live from london, this is bbc news. the conservatives say they'll bring back mandatory national service for 18—year olds if they win the general election. labour has described the plan as a gimmick. labour's been talking about its plans for the economy. it promises not to increase income tax if it wins on polling day. the united nations says 670 people are feared dead following a landslide in papua new guinea. at least 12 people are now confirmed dead after a russian attack on a crowded diy store in ukraine's second city of kharkiv. hello, i'm martine croxall. the uk's general election campaign

is well and truly under way, with an eye—catching announcement from the conservative party to bring back mandatory national service if it wins on polling day onjuly 4th. the party said 18—year—olds would have a choice of either joining the military full—time for 12 months, or volunteering one weekend every month, taking part in community service, with organisations like the fire brigade, police or the national health service. the home secretary, james cleverly, said the plan would address social fragmentation and get young people "out of their bubble". labour has described the plan as a "desperate gimmick". more on that shortly. first, this report from our political correspondent leila nathoo. an eye—catching policy from the conservatives early on in this campaign, one that's grabbed the headlines in this morning's papers. yeah, plenty more of these over the next few weeks! enjoy your weekend. bye—bye. they say if they win the general election, by the end of the next parliament they would bring back a form of mandatory national service for every 18—year—old. that would involve either applying

for one of 30,000 full—time one—year placements in the armed forces or cyber defence, or young people would have to volunteer in their communities for one weekend a month in organisations such as charities, the police or nhs. the tories say the scheme would cost £2.5 billion a year by 2029, but key details are yet to be worked out, for example how much those on military placements would be paid and what sanction there would be for not complying. cuts in the british army has seen its size fall from more than 100,000 in 2010 to around 73,000 as ofjanuary this year. rishi sunak says the programme would provide life—changing opportunities and a shared sense of purpose. labour said the tories were out of ideas and described the plan as desperate. it's certainly one that will be noticed. leila nathoo, bbc news. earlier i spoke to our political correspondent ione wells, who explained a bit more about the conservatives�* plan on national service. certainly this is being seen as the first major policy announcement by either party during this election campaign, they have outlined a few more

details, we know this would be a compulsory scheme for 18—year—olds, and they would have the choice of doing 12 months of paid military service or volunteering for one weekend a month, 25 days or so a year, in other public services, for example in the nhs, the fire service. now, what is not clear is how it would be enforced, the home secretary, james cleverly, suggested it would not be a criminal offence not to do it, so there are questions about how it would be implemented in practice, but the home secretary was asked earlier to give more details about the purpose of the scheme. what we are putting forward is a mandatory national service, a small element of which will be with the military, and anyone taking that route will volunteer to do so. so whilst you will be compelled to take part in national service, no—one will be compelled to do the military bit. and it's about addressing the fragmentation we have seen in society with too many young people living in their own bubbles,

whether that's digital or social. we want to get back to the situation where people are mixing with young people from different areas, different economic groups and religions. so in terms of what labour was talking about today, rachel reeves focusing on the economy. that's right, labourfocusing on the economy this morning, and speaking to laura kuenssberg, the main promise she made was that labour wouldn't raise income taxes, and although she did not entirely rule out the spending cuts, this is a question both parties will be facing with inflation at the moment, there is a question about whether there will be real terms cuts to some unprotected departments. they said they would be investing in core departments like police and schools and one be returning to austerity but did not rule out further spending cuts.

it does, does it not, mean cuts to some public service spending? well, there's not going to be a return to austerity under. a labour government. i that's not my question. well, you know, we had austerity i for five years and that is part . of the reason why our economy and our public services - are in a mess today. there is no spending review. the government haven't done a spending review, _ so there's no allocations for departments. - i would have to do that if i become chancellor in a few weeks' time, . and i'll set out those plans. but would you rule out making cuts to some areas, to public spending in some areas? we're not going to be l bringing back austerity, but we have got that immediate injection of cash into our- frontline public services. that's a downpayment on the changes that we want to make. _ but in the end, we have to grow the economy. l that was the shadow chancellor, rachel reeves, saying that they wouldn't necessarily be able to rule out any cuts, but they wouldn't be cutting

personal income taxes. both parties will be outlining more of their specific policies in the coming weeks, when they announce their full manifestos, and that is where we will get more detail about how some of these policies and pledges will work in practice. to papua new guinea now, where around 670 people are thought to have died after a massive landslide on friday. the figure is an estimate based on the number of houses believed to have been buried in up to eight metres of rock, earth and trees. so far, only a handful of bodies have been recovered. the relief effort is being hampered by a lack of heavy machinery, with rescuers using basic tools such as shovels. the affected areas are in the highlands of enga, in the north of the island nation in the south—west pacific. earlier, we spoke to journalist scott waide, the papua new guinea correspondent for radio new zealand. he gave us this update. there is a kilometre of earth that stretches

from the foot of the mountain to where it has ended. and there are at least 500, and that is a figure we are using at the moment. there has been some glimmer of hope in the last 2a hours. a husband and wife who were buried were rescued and thankfully their three children weren't there at the scene where the landslip happened. there's been four bodies recovered, the partial remains of a 25—year—old man who has been identified by his family, three women who have been pulled out of the rubble dead. it has been that grim reality that people have had to face over the last hours. it has been difficult, as you said, getting to where many of the bodies are buried. it is a whole clan that has been

buried by this landslip, so it is a grim reality that people have to face. officials in ukraine say at least 12 people have been killed and 43 others wounded after russian forces hit a supermarket in the northern ukrainian city of kharkiv. two glide bombs hit the building on saturday. some people are still missing. later in the day, russia launched another attack on the residential area in the kharkiv city centre, with the civilian block of flats damaged, leaving at least 25 people injured, local authorities report. it takes the total current number of injured in kharkiv to 68. the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelensky, repeated his appeal for more air defences. russian forces have made gains in the kharkiv region since launching a renewed offensive across the border. 0ur correspondent in ukraine, james waterhouse, has the latest. well, president zelensky has used

this attack to renew calls for air defences for the city, but he has gone a lot further this time. he has released a six—minute film standing in a bombed—out printing factory where he talks about what he describes as russian lies with attempted ceasefires in the past over the course of the ten years of aggression towards ukraine. he talks about cities which have fallen, like avdiivka, and he references the upcoming peace summit in switzerland next month. but what is also interesting is that he has done it in english, suggesting he is addressing the west directly. because these are troubling times for ukraine, you have kharkiv, the city which is coming under increasing air strikes, in the case of this supermarket, or this diy store, officials saying glide bombs were used again, we are seeing more of them used in the front lines, as well as in kharkiv after a russian cross—border incursion earlier this month. now, while it is thought that

the city of kharkiv will not fall because of the capability of these russian troops, they are taking territory, and that is concerning for ukraine as they wait for mobilisation laws to come into effect, for enough men to join the fight, as well as the billions of dollars worth of american weaponry and ammunition so ukraine can try and study the front line in any way. but what president zelensky is trying to do is to show his country that he is willing to negotiate peace, but only, and these are still red lines for kyiv, only if russian forces withdraw completely. at the moment, the tide is going the other way, noticeably in the north—east, but also across the eastern and southern front line as well, where russia is, crucially, holding on to what it has taken so far.

israel is reported to have agreed a new framework to revive stalled negotiations aimed at securing a hostage deal in gaza. mediated talks ground to a halt earlier this month after israel launched a military operation in rafah. meanwhile, israeli officials have denied a claim by hamas that the militant group has captured one of its soldiers in gaza. hamas said it had ambushed some israeli forces in the north of the territory. and while ground operations and shelling by israel forces continue to advance across gaza reports from egypt say re—routed aid trucks have begun to enter the gaza strip through the kerem shalom border crossing. earlier our correspondent danjohnson gave this update. we are hearing from the afp that rocket science have been blaring across the city of tel aviv for the first time in weeks. earlier our correspondent

danjohnson gave this update. it seems like israel is operating defiance of that ruling, the offensive has continued around rafah, the border crossing remains closed, and there have been more air strikes and ground operations in and around rafah over the weekend. that activity over the last two weeks has displaced over one million palestinians, many of them people who were sheltering in rafah, having moved from other parts of gaza earlier in the conflict. but israel rejected the ruling of the court on friday and seems to be ignoring it. it doesn't recognise what it is being accused of with what is playing out on the ground, it says what it is doing does not amount to genocide, it is not targeting the palestinian people, it is focusing on eradicating hamas battalions, and it says it has the right to defend itself, having suffered the attacks of the 7th of october, and it doesn't believe that what it is conducting on the ground in rafah and other parts of gaza adds up to what the international court is accusing it of, so that military operation continues for now. it was also declared by the court that israel needed to do more to get aid into gaza, particularly into the rafah area,

and now we have this deal which will see aid which is waiting to cross at rafah now re—routed via israel to come in through the other crossing so that it can hopefully reach palestinians who need feeding. the problem has been that even when aid gets across the border into gaza, distributing it has been a challenge, because so many humanitarian aid workers face logistical difficulties and they have a problem protecting and securing themselves because of all the risks and all the fighting. so a really difficult situation in terms of aid, but israel says it is getting more shipments into gaza, it is doing it as much as it can of these people and give them shelter. a fire at a children's hospital in the indian capital, delhi, has killed seven babies, several other newborns are receiving treatment after being rescued from the burning building. the cause of the fire is not yet clear. the city's chief minister described the deaths as heartbreaking and said an investigation was under way. earlier i spoke to divya arya,

our correspondent in delhi, who told me what we know so far. this is a small hospital, the size of a nursing home, squeezed between residential homes, and it seems from these videos that residents filmed, you can see bursts of flames just climbing up and impacting even the buildings adjacent to the baby care hospital. now, as you said, it's early days to talk about the cause of the fire, but what the fire department has said is that the fire spread more rapidly because of oxygen cylinders that leaked and fed the fire. they also said that although it took place late at night, which enabled them to reach the spot quickly, what slowed down the process of rescue was the fact that there was a single staircase leading up to the floors above and that was totally

clogged by the smoke that the fire had generated. they were able to rescue 12 babies, some of whom are receiving treatment, but from what we are hearing, there seems to be one more baby who might have succumbed to their injuries, taking the death toll from six to seven. an investigation is under way here in the uk into a spitfire crash in which a royal air force pilot was killed. it happened near raf coningsby in lincolnshire, during a flight to commemorate the battle of britain. philip norton reports. a second world war spitfire lies badly damaged in a field. it crashed in what the raf has called a tragic accident. the pilot was killed. the spitfire came down a short distance from the runway here at raf coningsby. as well as being home to modern—day typhoon fighterjets, the spitfire is part of the much—loved battle of britain memorial flight, which is based here. next month, they're due to take part in commemorative d—day events. many enthusiasts here had seen the spitfire.

soon as you lose a pilot, it's like you've lost a member of your family. when you are obsessed with planes like we are, especially the raf, because it's some sight here some days, it's a shame, really. the prince and princess of wales, who have close links with the lincolnshire raf station, led tributes to the pilot. they said they were incredibly sad to hear of the news this afternoon from raf coningsby. "our thoughts this evening are with the pilot's loved ones, the battle of britain memorial flight and the wider raf family." an investigation into what caused the crash is now under way. philip norton, bbc news, at raf coningsby in lincolnshire. police in dorset have appealed for witnesses to get in contact with them with any further information after a—17 year—old boy from lancashire is being held on suspicion of murder after a woman was stabbed to death on a beach in bournemouth. the 34—year—old woman died at the scene and another

woman has been taken to hospital with serious injuries. it happened shortly before midnight on friday. police have closed the beach while they investigate and are appealing for witnesses. if you are in the area and you have concerns, please do not hesitate. i would like to use the opportunity to redo my appeal for anyone with information who has not yet spoken to officers to please contact us. notwithstanding that we have arrested someone and inquiries are ongoing in that regard, we remain particularly keen to hear from anyone who was at the vicinity of the beach between 10pm on friday the 24th of may and midnight that same day who saw anything unusual. in bangladesh, coastal districts are bracing for a cyclonic storm due to make landfall on sunday afternoon. the cyclone, named remal, is expected to hit the coast of eastern india and southern bangladesh with winds gusting up to 100km/h.

these are live pictures that we have got from that part of bangladesh, where officials have said in the indian state of west bengal that they could be localised flooding and damage to power and communication lines due to the storm. from those pictures, you can see exactly why they are making thousand announcements. let's get more on this with our south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan. what is the location of the cyclone at the moment?— what is the location of the cyclone at the moment? now, the officials are expecting _ at the moment? now, the officials are expecting that _ at the moment? now, the officials are expecting that this _ at the moment? now, the officials are expecting that this cyclonic - are expecting that this cyclonic storm, remal, to hit the ground in about an hour's time, it will start crossing land between the southern part of bangladesh and eastern india, and within the next few hours, the eye of the storm across the land, and that is where intense rains are expected, and that is a

big worry. now, the officials are warning that the tidal surge could be four metres above the normal levels, so there is a danger to villages in low—lying areas, and most of bangladesh in the southern part. they are just a metre above sea level, so that is a real danger for those villages, and the government says that more than 800,000 people have been moved to various storm shelters. they use school buildings as well as government offices as storm shelters, and people are also taking their cattle, but many are reluctant to leave their homes, belongings and cattle outside their houses, and thatis cattle outside their houses, and that is one of the challenges for the authorities, but now within an hour or so, that is what officials are expecting, that this intense cyclone is expected to make landfall. i5 cyclone is expected to make landfall. , ., ., , cyclone is expected to make landfall. ., ., , ., landfall. is part of the world is no stranuer landfall. is part of the world is no stranger to _ landfall. is part of the world is no stranger to storms _ landfall. is part of the world is no stranger to storms like _ landfall. is part of the world is no stranger to storms like this, - landfall. is part of the world is no stranger to storms like this, so . landfall. is part of the world is no i stranger to storms like this, so how compliant are people with the instructions that they are given? bangladesh has a history of intense

cyclones that have killed hundreds of thousands of people over the years, but the government has set up a very organised system of volunteers and early warning mechanisms, and they also coordinate with neighbouring india, and in fact they go around villages with loudspeakers, urging people to go to storm shelter immediately. and there are also text messages going to people's mobile phones, and that has reduced the number of casualties over the years, but the damage to land, property, that has been quite intense, and bangladesh used to get one or two intense cyclones, but what weather experts are saying is that they are seeing more of this, possibly due to the impact of climate change, so the intensity, the speed with which they are coming, that is changing, and also the rains are becoming very intense, they expect about 300 millimetres of rain. if it happens over a period of days, they can manage, but if it

happens within a day, that is when flooding happens, and that is a big worry for authorities in bangladesh. we will keep an eye on the progress of that storm and how the country response, but for the moment, thank you. political parties across south africa have been holding their final rallies before wednesday's elections. it's 30 years since the african national congress won the country's first democratic elections following the release of nelson mandela and the end of apartheid. now polls suggest that, for the first time, the party may fail to get an overall majority. my colleague catherine byaruhanga is at a rally for the main opposition party the democratic alliance, just outside johannesburg. this weekend is the climax of months of campaigning by parties in south africa. this weekend, you have the parties all conducting rallies like this across the country. right now behind me is a sea of blue, this is the colour

for the democratic alliance, it is the official opposition party in south africa. last time around, it took about 20% of the vote, but the da isn't the only party trying to take on the anc, you have more than 70 parties on the ballot paper next week, challenging the anc. one of them is called rise mzansi, it has only existed for one year, and it has made a name for itself by trying to target young, urban, ambitious south africans, and we are joined by its leader for the gauteng province, which also includesjohannesburg, who is on the line to us from johannesburg. you are holding your own event later today, when you look at the number of parties contesting in these elections, the fragmentation of the opposition, is it a problem when you are trying to unseat the anc, which is so dominant in south african politics?

so i think what we are witnessing, as you have correctly said, 30 years into our democracy, and what we are witnessing is a fundamental realignment of south african politics. for the last 30 years, the anc has been the dominant governing party, but over the last few election cycles, we have seen the influence and their numbers dropping, particularly in the local elections, where they have lost power in a lot of the main metros, and i think that comes to fruition in this election. so certainly there is a journey ahead of us, but i think this is exactly where we need to be and the electorate is hungry for more options and more choices, and i think we have now got a good assortment of choices for the electorate.

and, vuyiswa, the da and others have formed a multiparty coalition that could try to form a government if the anc loses enough votes, but why haven't you joined the coalition? so i think what our understanding of the electorate and why rise mzansi exists in the first place is because is because the parties that are part of a multiparty charter have existed, many of them existed for more than two decades, some even from the beginning of democracy, but they have failed to present a credible alternative political proposition that appeals to the broad majority of south africans, and i speak here particularly about the anc�*s base. a lot of anc voters are what we call disaffected and lapsed anc voters, but they don't find resonance with the politics of the opposition parties. so in our view, the multiparty charter is not the solution. what we need to be doing is actually putting together

an alternative to the anc, which really speaks to the values and the political orientation of the south african people broadly, and that is what rise mzansi has endeavoured to do. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. that is vuyiswa ramokgopa, one of the leaders of rise mzansi. the conversation in south africa at the moment, if the anc does not win enough votes, what kind of coalition would it form, would it be with smaller parties, would the da be a partner, or maybe one of the parties or groups that have left the anc, like the eff or the mk party? catherine byaru hanga catherine byaruhanga in johannesburg. we were telling you that for the first time in weeks, rocket sirens had been heard in tel

aviv. well, we are now hearing from the reuters news agency that the armed wing of hamas saying that they have launched a big missile attack on tel aviv, this is the scene in the city now, you can see a plume of smoke above the cityscape. for their part, the israeli army, quoted by afp, say that at least eight rockets have been fired towards israel from gaza's rafah. more on that very shortly. hello there. lots of sunshine around yesterday, but it is all change weather—wise today. there will still be some sunny spells, mostly towards the south of the uk, but also the threat of some heavy, thundery downpours breaking out as well. it's been a soggy night for many with our weather fronts merging, slowly pushing further northward. so spells of rain, lots of saturated ground around this morning. for the northern half of the uk, it stays cloudy with further spells of rain,

some heavy at times. further south, there will be some sunshine, but watch out for those thunderstorms. they could be heavy and slow—moving, particularly across the midlands, parts of eastern wales and through northern england too. a bit drier across northern scotland and south—east england. temperatures 15 to 19 degrees celsius for most. it will still feel pleasantly warm in the best of the sunshine. the showers will tend to fade away overnight tonight, but still some showery outbreaks of rain across many central and western areas of scotland, gradually pushing further eastwards. clearer skies further south and east. it's a mild start to bank holiday monday. lots of typical bank holiday weather around tomorrow. most of the rain, though, will be towards the north. that's gradually pushing further eastwards as we head throughout the day. some heavy downpours of rain around at times and a scattering of showers further south, but also some bright and some sunny spells in between those showers, which won't be as heavy or as thundery as we're expecting for the rest of the day today. it will still feel pleasantly warm in the best of the sunshine. temperatures will be around about the seasonal average,

generally 15 to 18 degrees. then we look out towards the south—west as we head into tuesday to see this area of low pressure sweeping in. the winds are going to pick up. it's going to be quite a breezy day. there will be more cloud, showery outbreaks of rain again pushing northwards and eastwards, but possibly dry still for much of the day across northern, eastern areas of scotland and through north—east england too. temperatures once again very close to the seasonal average — 15 to 17 degrees. for much of the rest of the week there will still be more showers around with low pressure dominant, but as we head towards next weekend high pressure will start to topple in from the west, and this will settle things down. so a little drier, but still the possibility of some showers on friday and into next weekend. there will be some spells of sunshine. it will feel a little warmer. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the conservatives say they'll bring back mandatory national service for 18—year olds if they win the general election. labour has described the plan as a gimmick. the united nations says 670 people are feared dead following a landslide in papua new guinea. at least 12 people are confirmed dead, after a russian attack on a crowded diy store in ukraine's second city of kharkiv.

and rapper nicki minaj cancels a gig in manchester after being arrested