has gone missing while on holiday on the greek island of symi. and it's lift—off as spacex launches its latest rocket, the biggest in the world. hello and a warm welcome. you are watching bbc news with me, frankie mccamley. world leaders and some of the last surviving veterans havejoined in france, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of d—day. on 6june 1944, along sword, juno, gold, omaha and utah beaches, tens of thousands of troops took part in the largest ever seaborne invasion. it helped drive nazi forces from france ahead of germany's eventual defeat the following year.

today, president macron hosted a centrepiece event close to omaha beach. us presidentjoe biden warned that democracy in europe was once again under threat, in the wake of russia's invasion of ukraine. earlier, at the new british national memorial at gold beach, a service of commemoration. the king laid a wreath for the fallen. and alongside the solemn ceremonies, it's also been a chance for attendees to meet and speak with the guests of honour, the veterans themselves, each of whom played such an important part in one of the defining days in european history. our correspondent daniela relph looks back now at the day's events. bagpipes memories fade. the living testimonies dwindle. but at dawn today, on the beaches of normandy, they remembered.

making their own 80th anniversary normandy landing, a group of royal marines, wading ashore as those before them had done in 1944. but these are now peaceful waters, thanks to the sacrifices made on d—day. archive: this is it, | they're on the beach. few truly understood the onslaught they'd face. young men, thrust into the brutality of war. 80 years on, those who survived and grew old honoured lost friends. it is all because of gummy�*s quick thinking, his desire to help those around him, that i can stand before you today. i wish i could tell him i have never taken his sacrifice for granted. and will always remember him and ourfriends.

so, gummy, thank you, my old friend. a tribute, from the one who made it home. at the british normandy memorial, the service of commemoration put the veterans centre stage. relegated to the back rows, the king and queen and president macron. watching the service wasjoe mines. he landed on the beaches on d—day. 80 years have passed, but he never returned, until now. the actor martin freeman read his words. so, why would i come back? well, this is the last and only opportunity for me. the last there will ever be. and it's because of the lads. i want to pay my respects to those who didn't make it. may they rest in peace. applause

honouring those who fought in the name of his grandfather, the king spoke of remembrance as an obligation. let us commit to carrying forward their resounding message of courage and resilience in the pursuit of freedom, tempered by the duty of responsibilities to others, for the benefit of younger generations, our gratitude is unfailing and our admiration eternal. a final flourish from the red arrows as the service ended. the d—day veterans were then taken to a reception. some, with a bit of prime ministerial assistance. it was a day of cross—party support, as they also spent time with the labour leader keir starmer. it was, though, with the king and the queen with whom they seem to share the most. it was intimate and emotional, knowing that this small group

of d—day veterans is unlikely to be back here for a major commemoration. their stories have been told. it is now down to us to make sure they are not forgotten. daniela relph, bbc news, ver—sur—mer, normandy. the us presidentjoe biden has said the war in ukraine echoed the fight forfreedom on the beaches in normandy during world war ii. he was joined by world leaders, including president zelensky, at an international event this afternoon, as our europe editor katya adler reports. the proud anthem of the french resistance, sung in normandy today by students who could be the great, even great—great—grandchildren of those who fought and died here forfreedom. at this international d—day ceremony, heads of state and government, representatives of europe's royalfamilies stood shoulder to shoulder, hearts full of gratitude.

translation: they were afraid, but they knew that they were - fighting a just war and that every step they took brought them closer to restoring freedom to the world. applause but a new war in europe hung heavy over today's commemorations. you'll notice one conspicuous absence amongst leaders here. russia was crucial in the defeat of nazi germany. ukraine's president was here, but vladimir putin was not. saviour of the people! this is the us military cemetery in normandy, final resting place for well over 9,400 us soldiers. earlier today, joe biden

made it clear why russia's president wasn't welcome. to surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable. applause were we to do that, it means we'd be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches. us veterans were presented by president macron with the legion d'honneur, france's highest honour. modern—day geopolitics loom really large over these d—day commemorations, but the world leaders gathered here don't mean any disrespect. those valiant veterans who have managed to come here to normandy know all too well the dangers of aggressive nationalism and the politics of hate. the freedom and peace they fought so hard for is fracturing. normandy resident danielle boucherie was five years old on d—day, her village amongst the first

to be liberated. translation: i went to sleep under german rule _ and woke up with the americans. danielle's mum made her a star—spangled dress of us servicemen�*s parachutes found in a field. she became a symbol — in pigtails — of their everlasting gratitude. translation: if it hadn't been for the americans, l what would have become of us? since the second world war, europe has relied on the us to have its back in terms of security. these brave men helped forge the transatlantic alliance. their president today said it was stronger than ever. but with us elections around the corner, europe knows it can't take anything for granted. katya adler, bbc news, normandy. let's head to the middle east now, where at least 35 people are reported to have been killed in an israeli air strike on a un

school in gaza that was sheltering displaced palestinians. the un agency for palestinian refugees says there were 6,000 people in the school when it was hit in central gaza. israel says it was targeting 20 to 30 hamas fighters operating from inside the school in the nuseirat refugee camp. yesterday, israel announced an offensive in central gaza as ceasefire talks continue. i should warn you that this report by our middle east correspondent lucy williamson contains distressing images. torchlight barely reveals the bodies. who they were, why they were here, can take even longer to expose. israel says this strike hit a hamas compound inside a un shelter. but an israeli human rights group said if that were true, the harm to civilians could still make it a war crime. a hamas official said women and children were among the dead. in daylight, survivors mined

the rubble for scraps of security. the un agency for palestinian refugees said 6,000 people were sheltering here and that there had been no warning of the strike. what i can can confirm as all of the facilities of unrwa, notably our school buildings, which have been transported to make transferred into an emergency shelter, all of those co—ordinates have been shared with the is really authorities. let's not forget, these are actually buildings under the flag of the united nations —— israeli authorities. ibrahim's cousin, mohammed, was killed. translation: i was sitting here with my brothers - and friends when, suddenly, there was an explosion. the mattress protected me because i was sitting against the wall. but all the bodies here are dismembered and torn. israel says these were precise

strikes that destroyed three specific classrooms. our strike was based on intelligence and used precise munitions. you know, we actually called it off twice just to be sure that we were precise and to limit any unwanted civilian casualties. israel began a new offensive in central areas of gaza this week. medics say more than 100 people there have been killed. the rapid surge in activity, a sign that pressure to end this war isn't working or a sign that before too long, it might. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. new figures have revealed a major conservative party donor that was accused of making racist comments of bends the labour mp diane abbott david frelick £5 million to the party before the row abruptly. ——

gave a further 5 million. the money was generated by a software company run by frank hester, who said the comments were rooted but not... henry zeffman reports. a furious row back in march over the conservative donor frank hester prompted rishi sunak to say this... the alleged comments were wrong. they were racist. as i said, the comments were wrong, they were racist. he has rightly apologised for them and that remorse, and that remorse should be accepted. mr hester is alleged to have told his staff that the veteran labour politician diane abbott made him want to "hate all black women and that she should be shot." he subsequently apologised for being rude but insisted his comments had nothing to do with ms abbott's race or gender. we knew back then that mr hester had given the conservatives £10 million in 2023. what we now know is that injanuary, through his company, mr hester gave the conservatives

£5 million and another £150,000 was accepted in march — the day after rishi sunak�*s comments in parliament. taking the total to more than £15 million injust ten months. today, those donations are an election issue. people make comments, and i'm not going to stand here and defend those comments. but what's really important is the choice for people onjuly 4th. a conservative spokesman said that mr hester had rightly apologised for his past comments and shown contrition, so they consider the matter resolved. labour, who re—admitted diane abbott to their fold last week, said it showed mr sunak is a man with no integrity. ms abbott said the donations were an insult to all black women and the liberal democrats asked, "how low can rishi sunak�*s conservatives go?" henry zeffman, bbc news, westminster. sticking with politics, in a

surprise move, the leader of the scottish conservatives douglas ross has put his name forward for a westminster seat in the general election. mr ross had previously said he would stand down from westminster at this election to cut straight on his job as a member of the scottish parliament head of the 2026 holyrood election, but today as he announced his intention to stand in aberdeen north, he said he had to lead from the front. the green party co—leader, adrian ramsay, has been outlining its plans for the nhs including an extra £30 billion of funding a year in england. he says the health service is in a desperate situation and that he's outlined a fully costed proposal for the very richest to pay more tax. a full breakdown of costings will be in the party manifesto. we all value our nhs, and the green party is the only party being honest in this election about the level of funding that's going to be needed, and being honest that we're going to need to ask the richest in society,

including the multimillionaires, the billionaires, to pay modestly more in tax in a way that could raise the funding that's needed to protect our nhs. we can get a little more on this. our correspondentjenny hill was at the launch of the policy in central london. well, the greens say, in their words, they want to nurse the nhs back to full health, and they've been telling us how they intend to do that here in central london this morning. what stands out is what even they admit is an eye—watering sum of money they intend to spend. the greens say they'll need some £50 billion a year. they say that's required if they want to, for example, make sure that there are on—the—day gp appointments for those who need them, to make sure that people have access to nhs dentists. they also want to invest heavily in mental health provision and social care. the obvious question, of course, is, how are they going to pay for it? the immediate response, well,

they say they're going to tax the wealthiest in society. now, as you'd expect, we pressed them for more details on that so—called wealth tax. they say those details won't be available until they publish their full manifesto next week. now, the greens co—leader adrian ramsay has said that the party intends to field a candidate in every single seat in england and wales. but he has admitted that recently the party has had to drop four candidates because of reported anti—semitic or extreme comments. he also says they're investigating a small number of other candidates. bear in mind, too, that this is a party which has only had one mp. they are hoping to quadruple that this time round. that was jenny hill that wasjenny hill in central london for us. junior doctors in northern ireland are taking part in a two—day strike

in a dispute over pay and staff retention. the walk—out, until 7am on saturday, will affect hospitals and gp surgeries. stormont�*s department of health said patients should expect "widespread disruption" to normal services. prince harry has been given permission to appeal against the rejection of his legal challenge to the government's decision to take away his police protection when he is in britain. the home office decided in february 2020 he would not automatically receive personal police security, but would decide on the level of protection on a case by case basis. the tv doctor and newspaper columnist michael mosley has gone missing while on holiday on a greek island. it's understood mr mosley, who makes programmes for the bbc, was on a walking break. helena wilkinson reports. as news filtered through the greek island of symi, locals shared this recent picture of michael mosley,

appealing for help to find him. the well—known broadcaster disappeared while walking on this idyllic island yesterday. the island is now the focus of a search and rescue operation. a helicopterfrom athens has been deployed to search from above. firefighters, police and volunteers are looking for him on the ground. greek police say that michael mosley left his wife on st nicholas beach and set off on a walk to the centre of the island. he failed to make it back to where they were staying, where his phone was found. the 67—year—old broadcaster has appeared on popular programmes across tv and radio. he's an advocate forfasting diets... it's not like what happens in the movies. ..and is known for immersing himself in the topics he covers. i just feel quite buzzy at the moment. so i get it. i think i finally

get why people smoke. this was michael mosley a couple of months ago, appearing alongside his wife on the bbc�*s morning live programme. it's now more than 2a hours since michael mosley vanished. for his family and friends, the wait for news must be unbearable. helena wilkinson, bbc news. a body has been found in the search for a two—year—old boy who fell into a river in leicester. xielo maruziva entered the river soar while he was with his family in february, prompting a major search operation of more than 200 police officers. leicestershire police at a body was recovered this morning and formal identification will not take place. 113 people have become ill with the bacteria e coli in recent weeks, and experts believe it is most likely linked to a nationally distributed food. the uk health security agency says testing of samples suggests

all of the cases in the past couple of weeks are "part of a single outbreak". our health editor hugh pym says there are serious concerns. of those cases, 18 are in wales, 13 in scotland, one in northern ireland, but somebody who recently visited england. and the rest are in england, of which nearly a0 were people who went to hospital or are in hospital needing treatment there. it's been difficult for officials, because normally they can isolate the source of an outbreak to a stretch of contaminated water or one site, but these are very geographically spread, so they've concluded that it's likely to be linked to a nationally distributed food item or multiple items, though they haven't said what that might be. they're still investigating that with food standards agency officials. now, the symptoms are severe diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach cramps, and sometimes fever. and the advice is, if you have any of those symptoms, to steer clear of anyone who might be vulnerable, to stop the risk of infection.

and more generally, the advice is to practise regular handwashing and — more generally — food hygiene measures. hugh pym there. in the past hour, england manager gareth southgate announced his 26—man squad for the euros, which started in germany next week. jack grealish, harry maguire and james maddison are among those who haven't made the squad. england face iceland tomorrow at wembley in their final pre—tournament warm—up game. the bbc�*sjoe wilson has more on this. it's hard to imagine a time previously in english football when they have had at their disposal technically gifted attacking players like jack grealish and james maddison and left them out of a squad for a major tournament, but that is what has happened. gareth southgate actually has just said that this has been one of his most difficult days in the job, to leave those two out in particular. fact is, england just

have a surplus of options in those attacking positions, and southgate said that players like eberechi eze, cole palmer, have just had better seasons. in defence, well, options are more limited. harry maguire, who's been a stalwart under southgate, just hasn't recovered from injury. luke shaw at least has recovered to be in the squad. but here's a name — adam wharton, just 20, only played half a season in the premier league, finds himself in the squad. reeta, many people say that england have never had more options for their national men's team. but as southgate has acknowledged, in many ways, thatjust makes hisjob more difficult. joe wilson there. on the bbc sport website, it is running a live page on gareth southgate's naming of final england you're a 2024 squad, so do follow the story live and replay the news conference on the bbc sport website and of course our app. sticking with the sport. premier league clubs have voted in favour of keeping video assistant referees in place for next season. after the vote, the premier league identified six ways of improving var, including reducing delays

by bringing in new, semi—automated technology for spotting offsides. wolves were the only club to back the motion to scrap the process entirely. spacex's starship rocket has launched successfully at the fourth attempt in texas in the us after three failed test flights. but it's the return of the booster that's making waves — it was brought back down to earth to hoverjust above the water in the gulf of mexico. the team wanted to show that the spacecraft could return to earth, meaning it can be used again. our science editor rebecca morelle has more. three, two, one... we have lift—off. the latest test of starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. we're seeing 32 out of 33 engines lit on the super heavy right now. the bottom part, its booster, separates — achieving its first ever soft landing in the ocean.

and you can see - in the water below... this is the starship launch system. it stands 120 metres. that's nearly 400 feet tall. it has two main parts. at the bottom is the super heavy booster, which has a huge number of engines, 33 of them. above this is the starship spacecraft. this can carry cargo or crew, spacex says up to 100 people. what's unique is both of these components will be fully reusable. the top part of the rocket makes it to space, before hitting extreme temperatures as it reenters through the earth's atmosphere. this is wild to see this. some parts start burning up. it'sjust incredible to see. how far can it go? that is the question. the answer, though, is all the way for a soft splashdown in the indian ocean. it's their most successful test to date. but standby for the next one. rebecca morelle, bbc news.

and now, of course, it is time for a look_ and now, of course, it is time for a look at _ and now, of course, it is time for a look at the — and now, of course, it is time for a look at the weather. _ and now, of course, it is time for a look at the weather.— and now, of course, it is time for a look at the weather. here is tomasz schafernaker. _ hello, thanks forjoining me. it's been a day of sunshine and showers, with the most frequent showers across scotland today. how about tomorrow? more of the same. a keen north—westerly breeze, sunny spells and, once again, scattered showers. and in fact, over the last few days, the weather has been generally coming in from the northern climes. if you look at the satellite picture, you can see the motion of the cloud all streaming in from the north—west, iceland and the norwegian sea. so, more of the same — through tonight as well. if anything, these showers will become more frequent across the north—west of scotland through the small hours of friday morning. but elsewhere, generally clear and really quite chilly in towns and cities. temperatures early on friday morning will be around 7 degrees, but outside of town, in the countryside, it could be as low as 3 or 4. so, definitely a nip in the air first thing on friday. but a lot of sunshine from the word go, i think,

across england and wales. not the case in northern ireland and western scotland. a weather front moving through, bringing a period of rain, a couple of hours of some steady rain, but that should eventually clear after the rush hour to sunshine and showers. could end up being quite cloudy around the lake district, northern england, through much of yorkshire, quite thick cloud. but come the afternoon, i think for most of us, it's a case of sunny spells. frequent showers in scotland, though. less frequent in the south. and the temperatures struggling — 11 in stornoway, no higher than around 17 expected in cardiff. here's the weather map for saturday. the low pressure still with us. and on its western edge, the wind continues to stream in from the northern climes. it's quite chilly air — in fact, cold enough for a little bit of wintriness across the scottish mountains, and gusty winds around these northern and western coasts. showers again will be most frequent in scotland on saturday, but northern ireland, wales and england should have a generally dry and mostly sunny day, just scattered fairweather

cumulus clouds. temperatures again about 12 in aberdeen, struggling here, 15 in belfast, no higher than around 17 in birmingham. is it going to be warming up over the next few days? no, it's not. the air will keep on streaming in from the north, so temperatures will remain below the average for the time of the year, but it will be often dry with fleeting showers. that's it for me. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines. world leaders gather in normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of d—day including us presidentjoe biden and ukraine's president zelensky. king charles paid tribute to the veterans. our gratitude is unfailing

and our admiration eternal. more than 35 people are reported to have been killed in an israeli air strike on a un school in gaza that was sheltering displaced palestinians. tv presenter michael mosley, known for popularising the 5:2 diet, has gone missing while on holiday on the greek island of symi. world leaders and some of the last surviving veterans havejoined in france, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of d day. onjune 6th,1944 along sword, juno, gold, omaha and utah beaches tens of thousands of troops took part in largest ever seaborne invasion. it helped drive nazi forces from france ahead of germany's eventual defeat the following year. today president macron hosted a centrepiece event close to omaha

beach; us president, joe biden, warned that democracy in europe was once again under threat, in the wake of russia's invasion of ukraine. earlier, at the new british national memorial at gold beach a service of commemoration. the king laid a wreath for the fallen. and alongside the solemn ceremonies, it's also been a chance for attendees to meet and speak with the guests of honour the veterans themselves each of whom played such an important part in one of the defining days in european history. bagpipes. memories fade. the living testimonies dwindle.

but at dawn today, on the beaches of normandy, they remembered.