live from london. this is bbc news. ukraine says it's destroyed another key bridge inside the kursk region of russia. us secretary of state antony blinken makes his ninth trip to the middle east since the start of the war in gaza — with more pressure than ever to secure a ceasefire deal. vietnam's top leader to lam is in china for a visit aimed to strengthen the bond between the communist—run neighbours. the french actor alain delon — once described as the most beautiful man in cinema — has died at the age of 88. hello, i'm samantha simmonds. ukraine's air force say they've destroyed another bridge in russia's kursk region. air force commander mykola oleshchuck released this footage

claimed to be of the strike on the crossing over the seym river, saying "minus one more bridge". he added that these operations were depriving russia of logisitical capabilities. it comes after this video, which the ukrainian military says shows the destruction of a key bridge inside the kursk region of russia. this video shows large explosions on the structure, about 11 kilometres from the border. these are the latest pictures from the rostov region in south—west russia. the governor there says that firefighters were called to put out a fire at an industrial facility struck by debris from a ukrainian drone. both sides say air defences destroyed multiple drones and missiles fired by the other side overnight. let's speak to samuel ramani. he is an associate fellow at the royal united services institute. welcome to you. thank you for being with us. what is your assessment of

these incursions into russia by ukraine and what impact it could have on the waryellow i think that the ukrainians are trying to reverse momentum after a year of stalling. i failed summer offensive and russia's into rental gains in don ask. this put them somewhere on the back front. now ukraine is taking advantage of russia's week border offences death —— defences. that... can push some kind of a land swap deal and could build momentum for ukraine and in eventual negotiations. what about the notion from the air force commander that these operations were depriving russia of logistical capabilities, do you believe that is the case? well, russian logistics depend on being able to cross the ukrainian border into the donbas region as well as being able to move from

crimea to the southern front. ukraine's heavy strikes on the black sea fleet and the crimean bridge and the kursk bridge have derailed the movement to the southern front and now these attacks delay logistics to the eastern front so i would agree with that. they really have dealt a number on a russian logistics on both fronts. in number on a russian logistics on both from-— both fronts. in the past hour the reuters news — both fronts. in the past hour the reuters news agency _ both fronts. in the past hour the reuters news agency are - both fronts. in the past hour the i reuters news agency are reporting that belarus have a station more than 120,000 troops on its border with ukraine and belarus and that minsk could send more to the border as its response. what do you make of that, how significant that could be? they are playing a game of feed are actually with the ukrainian border for some time and they sometimes say that the situation is increasingly dangerous and ukraine is about to invade them and they put more troops

there and even as recently as a few weeks ago, their response was more mitigated and are pulling back and now they are showing solidarity with ukraine's incursion into kursk. but the russians have not really offered any material support even though there are their closest ally and they have actually called for peace talks between russia and ukraine. lukashenko was actually saying a few weeks ago that now is time for the war to end so belarus is not showing much solidarity with russia and this is... ., ., much solidarity with russia and this is... how do you think russia is likel to is... how do you think russia is likely to respond? _ is... how do you think russia is likely to respond? could - is... how do you think russia is likely to respond? could these l likely to respond? could these incursions by ukraine into russian territory, the fear it could escalate things?- territory, the fear it could escalate thins? , ., , territory, the fear it could escalate thins? , . , ., escalate things? there is always a fear but the _ escalate things? there is always a fear but the question _ escalate things? there is always a fear but the question is _ escalate things? there is always a fear but the question is how - escalate things? there is always a fear but the question is how far i escalate things? there is always a l fear but the question is how far can russia actually escalate and do more than actually before the ukrainian incursions began. since we have seen this, we have seen the russians fire missiles or attempt to on kyiv, which is something they were doing

before, they could broaden attacks to other parts of the front lines on western ukraine in areas that have been largely untouched but that is something they have been largely doing. they have assumed that ukraine has pre—empted that by withdrawing civilians from that region across the border. there is always the apocalyptic scenarios, they might attack the nuclear plant or the dam or even use a nuclear strike and so far there have been problems in the zaporizhzhia plant but... . , , ., but... really interesting to get our but... really interesting to get your analysis. _ but... really interesting to get your analysis, thank _ but... really interesting to get your analysis, thank you. - but... really interesting to get your analysis, thank you. the | your analysis, thank you. the situation at the zaporizhzhia power plant is continuing to deteriorate and they have been occupied by russian forces since in the invasion. there has been increased activity in the air in the

last week. that includes a drone explosion just outside the plant next to the cooling ponds. the us secretary of state is travelling to israel as cautious optimism grows amongst israeli negotiators about the possibility of reaching a deal on gaza. antony blinken is heading to the region this weekend, after president biden also said that a ceasefire deal was closer than ever. but — senior hamas figures have dismissed such optimism as an illusion. there have been more israeli air strikes in gaza — and israel also said it had struck targets inside neighbouring lebanon which belong to his brother, the group which supports —— which belongs to hezbollah. hamas in gaza. greg mackenzie has this report. images from across the region over the weekend show there are still huge obstacles to peace despite two days of us—backed talks in qatar. on friday night, an israeli air strike reportedly killed 15 people in the central area of gaza. although israel said it had

eliminated a number of armed fighters, several women and children were also reportedly killed. us secretary of state antony blinken will arrive in the region to promote what is being called a final bridging proposal aimed at overcoming the differences between hamas and israel, which would hopefully lead to a ceasefire and the release of hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners being held in israeli jails. in tel aviv, thousands took to the streets, including anti—government protesters and some of the relatives of hostages still in gaza who are calling the current negotiations as the last chance to get some of them out alive. and the other 140 hostages are paying a political price because they could have come already with a deal such a long time ago.

so many people could have come alive but instead they are going to come home bodies. they're dead. there's an urgency for the next round of talks to succeed, with fears the conflicts in gaza and either side of israel's northern border could escalate into a wider regional war. but hamas officials have already dismissed american optimism as an illusion. greg mckenzie, bbc news. 0ur middle east correspondent, jenny hill, has more tel aviv — which is where antony blinken is due to land in the coming hours. i think this is all about keeping up the momentum. the us has been pushing really hard along with mediators qatar and egypt to get us and israeli leaders and hamas to agree a deal. we have had a lot of very positive messaging coming out of the states. it is acknowledged that there is still more work to do. but in the words ofjoe biden that we are closer to a deal

than ever we have been. mr blinken, once he arrives, is due to hold talks with the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. israel is also sounding a positive note and last night mr neta nyahu's office issued a statement in which it expressed cautious optimism about progress but hamas say any positivity or optimism is simply an illusion and a senior official told the bbc no progress has been made and is all this goes on so too does the war in gaza at a terrible human cost and it is feared that conflict is in danger of becoming an all—out regional war so as antony blinken arrives in his plane he knows

the stakes could not be higher. the united states were calling this are bridging proposal, the idea they were building on points of agreement as they described in recent weeks but also aiming to close remaining gaps to a number of sticking points we understand remain. israel would for example like to have some control over the return of displaced palestinians to northern gaza and also controversy over who controls a strip of land in gaza bordering egypt. known as the philadelphia corridor.

known as the philadelphi corridor. also very keen to retain a veto over the palestinian prisoners released in exchange for israeli hostages currently held captive in gaza by hamas. the political leader of hamas was killed in a strike in iran a couple weeks ago and the man believed to be the mastermind behind here in the uk — the home office says it will include extreme misogyny among types of extremism which the government should take steps to tackle. it's started a review of potential gaps in the current system and the government says it will develop plans to "map and monitor" extremist trends — both on and offline. the home secretary yvette cooper said that "for too long" governments had "failed to address" the issue. here's our political correspondent charlotte rose with more on how the government plans to tackle extremism — in particular extreme misogyny. yvette cooper is saying there will be a step change in how the government tackles extremism whether offline are online and applied this rapid review by civil servants into how it is dealt with. she says she has asked them to look at the rise in both islamist and far

right extremism as well as the rise in misogyny and other broad categories of extremism which she says includes a fixation on violence and says she wants evidence on what works to try to disrupt people spreading what she calls hateful and divisive beliefs that promote violence and undermine democracy and she wants ways to crack down on that kind of behaviour. people will have questions about whether today's announcement is linked to some of the riots we have seen in towns and cities across the uk in recent weeks but actually this was something in the labour election manifesto so clearly it is something the party has been thinking about for some time. when they talk about extreme misogyny what kind of things at the talking about? is it radicalisation of men online? this is interesting because it is not something

completely new, it has been looked at within the broader remit of extremism since the early 2020s when a concern began to write about something called incel culture, communities of young men online saying they are involuntarily celibate and this was linked to the plymouth shootings in 2021 when five people were killed by a young man called jake davison. and this is also looking at people like influencers like andrew tait and the content they have read by young men in particular. and the home secretary saying she is concerned the previous government didn't have any kind of extremism policy dating back to 2015. that is when the last counter—extremism policy was published and she saying this area has been hollowed out in terms of government response. this is not the first review labour has announced he's coming to power injuly,

we have seen announcements of lots of reviews from the strategic defence review to a review of the national curriculum and i guess some critics of the government would say it is quite easy to announce reviews and harder to actually take decisive action. i guess what the government would say is they need to know what the picture is before they can decide what action they need to take. health ministers in southern africa have agreed to hold an urgent meeting to assess the impact of mpox in the region. it comes as the africa centres for diseases control and prevention declared its first ever public health emergency, with 18 thousand cases and 500 deaths reported since january. time for a catch up on all today's sporting action. manchester city begin the defence of their premier league title. they play chelsea, a team they couldn't beat in the league last season

on their way to becoming the first team in history to win the top flight title four times in a row. they also haven't lost in the premier league since december. but pep guardiola sez it's going to take a lot of work to make it five. 140 points to play, we start from zero everyone, and we will see. if we are going to conquer, we have to conquer again. because they are not going to give us now the premier league for 211—25 season, so we have to do it. so i understand because normally when people say, we are favourites, i will not accept it. when you have won four in a row, six and seven, it's normal to accept we are favourites. we have to live with that but i know what we have to do. this is point by point, it must be, must we win, and of course every season is more and more difficult. well, manchester city would have no doubt noticed comfortable wins for title rivals liverpool and arsenal on saturday. mikel arteta sez his arsenal players are willing to try for a third time to dethrone city afterfinishing runners up in the last two seasons... when we are in la, they asked me

what do you need to win a premier league to d for sure? 140 point wins it. it does not mean that. he was talking about that on the first day, it does not make sense. this is a new story, this is a beautiful one, hopefully, that we have to write from the beginning, the day was the first chapter of that. we have some beautiful ones and let's be prepared for the ones that are not so beautiful and respond to it in the best way. holger rune ended jack draper's run to the quarter finals of the cincinnati 0pen, the danejoining frances tiafoe. alex zverev and world number one jannik sinner in the last four of the final tournament before the us open. the british number one had come from a set down to win his previous two matches, but was unable to repeat the feat against rune who won in straight sets. each had three break points... draper took none... rune all three of his. australia plan to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first—ever test match by playing england in march 2027 at the melbourne cricket ground, the same venue as the original game. the two teams will return

to the mcg in march 2027, just like they did 100 years on from that first test. the match in 1977 remarkably ended in exactly the same way as in 1877... a 45 run win for australia. a second consecutive round of 64 has pulled hideki matsuyama away from the field heading into the final round of the stjude championship in memphis. he's tryingto become the first japanese player to win a fedex playoff event and is five shots clear on 17 under par. this is the first event of the fedex cup playoffs on the pga tour and will determine the top 50 players who will advance to the next tournament. meanwhile, the women's tour is about to head into the last major tournament of their season, but there's still one round to play at the scottish 0pen. american lauren coughlin who has a one shot advantage over compatriot megan khang ahead of the final day at dundonald links after six birdies in her round of 66. coughlin is on 12 under,

while charley hull is the closest british player three back. dricus du plessis retained his middleweight title at ufc 305... submitting opponent israel adesanya in the fourth round in perth. the south african rocked nigeria—born new zealander adesanya with a right hook before dragging him down and forcing him to tap out. following the contest, du plessis paid tribute to adesanya as the pair settled their differences after a heated build—up to what was the first defence of his title. follow the football on a website throughout the day, of course, and that's it for now, back to use an answer. . ~' that's it for now, back to use an answer. ., ~ , ., thailand's new prime minister has said she will take steps to stimulate the country's flagging economy, combat drug problems and improve universal health care. she was speaking shortly after receiving the king's endorsement

in a televised ceremony in the capital, bangkok. it paves the way for the 37 —year—old to form a cabinet. her investiture comes on the same day her father — the former prime minister ends his parole following convictions relating to abuse of authority during his time in office. he was included in a royal pardon for prisoners last month. it's very important for china and vietnam because potential tensions exist by the efforts by china to create hegemony in the region and the disputes in the south china sea have effected vietnam specifically. so, china, vietnam is seeking to preserve its sovereignty while at the same time relying economically very heavily on china. haw the same time relying economically very heavily on china.— very heavily on china. how do you think that will — very heavily on china. how do you think that will go? _ very heavily on china. how do you think that will go? vietnam - very heavily on china. how do you think that will go? vietnam does l think that will go? vietnam does have claims in the south china sea and it is a difficult balancing act for them when they rely so heavily on trade from china?—

on trade from china? yes. so, vietnam _ on trade from china? yes. so, vietnam has — on trade from china? yes. so, vietnam has to _ on trade from china? yes. so, vietnam has to manage - on trade from china? yes. so, vietnam has to manage this i on trade from china? yes. so, i vietnam has to manage this very carefully, there is domestic discontent and demonstrations against china which the vietnamese government has clamped down upon and at the same time, they obviously want to maintain the trade balance and the vietnamese economy relies quite a lot on heavy import of china's goods for its own manufacturing industries. it is a balancing act that vietnam has to perform. balancing act that vietnam has to erform. . , ., balancing act that vietnam has to erform., , ., ., ., ~ balancing act that vietnam has to erform. , ., ., .,~ perform. just want to take you live to india now. _ perform. just want to take you live to india now, in _ perform. just want to take you live to india now, in kolkata _ perform. just want to take you live to india now, in kolkata where - perform. just want to take you live i to india now, in kolkata where there are strikes going on right now with doctors holding a national strike, escalating their protests against the rape and murder of a female colleague, this is in the west bengal city, more than1 million people are expected to join the strikes as hospitals and clinics around the country turned away nonemergency patients. the indian medical association described last week's killing as a crime of barbaric scale due to the lack of

safe spaces for women in the country and asked the country to support its struggle forjustice. to tyler now and the new prime minister says that she will take steps to improve their economy, job problems and improve universal health care. she was speaking shortly after this x free accepting the king's endorsements. she invited the third several to form a cabinet. this comes on the same day that the former prime minister's parole relating to crimes against corruption in office. hong kong has said it will maintain a partial ban onjapanese seafood put in place after the discharge of waste water from the damaged fu kushima nuclear plant. that's despite a plea by the japanese fisheries minister who had called for the restrictions to be dropped — saying they had no scientific basis.

french film star alain delon has died, at the age of 88. the actor was part of the golden era of french cinema, known for his tough—guy persona on screen in hits including the samurai and borsalino. his family say he died peacefully at home, surrounded by his children and family. 0nce described as the most beautiful man in the movies, delon starred in hits from the 1960s onwards. he appeared in more than 90 films during his career, but in recent years had health issues and became a virtual recluse. earlier i spoke to the entertainment reporter and radio times columnist caroline frost and asked her what his most defining performances had been. i guess off the top of my head, one of the most defining things was the bookends of his relationship with romy schneider, whom he later described as the love of his life, a german actress he met in the late 1950s and co—starred with in a film called christine. she was a bigger star than him at the time, but then in later years, he recruited her back for the film.

that turned out to be a poignant reunion for the swimming pool, and he was desperate to reconcile. it would be, you know, we have film stars these days where we're more concerned and aware of their romances, but these two really were something quite, uh, just typical of central european glamour at the middle of the century. nobody was more glamorous than these two, and that they were more than the sum of the parts. and you've mentioned thrillers, gangster, thriller. i would have to mention borsalino as well, because he showed he could do something else very different alongside jean—paul belmondo in 1970. and i also have to mention the samurai because, um, alain delon's depiction of a lonely a solitude fixated man operating very much on the other side of the law that has been cited in so many directors and actors list of top influences. so we have somebody like keanu reeves talking about his character ofjohn wick, saying he based it solely on the grace of alain delon. similarly, back in 19 early 80s, richard gere was sent to do his homework for american gigolo by going and watching alain delon in purple noon.

so even though some of his his biggerfilms, he tried twice or more to break into the international, the big hollywood market, he never quite cracked it. always more of a star back in his native france. nevertheless, his his legacy, his influence, his creative influence is very much permanent and concrete in more than just france. you touched on his sort of earlier years, his personal life there, and in more recent years it did become quite public, his complicated personal life, didn't it? oh for sure. i mean, back in the 1960s, there's this wonderful photograph of marianne faithfull and mickjagger talking. well. mickjagger trying to keep the attention of his then girlfriend, and she is looking very much at the beautiful man on the other side of her, which was alain delon. and i mean, to me, that picture just sums up the 1960s. but certainly, yes, he had his roll call of beautiful, tempestuous, often, you know, defining on the front of all the celebrity pages in earlier years and sadly for him, in later years, it was more marked by a breakdown

in family relations lawsuits. 0bviously he had a huge amount of money. he had a big family estate, he had children from earlier relationships, huge sort of dirty washing squabbles that were played out across the french tabloids. but, i mean, the nice announcement that he was surrounded by his family when he passed away is, is a small consolation. a man has been seriously injured after colliding with a whale off the coast of australia. the man, believed to be in his 40s, was in a boat when the incident happened — in waters near the border between new south wales and queensland. the whale's tail struck him, leaving him unconscious. nearbyjet ski riders raised the alarm and the man was brought to shore by paramedics. he was then taken to hospital where he was treated for facial and spinal injuries. the ambulance service says the man is in a stable condition. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello there. your sunday morning has started off on a rather pleasant note across many areas of the uk. we've got some dry weather with some sunny spells. a beautiful scene here in the shetland isles first thing this morning with some fair weather cumulus cloud in the sky, but there are a few showers moving their way through scotland at the moment. they'll continue to ease off into the afternoon, becoming few and far between. still a little bit breezy here. elsewhere, we've just got some sunny spells this afternoon and maximum temperatures getting up to about 24, maybe 25 degrees towards the south east of england. further north about 17 or 18 celsius there in aberdeen. 14 degrees in the northern isles. now through this evening and tonight, there'll be some clear skies across england and wales, but the cloud will thicken in northern ireland and scotland, maybe some spots of rain arriving here late in the night. 0vernight temperatures down to about nine to 12 degrees. but in the countryside we could see temperatures down

into fairly low single figures. so it could be a bit of a fresh start to your monday morning. but as we go through monday, well, there'll be some changes because we've got this area of low pressure moving in, these weather fronts, that's set to bring in some wet and also windy weather throughout the day on monday. but across eastern areas, starting off with some sunshine. and you'll keep that sunshine for pretty much all day. elsewhere, the cloud increasing, rain moving in and that will turn quite heavy, especially for northern ireland, northwest scotland into the southwest of wales. windy conditions for all of us, but particularly so around this irish sea coast. some significant gusts through the day and top temperatures about 16 to 17 degrees. where you've got that cloud and the rain. further south and east still temperatures in the low 20s. that rain moves east overnight, so it'll be with you on tuesday morning across eastern areas. it will clear then we're going to see some showers coming in across western areas of scotland where again it's going to feel quite cool. 13—14 celsius here. there'll be some sunny spells in between the showers and again

temperatures getting up into the low to the mid 20s across eastern and southeastern areas. as we go through wednesday and thursday, this area of low pressure that's going to move in. it will make it a particularly windy day both on wednesday and thursday. unseasonably strong winds perhaps. with that, there'll be some outbreaks of rain coming in, especially across northern areas. further south a little bit drier with some sunny spells there in london. that's it from me. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the ukrainian military has released a video, which it says shows the destruction of another key bridge inside the kursk region of russia. it comes as russian forces claim to have control of a village ukraine's eastern donetsk region. doctors are right now marching in the indian city of kolkata where a junior doctor was raped and murdered last week. police have imposed a week—long ban on further protests outside the hospital where it happened, after a 24 hour strike came to an end. the us secretary of state, antony blinken is making his ninth trip to israel since the war in gaza began, pushing once more for a ceasefire and hostage release deal. the us and israel have said that there's been positive progress since talks resumed in qatar last week. but hamas has dismissed the optimism as an illusion.

now on bbc news, americast.