hello. i'm mark lobel. welcome i'm mark lobel. to the programme. the uk will go to the polls in just over six weeks after the prime minister announced there will be a general election on the fourth ofjuly. on the steps of downing street — just over 12 hours ago — rishi sunak vowed to "fight for every vote", while labour leader sir keir starmer said it was "time for change". parliament will be suspended on friday, before being formally shut down next thursday ahead of an official five—week election campaign. here's our political editor chris mason. the lectern in place, after a downpour of anticipation. cameras, reporters, brollies, the downpours coming from the skies, too. at teatime, this... earlier today, i spoke with his majesty the king

to request the dissolution of parliament. the king has granted this request and we will have a general election on the 4th ofjuly. music blaring from campaigners in nearby whitehall, rain tumbling onto the prime minister's sodden suit. you must choose in this election who has that plan. who is prepared to take the bold action necessary to secure a better future for our country and our children? now, i cannot and will not claim that we have got everything right. no government should. but i am proud of what we have achieved together. the bold actions we have taken, and i am confident about what we can do in the future. over the next few weeks, i will fight for every vote. i will earn your trust, and i will prove to you that only a conservative government led by me will not put our hard—earned economic stability at risk, can restore pride

and confidence in our country, and with a clear plan and bold action, will deliver a secure future for you, yourfamily and our united kingdom. so, this is it — a general election is on. power will leave this most powerful of streets, and you will be able to decide whether he stays or whether he goes. and so the arguments, the persuasion, begins. on days like this, one lectern leads to another, and the thrust of labour's message hangs on one word. a chance to change for the better. your future, your community, your country. now, it will feel like a long campaign, i'm sure of that, but no matter what else is said and done, that opportunity for change is what this election is about. over the course of the last four years, we've changed the labour party, returned it

once more to the service of working people. all we ask now, humbly, is to do exactly the same for our country, and return britain to the service of working people. and, of course, the next six weeks are about lots of parties, notjust labour and the conservatives. the liberal democrat leader's been in surrey. well, in so many parts of the country, it's the liberal democrats who can beat the conservatives, and i think people are crying out for change, and they want to vote for someone who will champion them, theirfamily and community, to sort out the crisis in the nhs and care, to get our economy back on track and to end environmental scandals, like the sewage scandal. it's a welcome opportunity to remove the tory government and to put scotland first, and that's what i will be saying to the public.

but i also have to say that i think this is perhaps the latest act of disrespect from a conservative government, to call an election during the scottish school holidays. campaigning's already under way. prepare to see plenty of events like this. friends, friends, thank you, it is great to be with you all this evening. great to be with you all this evening. elsewhere, from norfolk to london, placards of a different colour, a different message. the promising and persuasion starts here. chris mason, bbc news. let's bring you some breaking news now. a stage has collapsed at an election campaign rally in northern mexico. four people are reported dead. the presidential candidate jorge maynez, who was there, said several of his team were being treated in hospital. he said the collapse in san pedro garza garcia was caused by a sudden

gust of wind. china has begunjoint military drills around taiwan, days after william lai was sworn in as the new president. beijing said they would serve as a strong punishment to what it called "separatist acts" and a warning against interference by external forces. taiwan has condemned the drills as "irrational provocations" that undermine regional peace. china claims taiwan as part of its territory, and sees president lai as pro—independence. our china correspondent stephen mcdonell explains the significance of the drills. the people's liberation army is making no secret that this is an exercise in surrounding taiwan. you just have to look at the map that the pla has provided — it's online — and the sections where the drills are taking

place all around taiwan. including some of the outlying islands and they're saying they're going to practise real combat readiness within the archipelago. they don't know what that means in terms of where mainland forces will actually go during these exercises, but what is a signal is that they're trying to say is that they're trying to say is if we wanted to we could blockade taiwan, so we could stop food and other materials getting in and essentially forced the government that would sneeze if we want to do. the other thing these exercises are doing is providing a dress rehearsal for are doing is providing a dress rehearsalfor an invasion. amen, there is amphibious landing craft involved, rocket forces are involved. taiwan's military has responded by saying that with their own people on high alert. that includes navy, soldiers, their own airforce, etc, but in a bit of a cheeky response from them the taiwan defence department said also going to

use this time to very actively collect intelligence on the pla. so what they're saying is, look, if you think this is your dress rehearsalfor an invasion dress rehearsal for an invasion we're dress rehearsalfor an invasion we're going watch how you are going to do it and this will enable us to be ready if and when the real time comes for you to attack us. for mainland china this is really about pressure, political pressure. it comes just days after the swearing—in of taiwan's new president. there is all manner of legal pressure going on inside taiwan with protests outside the parliament, the governing party doesn't have control of the legislature anymore. and for the taiwanese government what they have to do is try and sort out this balancing act of being prepared enough militarily to try and fend off an attack from the

pla, but also nice to anger the mainland too much to give them an excuse to actually do it. now, of course taiwan can never match the military power of the pla. but what they think they can do is have enoughjets, enough submarines, enough soldiers to really put up huge cost on mainland china should beijing try to take that on by force. this would be a terrible bloody war and if you are going to do we're not going to make it easy for you so the calculations in the mind of the chinese government is is it worth doing this after all given that we would also be potentially in the wilderness economically for years to come afterwards. eitherway economically for years to come afterwards. either way we're seeing tensions the taiwan strait ratcheting up again and it seems like this could be the pattern for years to come now. stephen mcdonell though.

president macron has said there's no other option but to restore order in the french pacific territory of new caledonia, which is under a state of emergency after the worst civil disturbances in a0 years. speaking in the capital, noumea, mr macron said he recognised the suffering of many families. he said additional security forces would remain in the territory for as long as necessary. let's speak to our sydney correspondent katy watson. has macron�*s visit calmed tensions enough, as some feared civil war, over proposed voting changes? welcome i think this visited by emmanuel macron is a very difficult, risky visit even because of the divide in the country is such that we have seen the unrest ever since the beginning of last week. he said as he arrived but this was about bringing peace and security to the country, it's

also about giving support to a country that has been hard—hit economically in the past four years stop of the most delicate conversation, of course, will come when it comes to politics and the future of new caledonia and the future of new caledonia and i think they are going to be the hardest challenge for him as he meets elected representatives is not clear whether any representatives from the kanak community, which is about 40% of the community, is about 40% of the community, is prepared to meet him. the intention is to bring me country together but i think it will be a tough challenge, certainly, withjust will be a tough challenge, certainly, with just such a fleeting visit by the president. 3 fleeting visit by the president. fleeting visit by the resident. �* , president. a fleeting visit. but president _ president. a fleeting visit. but president macron's . president. a fleeting visit. | but president macron's visit underlines the position and that it has a valuable commodity in nickel, too. i think new caledonia 's commodity in nickel, too. i think new caledonia '5 three in think new caledonia �*s three in terms of nickel production in

the world. speaking to people since the unrest started just over a week ago, i think most people feel that this was something france should have seen coming. it was 1998 the numeric order, which promised more representation for the kanak population. it is about 40% indigenous kanak population, about 25 over 30% range population and this accord, what's happened last week when the french lawmakers wanted to push through this plan for french people who have lived on the island for more than a decade to be able to vote in national elections, in local elections, the concern was that that would delude the influence of the indigenous population in new caledonia. but this has been coming for the last few years, there have been referendums, it is part of the accord, free —— kanak referendums on the last one took place both pandemic, rather within the pandemic and

is the independence side boycotted the referenda. certainly there is a lot of tension about what the intentions of france are, the desire perhaps to move away from being a french overseas territory on the one side. so these all the conversations macron is going to have to take on board. and of course in a much bigger environment of competing rivalries, if you like, within the pacific. fix, competing rivalries, if you like, within the pacific. a lot of duane — like, within the pacific. a lot of duane pitt _ like, within the pacific. a lot of duane pitt there. - like, within the pacific. a lot of duane pitt there. thank l like, within the pacific. a lot i of duane pitt there. thank you very much. that was sydney correspondent katy watson. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

welcome back to the programme. iran's late president, ebrahim raisi, will be buried in his home city of mashhad later. yesterday, tens of thousands of people gathered in tehran for the main funeral ceremony for mr raisi and seven others who died in a helicopter

crash on sunday. a ceremony is being held at the moment in the city of birjand in south khorasan, more than a thousand kilometres from his hometown, where mr raisi represented a constituency. let's speak to iranian journalist fereshteh sadeghi. live journalist fereshteh sadeghi. now. thank you very for live now. thank you very much forjoining us on the programme.- forjoining us on the programme. forjoining us on the rouramme. ., ~ ,, , forjoining us on the rouramme. ., ~ , . programme. thank you very much for havin: programme. thank you very much for having me- — programme. thank you very much for having me. thank— programme. thank you very much for having me. thank you. - how would you describe the mood in tehran at the moment? mood in tehran right now, it is about 7:45a.m., mood in tehran right now, it is about 7:45 a.m., a national holiday, so the mood is that yesterday we had a very big funeral in downtown tehran where the leader of iran, i don't know how many were there,

on president raisi and his companions, i personally attended the funeral and it was attended the funeral and it was a mood of sorrow, sadness. i can say 10,000 or even hundreds of thousands of people were there, and you may not believe it, but people were packed, it was really difficult to walk. i have personally decided to leave the ceremony because i couldn't even walk in there, the population, the crowds that were chanting, crying. so i think the same mood is right now, in the south province, and after that, now, in the south province, and afterthat, in now, in the south province, and after that, in his hometown and the shrine city. we after that, in his hometown and the shrine city.— the shrine city. we are looking at life from _ the shrine city. we are looking at life from their _ the shrine city. we are looking at life from their -- _ the shrine city. we are looking at life from their -- vision - at life from their —— vision right now and looking at the scene there. can you remind us, as we look at these pick is, how much influence president raisi had?—

raisi had? this president was the second — raisi had? this president was the second person _ raisi had? this president was the second person after - raisi had? this president was the second person after a - raisi had? this president was l the second person after a run's leader, the executive, the head of the executive branch of the government, he wielded much power, we can say that, but if you talk about political influence, he was not a man of bickering, not a man of eligible bargaining behind the scenes. he was an honest person who has focused on hisjob, and he used to call himself the servant of people. for that reason, we can say that he had those presidential powers which are vast powers, but if you want to say was he very influential? no, but the fact that people are praising him and people are attending funeral in these masses shows that they loved him, he is not a person of politics, it was more or less a person who focused on hisjob.-

focused on his “ob. and all thoughts _ focused on his “ob. and all thoughts are _ focused on his job. and all thoughts are on _ focused on his job. and all thoughts are on him - focused on his job. and all| thoughts are on him today. focused on his job. and all - thoughts are on him today. can you tell us briefly who might replace him? what does this mean for the succession of the supreme leader? in abouta in about a month from now, even sooner, national elections in the uk, about a week before that, they will have another presidential vote and, for now, no candidate has stepped in, has not stepped forward, but next week, when the candidate situation starts, we will see who replaces him. probably a person from his inner circle, maybe his vice president who is now the acting president. but we are not sure, we know that someone will be elected by the people, and when it comes to the line of succession about khamenei, i think these are

more or less somehow rumours that he was the successor because as long as we know there are some candidates, but no—one really knows who these candidates are, and he, because he was the president and khamenei becoming the leader, he was the president as well stop it raised speculations that the next leader would be elected president. with his gone, i think a similarly of experts which is a council responsible for picking the next leader would find another candidate, definitely. there are always clerics in iran that they can find and replace him. 0k, they can find and replace him. ok, thank you very much for joining us live from tehran. you are welcome. the white house has reiterated its opposition to three european countries, announcing they will recognise a palestinian state. norway, ireland and spain will formally make the move next week. it's been welcomed by the palestinian authority

calling it historic. israel has fiercely condemned the decision. meanwhile, israeli television has aired previously withheld footage of five female soldiers being seized by hamas gunmen during the deadly attack that triggered the gaza war. from jerusalem, our middle east correspondent lucy williamson reports and a warning there are distressing images. there are things a future palestinian state won't change. the loss of a daughter. a son—in—law. her grandchildren. ten members of this family, bombed in deir al—balah, as they sought shelter from the war. but the creation of a palestinian state, living peacefully alongside israel, is, for many western nations, the only way to end decades of conflict. applause

spain's prime minister today said it was time to recognise that future state. benjamin netanyahu, he said, was creating so much pain, destruction and bitterness in gaza and the rest of palestine, that the two—state solution was in danger of becoming unviable. but there's little support in israel, the mood dominated today by newly released footage from the bodycams of hamas attackers as they took female soldiers hostage on october 7. translation: the intention| of several european countries to recognise a palestinian state is a reward for terrorism. 80% of the palestinians injudea and samaria support the terrible massacre of october 7. this evil cannot be given a state. more than 140 countries have already recognised a palestinian state, but in the west bank town of ramallah,

full of palestinian flags and ministries but lacking power, faith in diplomatic gestures was mixed. translation: i welcome this recognition with much respectj and appreciation for these countries, and i ask other states to follow their example and recognise palestine. translation: palestinian diplomacy is weak. - we have embassies in many countries across the world, but they are just useless. theyjust hire employees who live a luxury life. gunfire in the west bank too, near daily reminders of dwindling peace, and israel's increasing control, of an unresolved conflict that ends lives and starts wars. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. the us defence secretary lloyd austin held a call with his israeli counterpart, difference

mr there, and israeli counterpart, difference mrthere, and in it, he was advocating for an effective mechanism to separate the humanitarian and military operations in gaza. with me is said shehata from bbc arabic. after this stern warning, how could it play out on the ground in and around gaza? it is very difficult to separate the conflict and humanitarian because both of them are intertwined. because israel has started this limited military operation in rafah two weeks ago and it is affecting, forcing about 900,000 people to move from there to be displaced in other areas, about a dozen places called safe areas, and they are urging egypt to let it 90, they are urging egypt to let it go, they controlled about two—thirds of the crossing, the

corridor, but egypt officials are saying they cannot let the aid inside rafah unless it is palestinians on the other side because they consider what israel has done, they cannot do that on the other side of the rafah crossing.— rafah crossing. palestinians are quality _ rafah crossing. palestinians are quality -- _ rafah crossing. palestinians are quality -- controlling . rafah crossing. palestinians| are quality -- controlling the are quality —— controlling the crossing? are quality -- controlling the crossing?— are quality -- controlling the crossinu? �* ., , , crossing? before, yes. on the seventh of— crossing? before, yes. on the seventh of may, _ crossing? before, yes. on the seventh of may, when - crossing? before, yes. on the seventh of may, when israel l seventh of may, when israel controlled that, it is affecting aid so there is no aid from there. there is some aid from there. there is some aid coming from the coast of gaza but it is still limited because they are moving to other places, no food or medicine and hospitals are out of work in many places, and in addition to that, there is pressure of on israel from outside in order to reach a deal thomas which make the

release of hostages in case —— gaza visible. in order to allow more aid because the conflict and bombardment, people are dying, so even the aid is reaching them with the bombardment of the north, central and south of gaza, all around, he will die. so even the aid reach them sometime will be late, so separate the conflict between the humanitarians and military will be very hard and it is hard to happen. be very hard and it is hard to ha en. . ~ be very hard and it is hard to hauen. ., ~ happen. right. ok. thank you very much- — colombia has declared a protected archaeological area around an 18th century spanish galleon which sank off its coast, laden with gold, silver and emeralds. the move is part of plans to send a deep—water expedition to the san jose. its cargo is valued at billions of dollars, but ownership is disputed.

stay with us here on bbc news. we have the latest business news. you don't want to miss any of that, the latest on the mining merger that may be taking place or not. i will tell you about it all in a few minutes. stay with us. hello, there. for most of us, wednesday was a particularly miserable day. quite wet, in fact, in hertfordshire and warwickshire, we had a month's worth of rain in a 24—hour period, ranging from 55 to almost 65mm of rainfall. throughout the day, the rain gradually drifted its way steadily north and west. here, it is going to linger for quite some time, so we still have weather warnings out. in fact, the met office has an amber warning now, with the emphasis on the heavy, persistent rain across parts of north wales and northwest england. we could see, to higher ground, as much as 100mm or more, and that could lead to

some localised flooding. so that weather warning and will remain in force until lunchtime on thursday. the brighter colours denoting the intensity of the rainfall. some clearer skies further south, so it could be a misty, murky start, but a relatively mild start to thursday morning. on the whole, quite grey for most of us, and some of the rain still quite persistent, but it will gradually start to ease as we go through the day and, hopefully, the cloud across east anglia and southeast england should break up to allow for some glimpses of sunshine from time to time. winds, light to moderate, but the strongest gusts perhaps to the far north and west, where the heaviest bursts are likely to be. now, we are going to see temperatures peaking at around 18 or 19 degrees, but where the cloud and rain lingers, certainly a disappointing feel. as we go through thursday evening into the early hours of friday morning, gradually that low pressure will drift its way further north and east and start to pull away, but it stays rather cloudy, damp and murky, so a pretty murky start to friday morning,

and we will be chasing cloud around on friday. cloud, thick enough further north for a spot or two of light drizzle at time to time. hopefully some brightness down to the south, but it will be dry here, and top temperatures, once again, likely into the high teens. into the start of the weekend, this little ridge of high pressure keeps things quiet on sunday. it is a bank holiday weekend, i know. there is a weather front starting to push in from the west, giving us a level of uncertainty, so it is likely the beginning of the three—day weekend will be the best, in terms of drier, sunnier weather, and there is the potential for some sharp, possibly thundery showers to develop a little later on.

gambling on a stronger economy — the uk government calls an election as inflation falls, but hopes of summer interest rate cuts fade away. also coming up, the ai bulls charge on. profits rocket at chip maker nvidia, sending its shares to a new record high and putting the wall street rally back on track. plus, dig deeper — anglo american gives rival bhp a week to improve

its $49 billion takeover offer and secure a mining mega—merger. live from london, this is business today. i'm mark lobel. we start here in the uk, where in exactly six weeks' time the polls will be opening for a general election. prime minster rishi sunak made the shock announcement of a july 4th election just hours after official figures showed the rate of inflation fell in last month to its lowest in almost three years. with his conservative party trailing labour in opinion polls by more than 20 percentage points, he's gambling that voters will give him credit for an economy that has �*turned the corner�*. but any hopes of a boost from lower borrowing costs have evaporated. markets are now betting there will be no cut in uk interest rates before the election and possibly not until the autumn, after inflation fell less than expected last month.