four of them were killed together in the area of khan younis during our operation there against hamas. the information we confirmed by the relevant bodies after assessing new intelligence that we gathered over the last few weeks. in the uk, nigel farage announces he'll stand as a candidate in the general election for his party reform uk, after publically insisting ten days ago that he had no intention of doing so. we're starting newsday in the us state of delaware, where a jury has been selected in the trial ofjoe biden�*s son hunter on gun charges. it's the first prosecution in us history for a child

of a sitting president. the 54—year—old denies three criminal charges stemming from his purchase of a handgun in 2018 — the prosecution claim he was heavily addicted to drugs at the time and lied about it in registration forms. the first lady, jill biden, attended the jury selection hearing in delaware. president biden was not present. he issued a statement saying he was proud of his son, but he would not comment on the case. our correspondent tom bateman has been outside the courthouse in wilmington. well, five months before a presidential election and a trial here that will throw a very public glare on the personal life and the allegations of drug misuse of the son of the us president. now, hunter biden arrived here first thing this morning along with members of the biden family, including his stepmother, the first lady, jill biden. she satjust behind him at the front of the public gallery in the courtroom all day. i was in the press benches

and watched hunter biden turn and glanced to his stepmother as the proceedings began. now, at issue here is hunter biden�*s purchase of a handgun here in wilmington back in 2018. the prosecution says that when he filled in an application form to purchase the gun, he didn't declare that he was a drug user and that was misleading. that was a lie, they say. the defence will argue that he couldn't knowingly have viewed himself, described himself as addicted to illegal drugs at the time. but i think it is the political overtones that will also dominate much of the coverage here, as republicans have tried for a long time to link scandal and allegations surrounding hunter biden to his father. so far, without getting much traction, without compelling evidence. this trial due to last around two weeks. hunter biden denies all three felony counts. as for his father, the president issued a written statement as the trial started, saying he couldn't comment as president on a federal legal case, but as a father,

he said he stood by his son and supported him in overcoming what he said was a battle against addiction, something he described all families as being able to sympathise with. donald trump has joined the social media platform tik tok despite trying to ban it while he was president, on the grounds of national security. here's his first message — recorded at a ufc fight night — accompanied by the ufc president, dana white. it's my honour. mr trump already has four million mr trump's video has already been viewed more

mr trump already has four million followers on tiktok — ten times more than the number who follow president biden�*s account, which was started in february. mr trump's video has already been viewed more than 66 million times. he's had a varied relationship with tiktok — back in 2020, he signed a presidential order trying to ban it for its links to china — but that was blocked by us courts. since then, he's been critical of recent attempts by the us congress to curtail tiktok, for roughly the same security reasons. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, gave us his analaysis of that trump tiktok u—turn. there's one thing that donald trump and joe biden were in full agreement on, and that was the fact that tik tok posed a threat to the national security of the united states. donald trump tried to ban it, as you mentioned there, by executive order. that failed. it was overturned by the courts. and joe biden has now given the company that owns tiktok — bytedance — nine months to sell the company or it will be banned here in the united states. despite all of that, there is an election, of course, around the corner a couple of months away in november. and both both parties know that they need tik tok with it's, what, 170 million plus us users in order to get their message out to voters,

particularly to young voters. there was a poll conducted by pew research a short while ago which showed that in the last three years, the number of us adults who got their news through tiktok had quadrupled to 14% of the united states population. that is simply too many people, too many people who were potentially be going to the polls as well to ignore, steve. yes, certainly it looks to be courting the youth vote. and now if donald trump does go all in on tiktok, then does that sort of scramble the bipartisan efforts to ban or divest a company on national security grounds that you were just talking about? well, it depends, of course, who gets elected. joe biden is on this campaign now to have tick tock band. now to have tiktok banned. he does go along with the contention that it does pose a threat to the national security of the united states. if, of course, donald trump has returned to the white house, then the outcome might be a little bit more rosy for tiktok, especially since donald trump is, as you mentioned, accruing

followers at a rapid rate, far surpassing the popularity ofjoe biden on that particular platform. more than four million followers since he launched on tiktok on saturday night. and he sought the former president, that is, to project this image of strength, hence the depiction of him at that mixed martial arts event in newark on saturday night. i think it's proving very popularfor him, and that might well watered down his antipathy towards tiktok were he to be re—elected. the israeli army has announced the death of four hostages in gaza. three were israeli nationals and one was a joint british—israeli national, nadav popplewell. their bodies were recovered in southern gaza. all had been taken by hamas during the attack last october. the precise details of their deaths are not known — here's how the israeli military spokesman, daniel hagari, ..(tx confirmed the news.

today, we shared the devastating news with the families of 85—year—old amiram cooper, one of the founders of kibbutz nir oz, 80—year—old chaim peri from kibbutz nir oz, 80—year—old yoram metzger kibbutz nir oz, and 51—year—old israeli and british citizen nadav popplewell from kibbutz nirim — that their loved ones were killed a few months ago during hamas activity in gaza, and their bodies are still being held by hamas. we assess that the four of them were killed together in the area of khan younis during our operation there against hamas. the information we confirmed by the relevant bodies after assessing new intelligence that we gathered over the last few weeks. the hostages families forum, which speaks on behalf of many of the relatives and friends of the people who were kidnapped by hamas last october, has released a statement.

it says it feels great sorrow at the devastating news that four people have been killed in captivity. the statement pays tribute to nadav popplewell, as a family man of distinction, a generous friend, and a lover of books and science fiction. and the uk foreign secretary david cameron tweeted that he was greatly saddened to hear about the death of nadav popplewell. he added that, with a new deal on the table, the uk reiterates its demand for hamas to send all hostages home. there are mixed signals from the israeli government about whether it will agree to a us peace plan for gaza. prime minister, benjamin netanyahu says israel could start adopting parts of the plan — but not unless it leads to the total destruction of hamas. last week president biden set out a three—part peace plan, starting with an initial six—week ceasefire leading to an end in the fighting, the freeing of all the hostages and the reconstruction of gaza without hamas in power. 0ur middle east correspondent lucy williamson hears from people inside gaza and in the town of sderot on the israel—gaza border to

gauge reaction to the new plan. the price of gaza's war is rising as its cities crumble. the price of peace too high for leaders on both sides. israel said it had bombed more than 50 targets since yesterday. but hamas is still fighting here, and hopes for the new ceasefire deal were mixed. translation: hamas should | raise its demands and seriously adhere to the conditions they set, which are the people's demands. translation: hamas, accept the deal. - it's enough. enough of what we lost. we urge hamas to stop the war. israel's prime minister is negotiating on two fronts. his far right allies say he must continue the war until hamas is destroyed, or they'll bring down the government. he's insisted his conditions for a ceasefire haven't changed.

translation: we have gone a long way to return - the hostages while keeping the war�*s objectives in mind, primarily the elimination of hamas. we insist that we will achieve both. it's all part of the plan, not something i've just added. but hamas has said it won't free more hostages without a guarantee the war will end. tonight, israel learned that four more captives were confirmed to have died — chaim peri, yoram metzger, amiram cooper, and british israeli nadav popplewell. after almost eight months of war, much of northern gaza lies in ruins, but israel's prime minister is struggling to end the war because he hasn't achieved his war goals. he hasn't brought back all the hostages, he hasn't destroyed hamas. the us president says hamas is no longer capable of carrying out the kind of attack it did on the 7th of october, but israelis living

here by the gaza border say they still don't feel safe. this is the last time yarin saw her neighbourhood. trapped in her home in sderot by the gaza border, as hamas gunman ran through the streets. she and her three children fled tojerusalem the next day. a ceasefire now, she says, won't be enough to send them home. we will free the hostages, but a few years from now your life will be... you will be the next hostages, you will be the next people that get murdered, the women that get raped, all of this will happen again. the ceasefire will kill us. ending this conflict rests with the leaders of israel and hamas, locked in a war for their own survival. lucy williamson, bbc news, sderot. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

in the uk, the first televised leadership debate of the general election has taken place in glasgow. there've been robust exchanges between leaders from the snp, scottish conservatives, scottish labour and scottish liberal democrats. 0ur scotland editorjames cook has been watching. ready or not, here they come. the first of many election debates is under way. good evening and welcome to the stv leaders debate. with scotland centre stage, the leaders began by pitching for votes. if the snp win, they will claim every seat as a mandate for independence. they will be distracted from the local issues you care about. so, in key seats up and down scotland, if everybody who wants to beat the snp votes together for the scottish conservatives, we can end their obsession with independence for good. scotland can't afford five more years of this rotten tory government.

we can't miss this opportunity for change. so every vote for scottish labour is a vote to make sure we get rid of the tories, to maximise scotland's influence, and deliver the change scotland needs. we all know the westminster system is broken. _ it has delivered austerity, brexit and the cost - of living crisis. scotland deserves better. scottish liberal democrats are all about hope. and we are part of the change that is coming. in the next parliament, we will be working for a better britain, to restore yourfaith in politics and fix our broken relationship with europe. the debate quickly turned to the economy and north sea oil. we would do a windfall tax on oil and gas giants to make sure we are putting more money into peoples pockets to lower their bills, as well as investing in a clean energy of the future to lower bills for good. the danger of your position, anas, is that it will lead to the loss of tens

of thousands of jobs in the north—east of scotland. now that, i'm afraid, is a price not worth paying. these parties have been bereft of ideas, they have not driven down reliance on fossil fuels, and they have not taken the steps to bring about the transition. you will not hear me - at at all tonight or at any point in this campaign. downplaying the difficult circumstances facing people i in scotland, across the whole of the uk, and in many parts of the world. - already plenty of food for thought, and the election isjust getting going. after insisting numerous times since the general election was called that he would not stand as a candidate — nigel farage now says he's going to take over leading the reform uk party and will run as a candidate for it in the seat of clacton in essex. our special correspondent lucy manning has all the details. mr farage, are you standing? well, we'll find in a moment, won't we? why did you change your mind?

who knows? who says i have? well, you said a few weeks ago, well, you said ten days ago you weren't going to stand, so why the change? did you ever change your mind about anything ever? he said he wouldn't, but now he will. a major u—turn. a change of heart thrust nigel farage into the heart of the general election campaign. i've changed my mind. it's allowed, you know. it's not always a sign of weakness. it could potentially be a sign of strength. so i am going to stand in this election. margaret thatcher famously said she wasn't for turning. you are obviously for turning. why the massive u—turn all of a sudden? this is the old thing about hearts and heads, isn't it? you know, i rationally thought this was too difficult. i've changed my mind because i can't let down millions of people who would feel let down by me, unless i was at the front and led this charge over the course of the next five and a half years. a reform uk source says mr farage loves the theatre

of it all and he certainly put himself centre stage at this election. the worry for the conservatives is that he will divert votes away from them. mr farage, who'd been called a chicken for not running, was also announced as the new reform uk leader. unlike other parties, without any sort of vote. when the election was called, mr farage had said it was too soon and he was also too busy with us politics. six weeks is such a short period of time to fight a parliamentary constituency and promote the cause around the country. and you know, i think rishi sunak has wrong—footed an awful lot of people, myself included. nigel paul farage. he's tried seven times before to be an mp, so will it be eighth time lucky in clacton, in essex? the seaside town big brexit voters and previously had a ukip mp. today's announcement

making waves. you know, i think if he run for the clacton, he will win, win it. i think he's marvellous. i don't understand why people focus so much on him when he doesn't bring anything other than division and difficulties. the tories say reform uk won't win any seats, so voting for them only helps labour and they claim nigel farage is giving keir starmer a blank cheque. but the reform uk leader says he will surprise everyone again, and that will worry the conservatives. lucy manning, bbc news. and here is the list of candidates we know about so far, standing in the clacton constituency. the bbc news website will have a complete list, once they're all confirmed. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, says if he becomes prime minister,

he would be prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend the uk. at a campaign event in bury, he said his party would increase defence spending, and update the country's nuclear arsenal. both the tories and labour are keen to make national security a prominent issue in this election the conservatives say they want to update equality laws, to define sex as someone's biological sex. they say current confusion over definitions cannot be allowed to continue, and updating the law would make biological sex a protected characteristic. that means it would be easier to create protected spaces for women and girls. the liberal democrats have called for new protections for rivers and coastlines — to end what they call "environmental vandalism". the party has announced an expansion of marine protected areas and a new blue flag status for rivers, which will be included in its general election manifesto. there have been scenes ofjubilation in mexico city's zocalo square as thousands

of people celebrated the election of mexico's first female president. claudia sheinbaum won about 60% of the vote in sunday's election. she's an environmental scientist turned politician — and considered a protege of the previous president. she insists, though, her predecessor will hold no influence over her government. as will grant reports. it's a new day in mexican politics. after two centuries of men in power, when voters eventually chose their first female president, it was with a landslide. the victory itself was a moment to savour for claudia sheinbaum, and she was quick to acknowledge the many women who blazed a trail before her. "i didn't get here on my own. we got here together," she said. "thanks to our ancestors, our mothers, our daughters and granddaughters." in a nation of such entrenched machismo, what claudia sheinbaum has achieved here is no small feat. other women have tried and failed, but her offer of

continuity with the governing party's social policies, which have pulled millions from poverty, have proved hugely popular with the electorate. this election has been historic for all the wrong reasons, too. it's been mexico's most violent campaign in living memory, with dozens of candidates murdered as they sought votes. in the city of zelaya, a mayoral candidate with ms sheinbaum's own party was gunned down in the street. her murder a sign of the task ahead for the president—elect, one which her critics say she isn't up to. rather, they say, she'll be a puppet of her authoritarian mentor, president andres manuel lopez 0brador. speaking to the bbc during the campaign, she denied that accusation. of course, i am of the same movement with lopez 0brador. we fought togetherfor 20 years, or more than 20 years, to have the government that we have now and the opportunity for mexican people and the right

for mexican people the rights. and of course, i'm going to leave a different time in history. viva mexico! mexico may have turned a corner with claudia sheinbaum's win, but it is still a nation where women are treated as inferior, where 11 women and girls are murdered every single day. to curtail that violence, she must now succeed where so many men before her have failed. will grant, bbc news, mexico city. pakistan's islamabad high court has overturned a treason conviction against former prime minister imran khan. he had been given a ten—year prison sentence for making public a classified diplomatic cable in 2022. but he remains behind bars after being convicted of separate charges. emergency talks have been taking place in nigeria aimed at ending a nationwide strike by public sector workers. the walk—out over the rising cost of living has caused major disruption, including

the shut down of the country's power grid. millions were left without electricity. labour unions began the strike on monday after negotiations on raising the minimum wage broke down. the government argues that a large increase would lead to mass job losses. to india next — which is seeing unprecedented heatwaves across the country, with the temperatures in capital delhi touching 50 degrees celsius. nearly 25,000 people have suffered suspected heat stroke and more than 50 have died. 0ur bbc world service correspondent umang poddar has sent us this report from delhi. we are in the heart of delhi right now where the heat wave has taken over people's lives and the temperature hovers around 45 degrees celsius. in the past week, delhi and adjoining areas experienced record breaking temperature nearing 50 degrees celsius. just a few minutes out in the sun is enough to make you feel tired. you sweat a lot, your skin gets warm and you feel extremely dehydrated. while people are trying to stay inside as much as possible, not everyone has the luxury

of staying indoors. according to the federal government, more than 50 people have died because of the heat wave. on top of that, in uttar pradesh, more than 30 people have reportedly died because of the heatwave, including people on election duty. many others have been hospitalised. electricity consumption has skyrocketed, and there's a severe water crisis in parts of the country, especially in the north. a recently viral video showed people fighting over water in delhi as a water tanker arrived in the locality. however, according to the weather department, things should get better in the coming few days because the onset of the monsoon. umang poddar, bbc news, delhi. and finally before we go — a couple from new york who were "magnet fishing" in a lake are celebrating afterfinding a safe containing $100,000. magnet fishing involves trailing a line with a powerful magnet attached to find treasure. james kane and barbie agostini have been told they can keep the cash.

this is the moment they made their discovery. oh, that's a safe. that's definitely another safe. oh, i see a box. it's a hard click. oh, that's money. no way. yeah. no way! 0h! oh, it is! stacks of bills, dude. hundreds. they gasp. oh, my god! we have like $20,000 here. stacks, baby! business today follows, see you soon. hello there. things are set to turn cooler for the rest of this week as we pick up arctic air, which will spread southwards across the uk during the course of tuesday. so it's going to be pretty disappointingly cool for the time of year, with some really chilly nights to come — gardeners and growers take note — and we'll see a mixture of sunshine and showers. it's all thanks to this area of low pressure pushing

southwards out of the arctic, bringing this cold air behind the cold fronts across the country as you move through tuesday and into wednesday, and thereafter for the rest of the week, this cooler air hangs around with sunshine and showers, mainly across the north of the uk. tuesday starts off mostly dry. variable cloud, a bit of brightness for england and wales. south across the country. this band of cloud and showery rain will spread some of it will be heavy and squally, maybe a few heavy showers ahead of it in east anglia. but skies brightening up across the north of the uk later on behind the rain band, sunshine and blustery showers, but turning chillier here. last of the warmth hanging on ahead of that rain band, which will clear through during tuesday evening. and then we're all into the cooler air, clearer skies, plenty of showers rattling into northern and western areas, some of them heavy, again, with some rumbles of thunder. but a much cooler night to come to start wednesday. we're looking at low single digits pretty widely. so into wednesday, we have that area of low pressure sitting to the north of scotland,

bringing the strongest winds to the northern half of the country. and it's here where we'll see most of these blustery showers moving through. again, some could be heavy with a little bit of hail, maybe wintriness us on the very high tops of the scottish mountains. better chance of staying dry with some sunshine towards the far south and east, but highs of only 17 degrees— low teens further north. factor in the wind, it'll feel cooler than those temperatures suggest. thursday, similar story. most of the showers will be across the northern half of the country, closer to the area of low pressure, better chance of staying dry across parts of wales, the midlands southwards. it could be up to 17 or 18 degrees on thursday afternoon. but again, another chilly one in the north. and you can see why. that area of low pressure just hangs around thursday, even into friday and the weekend, with that blue hue denoting the cooler air hanging around, especially across the northern half of the country. further south in the sunshine, it won't be too bad. may hit the 20 celsius mark as we head into the weekend. some decent spells of strong june sunshine, but it'll feel chilly in the north with further showers.

moon will indian shares hit lifetime highs as exit polls forecast a modi landslide. and we have a special report from the world's first permanent disposal site for nuclear waste. hello and welcome

to business today. i'm steve lai. let's begin in india where its 7—week—long elections are reaching their culmination today as the votes get conted. over 640 million people exercised their franchise in the world's largest democracy where the incumbent prime minister mr narendra modi has sought a third term, and post poll projections show he mayjust get that. financial markets, on their part, are already taking a cue. archana shukla has the details. on monday, indian stock exchanges hit their lifetime highs, shedding the nervousness they had during the entire election period. and the exuberance came from a clutch of post—poll projections that predicted prime minister narendra modi's prime minister narendra modi's ruling party, janata party, and its allies on the road to a landslide victory. the post—poll projections were released over the weekend, and the markets are hoping that this win would mean the infrastructure—led economic drive and market friendly drive and market—friendly

reforms would continue in the world's fastest growing