live from london, this is bbc news. in his first major speech of the uk election campaign — the labour leader sir keir starmer — says his party will deliver security and stability. we will also provide the certainty that working people, businesses and communities need. a clear direction. not the endless spinning around that successive tory governments have subjected us all to. meanwhile the prime minister has defended his plan to bring back a form of national service. this form of national — form of national service. this form of national service _ form of national service. this form of national service will _ form of national service. this form of national service will mean - form of national service. this form | of national service will mean young people get the skills they need which will serve them well in life and it will foster a culture of service. international condemnation of israel after palestinian officials say at least 45 people have been killed at a refugee camp in rafah.

the authorities in papua new guinea now say more than 2,000 people were buried by a devastating landslide in a remote village. south africa has seen far fewer electricity blackouts in the last few months. critics say it could be an attempt to buy more votes for the forthcoming general election. welcome to verified live — three hours of breaking stories and checking out the truth behind them. we start here, where the uk's general election is in full swing and rishi sunak has been defending his plan for mandatory national service for 18—year—olds. the prime minister was on the campaign trail in buckinghamshire, defending the proposal as a "bold" move that'll foster a "culture of service."

under the tory plan, all 18—year—olds will be legally required to take up either a 12—month placement in the armed forces or cyber defence or give up the equivalent of one weekend a month to volunteer in their communities. i believe this is the right thing to do because this is how we will deliver a secure future for everyone and our country. we are not going to do that without taking bold action and that's the type of leadership that i office. this modern form of national service will mean young people get their skills and opportunities they need. that will serve them well in life and it will foster a culture of service which will be incredibly powerful for making our society democracy adhesive and it will strengthen our country's security and resilience. for all these reasons i think it is the right thing to do. yes it is bold but that's the type of leadership that i offer. that's the clear plan, bold action and that's how we will deliver a secure future

for our country. earlier, the labour leader sir keir starmer has made his first big speech of the campaign. he's told undecided voters in west sussex that they could trust labour because he's changed the party permananently. he said it will deliver stability if it wins power. he also said labour will carry out a 100—day review of the country's national security, examining the threats it faces. i have changed this labour party, dragged it back to service and i will do exactly the same for westminster. that is the choice at this election. service or self—interest. stability or chaos. a labour party that has changed, or a tory party that has run away from the mainstream. the choice is yours. you can stop the chaos. you can turn the page. you can join with us. and together, we can rebuild our country. thank you so much.

0ur political correspondent iain watson, has been travelling with the labour party leader, keir starmer in southeast england. i'm on this press bus, which is following the leader around. it's not going to be the branded labor campaign bus. it's going to be unveiled in a few days' time and it's largely going to be the domain of the deputy leader of the labour party. angela rayner. but as you say, keir starmer, an event on the south coast in west sussex earlier today. and it is interesting. his first major speech was in an area where labour had won control of the local council for the first time in its history. so i think he's very keen to say, look, people here are looking at labour for the first time. people elsewhere across the country should perhaps do the same. interestingly, too, i think he decided to talk more about his own personal

life, his own background, something which we're all familiar with since we were following him not just on the campaign trail, but of course, as he became the labour leader four years ago. but he felt it necessary to reintroduce himself to the public and to perhaps people who had voted conservative in the past and only nowjust looking at the relative merits or demerits of him and rishi sunak. so he talked about his own upbringing, not in a traditional labour area, but in the town of oxford in surrey, hardly a true blue area at all. but he pointed out that there are areas of deprivation of poverty in different parts of the country, including in the countryside. so very much pitching himself to be the leader of the whole country. there are two areas which i think he focused on more than any other, one was to try to, if you like, eliminate the negatives as he saw it from labour's 2019 campaign and convince people who are concerned that labour wouldn't stand up for the nation's defences, that it could be trusted with national security. for those who think it can't be trusted with finances, that it be spending and borrowing and taxing. he wanted to say very clearly that to keep a firm grip on the nation's purse strings, no increase in income tax.

and also he had to tackle illegal immigration. that's become quite an issue recently. we're not necessarily expecting flights to go off to rwanda before the election, but it's a big dividing line for the conservatives. and he said they can labour can be trusted to tackle illegal immigration as well with a brand new body set up within 100 days of a labour government specifically tasked with getting rid of the gangs that are helping people across the channel in small boats. also, he wanted to say that he could be trusted as a future prime minister is a final rallying cry for in the speech was a pledge to fight for you. 0ur political correspondent, ione wells has been following the prime minister rishi sunak in london. well, he is out here talking to voters, members today, also campaigning in the southeast of england. this is really an area which i think the conservatives feel they need to defend quite strongly in this election, traditionally seen as quite a tory heartland. but recent polls suggest that a lot of the seats in this area

could be at threat from the liberal democrats, but also labour as well, who are heavily campaigning in these seats. they are top targets for both main opposition parties, the liberal, democrats and labour. i think today the focus of rishi sunak�*s visit is really trying to appeal to some of those voters in this area who may be sort of still undecided, a bit like keir starmer was doing earlier, but also to promote one of the sort of big flagship policies so far of this campaign, which was the tories�* announcement over the weekend that they would reintroduce a form of national service, essentially the plan to make all 18 year olds take part in either a year of military service or optionally to volunteer one weekend a month, for example, in the nhs or in the fire service or other sort of community schemes. i think it's likely that we'll hear more from the prime minister on that on his visit today. particularly, i think he'll want to promote this message that other ministers have been putting out, which is that it is, in their words, important for social cohesion, for giving young people a sense of purpose. but it hasn't been

without its criticisms too. the labour party have accused it of being desperate, have said that it's not worth the £2.5 billion which it's estimated to cost. but it's also been criticised by some conservatives as well, notably the northern ireland minister, steve baker, who accused it of being a policy drawn up by conservative aides and officials rather than one that ministers would have been consulted on, suggesting very strongly that had he been consulted, he would have raised concerns about it and particularly how it would apply in northern ireland. meanwhile in scotland, the snp leader has told voters that the quickest way to "rid scotland of the tories is to vote snp". speaking at a campaign event in dumfries, john swinney said the party would challenge every conservative seat north of the border. the snp are currently the third largest party in westminster — with 43 seats. i've got to make sure that i lift the poor fortunes of the snp. we've had a tough time as a party. i've been completely open

and candid about it. that's why i'm now the first minister and leader of the snp, because the snp�*s had a tough time. but i've got the party focused on what our core message is and that message for this election is that we've had austerity, brexit and the cost of living crisis inflicted upon scotland. they're all the product of westminster and the tory government. we've got a chance in scotland to remove every tory mp who's inflicted such damage on scotland, by voting for the snp, because we are the principal challengers to every one of those tory mps and we've got a big chance to make sure that scotland's interests are protected at westminster by electing snp mps who, apart from anything else, are there for scotland. the liberal democrat leader sir ed davey has told voters that it's time for change and urged voters in scotland to send a message that the snp government isn't doing a good enoughjob. at the party's scottish launch, sir ed davey said voters north

of the border had been doubly let down by the tories at westminster and snp at holyrood and said that the liberal democrats would fight for a fair dealfor communities. so liberal democrats can win a lot of seats in scotland. we've got some fantastic candidates. if you vote liberal democrat, you get a local champion who's going to campaign for your community, for yourfamily, stand up for them on the nhs and on the local environment. and there's a chance that we can have more liberals than nationalists in the westminster parliament after this election and be the third party again and make sure that we all really stand up for scotland and strengthen our precious family of nations. and remember you can follow the latest election coverage just head to the bbc news website — we have a live page running with plenty of updates and analysis from the campaign — you can also find it on the bbc news app. to the middle east, and there's growing international condemnation

of an air strike near rafah in gaza, which palestinian officials say killed at least 45 people — including women and children — at a refugee camp. the israeli government says it is still investigating what happened but the initial reports are that an air strike against a hamas compound nearby set off a fire which killed the palestinian civilians. egypt has called on israel to abide by the order from the international court ofjustice to stop its military offensive in rafah. french president emmanuel macron says he is outraged by the israeli strike on rafah and qatar says it could hinder reaching a ceasefire deal. dan johnson reports. explosions. this was israel's air strike late last night in southern gaza — it says, targeting senior hamas figures with precision weapons.

but look what it did to the nearby camp where thousands of palestinians were sheltering. israel says it was striking legitimate targets in line with international law. but many of these people had already been uprooted many times through this conflict. "suddenly, we heard the sound of a missile," this man says. "we ran and found the street covered in smoke. we couldn't see anything. then we found a girl and a young man who had been blown to pieces." women and children are among the casualties here in what they believed was a safe humanitarian zone. this morning, israeli drones surveyed the damage as people questioned how this could happen. translation: we heard a very loud sound and saw fire, - the kids were screaming and all the rooms surrounding us were made out of metal sheets,

the sound was terrifying. translation: we set up our tents here and it has been targeted. - they killed our children and burned our women and elderly in the place they claimed was safe. this is our seventh time being displaced. earlier yesterday, hamas reminded israelis that it remains a threat. tel aviv came under rocket attack for the first time in months. there are questions over israel's military strategy and an international court ruling against it. israel continues in military action that has been asked to stop. also, hamas is launching rockets against israel, so both sides do not respect the rule of law. israel says a review will examine this loss of life. but it is palestinians who count their dead and wonder where in gaza they can find safety. avi hyman is a spokesman

for the israeli government. he explained the objective of the israeli strike on rafah. there is no moral equivalence between the two things. what happened last night is, we went after two high—value hamas targets, and it appears from initial reports that somehow a fire broke out and that was, er, that sadly took the lives of others. now, i say "it appears to" because it is under investigation, and the idf investigates every, every accident of this of this nature to see what actually happened. earlier i spoke to bushra khalidi, a policy advisor for 0xfam. she's based in the west bank. there are no more words really to explain how horrific the images we woke up to this morning. i don't only have colleagues, i also have friends. i've got my in—laws that are in gaza. i mean, the sheer panic and fear

of this just culminating further. we saw images of children blown up to pieces, burnt to crisp. and i'm sorry to be graphic, but that is what we saw this morning. we woke up to more images of destruction and death and a whole camp of tents on fire. you know, these are displaced people. these are people that have experienced relentless bombings. they are likely to have lost their homes. they're sheltering in somewhere they think is safe, although we have said numerous times how nowhere in gaza is safe. tell us about what 0xfam is doing in gaza. i don't think you are operating in rafah for safety reasons, but what about in the rest of gaza. fix, reasons, but what about in the rest of gaza. �* , ., ., of gaza. a big part of our programming _ of gaza. a big part of our programming is - of gaza. a big part of our programming is workingl of gaza. a big part of our. programming is working on of gaza. a big part of our- programming is working on water of gaza. a big part of our—

programming is working on water and sanitation so so for and what we are really been doing for years in gaza is working so for gaza is working on water and sanitation. so it can constitute from damage repairs to damage in on pipelines. for example, we've installed desalination units that serve small communities with desalinated water. we have latrines, for example. we've also have a big programme in cash assistance and food parcels. but what we've been doing is not what we aspire to do or what our ambitions are because of the restrictions on what you can enter in israel and what is rejected by what you can enter in gaza and what is restricted by israel. we're restricted in what entrances and routes we are able to use and also restricted because of the bombings. you know, when bombs and relentless bombardment is happening, our teams are not there on the ground delivering because our duty of care we just heard that benjamin netanyahu is saying that what

happened there was a tragic incident. ~ . . . happened there was a tragic incident. ~ . , ., , ., incident. what can you tell us about what did happen? _ incident. what can you tell us about what did happen? what _ incident. what can you tell us about what did happen? what we - incident. what can you tell us about what did happen? what we know. incident. what can you tell us about. what did happen? what we know so far that the israelis _ what did happen? what we know so far that the israelis said _ what did happen? what we know so far that the israelis said that _ that the israelis said that last night until this morning they were hitting 75 military targets and that specifically targeting to hamas operatives. 0ne specifically targeting to hamas operatives. one of them is a field commander responsible for attacks on the west bank, that's what the israeli army said. they also denied that high calibre, heavy bombs were used because they said that there were reports that seven different types of heavy bombs were used. they said they only used high precision bombs, much lighter than the ones they are accused of using. they said that the fire, caused by the explosion propagated in the camp. the problem is that this camp was designated as a safe area by the israelis. until yesterday morning,

before the attack, they were saying the operation is going well. there are 100,000 people who volunteered to go to these safe areas and now we see these casualties. 45 so far have been confirmed and we are waiting for more. people that i spoke to, i have been following a family from gaza who have been displaced from one area to another, they told me that they used to move from one building to another thing is to split their children, to increase their chances of survival, so that their chances of survival, so that the whole family doesn't get hit. now they are in a tent, they said, we might be next. lets now they are in a tent, they said, we might be next.— now they are in a tent, they said, we might be next. lets talk about another incident _ we might be next. lets talk about another incident involving - we might be next. lets talk about another incident involving the - another incident involving the israeli military. they have reported a shooting incident along the border with egypt in which an egyptian border guard has been killed. what border guard has been killed. what we know so —

border guard has been killed. what we know so far _ border guard has been killed. what we know so far is _ border guard has been killed. what we know so far is the _ border guard has been killed. w�*ué�*ii we know so far is the egyptian army spokesperson who said that one egyptian soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with the israeli army. the israeli army said it was a tragic incident. they said the head of israeli security is speaking to officers on the egyptian army. to give you some context, the relationship between egypt and israel has been fraught lately, starting with military exercises that took place last week. israelis were extremely concerned about this. before that egyptjoined the icj case against israel. there was a report last week from the israeli army saying that they discovered more than 55 tunnels going under the egyptian border and they might be used to smuggle weapons, hamas

operatives and even hostages. egyptian was not happy about this and denied it. they have built a barrier under the border to prevent those tunnels. it seems that the israelis have seen the tunnels and they are going under this barrier. great to talk to you. thank you for updating us on those latest developments from the middle east. around the world and across the uk, you are watching bbc news.

now to papua new guinea where the government estimates that a landslide that swept across a remote village on friday buried more than 2000 people. the country's national disaster centre says the landslide destroyed buildings, farmland and completely blocked the main highway to porgera mine.

it also says unstable terrain is making work dangerous for rescue teams. the landslide hit enga province, some 370 miles north west of the capital port moresby. the country has appealed for international help to cope with the disaster. a warning katy watson's report contains some distressing images. help is desperately needed here in enga. but while people wait for it to arrive, there is nothing else for it. they are digging through debris with any tool they can find. nearly four days on from the landslide, few bodies have been pulled from the rubble. while this family is able to bury their loved one, not many here are being afforded this moment. translation: l have 18 - of my family members buried under the debris and soil that i'm standing on, and a lot more family members

in the village i cannot count. i am the landowner here, but i cannot retrieve the bodies, so i'm standing here helplessly. it was three in the morning on friday when the landslide struck, wiping out well over 100 houses while residents were asleep. the problem is, it is so deep, it is really difficult to recover the bodies from underneath the heavy debris. and the land is still sliding, rocks are continuing to fall. papua new guinea has called for international assistance. neighbouring australia has already responded and humanitarian agencies are on the ground. but more help is needed in what's looking more like a recovery than a rescue mission. this is a community in mourning and people here are still waiting to say their goodbyes. katy watson, bbc news.

spain has promised to give ukraine a billion euros worth of military aid. the pledge came during a visit to the country by ukraine's president zelensky. he's been holding talks with the spanish prime minister pedro sanchez and signed a security agreement. the visit comes as ukraine battles a russian ground offensive in the northeastern kharkiv region which began on may 10 in moscow's biggest territorial advance in 18 months. translation: the biggest problem we have now is that russia is usingl more than 3000 bombs per month towards civilians. we predict that russia could use 3500 bombs next month. this month, they have used 3200, and these bombs will fall over the heads of civilian people who have no weapons. it doesn't matter how much protection the soldiers have, they will not be able to resist. japan has lifted an emergency warning for residents in the southern prefecture

of okinawa to take cover from a north korean missile possible threat. the japansese national broadcaster nhk is reporting some kind of trouble in the missile launch, like an explosion, and that the projectile disappeared from radar, appearing to have failed. japan's government believes the missile is not expected to fly over its territory. north korea had previously warned japan that it had planned to launch a satellite. it comes as trilateral summit between china, south korea and japan jointly agreed to try to find a political settlement to establish peace with neighbouring north korea. the foreign ministry in pyongyang described the trilateral statement as a grave political provocation that violated its sovereignty. you're watching bbc news, much more to come.

hello. it's a bank holiday monday of sunshine and showers, but as we go through the afternoon the heaviest, most persistent showers are likely to be across eastern scotland. you can see rather threatening—looking skies in edinburgh just a few hours ago. this has been the shower distribution so far today. most frequent showers across the far north. fewer showers, but most of those out to the west, but some of them are starting to push further inland. for the remainder of the afternoon, it's sunny spells and scattered showers almost anywhere, but the heaviest, most frequent, with maybe the odd rumble of thunder, across eastern scotland. lighter winds here, so if you get some showers they could be slow moving. slightly brisker winds, particularly on exposed south coasts, that should help push those showers through at quite a pace. top temperatures today between 16 and 18 degrees. if you dodge the showers and keep some sunshine with a little shelter, it will still feel quite pleasant.

clearer skies across the far north—east through the night, but cloud and rain gathers out to the west, so that means it's going to be a wet, but mild start to tuesday. clearer skies, a chillier start further north and east, but at least you will have some early morning sunshine. it's not expected to last. the rain will push in from the west. some heavier bursts as it gradually drifts its way north and east. even once the rain eases away, it will be a case of sunny spells and scattered showers following on behind. again, temperatures peaking at around 18 degrees. moving out of tuesday into wednesday, still low pressure dominating the story as these frontal systems sweep their way steadily eastwards. as we go through the day on wednesday with the front to clear, the most frequent showers look likely to be along exposed east coasts, particularly as we go through the afternoon. a light north—westerly wind, a little more shelter, the drier, brighter weather out to the west, but temperatures a little bit subdued for this time of year. again, we're looking at highs of 15 to 18 degrees,

maybe 19, if we're lucky, in the far south—east. that low pressure will push away. as we head towards the weekend, high pressure is going to build in and quieten things down really quite considerably. as we look further ahead, there is some welcome news. as we move into the new month ofjune, it looks likely to dry up, brighten up and, fingers crossed, warm up too.

rolling out the red—carpet for stronger economic ties. france's president emmanuel macron is in germany for talks to bolster the european single market "we can move down" — the ecb's chief economist says the bank is ready to start cutting rates. and up on stage, keep calm — we'll look at the technology helping musicians cope with stage fright. welcome to business today, i'm mark lobel. let's start in germany where the french president emmanuel macron is on the second day of a state visit. he's there to meet chancellor 0laf scholz for talks aimed at stregthening the eu's economy and help it catch up with the us and china.

the two european heavyweights want to advance plans for an eu