as the country braces for the worst in the coming hours. us democratic governors vow to stand with us president biden as questions continue about his fitness for office. israel says it's evaluating hamas�*s comments on proposals to free hostages as the prime minister remains under pressure to end the war in gaza. hello. i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. hurricane beryl is passing by jamaica, with the eye wall now brushing the southern coast, bringing with it dangerous high winds, sea surges and a trail of destruction. currently, beryl is a category 4 storm — the most intense that jamaica has seen in more than a decade.

what you can see on your screen alive pictures injamaica. —— are live. the national hurricane centre says the storm is bringing winds of around 140mph or 220km/h. the cayman islands and mexico are next in the hurricane�*s path and are preparing to feel the brunt of beryl after it passes jamaica. in the meantime, jamaica's prime minister is urging residents to follow evacuation orders. during the passage of the hurricane there may be a loss of electricity and water. the emergency services will seek to restore power and water as quickly as possible. however, citizens should not seek to remove downed poles or powerlines or disturb water mains. please use emergency numbers given to report damage to public utilities and do not take unnecessary risks.

at least seven people have been killed as hurricane beryl pushes through the caribbean. strong storm winds have destroyed homes, businesses, and boats in grenada and st vincent and the grenadines. thousands of people are now homeless. the prime minister of st vincent and the grenadines, ralph gonsalves, says authorities are sending food and water to affected communities. we are in the phase now of humanitarian relief and we are using our own resources and with our own organisational systems. we have a pretty good disaster management system, which is stretched tremendously because you can prepare but when you are struck with a category 5 hurricane, when you have 140—150 miles plus, you know, nothing can quite prepare you for it. just to let you know you will

be able to find the very latest on hurricane barrel and its path across the caribbean on our website, path across the caribbean on ourwebsite, bbc path across the caribbean on our website, bbc news .com. path across the caribbean on ourwebsite, bbc news .com. —— hurricane beryl. we have a page of reporting as the hurricane makes its way through the caribbean area. us presidentjoe biden has held a high—stakes meeting with all 23 democratic governors amid panicked deliberations inside the democratic party over whether mr biden has the stamina and mental fitness to lead the country into a second term. several of those governors have just left the meeting, and told reporters they stand behind biden. about half of the governors attended the meeting in—person at the white house. they included california governor gavin newsom and michigan governor gretchen whitmer. two politicians whose names have been mentioned as potential alternatives to president biden should he ultimately step aside. a shaky performance at last week's debate with donald trump has threatened to derail mr biden�*s entire campaign. despite concern mr biden has vowed to stay in the race. in addition to the governors�*

meeting on wednesday, the president held phone calls with democratic congressional leaders, as well as his re—election campaign staff where he said: well, for the second day in a row, the white house press secretary faced unrelenting questions about president biden�*s mentalfitness. karinejean—pierre denied an earlier report from the new york times that mr biden is considering whether to abandon his re—election bid. democrats will be anxious about new polling out wednesday. a new york times poll found trump leads biden 49% to 43% among likely voters nationally. that's three points higher than their last poll a week earlier. a wall streetjournal poll reports similar numbers after the debate: biden behind, 42% to 48% among registered voters.

as president biden faces questions about his age, donald trump faces questions of his own, including about his recent conviction on 3a felony counts. the wall streetjournal poll we just mentioned asked respondents which concerned them more, biden�*s age or trump's behaviour. 46% of registered voters said biden�*s age was the bigger concern. 45% donald trump's behaviour worried them more. with me is molly ball, senior political correspondent for the wall streetjournal. thank you very much for being with us. you will have seen the white house coming out today strongly denying reports that president biden is considering stepping out of the race. what is the latest that you can tell us? ~ , ., , , us? well, this has been their line for the _ us? well, this has been their line for the past _ us? well, this has been their line for the past six - us? well, this has been their line for the past six days - line for the past six days since the debate, but really what we are paying attention to is the really growing sense of panic all around the white

house from democrats at all levels, from the most senior levels, from the most senior levels of the party, elected officials, you know, operatives and strategists close to the party, even people inside the white house very concerned about the situation and they know that something has to be done. a loss of democrats feel that the president and his apparatus haven't done enough to reassure them if he is going to reassure them if he is going to stay in the race that he has what it takes. it took this many days for him to contact senior congressional leaders, for example, and you have this meeting with the governors and there has still been no semblance of a plan going forward to say what he is going to do differently to assuage the concerns that are now starting to show up in polls in the form of declining support. the white house press secretary karinejean—pierre said karine jean—pierre said yesterday he karinejean—pierre said yesterday he has a number of public events in the coming days, the public will be able tojudge for days, the public will be able to judge for themselves when he is out on that campaign trail. how high—stakes of these next few events?

how high-stakes of these next few events?— few events? very, very high-stakes. _ few events? very, very high-stakes. the - few events? very, very high-stakes. the ones| few events? very, very i high-stakes. the ones we few events? very, very - high-stakes. the ones we are high—stakes. the ones we are really watching our we know he is doing an extended network interview with abc news on friday and he has said he will have a press conference tied to the nato summit next week. it is those unscripted settings where he faces tough questions and has to be quick on his feet, and even then i think people going to want more. appearing in controlled settings, reading from a teleprompter, as he has done since the debate, only a few times really, and often behind closed doors, is not going to be enough for the many democrats who feel that, frankly, they have been lied to, that the white house has been engaged in a type of cover—up by denying these questions and reacting angrily to these concerns for so long up to these concerns for so long up until it became so obvious they could no longer deny it. molly, if president biden ultimately isn't able to salvage this model because there are a lot of unknowns at this stage, while some of the

content is potentially to top the ticket and you think the democrats would be able to coalesce around one candidate? you know, it would really be an unprecedented situation and i think there would be a lot of questions about how the process would work if he were to step off the ticket. the most obvious person to step in in his place of course would be the vice president, that's what she is therefore, literally her job is to step in if the president is incapacitated and can't serve as president and so i think it would be obvious for her then to step into the campaign if he were to decide to bow out. there are many promising democrats on the so—called bench, many of the governors who were there at the white house today, as you mentioned, are considered promising potential candidates. however, the primaries are over and that is part of the anger and that is part of the anger and frustration that many democrats are feeling is that they feel that if the president had done something about this two years ago there could have been an open primary when they had a chance to take stock of all the candidates, see them debate, see how they might

perform in unscripted settings and on the national stage. instead, if indeed, don't want to get ahead of the story, if it were to happen that the president were to step off the ticket there would be a lot of questions about how to proceed, how to even make that sort of a switch and that would be the overwhelming priority would be to figure out what is going to happen, just logistically in terms of the delicate rules and so forth. figs terms of the delicate rules and so forth. �* , ,, terms of the delicate rules and soforth. a so forth. as you say, so questions _ so forth. as you say, so questions at _ so forth. as you say, so questions at the - so forth. as you say, so i questions at the moment. so forth. as you say, so - questions at the moment. i wonder when you are speaking to democrats what are they saying about this particular moment, howell, perhaps, panicked are they that this is just a few months out from the election and suddenly all of this focus on the party as it goes through these questions, this wrangling, these deliberations. panic is absolutely not too strong a word. democrats are right panicked. in large part because, you know, the argument that the biden campaign has been making since the beginning is that donald trump returning to the white house represents an existential threat to

american democracy. many democrats believe that very strongly and is, that being the case, they feel immense pressure to prevent that from happening. the supreme court hasjust issued a happening. the supreme court has just issued a decision that gives the president, this one and future residents, including president trump, sweeping immunity from any kind of middle brother guesdon. that against so sparingly hills are many democrats who don't want to see donald trump return to the white house and be even more unshackled, as it were. —— any kind of prosecution. as as fear, sadness that the present is in the state, and there is anger that the president and his handlers let things get to this point before dealing frankly with whatever could see was an issue but did not know was an issue but did not know was this bad.— was this bad. molly wall -- molly ball. _ was this bad. molly wall -- molly ball, wall— was this bad. molly wall -- molly ball, wall street - molly ball, wall street journal, really good have you reporting. thank you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. in northern ireland, a judge has ruled there

is sufficient evidence for the former leader of the democratic unionist party, sirjeffrey donaldson, to face trial on historical sexual offence charges. sirjeffrey now faces 18 charges involving two alleged victims, including rape, gross indecency, and indecent assault. he appeared in court with his wife, who's also been charged — she faces five charges of aiding and abetting, in connection with the alleged offences. sirjeffrey has said he will strenuously contest the charges. the daughter and son—in—law of captain sir tom moore have been banned from being charity trustees. hannah ingram—moore and her husband colin were disqualified amid an ongoing inquiry by the charity commission into the captain tom foundation. the charity was set up in honour of sir tom who raised £38 million for the nhs by walking laps of his garden during the covid pandemic. a scottish couple are celebrating the arrival of naturally conceived quadruplets. the west lothian family welcomed four boys in may.

naturally conceived quadruplets are rare — about one in 700,000 births. you're live with bbc news. israel's government says it is "evaluating" hamas's response to proposals for a truce in gaza. a statement by hamas says its political leader ismail haniyeh spoke with egyptian and qatari mediators on wednesday night about proposals for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. the new york times reports that several israeli senior military officials are in favour of a truce in gaza. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is under pressure from members of his own war cabinet to de—escalate the war. but as israel's military continues to hit targets in gaza, at least four senior generals are calling for mr netanyahu to commit to a post—war plan. meanwhile, thousands of palestinians are fleeing gaza's second—largest city khan younis after the israeli military issued evacuation orders on monday. the united nations says israel warned 250,000 people to move from the east of the city and told them to seek shelter in a coastal area where there are few basic services. hundreds of patients fled gaza's european hospital in eastern khan younis, according to the world health 0rganization.

most of them transferred to nasser hospital in the city's west. bbc arabic spoke to one doctor at nasser hospital, who explained the pressure on services. the current situation in the medical complex is very obligated a very hard. actually it is expected the coming few hours that it. . it. the oxygen in all our departments. this means that our patients are going to die suffocating inside our departments. if the fuel doesn't come in the coming few hours it is expected at least 19 will be suffocated and many

patients, ten or 12 patients. tensions remain high at israel's northern border with lebanon after armed group hezbollah fired 100 rockets towards israel in response to a israeli air strike that killed one senior commander. 0ur middle east correspondent sebastian usher sent this update from jerusalem. israel has killed another senior hezbollah commander in southern lebanon. israel says that he was responsible for the unit has been firing rockets into northern israel. now, that has forced around 60,000 israelis to evacuate their homes. this has become an increasingly big problem for the israeli government. in september, schools go back and the people who live in that area are essentially putting pressure on the government to enable them to make it secure enough for them to return. now, in carrying out an attack like this israel essentially is putting a sense of security ahead of anything else. it said

that the man was the head of the hezbollah unit that was firing rockets into israel. those hostilities have been going on for months now, essentially hezbollah have been firing rockets into northern israel after the war erupted in northern israel and hamas, it says it was doing a show of support for hamas and to and the confrontation when the wadi gaza ended. at the moment there is no sign of that happening. we saw an escalation a few weeks ago where israel also killed a senior hezbollah commander and that led to hezbollah firing its largest barrage of drones and rockets into northern israel. hezbollah is fired around 100 rockets into northern israel after this attack but it said that is just its first response. joining me now is aaron david miller, who held a number of roles at the us state department from 1978 to 2003, where he helped formulate the us policy on the arab israeli peace process.

as ever, good to have you with us. thank you for being with us. thank you for being with us. taking a look at israel up �*s government to start with thanit �*s government to start with than it is evaluating hamas's response to proposals for a truce in gaza. what you think the chances are of a potential breakthrough here?— breakthrough here? probably better, breakthrough here? probably better. but — breakthrough here? probably better. but i _ breakthrough here? probably better, but i think _ breakthrough here? probably better, but i think we - breakthrough here? probably better, but i think we are - breakthrough here? probably better, but i think we are a l better, but i think we are a long way from tipperary yet. if, in fact, you can get an israeli — hamas agreement to the israeli ideas the president laid out, first there is a security council resolution, 14-0 with security council resolution, 14—0 with the russians abstaining, then you have a chance perhaps of a limited agreement, may be phase one, six weeks of a ceasefire in exchange for a limited number of hostages and in asymmetrically larger number of palestinian prisoners. i don't think, given the mutually irreconcilable objectives of israel and hamas in the latter

stages of this proposal, it's hard to believe that both will sign up to a conference proposal. that is why the northern france, if in fact she did find a way to de—escalate the situation in gaza, even for the situation in gaza, even for the weeks, you would create some time and space for a cooling down of the ratcheting up cooling down of the ratcheting up of israeli and hezbollah actions in the north and perhaps avoid what everyone beers and what the middle east has never experienced, which is a regional war of a kind and of a regional war of a kind and of a character that, in terms of his level of destruction, the parties would go beyond anything experienced before. arryn, something else i wanted to touch on was reporting from the new york times saying israel's top generals want to begin a ceasefire as well. even if that keeps hamas impower for the time being. and of course we know that would be at odds with the thinking of prime

minister netanyahu —— prime minister netanyahu —— prime minister benjamin netanyahu. when you think that could potentially leave him? i mean, i think the _ potentially leave him? i mean, i think the israeli _ potentially leave him? i mean, i think the israeli military- i think the israeli military here plays a critically important role in providing the pressure point. i think once israeli large ground manoeuvres in rafah and operations subside, which should happen in the next couple of weeks, i think there may actually be space to think seriously about a limited agreement between israel and hamas. the press on hamas is considerable from countries, i think, hamas is considerable from countries, ithink, and i'm absolutely persuaded that this government in israel, no matter how right—wing and extreme it is good in fact agree to a phase i agreement. the biden administration, given the precariousness of both these fronts, i think would only be too happy to sign on. the logic think that if you could get six weeks of an actual true

ceasefire, literally no israeli or hamas military activity, which is something gaza has not experienced since 7 october, then might be able to create pressure, more internal pressure, more internal pressure from the israeli public and perhaps even from palestinian public opinion in gaza to build on those six weeks in order to break the battlefield dynamic. but, again, ithink battlefield dynamic. but, again, i think we are still a long way away from that. the good news is for nine months israel and hezbollah in the north have avoided opening the regional conflagration. they really do believe, it may be counterintuitive even all the talk you have a wall, that a certain amount of risk aversion on the part of israel and hamas and probably iran still prevails. that is the situation there, for example, with the northern border there towards

lebanon. another area i wanted to touch on is the west bank, because of the same time we have israel approving plans what is described as the biggest potential expansion of settlements in the occupied west bank in over 30 years. what you think the impact of that could be? it’s what you think the impact of that could be?— that could be? it's simply auoin that could be? it's simply going to _ that could be? it's simply going to feed _ that could be? it's simply going to feed the - that could be? it's simply - going to feed the hopelessness and sense of despair and the impossibility of normal humans envisaging a political solution. it's not one hand clapping, clearly israeli and palestinian requirements both need to be met if you're going to even begin to talk about it in a serious way a negotiation to end the israeli—palestinian conflict. at this government... look, the reality is very simple, even though it is two hands clapping is absolutely elemental that there be a change in the israeli government and a government that would emerge might be still very withholding when it

comes to doing things were palestinians, but at least there is a chance to avert and avoid what this government's has clearly embarked on, which is a policy and a plan to annex the west bank in everything but name. and i think of that process is left to continue, however grim and bleak the situation, there will be absolutely to consider possible political solutions, to begin to mitigate them, ultimately, anna don't think we can give up on this, ending the israeli—palestinian conflict. aaron david miller, as always, good to talk to.— good to talk to. thanks for havin: good to talk to. thanks for having me- _ police in australia are searching for a missing child who was reportedly attacked by a crocodile, while swimming in a creek in australia's northern territory. the attack happened in a remote community about 360 kilometres southwest of darwin. 0ur correspondent katy watson has the latest.(

what we know is a 12—year—old child was swimming in a creek at dusk on tuesday about a seven hour drive from darwin, southwest of darwin in the northern territory. the local community raise the alarm and local police attended. now there is a search and rescue operation there that is combing large areas of the creek by boat, but still there is no clue to the whereabouts of the child. now, the northern territory has about 100,000 saltwater crocodiles, more than anywhere else in the world, and saltwater crocodiles of the most aggressive. they can grow up most aggressive. they can grow up to six metres long, usually a male is just up to six metres long, usually a male isjust over three metres, and they can way around a ton. that said, attacks are rare, fatal attacks even rarer, and the last fatal attack in the northern territory was in 2018. let's turn to some other important news around the world. at least five people have been killed and 53 injured by a russian drone missile strike on the central ukrainian

city of dnipro. shops, schools, and hospitals were also damaged by the strike. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky condemned the attack saying "only two things can stop this russian terror — "modern air defence systems and the long—range capabilities "of our weapons." russian president vladimir putin and china's president xi jinping met at the shanghai cooperation 0rganisation summit in kazakhstan. the two leaders spoke on the sidelines of the summit in astana, which also includes india and iran. in televised remarks before the meeting, mr putin said relations between russian and china are at "their best period in history". belarus's president alexander lukashenko released five political prisoners on wednesday. the amnesty is a rare move by mr lukashenko who launched a crackdown on opponents after he claimed victory in the disputed 2020 presidential election. he has led the country since 1994. according to human rights group viasna, there are still more than 1,400 political prisoners in belarus. researchers believe they have found what is the oldest example of figurative cave art in the world. the weathered drawing of a wild

pig and three people was discovered in a cave in indonesia. and it is more than 50,000 years old. pallab ghosh has the story. nestled among the lush mountains of the indonesian island of sulawesi are caves that contain the earliest rock art ever discovered. inside is a faded painting that transforms our ideas of when human creativity first emerged. and here it is. the darkened arch is a pig. and if you look closely at this enhanced picture, you can see three human—like figures, one in front and two either side. it was painted at least 51,000 years ago. it's older than anything else we've got at the moment from the rest of the world, and it raises questions about whether this art was developed specially in that region, orwhetherthis is part of a wider pattern that we don't yet have the data on, to show that it was

something that was much more widespread. as homo sapiens spread around the world, did they take this kind of art with them? cave paintings have been found all across the world. the big question is whether the ability to produce art first emerged in africa, where modern humans evolved, and spread when our species left the continent? or did it emerge independently in different places later, as there became a social need for recorded communication? pallab ghosh, bbc news. you are watching bbc news. moam helena humphrey in washington, dc. thanks for your company. they will have more world news for you at the top of the hour. in the meantime you can always go to a website. i will see you soon. bye for now. hello there.

there'll be winners and losers when it comes to the weather forecast on thursday. for the far north and west, we will continue to see a rash of showers. it could be quite windy with it, as well. sunny spells elsewhere. the winds really quite a feature right across the country, but the strongest of the winds closest to this area of low pressure, driving in a rash of showers, maybe longer spells of rain at times. but elsewhere, particularly where we had quite a lot of cloud and it was drizzly from time to time on wednesday, will be a better story. more in the way of sunshine coming through. so, by the afternoon, expect this story. we will see these showers, and, as i say, some of them heavy, the brighter yellows and greens denoting that. and with the strength of the wind as well, well, those temperatures really struggling, 11—15 degrees. a few showers into northern ireland, not quite as many, and a few showers across northern england. but generally across england and wales, there'll be more in the way of sunshine, particularly across southeast england. temperatures peaking at 21 degrees, so that means forwimbledon, it will be a better day. we'll have some sunny spells coming through. by friday, though, once again

a change of fortunes, rain could have a part to play for the outer courts as we go through the day. and the reason being this frontal system that's going to slide in through the latter stages of thursday into friday, bringing more in the way of cloud and showery rain across south—west england during the early hours of friday morning, pushing towards sw19 for the early morning rush hour. but, generally speaking, those temperatures will hold up into double digits to start the day on friday. as we move into friday, then, there will be a good deal of dry, sunny weather really from the m4 corridor south. that's where we'll see the rain. a little more cloud, but generally across england and wales, a good slice of sunshine. a few isolated showers into northwest scotland, but generally those temperatures — not much change — ranging from 14—21 degrees if we're lucky. into the weekend, the unsettled theme is set to continue. very changeable, the weather story, at the moment. a ridge of high pressure

to start saturday, but there'll be more wet weather moving in on sunday. so, for england and wales, perhaps saturday the best day, but elsewhere, we'll see showers of longer spells of rain set to continue and those temperatures disappointing forjuly.

weak economic data in the us boosts hopes of a sooner—than—later interest rate cut, sending wall street to new highs. china looks to central asia to boost diplomatic and economic ties, amid a frosty relationship with the west. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. it was another record day on wall street where the s&p 500 and the tech heavy nasdaq hitting new record highs. the rally comes after weak economic data boosted hopes for interest rate cuts at the bbc�*s north america business correspondent michelle fleury explains. wall street's record—breaking rally kept going on wednesday during light trading in an abbreviated session, white rabbit? investors digester and several reports pointing to a slow economy. hiring by private

reporters was lower—than—expected injune,