live from washington, this is bbc news. at least 50 people, including children, are reportedly killed in israeli air strikes on rafah. the idf says it targeted a hamas—controlled compound. on the frontline in ukraine with the drone squads: we look at their influence on the course of the war. at least seven people are dead after a tornado ploughs through a rural area in texas. mary poppins song plays and remembering the songwriter behind disney's most iconic tunes, richard m sherman dies at the age of 95. i'm helena humphrey.

good to have you with us. palestinian officials have accused the israeli military of carrying out a deadly air strike on an area for displaced people near rafah in southern gaza. videos show a large explosion and intense fires burning. the hamas—run health ministry in gaza says at least 50 people were killed, including women and children. the israel defence forces confirmed it targeted a hamas compound in the area. in its most recent statement, the idf said it killed two senior hamas commanders. in an earlier statement, it said: the us state department says it is aware of the reports and is gathering more information. earlier on sunday, hamas launched a missile attack on israel for the first time in months. the israeli military said at least eight rockets were launched from the rafah area towards tel aviv. all the projectiles were either intercepted by air defence systems or fell in fields.

our middle east correspondent lucy williamson has the latest from jerusalem. still early days but the gaza authorities are accusing israel of carrying out a strike on what they say was an area where internally displaced people from the fighting had been sheltering. gaza's information office was saying more than 30 people have died, dozens have been injured in an area north—west of rafah and it said 100,000 people were sheltering there. certainly the number of casualties seems to be backed up by hospitals, by resident workers in the area who say they are transporting and receiving large numbers of dead and injured and that it was a designated humanitarian area. i should say this has happened in the context of israel's ongoing military operation in rafa which it says it needs to carry out to target remaining hamas battalions but there has been stiff resistance and earlier today we saw a barrage

of rockets fired from rafah towards central towns in israel, including towards tel aviv. meanwhile, our partner cbs news is reporting that us diplomatic efforts to broker a deal to release hostages held in gaza by hamas and other allied groups are expected to continue soon. negotiators from qatar, egypt and the united states will be part of the talks. cia director william burns last week travelled to paris to revive talks, after negotiations in cairo stalled earlier this month. the death toll from a russian bomb attack on a superstore in the eastern ukrainian city of kharkiv has risen to 16. tx russian forces hit the epicenter hardware superstore on saturday. police say six bodies have been identified, including two store employees and a 12—year—old girl who was visiting the city. ukraine says it's managing to hold back russian forces near kharkiv using artillery, but also drones. jonathan beale tells the story of one drone unit in the kharkiv region.

they are now one of the most potent weapons of this war — cheap, mass—produced drones being used to deadly effect. and here on the front, they are helping ukraine slow russia's advance. but still not enough. translation: we can hold them back with drones - and hurt them badly. but win with them? unfortunately, no. what do you call them? it is what they call themselves — peaky blinders, after the cult tv series. but flat caps are where the similarity ends. they have been trained by western special forces. in just a few weeks they have hunted down more than 100 russian soldiers. terror from the sky. today, they appear to be hiding, so they look

for something else. so you are stealing russian rifles from the russians, yes? yes, yes. it is russian, 0k. it is the second time this man has fought for this territory, his home. he once farmed the fields nearby, then he grew strawberries, now he is planting bombs. but he knows what they are doing will not end this war. translation: right now, it is like two more or lessl equal gladiators fighting each other and neither can defeat the other. the conflict may be frozen for several years or decades, but this war will last a very long time. the russians are learning too. when the peaky blinders tried to fly a kamikaze drone into a target, their signal gets jammed. russian drones are as much a threat

to ukrainian forces. gunfire most take shelter under trees, easy now but harder in the winter. for both sides it is a constant game of hide and seek. explosion ukraine says it has now slowed down the russian frontline. it has stabilised the situation but there is still a fierce artillery battle going on. the much harder task will be to push the russians back. they might just weather this storm with the arrival of more western weapons. but what ukraine really wants is permission to use those weapons to strike inside russia. just a mile from the border, they are doing their

best to intercept russian resupplies but are hamstrung. we cannot stop the preparing of attack. so you need to target inside russia to stop them advancing here? of course. but you are not allowed to? no. and does that make sense to you? no. not at all. ukraine remains determined to fight but they are still looking to the west to give them the tools to win. jonathan beale, bbc news, kharkiv. joining me now is javed ali an associate professor at the university of michigan and national security expert, previously holding roles at the fbi and on the national security council under the trump administration. thank you forjoining us. let's start with the situation we were seeing there on the

ground. the ongoing battle in the northeast, the second new front that has opened up at the time when forces are still confronting battles along the front line including at donbass. how much of a challenge to think that is for ukrainian to be confronting multiple fronts now and do you think they will be able to push the russian�*s back? think they will be able to push the russian's back?— think they will be able to push the russian's back? thank you for having _ the russian's back? thank you for having me _ the russian's back? thank you for having me this _ the russian's back? thank you for having me this evening. . the russian's back? thank you for having me this evening. an excellent question and based on all the reporting that is coming out, not only over the last 2a hours, but the last several weeks, last 2a hours, but the last severalweeks, i last 2a hours, but the last several weeks, i would argue that it appears that russia has the tactical and operational advantage along this very long front on the eastern side of ukraine and it appears that in these different moments in time these different moments in time the russians will try and probe and advance either from the air or on the ground and use these different tactics and weapons and try to really weaken ukrainian defence. and ukraine

is under a lot of pressure to maintain the line as it is right now but they are on the back foot forward in respect to resources at almost every level. right now, it appears russia has momentum but will they be able to break through and push further into the west in some of these other key strategic areas? that is unknown right now. you are sa in: unknown right now. you are saying ukrainians _ unknown right now. you are saying ukrainians now- unknown right now. you are saying ukrainians now are i unknown right now. you are i saying ukrainians now are out manned, outgunned, facing multiple fronts. in that report from jonathan beale our reporter, he pose a question to the ukrainian truth, do you need to be able to strike within russia? window antony blinken mac secretary of state says ultimately that is up to the ukrainian. do you think thatis the ukrainian. do you think that is something ukraine needs to do to turn the tide in this war? . . ., , to do to turn the tide in this war? ., _, , ., war? that could be one thing that allows _ war? that could be one thing that allows ukraine _ war? that could be one thing that allows ukraine to - war? that could be one thing that allows ukraine to regain | that allows ukraine to regain some of that momentum, because

as you know they are facing shortages in all these different categories on the military side. but armed with some of the more advanced weapon system, that will flow into ukraine over the next weeks or months, based on the recent aid package the us congress released, will some of those high—end weapon systems, if they are allowed to be used for strikes or deep strikes into russian territory against logistic nodes, troop concentrations, industrial sites were a lot of the russian military production is coming from, will that change the dynamic on the battlefield? maybe it will, maybe it won't. but we're still a long way away from that happening and again, what are the second and third order effects if that were to happen and for the past 2.5 years the united states has been worried that if those types of decisions were made with the us or western supplied weapons by ukraine, with those

crossbred lines for president putin on the russian side? that is another thing nobody knows the answer to right now. fire the answer to right now. are very delicate _ the answer to right now. are very delicate calculation there. as well as this, i'm sure you have seen recent report in the washington times with regards to russian capabilities in terms of jamming signals including on some of that weaponry sent by the united states. do think potentially that we underestimated the russian's capability to do that and now we're seeing some of the consequences of that the battlefield?— consequences of that the battlefield? , , , ., ., , battlefield? yes, russia has clearly adapted _ battlefield? yes, russia has clearly adapted over - battlefield? yes, russia has clearly adapted over the - battlefield? yes, russia has| clearly adapted over the last year or so on the battlefield. whether it is the electronic jamming, whether it is the own ability to re—energise its defence industrial base, whether it is to find more recruits, despite the terrible losses they have suffered on the battlefield, the weapons they have been provided by countries like iran and north korea. these are all things that go back towards the end of

2022 and 2023, a lot of people myself did not necessarily see russia having that capacity but here we are now again, three years into the third year of the war and brushed on every dimension looks like they have been able to overcome things that previously were challenges with electronicjamming of with electronic jamming of sophisticated with electronicjamming of sophisticated weapons from the west. another one of these things that russia has been able to overcome over the past couple of years.— couple of years. really good to net our couple of years. really good to get your take- _ couple of years. really good to get your take. thank _ couple of years. really good to get your take. thank you - couple of years. really good to get your take. thank you so . get your take. thank you so much for coming on. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making the headlines. an raf pilot, who died when his spitfire crashed during a battle of britain memorialflight, has been named as squadron leader mark long. the vintage aircraft came down in a field near raf coningsby in lincolnshire on saturday. the prince and princess of wales have offered

their condolences, saying they're "incredibly sad" to hear of the tragedy. a full investigation is under way. phil norton has more. squadron leader mark long served his country as a fighter pilot, and relished the chance to honour wartime heroes. he was due to take command of the battle of britain memorial flight later this year. outside the hangar at the team's base at raf coningsby where he took off from yesterday, a sign still shows the expected departure and return time for the spitfire he was flying. but the aircraft crashed into a field a short distance from the lincolnshire runway. this is the aircraft involved, spitfire mk 356. it was among only a handful still flying, which saw service during world war ii. you're live with bbc news. tornadoes in the united states killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more, leaving a trail of damage

across parts of texas, arkansas and oklahoma on saturday night. dave malkoff from our us partner cbs news is on the ground in valley view, texas. we spoke a little earlier. we can see the damage there behind you. talk to us about the level of destruction that you and your team have been seeing on the ground. these storms are already on the move, even right now throughout the south and the midwest, there are multiple tornadoes that came through. here in texas and we are right on the oklahoma border. we also have tornadoes that happened in arkansas as well. specifically at this gas station, and this used to be a gas station along the highway, there were about 60 people inside the gas station at the time. this was about nine o'clock at night here in texas. they were going across the oklahoma border but all those people figured something is not right so they got inside this gas station and then one person was screaming out to all of them inside and saying,

"everybody, get in the bathroom right now!" and that is key. everybody ran to the bathroom instead of being in the interior area of this gas station, where you can see multiple lives possibly could have been lost if they were in there. so everybody got themselves surrounded by as many walls as they could and those people survived, about 50—60 people because the guy told them get in the gas station bathroom right now. well, thank goodness he knew what to do. but overall do you think people were prepared for the storms? yes, it is really, really rough and sometimes people do not exactly know what to do when they see the alert go off on their phone. there is a tornado watch, and that will tell you there was a possibility of a tornado around your area. then there is a tornado warning, saying radar is indicating there is a tornado actively in yourarea. and there is beyond that called

a tornado emergency, which means there is a massive destructive tornado in the area. we have had several of those this month and last month. it has been a destructive day and a destructive few months here in tornado alley. this section of the middle of the united states where more tornadoes happen here than anywhere else on the planet. and what has the response been from authorities for those people affected? the thing you can do to protect yourself is make sure you are inside a building as hardened as possible. there are tornado shelters you can get into. some are actually underground. you may have seen that in the wizard of oz when they went into the underground shelter. that does exist here, notjust in the movies. there are more hardened shelters you can get in that are fema regulated, the federal

emergency management association put those together and put out recommendations of how to build shelters inside your house but if you cannot get something like that they recommend going into an internal closet as low as you can go, surround yourself with walls and that is how a lot of people survive this but we do have a report of dozens — of up to a dozen people who are dead across here, from here in texas all the way up to the midwest in the united states. rescue teams are searching for survivors, following a huge landslide that swept away a village, in papua new guinea. the disaster was sparked by an earthquake that hit enga province on friday, 370 miles from the capital, port moresby. the un says up to 670 people may have been killed. villagers are using sticks, spades, and agriculturalforks to search for bodies, as vehicle access is limited. let's turn to some other important news around the world. twelve people on a flight from doha to ireland after the aircraft hit turbulence. the qatar airways flight landed

shortly after midday on sunday at dublin airport. the incident comes after a 73—year—old man died during severe turbulence on a singapore airlines flight last week. six newborn babies have died after a fire tore through a children's hospital in the indian capital of delhi. several other newborns are receiving treatment after being rescued from the burning building. indian prime minister narendra modi called the fire and deaths "heart—rending" in a post on social media. the cause of the fire is not yet clear. gitanas nauseda has been re—elected as the president of lithuania. with most ballots counted, he leads his opponent, the prime minister ingrida simonyte, with 78% of the vote. both candidates said that defence spending must rise after russia's invasion of ukraine. the parents of the pga tour golfer grayson murray, who died on saturday, say he took his own life. the death of 30—year—old murray was announced one day after the golfer withdrew from a competition in fort worth, texas, citing illness.

in a statement his family urged people to honour the golfer�*s memory by being kind to others. there have been many tributes, for one of hollywood's most successful songwriters, richard m sherman, who's died at the age of 95. he wrote more than 150 songs with his brother robert, for classic films like thejungle book, chitty chitty bang bang, and mary poppins. victoria bourne reports. # it's... supercalifragilisticexpialidoci ous. generations of families will be familiar with the work of richard m sherman. alongside his late brother robert, he won two oscars in 1965 for the score of mary poppins. # now i'm the king of the swingers, oh. # the jungle vip... some of their best—known songs include thejungle book's i wanna be like you. # i wanna be a man, man cub. # stroll right into town. and chitty chitty bang bang. # chitty chitty bang

bang, we love you. during his long career he won numerous awards, including three grammys, and received 2a gold and platinum albums. he was described as being a key member of walt disney's inner circle of creative talents. the boss of the walt disney company, bob iger, paid tribute to him, saying, "his music captured "the hearts of generations of audiences." his musical legacy will no doubt be enjoyed by old and young for years to come. i'm joined now by the musician and songwriterjohn titta, who sits on the board of the songwriters hall of fame. thank you so much for being with us. you wrote that richard and robert sherman "wrote the score to our childhoods". i thought that was so touching

and aptly put. give us a sense of the impact they had on the culture. both richard and robert were such talented songwriter. not only did they write the score to so many people's lives, there are new generations discovering them every day. and they say a standard song is wonder will stand the test of time. these two gentlemen wrote quite a full catalogue of standard.— quite a full catalogue of standard. ., ., ., , , standard. you are absolutely ri . ht. standard. you are absolutely riuht. i standard. you are absolutely right. i have _ standard. you are absolutely right. i have to _ standard. you are absolutely right. i have to say _ standard. you are absolutely right. i have to say i - standard. you are absolutely right. i have to say i played i right. i have to say i played some of the music myself when i heard of his passing and it was just as good now, perhaps even better than when i first listened to it as a child. but thatis listened to it as a child. but that is a phenomenal feet, isn't it? roma songwriter? something that stands the test of time. how did the do it? they started out as really poprock songwriter. their first

song was your 16, you're beautiful and your mind for johnny burnette. this brought them to the attention of walt disney. one of the greatest reason why these two guys were so great is because they would write these incredible standards by request. walt disney would specify exactly what he would want and this is why he loved them. they would deliver it perfectly. find why he loved them. they would deliver it perfectly.— deliver it perfectly. and 'ust talkabouti deliver it perfectly. and 'ust talk about that i deliver it perfectly. and 'ust talk about that talent, h deliver it perfectly. and just talk about that talent, to i deliver it perfectly. and just talk about that talent, to go from something jazzy like the jungle book that we just heard there to something so perhaps sentimental, touching like feed the bird for example. it's really a feat of artistry, isn't it?— really a feat of artistry, isn't it? , ., isn't it? these were two professional _ isn't it? these were two i professional songwriter's. isn't it? these were two - professional songwriter's. they were really very talented and you mention my favourite song, feed the birds, which is quite an incredible moment in the mary poppins movie.-

mary poppins movie. such incredible _ mary poppins movie. such incredible moment - mary poppins movie. such incredible moment in - mary poppins movie. such incredible moment in that| incredible moment in that movie, what are by favourite film. i believe you had the chance to speak to robert sherman about feed the birds. what did he tell you? he sherman about feed the birds. what did he tell you?— what did he tell you? he told me the exact _ what did he tell you? he told me the exact story _ what did he tell you? he told me the exact story of- what did he tell you? he told me the exact story of how - what did he tell you? he told i me the exact story of how walt disney said a very up—tempo soundtrack and score and we need a moment here and started talking about the character who sits outside the church and they told me that is how they crafted the song. it is pretty amazing tune. it crafted the song. it is pretty amazing tune.— amazing tune. it really is. talkin: amazing tune. it really is. talking about _ amazing tune. it really is. talking about his - amazing tune. it really is. i talking about his songwriting in greater detail, he credited his success, richard, to some of his father's advice who said make them simple and sincere. now, you are a master of the craft yourself as well. that sounds simple on paper. it is not though, is it?— not though, is it? no. it is very difficult _

not though, is it? no. it is very difficult and - not though, is it? no. it is very difficult and that - not though, is it? no. it is very difficult and that is i not though, is it? no. it is. very difficult and that is why certain people get recognised, like richard and his brother, before their excellent and i always say greatness. talking about their _ always say greatness. talking about their relationship - always say greatness. talking about their relationship as - about their relationship as brothers, not always an easy relationship, i believe. but he also credited back to the spark of creativity that they needed to be able to produce that level of music. tell us more about that relationship. when there is a _ about that relationship. when there is a little _ about that relationship. when there is a little friction, - about that relationship. when there is a little friction, a - there is a little friction, a little competition and i think a little dysfunctional relationship provides, especially lyrically, some pretty interesting things. but they did love each other. there is a wonderful documentary called the boys, about them both in their careers and they cover a lot of that. 50. both in their careers and they cover a lot of that.— cover a lot of that. so, for disney then, _ cover a lot of that. so, for disney then, what - cover a lot of that. so, for disney then, what do - cover a lot of that. so, for disney then, what do you | cover a lot of that. so, for - disney then, what do you think it means for the very existence

of disney, away from its beautiful animation, the fact they found these two talented brothers? i they found these two talented brothers? ~ ., , brothers? i think it was probably _ brothers? i think it was probably pure - brothers? i think it was probably pure luck - brothers? i think it was probably pure luck on l brothers? i think it was . probably pure luck on walt disney side because how he saw in your 16, disney side because how he saw in your16, your disney side because how he saw in your 16, your beautiful and your mind with these two songwriters were capable of, what of the other stories, if you don't mind, richard and robert told me about the song it's a small world, which was written for an exhibit at the 1964 new york city worlds fair, and it was actually called children of the world and they were playing and you go through the ride and see the children of the world and play the national anthem. walt disney asked them specifically to write a song that is easily translated into many languages and can be performed in the round and they wrote the song called its a small world.

right now it is we will have to leave it there but thank you forjoining us on bbc news. hello. thanks forjoining me. the weather this bank holiday weekend has been a little hit and miss. this is what we had earlier on during the course of saturday — storms breaking out quite widely across england, parts of wales, some across the irish sea as well, and outbreaks of rain in scotland. now, further showers are expected notjust on bank holiday monday but, indeed, the rest of the week. temperatures will be near normal — nothing spectacular — but at least by the end of the week, it does look as though these low pressures should finally pull away as we see high pressure building. but the winds will still come in from the north, so there's so there's certainly no major warm—up in the forecast. ok, let's have a look at the forecast, then, for the short term. so, by the end of the night

through the morning, we will have had some clearer weather in the south. further north, always more cloud and some showers first thing. and these are the temperatures around 7am — typically double figures in most of our major towns and cities. so, clouds will be bubbling up through the morning, there'll be plenty of sunshine in most areas right from the word go but storms will also develop, particularly across northern and eastern parts of scotland. now, the showers will be very hit and miss. as far as the temperatures go, no real change compared to what we've had in the last few days, so typically mid or high teens — a little on the cool side. now, the thunderstorms may continue into monday evening across parts of northern and eastern scotland. elsewhere, the sky should turn clear before the next area of low pressure rolls in first thing on tuesday morning. and you can see outbreaks of rain crossing the country as the weather fronts sweep in. i think the air�*s going to be quite close. temperatures on tuesday, despite the cloud, still getting up to about 18 degrees in some spots and, actually, later in the day, we'll probably see sunshine developing — or at least a little bit. now, wednesday midweek, we're expecting showers to develop almost anywhere but more especially

across eastern parts of the uk. one or two rumbles of thunder can be expected. i think come the late afternoon, the skies should clear out towards the west and it should be a fine, sunny end to the day, for example, in cardiff, plymouth and along the south coast of england. so, here's the summary for the week ahead — plenty of shower clouds most days and those temperatures hovering near normal, perhaps a little below at times. that's it for me. bye bye.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello, and welcome to another edition of unspun world. thank you forjoining me. after the summit between vladimir putin and xijinping, what have we learned about the russia—china relationship? it's a very useful relationship, i think, for the chinese. i think they feel themselves very much now the senior partner — russia, thejunior partner. does the old idea of a two—state solution

between israel and the palestinians have any future at all after the gaza war?