have been hearing about these bleaching events, how are things looking right now? ~ ., events, how are things looking right now? ., , ., now? well, we were at horseshoe reef which is an iconic _ now? well, we were at horseshoe reef which is an iconic reef _ now? well, we were at horseshoe reef which is an iconic reef here _ now? well, we were at horseshoe reef which is an iconic reef here in - which is an iconic reef here in florida and we had mixed feelings, because our iconic species on that side, one of the surviving stands, that one we found dead after the

mass bleaching event. but we saw a lot of massive coral is still alive and large sizes which give us hope for the reefs here. we and large sizes which give us hope for the reefs here.— for the reefs here. we know there was this massive _ for the reefs here. we know there was this massive bleaching - for the reefs here. we know there j was this massive bleaching event, the fourth now in recorded history. how did that affect the reefs there in florida? for how did that affect the reefs there in florida? ., h, how did that affect the reefs there in florida? ., a, ., how did that affect the reefs there in florida? ., ., , , . , in florida? for some of the species, these iconic — in florida? for some of the species, these iconic reef _ in florida? for some of the species, these iconic reef building _ in florida? for some of the species, these iconic reef building species i these iconic reef building species like the branching corals, at some locations it was like local extinction. we know for sure because we haven't been able to find some of those leaving a stone so far, but for the other non—branching corals, they are still alive, they recover after the bleaching event and you see some corals did better than others and thatjust tells us the reefs are changing and that our work is very important to save so much

species from original extinction. how do you go about doing that? 0nce how do you go about doing that? once these reefs are bleached and the coal is damaged, what do you do? how do you start to repair the situation?— do you start to repair the situation? , ., ., situation? first, monitoring, lookinu situation? first, monitoring, looking at — situation? first, monitoring, looking at the _ situation? first, monitoring, looking at the reef _ situation? first, monitoring, looking at the reef and - situation? first, monitoring, looking at the reef and how. situation? first, monitoring,| looking at the reef and how it behaves, how it ended up after this bleaching event is very important to us to adapt all those lessons learned and implement the work we do. with that information, then we identify what species arrangements will do better next time and now we are adapting those strategies of propagating and out planting certain speeches to mimic what survived the bleaching event and try to bring those species to the reef. in the meantime, while we do that, we propagate and continue to rebuild the stock of those species that didn't do that well in our reefs.

some of these temperatures that we saw in the ocean last summer were striking. coal survives between 73 and 84 fahrenheit. the ocean was reaching mid—90s, up to 101 fahrenheit, around 30 celsius. what kinds of corals can survive that? what sorts of methods are you using to try to adapt coral reefs to these kinds of temperatures?— to try to adapt coral reefs to these kinds of temperatures? there are so much species _ kinds of temperatures? there are so much species that _ kinds of temperatures? there are so much species that are _ kinds of temperatures? there are so much species that are most - much species that are most susceptible to that he stress about what we find now is that some genotypes, in other words some individuals of all species survive on the reef and survive on our nurseries as well. of course the ones that did better are those massive colonies that take too long to grow and those that are fast

growing species, those are the ones that succumb more commonly to these high sea temperatures. it is a mixed bag here and we are trying to identify which ones are doing better, which ones are not doing that better and adapting again those strategies to continue bringing life to these reefs.— to these reefs. some experts say this miaht to these reefs. some experts say this might not — to these reefs. some experts say this might not be _ to these reefs. some experts say this might not be a _ to these reefs. some experts say this might not be a sustainable . this might not be a sustainable method, that humans cannot continue to plant coral reefs during these bleaching events. what does the future is safe for coral reefs and the way we continue to maintain them? ., ~ ., _, , , them? you know, i completely understand _ them? you know, i completely understand the _ them? you know, i completely understand the concern. - them? you know, i completely understand the concern. but i l them? you know, i completely i understand the concern. but i will argue that if it wasn't for the work we have been doing for the last 15, 20 years, some of the species may have already died. we have a role here, restoration has a role here to

avoid some species reaching extinction. we avoid some species reaching extinction-— avoid some species reaching extinction. ~ . , ., extinction. we have seen some of the damaue extinction. we have seen some of the damage done — extinction. we have seen some of the damage done to _ extinction. we have seen some of the damage done to these _ extinction. we have seen some of the damage done to these reefs, - extinction. we have seen some of the damage done to these reefs, what. damage done to these reefs, what keeps you going? why is it important to try to save these coral reefs? seeing there are survivors after the bleaching event, that corals continue to grow, that gives me hope. seeing they are still alive and a lot of people are paying attention now to the stress and the challenge that coral reefs are facing. i think we are reaching that momentum to see a change in our management effectiveness.- momentum to see a change in our management effectiveness. thank you ve much. management effectiveness. thank you very much- thank _ management effectiveness. thank you very much. thank you _ management effectiveness. thank you very much. thank you very _ management effectiveness. thank you very much. thank you very much - management effectiveness. thank you very much. thank you very much for i very much. thank you very much for the opportunity- _ the northern lights dazzled billions across the globe on friday, and in some parts of the uk and us, there are set for an encore on saturday. it's one of the strongest geomagnetic storms we have had in years,

as our science correspondent pallab ghosh explains. 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 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. you are watching bbc news. thanks for your company. you are watching bbc news. thanks foryour company. more you are watching bbc news. thanks for your company. more at the top of the hour. goodbye for now.

hello. it's the warmest day of the year so far across all four nations with temperatures peaking at 24 degrees in the highlands and in east sussex too but changes on its way. heavy thundery showers and much of the western half of the uk whereas further east it should stay dry. all this changes brought about because the high pressure keeping us dry settled warm over the last few days, is drifting further eastwards towards scandinavia allowing weather fronts to approach from the west but it's a mostly dry start on sunday with sunny spells. any mist and fog will clear quite readily. they won't be too long before these two showers p0p up be too long before these two showers pop up across western scotland, down through northern ireland, wales and the south—west of england and if we take a tour at around four o'clock

in the afternoon, you can see these showers across northern and western scotland drifting further eastwards, some quite heavy. still quite warm, 22 degrees in glasgow but cooler. more showers across northern ireland, some showers heavy across wales localised flooding perhaps as well. what isolated showers for central, southern england, maybe 26, 20 7 degrees in south—east england, cooler towards the coast and over night, showers will continue to drift further eastwards but this is the main driver of monday's whether. this deep area of low pressure will roll this weather front in from the west. a largely dry start for the vast majority, but clouds thickening from the south—west, rain pushing into wales, and eventually into northern ireland. a scattering of showers across scotland and northern england but across eastern areas of england, it could stay largely dry but it will be cooler across the

board but still temperatures peaking in the low 20s out towards the east. that area of low pressure continues to roll its way further northwards and eastwards as we had three tuesday and into wednesday. there will be further showers around at times for many. in general, he was the outlook for our capital cities as we head through next week. temperatures start to drop off, there will be some sunshine around, dry weather at times but also showers, too. goodbye.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. a warning — it contains flashing images. hello and welcome. israel has banned the television network aljazeera. it says it's a mouthpiece for hamas. we'll hear from aljazeera's managing editor to get his response, and we'll explore the implications of the ban. the israel—gaza war reverberates around the world, and in the us, university campuses have been the scene of pro—palestinian demonstrations over the last month. we're assessing how they're being reported and why student journalists have been crucial to our understanding of the story. we're going to talk about the met gala. i imagine you may have seen

the photos of the extraordinary outfits worn by many celebrities.