this is bbc news. the us to deploy additional warships and fighterjets to the middle east amid fears of escalation over the killing of hamas political chief ismail haniyeh. eight people have been arrested and three police officers taken to hospital after rioting in sunderland in the northeast of england. we're not giving up on that. us presidentjoe biden says he'll press moscow to release another american jailed in russia after a historic prisoner swap. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. the pentagon says it's stepping up america's military presence in the middle east, deploying additional warships and fighter jets as regional tension grows. an aircraft carrier strike group led by the uss abraham lincoln is being sent to the region. iran and its allies have promised imminent retaliation against israel.

an announcer on iran state tv said on friday night that "in coming hours, the world would witness extraordinary scenes and very important developments". it comes after a funeral ceremony in qatar for the hamas political leader, ismail haniyeh, who was assassinated in iran on wednesday. officials from a number of arab and muslim countries attended as well as prominent figures from fatah, the main rival palestinian faction to hamas. hamas and iran have vowed revenge for the strike that targeted mr haniyeh. although iran and its allies have blamed israel, the country has not claimed responsibility for his death. from doha, our senior international correspondent orla guerin reports. doha's largest mosque, the setting for funeral prayers for ismail haniyeh.

qatar has been his base for years. and in punishing heat, thousands came to mourn the slain leader of hamas. among the crowd, many had the same demand. we will look for revenge. yes, yes, i'm very honest with you, we will look for revenge. may i ask, do you fear now that there could be all out war in the region, that there could now be a bigger war taking place? yes we are... now it could be very danger and it could be the world war iii. but maybe that's what israel look for? and israel is widely accused of tracking him down in tehran and killing him. here he was on tuesday in the heart of the iranian regime. he didn't live to see the next morning. in hamas terms, he was viewed as a moderate. in uk and us terms, he led a terrorist organisation.

to many here, including these visitors from britain, he defended an oppressed people. i'm actually quite deeply saddened. he was a good man and he stood up for good as well. so it's a hard time for everybody. the palestinian cause is one that moves many, so it's a sad day for everyone. mourners are still arriving here, streaming in to say prayers for ismail haniyeh. his assassination has reverberated around the region. the question is, what comes next? there will be retaliation by iran, but how severe, and will things escalate into all—out regional war? for now, the main battlefield is gaza. israeli troops advancing,

whatever the cost. palestinian sources say haniyeh was pushing for a ceasefire deal before he was blown to pieces. today he was mourned, soon he'll be replaced. it's not the end of hamas. but it is one more escalation in a region nearing boiling point. orla guerin, bbc news, doha. meanwhile, as the threat of retaliation for recent strikes looms, it's causing unease and tension in israel — as jenny hill reports. it's quiet here on the streets of tel aviv, it's the sabbath so people are at home but they are uneasy. they know that potentially they are standing on the brink of a much wider regional conflict. it's worth pointing out that there have been a number

of similar moments since israel launched its war on gaza following the attacks of october the seventh, when it's look as though that war could explode into a much wider conflict. but this is without doubt a very dangerous, very significant moment, and we understand that urgent diplomacy is going on, most of it behind the scenes, to try to defuse the tension. people here will of course be keeping an eye on developments. many flights into israel and some into lebanon have been cancelled or delayed, it's reported that israeli ministers have been sent home with satellite phones for the weekend for use in the event of any kind of attack which takes out communication networks. it feels as though the world is watching the middle east right now and perhaps it's worth thinking about two groups of people whose voices have become perhaps somewhat lost on the vast geopolitics of all of this and they are of course people in gaza for whom the prospect of any kind of ceasefire now seems perhaps as remote as it ever has, and then the families of the israeli hostages, still being held captive by hamas in gaza who know also that the chances

of being reunited with their loved ones anytime soon right now seem greatly diminished. dr nader hashemi is associate professor of middle east and islamic politics at georgetown university. he gave me his assessment of the situation. i think there's going to be retaliation from iran and its allies, notjust against israel but against american forces in the region. how big of a retaliation and what form it takes, we don't know, but i think if we go back to april when we had a very similar situation, we can get a sense of what's coming. recall back then when israel targeted the iranian consulate in damascus killing several high level iranian revolutionary guard commanders. iran said it had enough of that type of behaviour and roughly two weeks later it

launched about 300 drones and missiles towards israel, most which were intercepted and they were telegraphed in advance because i think iran wanted to send a message, not expand the war, but i think this time they will have to go above and beyond what we saw in april and i suspect many of its allies in the region are going to be hitting targets as well and so that's why many of us are worried about where this is headed because we know that israel will respond and it looks like we're headed toward a major regional war. indeed, it feels like the region is on edge at the moment and as we were saying just earlier, the us says it will deploy more defensive military support for the middle east. what's your take on that? indeed, it feels like the region is on edge at the moment and as we were saying just earlier, the us says it will deploy more defensive military support for the middle east. what's your take on that? i think it represents a colossal failure of us middle east policy. i recall when biden came into power, he wanted

to "reduce the american foot print in the middle east". he pulled out of afghanistan, he wanted to focus on china and other more important global challenges, but as a direct result of the failure of us middle east policy, specifically the refusal or inability of the united states to put constraints on israel to rein it in, to establish redlines, it's being dragged back into the middle east and of course it's going to be american troops and perhaps even american citizens that are going to pay the price so this makes no sense from american national security perspective. and so it remains to be seen exactly how this is going to play out but i think the redeployment of forces by the united states into the region is essentially there to protect israel, does not bode well for stated american policy in the region and it recalls other moments — and i'm thinking of course about the iraq war when the united states entered this region hoping that it would be a short intervention but we saw the catastrophe that that ensued, so these are the things that i'm thinking about and i think, you know, and the sad thing is that in the united states where i live, none of this is really being debated.

us policy, particularly with respect israel, the us defence secretary has revoked a plea deal agreed lloyd austin said he decided to remove the official that oversaw the court and facilitated the agreement. in a statement _ facilitated the agreement. in a statement he _ facilitated the agreement. in a statement he said _ but on friday lloyd austin relieved her of her duties, saying in a statement that . responsibility for such a decision should rest with me... and "..i hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed onjuly 13, 2024." the three men include khalid sheikh mohammed, who is accused of hatching the september 11th plot. they have been held at the us navy base, guantanamo bay, in cuba, for years without going to trial.

according to us news outlets, the men agreed to admit to conspiracy charges in exchange for a life sentence, instead of the death sentence. the cases against the three have been mired in decades—long controversy over whether their treatment at cia prisons compromised the evidence against them. joining me now, barbara starr, former pentagon correspondent and seniorfellow at the university of southern california. to talk to you, barbara, on bbc news. first of all, bring us up—to—date on how significant this decision by lloyd austin �*s. i this decision by lloyd austin 's. ,, this decision by lloyd austin 's. ~ , this decision by lloyd austin 's. ~' , . , 's. i think it is a very significant _ 's. i think it is a very significant within - 's. i think it is a veryj significant within the 's. i think it is a very - significant within the national security and really it is significant. it has been a lot of years since the 9/11 attacks but for so many people, the families, the people who were at any number one of those

sites on that day, i was one of them, i was at the pentagon, this is still very fresh business. that plea deal came as a surprise. no—one had really known about it in detail or expected to think it is a move by austin to reassert his authority as the top official and i think it is really important that he said something like this is going to be my responsibility, he is, as the secretary, to make. and he is going to do that till he moved very quickly when this all emerged. moved very quickly when this all emerged-— moved very quickly when this all emerged. and barbara, they have been _ all emerged. and barbara, they have been held _ all emerged. and barbara, they have been held in _ all emerged. and barbara, they have been held in autonomy- all emerged. and barbara, they i have been held in autonomy obey for many, many years now. —— guantanamo bay. there cases haven't really been resolved. what comes next.— haven't really been resolved. what comes next. one of the big auestions what comes next. one of the big questions has — what comes next. one of the big questions has been, _ what comes next. one of the big questions has been, and - what comes next. one of the big questions has been, and this - what comes next. one of the big questions has been, and this is l questions has been, and this is why i think it has been so difficult to even consider having a trial of any sort, in

some stance, is the quality of the evidence against them and what is admissible and what is not and how they were treated so they are in this limbo for many, many years now at guantanamo bay in cuba. over time there have been various discussions about moving even the so—called high—value targets to federal prisons, high security prisons in the united states but nobody has been willing, no members of contra —— congress has been willing to support that. we have seen dozens and dozens of guantanamo detainees released back to their home countries so we're down to basically a handful, they are now mainly elderly men, and it is hard to see what the road ahead is, how far this goes on.— far this goes on. this has been auoin on far this goes on. this has been going on for— far this goes on. this has been going on for so _ far this goes on. this has been going on for so long. _ far this goes on. this has been going on for so long. i - going on for so long. i remember when i was based in washington many years ago listening to president obama saying that he was going to" on obey down. —— going to close

one—time obey down. this is as much a national security one. i emphasise political, high security us security prison. because in any one of those states, lawmakers, cities and towns are objecting across the board and still object to having those people, even in a high security prison so there has really been no movement on it. there was hope that this would be at least a way to get the cases resolved but itjust doesn't look like that now because secretary defence austin, i will tell you, because secretary defence austin, iwill tell you, he is a very thorough person and he will have a very hard look at all of this.— all of this. and so this could end u- all of this. and so this could end up continuing _ all of this. and so this could end up continuing to - all of this. and so this could end up continuing to be - all of this. and so this could l end up continuing to be mired in appeals because you talk about concerns over the evidence and the means in which it is extracted. to be direct,

you mean allegations of torture?— you mean allegations of torture? . �* , ., torture? that's right and i think it is _ torture? that's right and i think it is important - torture? that's right and i think it is important to - torture? that's right and i - think it is important to always reiterate that these detainees at guantanamo bay have defence counsel, military, sometimes civilian assisting defence counsel and so they are represented and over time most defence councils have raised a lot of objections to the evidence that was gathered against them. is it admissible. this trial process has its own unique, very complicated set of rules. and so that has been one of the real hindrances to moving these cases forward and closing them out.— closing them out. barbara starr, former _ closing them out. barbara starr, former pentagon i starr, former pentagon correspondent for many, many years, it is great to have you here with us on the bbc. thank ou. police in england say eight people have been arrested and three police officers taken to hospital following rioting in the northeastern city of sunderland. a police building

there was attacked, and the property next to it was set on fire. police have been trying to contain several hundred demonstrators, in what's been the latest in a series of violent protests in a number of english towns and cities this week after three children were fatally stabbed in southport on monday. dozens more protests are planned for this weekend in the wake of the stabbings. our correspondent mark easton, was on the ground as protesters caused chaos. yelling. as darkness began to fall in sunderland tonight, there were fears a violent far right protest could turn into an all—out riot. large numbers of police have been deployed across the city to deal with a wave of criminality. a police car in a side street — vandalised. around the next corner, a taxi overturned and set alight. about 400 or 500 protesters here in the centre of sunderland. we've got a police

helicopter overhead. you can probably see the riot squads just getting out of their van, we've had police on horseback charging through the crowd to disperse them but it's a strange scene, to be honest, because you've got the hard right masked yobs hurling bricks at the police lines and then you've got families, all wearing england tops, cheering them along. i've seen babies in pushchairs, very small children on the march, and scores of teenagers — young boys and girls, all dressed up to their nines, out on a friday night, just looking for a bit of excitement. there were some well—known figures from far right groups in attendance, as older men tried to co—ordinate youngsters in balaclavas, gathering missiles to throw at police officers. "head for the mosque", shouted one. hundreds of young muslim men were guarding the town's central mosque tonight as fears grew that the town might descend into major public disorder. mark easton, bbc news, sunderland. after the largest prisoner exchange between russia

and the west since the cold war, us presidentjoe biden has told reporters that the white house will continue to pressure russia to release another american left out of the deal. it comes in the face of criticism from the family of marc fogel, an english school—teacher from pennsylvania. you can see him here on the right, being detained at a russian airport in 2021, where he was found to be carrying a small amount of medical marijuana. he is now serving a 1a—year sentence. in a statement, mr fogel�*s family said: they said they feel mr fogel has been "abandoned" to die in prison. three americans released in the deal landed in the us late thursday night — meeting their families, along with presidentjoe biden and vice president kamala harris. evan gershkovich, paul whelan and alsu kurmasheva were then flown to san antonio, texas for medical and psychological

evaluations. our chief international editor jeremy bowen reports on the moments leading up to their homecoming. president biden invited the families of the released americans to the oval office and they rang the plane. i tell you what, i'm not as good as your families are feeling, we're all standing round the oval office desk here. they were counting the minutes to their return. i miss you so much. when they landed just outside washington, evan gershkovich appeared when vice president harris was distracted. he's behind you! applause. this was a good day for president biden. he hasn't had many lately. and an even better one for the families. the wall street journal reporter hadn't forgotten the prisoners he'd left behind in russia. ijust spent a month in prison and basically everybody i sat with was a political prisoner. paul whelan was held for spying, which he denies, during a two—week trip

to russia in 2018. ifeel great, it's a long time coming. so, i'm glad to be back. alsu kurmasheva, a russian—american journalist, was arrested injune last year. her husband said she was sentenced to 6.5 years because she'd written a book about russians opposed to the war in ukraine. this one for other countries. i asked them to do some things that were against their immediate self interests. and really very difficult for them to do, particularly germany and slovenia. slovenia released a russian couple who'd spied masquerading as argentinians. in moscow, president putin greeted their children in spanish. they'd only been told they were russians on the plane. germany freed vadim krasikov in the tracksuit, an assassin now confirmed as a russian agent by the kremlin. he killed an exiled chechen commander in berlin. vladimir putin has set a precedent. arresting foreign

citizens for barter works as a way to exert pressure on an enemy. jeremy bowen, bbc news, washington. millions of residents in northern nigeria have been placed under a 2k hour curfew amid clashes between security forces and protesters. deadly violent scenes have been playing out across the country. demonstrators have been protesting economic reforms that have led to runaway inflation and hunger. the rights group — amnesty international — says 13 protesters were killed by security forces on the first day of protests, followed by 3a who were severely injured in an explosion on thursday night. more from our simi jolaoso. a couple of hundred people have turned out here in lagos on the second day of a nationwide protest. this is despite the news from amnesty international that 13 people died and many others were injured on the

first day of the protests stop authorities in several states across the northern region of nigeria have imposed a curfew. we have heard that protesters in one state to try to bring a curfew earlier in the day but they were quickly dispersed by soldiers. there is a heavy police presence in those states and there are quite a few police officers here and we have observed military personnel on standby but it has been fairly nonconfrontational. the government had urged protesters to be patient stop protesters to be patient stop protesters he had just been sharing speeches and their message has remained the same. they are calling for the end of what they are saying is a bad governance in the country in the economic hardship they say many nigerians are facing. let's turn to some other important news around the world. the us department of justice filed a lawsuit friday against tiktok and its parent company bytedance for failing to protect children's privacy on the social media app. the doj says tiktok knowingly permitted children to create regular tiktok accounts

and collected personal information from these children without obtaining consent from their parents. tiktok rejects the allegations. justin timberlake's drivers license was suspended on friday after the singer pleaded not guilty to driving while intoxicated. the court in new york state also threatened the pop star's legal team with a gag order. the singer was arrested on suspicion of intoxicated driving more than a month ago. it's been a day of records at the paris olympics. great britain continued their most successful start to a summer olympics as they collected three gold medals on day seven. they came in trampolining, showjumping and rowing meaning team gb have nine golds after seven days at the games for the first time ever. french swimmer leon marchand won his fourth gold medal friday, setting an olympic record in the 200—meter individual medley. his time beat the previous record set by michael phelps

at the beijing olympics. and, team usa sprinters set a new world record in the axaoom mixed relay during the race's opening heats on friday. earlier, my colleague carl nasman spoke with our reporter grace harbage in france. grace, great to see you there in paris. it's been a big day for team gb and of course for one of france's biggest stars. it's been a great day for team gb — we must say it. they've got seven medals on day seven of these games including three gold medals, three silver and a bronze. that's a gold in rowing, trampolining and equestrian. that is team gb's first jumping equestrian gold since 2012. a silver in rowing and swimming and a bronze in diving. team gb will be feeling

pretty happy about today but i want to talk about the main event, it's been 22—year—old leon marchand back in the pool for france. and he has added his three existing gold with a fourth tonight, in the pool at 200 metre individual medley. that is four olympics gold medals in four individual olympic events and his home games. it's quite an amazing stat, carl, and that is all four gold medals have set olympic records. wow. you can imagine the crowd here in france were absolutely loving it. we have been really honoured to witness this incredible moment of watching france's best swimmer get all these medals. and grace, you've been there, you've been following so much of these olympic games. what will you be watching out for this weekend? this weekend is going to get really exciting. we'll head to stade de france for the athletics but before we get there, back at the arena is where us superstar gymnast simone biles continues herjourney after picking up a gold medal on thursday in the women's all round event so saturday will see her

in the vault final going back up against brazil's rebecca andrade who also got the silver medal on thursday's event. they will be going head—to—head on the vault. but it's also a good day for team usa, well, it should be a good weekend, we've got the men's axaoom relay, team usa looking really dominant in the heat coming into that. team gb and france also featuring, but also it is the women's 100 metre final on saturday evening and all eyes will be on sha'carri richardson. this will be her first olympic games after not making it to tokyo 2020. she failed a drug test, testing positive for thc, that's the main ingredient in cannabis, a banned substance at the olympics. she's coming in looking like the favourite so a lot of attention will be on her. that is it for this half—hour. i am rajini vaidyanathan. to

stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. much of central, southern, and eastern england yet again saw another warm and very humid day. but as we move through the weekend, certainly after saturday, it'll be fresher for all, with pleasant conditions in the south. but there will be rain at times, particularly across northern and western areas, thanks to atlantic low pressure systems. so, we start saturday off with this weather front that's been crossing the country, taking the cloud and any showers with it and the warm air. so, into saturday afternoon, it'll be much fresher across the south and east. a bright day for many with sunshine and blustery showers — these mainly across scotland and northern ireland, where it will be quite windy. mid—to—high—teens here, but much fresher across the south — 21—24 celsius with lower humidity. that takes us then into saturday night, which will be a cooler, fresher one for many. cloud building out west as the next weather front starts to approach scotland and northern ireland.

it'll be a fresher night to come — 8—12 celsius across the south. now, this ridge of high pressure will build in for sunday — that will bring fine weather for england and wales. next low pressure system will start to push into scotland and northern ireland through the day, the winds picking up here, the cloud building, outbreaks of rain pushing into northern ireland and western scotland. but for eastern scotland, much of england and wales will see variable clouds, some good sunny spells — best of the sunshine towards the southeast corner, and it will feel very pleasant, with 23—24 celsius here with lower humidity, high teens further north with the wind and the rain. we tap into some warmth and humidity again into monday — this moving off france into much of the midlands, southern and eastern england. so here, a warm and humid, rather sunny day — further north and west, very different, windy, cloudy outbreaks are pretty heavy and persistent rain for northern ireland, southern and western scotland. could give rise to some localised flooding in places, but a warmer day to come even further north — we could be up to the mid—to—high—20s again across the southeast. that weather front eventually starts to push across the country

on tuesday, eventually reaching the east and southeast with a few showers as it weakens and moves off into the north sea. and then, it introduces fresher air to much of the country once again. a bright day to come for northern and western areas with some sunshine — vast improvement to how monday is looking. 19—24 celsius from northwest to southeast. warmer, drier, and sunnier.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. gunfire for over a year, a forgotten war has been raging in sudan.