the us is set to deploy additional warships and fighterjets to the middle east amid fears of escalation over the killing of hamas political chief, ismail haniyeh. here in the uk, three police officers have been hurt in sunderland in the latest violence following the killing of three young girls in southport — the home secretary has condemned those taking part. and, it's day 8 of the olympics in paris — there are 31 gold medals up for grabs — with the women's 100 meters final on the table. hello, welcome to bbc news. israeli media is reporting that a local leader of hamas�* military wing has been killed in an israeli airstrike in the occupied west bank. palestinian media confirmed the attack, saying four other people

were also killed when a vehicle was struck near the city of tulkarem. it comes as the us says it's stepping up america's military presence in the middle east, deploying additional warships and fighterjets as regional tension grows. the department of defence says it aims to strengthen protection for us troops in the region and israel in response to growing threats from iran and iranian—backed fighters. iran and its allies have promised imminent retaliation against israel. an announcer on iran state tv said on friday night that "in the coming hours, the world would witness extraordinary scenes and very important developments". the announcement came after a funeral ceremony in qatar for the hamas political leader, ismail haniyeh, who was killed in iran on wednesday. hamas and iran have vowed revenge for the strike that targeted mr haniyeh. from tel aviv, our correspondent jenny hill has this update. the us has said that it

will send an extra squadron of fighterjets to the region, as well as warships, stating that america's commitment to israel's defence is "ironclad". it is not the first time we have seen such a scenario. perhaps you will remember that in april, iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at israel. israel was able to intercept and shoot them down with the help of the us and other allies, but nevertheless it is a reminder ofjust how dangerous and significant this moment is. i am in tel aviv on the beachfront, where it all looks and feels very relaxed with people getting on with their daily lives, but people here are uneasy. we know that iran has vowed, along with its proxies, revenge for two assassinations. that of the hamas political leader, and a senior hezbollah commander. everyone knows something is likely to happen, but it is not clear what that retaliation will be, what kind of scale we will see,

or indeed when it might happen. this is a country on high alert. a number of international airlines have suspended flights to and from israel, and ministers from the israeli cabinet were sent home this weekend with satellite phones for use in the event of an attack which throws out any kind of communication network. as you know, there is urgent diplomacy going on right now, to try and stop israel's war on gaza which began following the october 7th attacks from exploding into a regionwide conflict, and that is why the us's intervention now is not only about providing help to israel militarily, also focusing on ongoing efforts to try to defuse the tension. the pentagon spokeswoman said yesterday that they still think escalation is not an inevitability and america are urging all parties in this to look at the potential for a ceasefire.

it is worth remembering, of course, that there are two groups of people in all of this whose voices have become somewhat lost in the geopolitics. people in gaza. don't forget, israel's war on gaza goes on. people were killed there last night in a number of strikes. those people know that right now a ceasefire looks remote. and then there are the families of israeli hostages who are being held captive by hamas in gaza, and they know that the chance of being reunited with their loved ones is greatly diminished right now. one potentially positive note, benjamin netanyahu, the israeli prime minister, has sanctioned an israeli delegation to travel to cairo potentially as early as this evening, for ongoing negotiations on a possible ceasefire. as i say, right now tension is high. the world is watching the middle east and hoping the crisis can be averted. mamoun abu—nowar is a retired jordanian air force general in amman. he gave his analysis on likely

scenarios that could play out if there is an escalation in the region between iran and israel. this is putting pressure on hezbollah and iran, and to prevent a wider escalation of the war, but will this change the hezbollah and iranians regarding the retaliation of the killing of ismail haniyeh? that was a great insult to iran, so i think the retaliation is coming but i can't predict when. probably in two weeks�* time. that's normally the timeline as they will consider carefully before retaliation. and what kind of decisions will iran be making regarding the retaliation?

i think it is going to be different like the previous one, shooting 300 missiles, or ballistic missiles. they will use this mainly on high—value targets or centre of gravity targets in israel. everything will be calculated not to expand or widen up to a regional conflict. nobody can control that, in a way. that would be a catastrophe in the gulf area mainly with the oil fields closing. the whole world would be stopped on that matter. uk home secretary yvette cooper

has condemned violent demonstrations in sunderland, linked to the knife attack in southport earlier this week, which killed three children. eight people have been arrested. ms cooper said those involved in the trouble, in which three police officers were injured, would pay the price for their violence and thuggery. simonjones reports. trouble spreads to the street of sunderland. people, some in masks, looking for a fight. a car is overturned and set on fire. northumbria police say that officers were met with serious and sustained levels of violence. some of the demonstrators said they were there to protest about the killing of three girls in southport earlier this week. the police said rioters were attempting to drive division among the community. i'm shocked and appalled by what i have seen on social media, i have had countless messages from people saying they do not represent the views of the people of sunderland and i think that is really important. look, that is not protest, it is violent crime, it's dangerous and it stands for absolutely nothing other than thuggery.

in liverpool, around 200 anti— racism protesters gathered outside a mosque, saying they were protecting it from far right demonstrators. the police were keeping the two sides apart but the protest did not descend into the sense seen in sunderland. —— scenes. community leaders are calling for calm saying that the families of the three girls killed in southport on monday do not want to see violent protests. elsie, who was seven years old, bebe was six, and alice who was nine, lost their lives. downing street was lit up in pink last night to remember them, as was parliament and southport itself. the teenager accused of murdering them is axel rudakubana, who is 17. video emerged which is believed to show him fronting a campaign for the bbc�*s children in need when he was 11. a spokesperson for the charity told

the daily mail "our deepest sympathies go out everyone impacted by the shocking case and the video has been removed from platforms." following last night's unrest in sunderland, the home secretary condemned the violence. the police are braced for several more demonstrations this weekend in other towns and cities, with extra prosecutors on standby to bring rapid charges against troublemakers. simon jones, bbc news. earlier our poltical correpsondent shelley phelps explained the latest on the situation. there has been a huge amount of political reaction on social media from politicians regarding those ugly scenes that we have been seeing. politicians saying they are shocked and appalled by the images we have been seeing. as simon was saying in his film there, yvette cooper has said anyone involved in criminal activity

will pay the price. she says there's also been reaction from the labour mp for sunderland central, lewis atkinson, who said this was far right racists deciding to turn up in the city of sunderland and said these people did not represent his city. he talked about feeling saddened by what he had seen because he said this is not sunderland, there is so much going on there and it has such a bright future ahead. we heard from the conservative shadow home secretaryjames cleverly, who says that people who are involved in violence and attacks on the police, that this can never be justified and we cannot let rioting thugs and extremists when. —— win. and calls for parliament to be recalled? yes, this has come from priti patel, who says that it should be recalled immediately. she has put out a long statement on social media, butjust to summarise her points, she says this is a moment for a national reflection.

she says parliament should speak with one voice in condemnation. in terms of how likely that is, she is the only mp i have spotted so far who is calling for this, but it's worth noting that david cameron did recall parliament in august 2011 when there were riots. those were different to this, and they were on a much bigger scale to what we have seen so far. also remember that parliament has had a shortened summer break already. it had its summer sitting extended after the election of the new government. and the debate, we are expecting potentially more demonstrations over the course of the weekend and a whole debate now. one of the debates that has been discussed this morning is whether the english defence league should be made a proscribed group, so that essentially means banning this group. the government's adviser on political violence and disruption has said that is something that the home secretary should urgently consider. he did acknowledge that there

are questions as to how effective that can be because he is pointing out experts saying it has been officially disbanded and is a fragmented group, but he argued it should be part of the picture. the conservative leadership robertjenrick was also asked about this — he is former immigration minister, and he said if the evidence is there and the threshold is met then it should be considered. he pointed out it is a high bar but that is one debate that has been sparked after we saw a further night of unrest. let's head to paris now. it is day eight of the olympics and there are 31 gold medals up for grabs. our reporter is in paris with the latest. it feels a little trouble making an australian talk about how great team gb was yesterday! it was a good day

for team gb with a huge medal haul that included three goals which saw them catapult up the medal table, up to third overall. they are now back down at the fifth but let's run through some of those goals. bryony page took the first ever individual gold in trampolining for team gb. in the equestrian team jumping event we saw another gold there. at that time we happen to be at a french fan zone and there were a lot of tears but all of a sudden it went quiet and that was when we realised france had maybe not one that one. they took bronze with gb getting gold. the third gold was the women's lightweight double sculls. theyjust missed out on a medal in tokyo and had been virtually unbeaten ever since. they went into this event and got the gold, and this event is not going to be completed any more after these games so in theory they shall remain for ever gold medallist and forever olympians. it has been a

really good olympic sport team gb �*s diving team. they are saying it is their best ever olympics. they took a bronze in the event yesterday. that is for the four in medals. we expect that team gb will bag a few more medals to come. let’s expect that team gb will bag a few more medals to come.— expect that team gb will bag a few more medals to come. let's focus on toda , more medals to come. let's focus on today. saturday- _ more medals to come. let's focus on today, saturday. athletics. _ more medals to come. let's focus on today, saturday. athletics. yes, - more medals to come. let's focus on today, saturday. athletics. yes, it. today, saturday. athletics. yes, it has been dubbed _ today, saturday. athletics. yes, it has been dubbed super _ today, saturday. athletics. yes, it has been dubbed super saturday. | has been dubbed super saturday. athletics kicked off yesterday with a few events but there's a lot coming up today. we will have as much coverage as we can across the day here on bbc news. there's a couple of things i want to point out. the first, of course, is that a race to see who will be crowned the fastest woman in the world, that is the women's 100 fastest woman in the world, that is the women's100 metres sprint. richardson from the us is the big name here. she qualified for team usa for the tokyo olympics but shortly after that she was disqualified after testing positive for the main ingredient in cannabis.

that is on the banned list so she did not get to compete in tokyo. she has continued to work and is back now, qualified for paris and she goes into this as the favourite. she cruised through her heat yesterday in a sub—11 second time and that means she has got her semis tonight and we do expect that she will probably make the final. widely tipped as the favourite. she is going to take on one of the giants of the sport, shelly ann fraser pryce from jamaica. she is a two—time olympic world medallist and considered one of the greatest sprinters of all time. amongst all the athletics day, that one is coming up later tonight and we will keep an eye on it. one more thing to mention, there was a slight change to how they are doing the athletics this season in terms of if you fail to qualify through the heats. there a new system, a new feature which basically gives athletes a second chance at qualifying. so, if you failed to make it through the heat initially, you have the option

opportunity to race again. that is for people who may be don't qualify for people who may be don't qualify for reasons out of their control, such as a fall. so, a new feature there and we will look to see if athletes can progress through. mm? athletes can progress through. away from the athletics, _ athletes can progress through. away from the athletics, what _ athletes can progress through. away from the athletics, what else should we keep an eye out for? absolutely, cominu u- we keep an eye out for? absolutely, coming up later— we keep an eye out for? absolutely, coming up later this _ we keep an eye out for? absolutely, coming up later this afternoon - we keep an eye out for? absolutely, coming up later this afternoon we i coming up later this afternoon we have got tennis. that will be the women's singles gold medal match. this is quite an interesting one because it is not necessarily the familiar faces that we save. the world number one shockingly lost yesterday to the chinese player. she was quite a motion —— my emotional and upset after that loss and ends a 25 game winning streak for her. for the chinese player, she will take on the chinese player, she will take on the player from croatia. the chinese player, she will take on the playerfrom croatia. those two countries, one will come away with their first gold medal in women's

tennis singles, so a really exciting one. also gymnastics. simon biles is backin one. also gymnastics. simon biles is back in competition today in the vault final. we saw her take the team all round gold and the individual all—around gold, and the big return to the sport for her. we had a chance to speak to a former us gymnast and he reacted to that when in told us what it was like to see her return to the sport. it in told us what it was like to see her return to the sport.- her return to the sport. it was a team event _ her return to the sport. it was a team event and _ her return to the sport. it was a team event and shout _ her return to the sport. it was a team event and shout out - her return to the sport. it was a team event and shout out to . her return to the sport. it was a team event and shout out to allj her return to the sport. it was a - team event and shout out to all the women, _ team event and shout out to all the women, not — team event and shout out to all the women, notjust simone. they are all absolutely— women, notjust simone. they are all absolutely incredible. but with all the comeback pressure on simon biles. _ the comeback pressure on simon biles. she — the comeback pressure on simon biles, she took the mindset from what _ biles, she took the mindset from what i _ biles, she took the mindset from what i have heard, she isjust taking — what i have heard, she isjust taking one _ what i have heard, she isjust taking one day at a time, trying her best, _ taking one day at a time, trying her best, soaking in the moment and it looks_ best, soaking in the moment and it looks like _ best, soaking in the moment and it looks like she did that and had a tonne _ looks like she did that and had a tonne of— looks like she did that and had a tonne of fun out there in the team fine! _ tonne of fun out there in the team fine! in_ tonne of fun out there in the team fine! in my— tonne of fun out there in the team final. in my experience as a gymnast. _ final. in my experience as a gymnast, i know that my team are always _ gymnast, i know that my team are always the — gymnast, i know that my team are always the most successful when we are having _ always the most successful when we are having fun and it looked like

she was— are having fun and it looked like she was able to do that. thank— she was able to do that. thank you, fascinating stuff. the president of the olympic has given his approval to two boxes. both women had been tested by the international boxing association before the world championships and while not revealing the type of test they undertook, the iba has told the bbc that both women were found to have xy chromosomes, a combination for a man. the international olympic committee no longer recognises the iba and has allowed them to compete using its criteria.— using its criteria. let's be very clear. using its criteria. let's be very clear- we _ using its criteria. let's be very clear. we are _ using its criteria. let's be very clear. we are talking - using its criteria. let's be very clear. we are talking about. using its criteria. let's be very - clear. we are talking about women's boxing. we have two boxers who were

born as women. they have been raised as women. they have passports as women. and they have competed for many years as women. and this is the clear definition of a woman. there was never any doubt about them being a woman. what we see now is that some want to own the definition of who is a woman. and there i can only invite them to come up with a scientific based, new definition of who is a woman, and how can somebody being born, raised, completed and having a passport as a woman cannot be considered a woman? if they are

coming up with something, we are ready to listen. we are ready to look into it, but we will not take part in politically motivated, sometimes politically motivated, cultural war, and allow me to say that what is going on in this context, in the social media, with all this hate speech, with this aggression and abuse, fuelled by this agenda, it is totally unacceptable. the republican presidential nominee donald trump says he has agreed to take part in a televised debate with kamala harris on fox news next month. it's currently unclear whether ms harris has agreed to the debate and its terms. though she has said she would be

ready for a debate. let's speak to dr mark shanahan, who is an associate professor of us presidential politics at the university of surrey. thank you for coming on the programme. my pleasure, lovely to be here. this is an interesting one. it looked for a while in the narrative that donald trump was actually running scared of the second debate, but of course he had a terrific first debate againstjoe biden, which ensured thatjoe biden dropped out of the presidential race pretty much. kemal harris is a very different candidate. there was the sense that trump wanted to avoid a face to face confrontation with her. obviously she stood up this week and said come on, talk to my face, and he seems to have responded. but he has managed to get his network to run it, fox, which is much more sympathetic to him. he has changed the dates as well, bringing it

forward from originally september the 10th, to almost a week earlier, just before in fact the first polls open for postal votes for americans. interesting. we have got used to over the years paying a lot of attention to the debates, but also commentators coming on and saying actually, they don't move the dial that much, they are not that significant. that much, they are not that significant-— that much, they are not that significant. that much, they are not that siunificant. ., ., ., , significant. you can't say that any more. absolutely. _ significant. you can't say that any more. absolutely. american - more. absolutely. american elections, they are so much now about celebrity and presentation. it is unlikely that they will be deeply philosophical with policy discussions in these debates, and it is very much the chance for candidates to score points, to be seen to be strong in front of their supporters. we go back all the way to kennedy versus nixon in 1960 when these televised debate started. that was much more a reasoned debate. those listening to it on the radio said nixon probably won, but kennedy

was the tv performer. and as we have run through from the 60s, right up until today, run through from the 60s, right up untiltoday, it run through from the 60s, right up until today, it has really favoured those candidates who have a good presence on television. [30 those candidates who have a good presence on television.— those candidates who have a good presence on television. do we know an hinu presence on television. do we know anything about _ presence on television. do we know anything about kamala _ presence on television. do we know anything about kamala harris - presence on television. do we know anything about kamala harris 's - presence on television. do we know anything about kamala harris 's tv| anything about kamala harris �*s tv debate style? she anything about kamala harris 's tv debate style?— debate style? she wasn't brilliant in the 2028 _ debate style? she wasn't brilliant in the 2028 primaries _ debate style? she wasn't brilliant in the 2028 primaries for- debate style? she wasn't brilliant in the 2028 primaries for the - in the 2028 primaries for the democrats, she got a little bit flustered and dropped a couple of questions. but if you have seen her in the last couple of weeks since, she has looked a strong performer. 0f she has looked a strong performer. of course, she is a prosecutor by trade. she was a lawyer back in california. those skills, of being able to talk convincingly to an audience, will probably stand her in pretty good stead. qm. audience, will probably stand her in pretty good stead-— pretty good stead. 0k, thank you very much _ pretty good stead. ok, thank you very much for— pretty good stead. 0k, thank you very much for coming _ pretty good stead. 0k, thank you very much for coming on - pretty good stead. 0k, thank you very much for coming on the - very much for coming on the programme. we will watch this debate with interest.

the us government has revoked a plea deal agreed earlier this week with khalid sheikh mohammed, the man accused of masterminding the september 11th terror attacks in 2001. the deal angered some relatives of the 9/11 victims, as well as republican leaders. here's our north america correspondent, peter bowes. this is the latest complication in this already extremely long running case. khalid sheikh mohammed, the alleged architect of the september the 11th attacks, and his two alleged accomplices have been held at guantanamo bay since 2003, when they were detained. the case has been delayed year after year after year because of complicated pre—trial issues. but now we're here just a couple of days ago that there had seemingly been a plea deal, an arrangement whereby whereby they would plead guilty with the death penalty being taken off the table, and that sparked widespread anger and outrage from survivors, from family members of victims,

those who died on that day. mikejohnson, the republican speaker of the house of representatives, said it was a slap in the face for the families of the almost 3000 people who died. well, now lloyd austin, the us defence secretary, has stepped in to, in effect, reverse that decision of a plea deal, saying that he had removed from the case the military official who oversaw the court at guantanamo bay and facilitated the agreement. in a statement, he said in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre—trial agreements with the accused, responsibility for such a decision should rest with him and what that does this is a very significant reversal. essentially, what it does is put the death penalty back on the table as a possible punishment for the three men. the us rock band, aerosmith, have retired from touring after more than 50 years.

the group said their lead singer, steven tyler's voice, had been permanently damaged from a vocal chord injury and fractured larynx. the group had been on a farewell tour last year when they were forced to postpone it after three gigs. known for classics including dream on, walk this way, and love in an elevator, aerosmith won four grammys during their career. stay with us here on bbc news. one bit of news just to bring you from the afp news agency, the health ministry in the hamas run gaza said the death toll is 39,550 there. this is bbc news.

hello. after the heatwave that has lasted nearly a week across southern parts of the uk, things are turning cooler and fresher through the weekend. there will be some sunshine around but also a little bit of rain in the forecast, mainly across the north west. one or two showers in the south—east during saturday. they are courtesy of this area of cloud, a frontal system affecting east anglia, southern and eastern england for a time but that should clear this afternoon leaving the odd sharp shower around the coast. showers later today for northern ireland and scotland, but some sunshine in between any of those showers. northern england, the midlands and wales all looking dry and bright and temperatures for most in the low to mid 20s. this evening, showers ease away so some dry weather before the sun sets. overnight, cloud increases from the west and there will be light rain moving in for northern ireland and western scotland. temperatures 8—13, so much cooler and fresher and much more comfortable for sleeping in the south than over the past week or so.

tomorrow, low—pressure sits towards the north—west, eventually pushing weather fronts in across northern ireland and the west of scotland. heavy rain in the afternoon. eastern scotland will keep dry weather for the morning at least, with england and wales staying dry with spells of sunshine developing. 15—23 north to south, so typical for the time of year. sunday and into monday, this weather front becomes slow—moving for northern ireland and scotland, so rainfall totals mounting up with a wet spell of weather for monday across the north west. a very different story for england and wales. dry with warm sunshine. breeze from the south with temperatures on the rise again. 26 or 27 for central and eastern parts on monday. the high teens or late 20s further north. eventually, they weather front pushes out of scotland and northern ireland into england and wales, but will fizzle out as it does. still some cloud and rain for central and south—eastern england on tuesday. as that clears away behind it we are back in to spells

of sunshine, a little bit fresher with a breeze from the west. temperatures 15—24 on tuesday. further ahead, high pressure not far away, so a lot of dry and settled weather, especially towards the south. some rain at times across the north. goodbye for now.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the us is to deploy additional warships and fighterjets to the middle east to help defend israel from possible attacks by iran and its proxies. tensions remain high in the region over the assassinations of the hamas leader, ismail haniyeh in iran — as well as a key commander of hezbollah. a police station has been attacked and the property next to it set alight during clashes between rioters and police in sunderland. three injured officers were taken to hospital and eight people arrested. beer cans and stones were thrown at the officer. it's day 8 of the olympics in paris — there are 31 gold medals up for grabs, with the women's 100m final and the swimming women's 800m freestyle final both on the table. more now on the riots in sunderland — eight people have been arrested