efforts on proposed ceasefire talks between israel and hamas due to take place on thursday. cia director william burns and america's middle east envoy will travel to qatar, as hopes are pinned on a deal to end the conflict in gaza and de—escalate tensions in the region. nearly 40,000 people have been killed in the war, according to gaza's hamas—run health ministry. american qatari and egyptian mediators have invited israel and hamas for the talks. hamas has indicated it won't take part in the current round of negotiations and wants to stick to a ceasefire proposal put forward byjoe biden months ago. israel says it will attend. earlier the us secretary of state and the qatari prime minister warned other countries in the middle east to not undermine ongoing efforts to reach a deal. diplomacy is being stepped up in the region to prevent a wider war between israel and lebanese armed group hezbollah, which is

backed by iran. tensions have soared following killing last month of hamas�* political leader ismail haniyeh during a visit to tehran. israel has never confirmed it was behind the assassination. from jerusalem, our middle east correspondent lucy williamson reports on the impacts of war in gaza. and a warning, viewers may find some of the content of her report to be upsetting. in gaza, peace is for the dead, not the living — not for faras and his five siblings, laying theirfather to rest today in khan younis. majid baraka was killed in israeli artillery strikes, straight they said, as he went to help the wounded. "we were just sitting around," faras said, "he was playing with us. "when the first strike happened, "he went to rescue people. "in the second strike, he was killed." but this push for a ceasefire is being driven by events

outside gaza, by israel's growing conflict with hezbollah in lebanon, by threats of iranian retaliation for the assassination of key hamas and hezbollah leaders. a ceasefire in gaza could prevent regional war. the deal would also help enable a diplomatic resolution here in lebanon, and that would prevent an outbreak of a wider war. we have to take advantage of this window for diplomatic action and diplomatic solutions. that time is now. since the last ceasefire negotiations, the stakes involved in a deal have grown, but so have the sticking points. benjamin netanyahu says the wrong deal would harm israel's security. his critics say it would also harm his governing coalition and that mr netanyahu is protecting himself. the prime minister wants israeli troops to keep control of gaza's southern border and to filter unarmed civilians moving back to the north.

hamas says these are new demands and that the time for negotiation is over. there are also disputes over israeli hostages and palestinian prisoners and over conditions for resuming the war. a former israeli negotiator says outsiders are driving this deal. it seems that the mediators, the united states, egypt and qatar, have decided that they need to change the rules of the game, put an ultimatum on the table, put a bridging proposal on the table and tell hamas and israel that they have to do it. it is obvious that the mediators want the agreement more than the parties do, and that is a big part of the problem. these talks have been billed as the last chance for a deal. the price of failure will be paid by the hostages, by the region, by teenagers like faras. success may depend on the leaders of israel and hamas risking their own political survival.

lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. mediation efforts have repeatedly stalled since a week—long ceasefire in november. it has been the only pause so far in the war. dozens of israeli hostages captured on october 7th were released in exchange for palestinian prisoners held in israeli jails. for more analysis i spoke to laura blumenfeld, former middle east policy advisor at the us state department. there is a lot of effort now particularly from the us side to make sure these talks go ahead on thursday. what is your assessment of whether they will? the big challenge all along has been canned the parties synchronise their watches to make as your report noted the big challenge all along has been can the parties synchronise their watches. as your report noted there has been more

of a sense of urgency perhaps by the negotiators, the moderators, the us and others than the parties themselves. i am optimistic because i think these negotiations are different than all others. live first, the lives of the hostages. it is true they are under lock and key but they hold the key to unlock the region to piece. to unlock the region to peace. prime minister netanyahu held a five—hour meeting with his key coalition partners to discuss the opportunity to give him more room to manoeuvre because according to intelligence assessments, the hostages�* lives are at stake now. there are indications at least one male hostage was killed by a captor and two female hostages were wounded and i think those female hostages are a particularly sensitive point. the second i would say is the august 15 date in doha is a shot marriage, no ordinary negotiation. he has guns to his head. hezbollah and iran are poised to retaliate. if he so chooses, to show the compromises necessary,

that could be also the key, if they reach a ceasefire, it gives both iran and potentially hezbollah a face—saving way to say they regain dignity, they shifted that kind of paralysing moment of weakness that they were exposed to through these assassinations back into balance, perhaps removing the need for revenge and the third reason i am optimistic again is for perhaps pessimistic reasons but one of those too big to fail which is the economies of the region, oil prices going up, the israeli credit rating going down, and although we don't always recognise how important economics are, i think that could make a difference. at the moment we are hearing is hamas will abstaining from those talks, though. yes. i feel that is more technicality than giving any real concern here. they did shoot the messenger, israel killed ismail haniyeh,

so he was their lead negotiator but there are folks in doha in the wings and nearby and they are able to convey whatever they need. this is about the us applying pressure on israel. we know william burns, the cia director, is on his way. does that show you the gravity of how the us sees this particular moment and do you see this as a make or break stage then? i think it is important. even if you zoom out for president biden, his legacy, after president trump, i think president biden�*s top goal in terms of foreign policy was to restore trust. the quote was, "america is back." what that means is america has your back, to allies whether israel or frankly the ukraine, before his presidency is over, you see is volodymyr zelensky poking the hezbollah nest and iran is being gouged in the eye.

i think they are all raising the stakes and it is up to america to say either way, whether it is president trump or president harris, who will be next, there is uncertainty but president biden has a moment and this is a moment to set things right. there has been a lot of concern about the conflict in the middle east spreading even wider after the killing of the hezbollah commander and ismail haniyeh from hamas. are these talks going to perhaps stall that possible retaliation people are anticipating from iran? based on my experience as a middle east negotiator in the state department under president 0bama i would recommend that they have a plan b, side from reaching negotiations, locking up that ceasefire deal as much as i wanted, we spent three days haggling over a comma... so i think you need

to think of another way. the western allies are saying to iran stand down. i think we have to think of a way how else can they say the face if it is not a ceasefire deal? that would be a practical thing and in terms of hezbollah, i think there are more options frankly for hezbollah to retaliate without it going the region into a major war. i think they have more options. they could go for a military target which would be limited but i would caution that easily could spiral out of control because israeli military planners just wanna take a shot at hezbollah. they have been waiting for over a decade. the rape and murder of a 31—year—old female trainee doctor has sparked outrage and protests across india, after the young medic was found in the hospital seminar hall, half naked with extensive injuries the morning after a 36 hour shift at her hospital kolkata in north—east india. mass demonstrations spread rapidly as tens of thousands

of women, in kolkata and across west bengaljoined the reclaim the night marches, demanding independence and to live without fear. and in a show of solidarity, more than 8,000 doctors in the western indian state of maharashtra reportedly walked out of theirjobs at government hospitals, stopping all but emergency services. the tragedy has shined a light on sexual violence in the country, and the lack of protection for medical professionals. doctors and activists are calling for the hospital authorities to resign, adequate security for medical staff and changes to healthcare protection laws. the brutal nature of the attack has prompted comparisons with the notorious 2012 death of a young woman on a delhi bus, which sparked massive protests. the indian american actor and producer poorna jagannathan campaigns to raise awareness of gender violence and produced and starred in the play

nirbhaya which focused on what happened more than a decade ago. i asked her for her reflections on this latest case. ifind it so ironic i am here speaking to you on the eve of india's independence, the 15th, india's independence day and when it is so clear to me and the rest of us women do not have either their independence or full freedoms. is enough changing? we first met after the delhi gang rape and you were just conceiving the play and at the time there were a lot of conversations about what needed to change. i guess the question is more than a decade on, has enough changed? i think of how naive we all were back then. we really thought 2012, the gang rape and subsequent death was a tipping point.

it was called a tipping point, which means after this, things will change and the fact that they did change at the legislative level, it was so groundbreaking to all of us and we started using words in households like rape and sexual violence that we had never used before. it felt like such a movement, but the truth is, what i think we all realise, is you cannot legislate your way out of this, this is not a change that needs to come from the top—down, it needs be from the ground up. we haven't done enough work at the community level, around masculinity and patriarchy, forcing men to dismantle where this violence is coming from. one of the challenges when it comes to conversations around sexual violence in india is getting over the issue around victim blaming. i have covered gang rapes before and rapes before way

sometimes even authorities say women should not go out after certain time at night or women should wear more modest clothing. for many activists i've spoken to they say that is one of the biggest problems, the women are often blamed. i think it is symptomatic and i know you always say this but victim blaming happens across cultures and it is just... it is so symptomatic of countries and cultures that do not value women and why are women are not equal and where there are spaces we can go into and spaces we cannot. instead of looking, being... looking inside and looking at culture and dismantling things is hard. even in this case the principal of the college said she should not have taken a nap where she did after a 36 hour shift. it is the first thing people go to because they don't want to do the work involved

in dismantling this culture of rape that exists in india and south asia and across the world. when you see the images of the thousands of people who have taken to the streets in solidarity for the victim, men and women of different backgrounds and social groups, does that give you some hope, though? you know, it is times like this, it may not be a tipping point, but it is certainly a time to act, a time to demand change, and all of these instances i believe add up to something. i am not sure where we're heading i believe there are 70 or 90 rapes an hour happening at this point, but i feel like the outrage and anger add up to something and that is all we as people can do and the fact there are men and women marching is so heartening for me to see because in south asia, and again i always include in so many other parts

of the world, we think of rape as a female problem, that in places like india the statistics are more boys are victims of sexual violence than girls, it's 49% girls, 51% boys, so we are not talking about the entirety of the problem. i feel like we get bits and pieces and we fight. we have action and energy around these small points, these incidents that happen. i feel like there is a lack of looking at the whole picture. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. a woman from cheshire has been jailed for 15 months after suggesting on facebook that a mosque "should be blown up with the adults inside" after the violence that followed the southport stabbings. it is one of severaljail terms that have been given out in the last few days

for social media posts during the recent unrest. train drivers are to vote on a new pay deal aimed at ending long—running national rail strikes. it follows talks between the aslef union and the government. the offer will now be put to members for a vote. under the deal, they'd get two increases of between 4.75% and 5%, for the first two years of the dispute — with 4.5% for 2024-5. the scottish government has scrapped a universal winter fuel payment and is introducing emergency spending controls to make up for budget shortfalls. it's understood a number of other projects will also be cut. scotland's finance secretary, shona robison, said the snp government faced "the most challenging financial circumstances since devolution." you're live with bbc news. the world health organization has declared mpox, the disease which was once known as monkey pox, a global public health emergency. it follows the african cdc calling the mpox outbreak

a public health emergency. the highly infectious disease is spreading across other parts of central and east africa. the who's declaration of the mpox outbreak as a global emergency means that research, funding, and public health measures will be prioritised. the bbc�*s global health correspondent dominic hughes has more. and it represents a call to arms, to marshal resources, both medical, political and financial, to try and get a grip on this outbreak. that is what underpins this startling announcement, a really big rise in the number of cases. more than 14,000 cases so far this year alone. that number outstrips all of the cases in the year before and sadly, more than 520 deaths as well. most of those cases have been restricted to the democratic republic of congo, the drc, but what is really causing concern is that cases have also been seen now in at least

15 other countries. 16 months of war, more than 15,000 people killed. more than 10 million forced to flee their homes, in the world's largest internal displacement crisis. the united states is leading fresh talks in geneva this week aimed at ending the war in sudan, despite both parties in the conflict saying they would not attend. delegates from the united arab emirates, saudi arabia, egypt, the african union and the united nations started discussions on wednesday that could last up to ten days. sudan's government was the first to boycott the talks, accusing their rival paramilitary rapid support forces, the rsf — who they are fighting — of not sticking to the terms of a deal made last year. although there were delegates from the rsf are in geneva, they said they would stay away at the last minute. 0ur correspondent imogen foulkes sent this update from geneva. well, things have been leading up to

these talks for quite some time. we've had preliminary talks injeddah, the saudi arabia. we've got a number of neighbouring countries — egypt, for example, the united arab emirates, the african union and the united nations — all there. the talks are being sponsored by the united states. now, theoretically, on the agenda is access for humanitarian aid, protection of civilians trying to flee and a kind of a ceasefire, perhaps temporary to begin with. unfortunately, as you said in your introduction, the sudanese armed forces have indicated they will not come to switzerland. and just before i came on air, i was talking to the us diplomat leading these talks who told me that also, unfortunately, the rapid support forces travelled to switzerland, but now have decided not to go into the negotiation room. so, it's really a pretty sad state of affairs and very hard to see how any kind of relief

for millions of civilians, frankly, in sudan — it's the world's biggest humanitarian crisis — how anything can be achieved without notjust one, but of both warring parties in the room. former president donald trump has been back on the campaign trail in the key battleground state of north carolina. it's a state he won by one percentage point in the 2020 election againstjoe biden. my colleague caitriona perry was at the rally in asheville nc and gave this assessment of what mr trump said. he spoke at the beginning of these remarks about how he is been criticised for airing grievances rather than concentrating on policies and this was designed to be a

reset, to be a more focused donald trump who would tackle her in terms of the biden administration's handling of economic policy and what he intends to do about the cost of living crisis in this country and in this state in particular and in this state in particular and he began by doing that but quite quickly turned on his rival. ~ ., ., ., ., rival. we are not going to let this incompetent _ rival. we are not going to let this incompetent socialist. this incompetent socialist lunatic keep breaking our economy for four lunatic keep breaking our economy forfour more lunatic keep breaking our economy for four more years. it will destroy our country. on election day we are going to tell her that we have had enough, that we cannot take it anymore, kamala, you are doing anymore, kamala, you are doing a horriblejob. you were a terrible attorney journal and a horriblejob. you were a terrible attorneyjournal and a terrible attorneyjournal and a terrible of two stick attorney general. you are fired! get out of here, go! get out of here. right? get out. go on. fix,

of here, go! get out of here. right? get out. go on. a little flavour there _ right? get out. go on. a little flavour there of _ right? get out. go on. a little flavour there of what - right? get out. go on. a little flavour there of what we - right? get out. go on. a little| flavour there of what we heard from the republican nominee. he spoke for about one hour and 15, 20 minutes and at the event, it was a campaign event and to discuss this more i am joined by a national politics reporter. donald trump began by saying he will make some intellectual remarks about his economic policies. did we hear any new policies? he economic policies. did we hear any new policies?— any new policies? he really 'ust hit any new policies? he really just hit on _ any new policies? he really just hit on what _ any new policies? he really just hit on what he - any new policies? he really just hit on what he has - any new policies? he really i just hit on what he has already thrown out there. no taxes on social security, no taxes on tips, a promise, vague promises to unleash an economic boom the likes of which america has never seen. likes of which america has neverseen. it likes of which america has never seen. it was all very iumpy never seen. it was all very jumpy and, if you will, and frankly it was overshadowed by what we are accustomed to seeing from former president trump which is a litany of grievances about the 2020 election, about president biden and know about vice president

harris. there was a moment in the speech where he even said almost an inner monologue coming out, they said i am supposed to talk about the economy and it is the most important issue but i am not so sure that it is. something to that effect. so i am not sure that effect. so i am not sure that he accomplished what his top campaign aides wanted him top campaign aides wanted him to accomplish today. we top campaign aides wanted him to accomplish today.— to accomplish today. we read a lot of reporting _ to accomplish today. we read a lot of reporting today _ to accomplish today. we read a lot of reporting today about - lot of reporting today about what is going on inside the campaign in terms of the focus being on fighting againstjoe biden and that has changed. it is a totally different dynamic and you can see the former president has been thrown off his game a bit. it president has been thrown off his game a bit.— his game a bit. it is almost as if his campaign _ his game a bit. it is almost as if his campaign work- his game a bit. it is almost as if his campaign work too - his game a bit. it is almost as if his campaign work too well| if his campaign work too well and certainly president biden �*s age in the way things played out at that debate in june played right into donald trump �*s hands until it did not because it was so bad. democrats pressured biden and he gave in and though it is a

totally different campaign and over the last few weeks i think we have seen it is almost like donald trump does not really know yet how to run against kamala harris.— know yet how to run against kamala harris. and if we could talk about _ kamala harris. and if we could talk about the _ kamala harris. and if we could talk about the polling. - kamala harris. and if we could talk about the polling. ever . talk about the polling. ever since she became the party's candidate and the nominee, donald trump has been sliding and she has been gaining ground. today we heard from the reporter that in north carolina she has stepped ahead of him. what does that mean? the horse races difficult _ what does that mean? the horse races difficult to _ what does that mean? the horse races difficult to measure. - what does that mean? the horse races difficult to measure. i - races difficult to measure. i think what is safe to say is that there is obvious enthusiasm among democrats that did not exist a month ago. it means states like this where he won by 1.3 percentage points are now tossup again. it was a long time ago. either of these candidates can win but it is a different landscape. nasa officials say the two astronauts stranded on the international space station may have to stay in space for at least six more months. sunita williams and barry wilmore have already spent two

months in space after a planned eight day flight test experienced technical issues. problems with the thrusters on the boeing starliner spacecraft have prevented their return to earth. stay with us here on bbc news. hello, there. wednesday was a cloudier and fresher feel for most of us, but east anglia still clung on to some sunshine and some heat. 26 celsius was the high on wednesday afternoon in parts of suffolk. but the story will continue to change for thursday. under this influence of low pressure, some wet and windy weather will move its way into scotland and northern ireland. that will gradually sink its way south and east, but as it bumps into high pressure, the rain will weaken somewhat. so, first thing on thursday morning, we'll have a slightly brighter story northwest of the great glen.

the rain turning showery from aberdeen down to glasgow and into northern ireland. heavier bursts of rain through the scottish borders into northwest england, and there will be a fair amount of cloud through northern england, the midlands, wales and southwest england. so if we draw a line from hull down to southampton, anywhere south and east of that should start the morning off dry with some sunshine. but the cloud will tend to build up as we go through the day. 0ur weather front continues to sink its way south and east, weakening all the time, but a band of showery rain will push its way across wales and into the midlands. but we mightjust cling on to some sunshine. 26 celsius in east anglia, once again, fresher for most. now, that weather front will continue to push its way through the south and east during the overnight period, thursday, into the early hours of friday morning. it's the dividing line between fresher conditions to the far northwest. here, we'll start friday morning in single figures, but still a relatively warm night for sleeping, 17 or 18 celsius in the southeast corner. early morning cloud and rain will ease away.

high pressure then builds once again. a few scattered showers into the far north and west, but on friday, a good deal of dry, settled and sunny weather for most of us. we've lost that humidity, that fresher feel will still continue, 14—21 degrees for most in the north, 20—25 across much of england and wales. now, into the weekend, high pressure will continue to build in from the west and continue to quieten things down, so not a bad weekend in prospect for pretty much most of us, really. a few scattered showers from time to time in the northwest, but on the whole, dry, settled and sunny, with highs once again peaking at 25 celsius, 77 fahrenheit. enjoy.

v0|ce—0ver: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. replacing joe biden with kamala harris has injected a shot of adrenaline into the democratic party's campaign to retain the white house. the upcoming party convention should maintain that bounce. but then what? well, the next three months will be a battle for the hearts and minds of key swing voters. my guest will be in the thick of it. shannon watts founded

a nationwide gun control movement led by women, and now she's rallying women, specifically white women, for harris. is her activism, strategically savvy or potentially divisive? shannon watts in san francisco, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to have you on the show. you have had a powerful voice in the american political arena for the last decade and more, but you never sought elected political office. you chose to be an activist.

why?