i will have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well to accept short—term pain for long—term good. the us national security adviser, jake sullivan, is in beijing for talks with china's foreign minister. the head of the un warns that pacific islands are in danger of being wiped out by rising sea levels. hello, welcome to bbc news now. we start with breaking news from the middle east — where israel says elite forces have rescued a hostage in the southern gaza strip. a government spokesperson said 52—year—old, qaid farhan alkadi, was recovered during "a complex rescue operation". his condition has been described as stable and he's being transferred to an israli hospital

for futher checks. these are live pictures, slightly unstable but we believe this is the hospital he had been transferred to. we will keep an eye on these live pictures for you. the announcement camejust in the pictures for you. the announcement came just in the last few minutes from an israeli government spokesperson. qaid farhan alkadi was rescued by our elite forces in a complex operation in the southern gaza strip. no further details can be published due to the considerations of the safety of our hostages and the security of our forces and of course national security. but i can confirm he is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks right

now at a israeli hospital. his overjoyed family has been updated with the details and the idf is accompanying them at this crucial moment. let's speak to our correspondent jon donnison in jerusalem. we don't have too many details other than what we heard from the government spokesperson there. the hostage is 52—year—old qaid farhan alkadi, he is a citizen of israel, a father of ii. alkadi, he is a citizen of israel, a father of 11. one of 251 hostages captured on october seven last year in the cross—border raid by thomas wood. we don't know the circumstances in which he was rescued. —— by hamas. this was a

joint israel intelligence service and israeli army operation. in southern gaza. we no other details. the eight hostage to be rescued over the past almost 11 months by israeli forces. , ., _, forces. remind us of the continued ressure forces. remind us of the continued pressure on _ forces. remind us of the continued pressure on the — forces. remind us of the continued pressure on the families _ forces. remind us of the continued pressure on the families of- forces. remind us of the continued pressure on the families of those l pressure on the families of those hostages. pretty relentless? yes. pressure on the families of those hostages. pretty relentless? yes, it has, we hostages. pretty relentless? yes, it has. we think— hostages. pretty relentless? yes, it has, we think there _ hostages. pretty relentless? yes, it has, we think there are _ hostages. pretty relentless? yes, it has, we think there are between - hostages. pretty relentless? yes, it has, we think there are between 60j has, we think there are between 60 and 70 hostages still alive and being held in gaza. around 30 or so more already presumed to be dead. it has been huge pressure from the hostage families trying to get the government to do more to secure a hostage release and ceasefire deal with how mass —— hamas to get those

hostages out. a group representing hostages out. a group representing hostages say they welcome this but a deal remains the best way of getting a large number of hostages out. i saw a statement a short time ago from the brother of qaid farhan alkadi speaking at the hospital where he is being transferred to saying that they were really overwhelmed, happy, they said it was like a new birth in the family and thanked god that he had been rescued. ., ., ., rescued. you mentioned the deal there, rescued. you mentioned the deal there. the _ rescued. you mentioned the deal there, the best _ rescued. you mentioned the deal there, the best way _ rescued. you mentioned the deal there, the best way to _ rescued. you mentioned the deal there, the best way to secure - rescued. you mentioned the dealj there, the best way to secure the release of hostages, secretary of state antony blinken from the us for adjusting region, where are we on the hostage return? i do adjusting region, where are we on the hostage return?— the hostage return? i do not think we are progressing _ the hostage return? i do not think we are progressing too _ the hostage return? i do not think we are progressing too much, - the hostage return? i do not think. we are progressing too much, those talks about talks at least still ongoing in cairo with officials

trying to get this bridging proposal accepted by both sides. but hamas for its part is saying it is not taking part in these talks, saying israel has changed the terms of the deal which hamas agreed to back at the start ofjuly. and although the americans are saying there has been some progress in those talks, hamas have poured scorn on that in the last 2a hours and we are really in a position of stalemate where we are waiting for some sort of breakthrough but it doesn't seem to be too much in terms of optimism. this news reaching usjust in the last few minutes, bring us up to date with what we know about the hostage release. in date with what we know about the hostage release.— date with what we know about the hostage release. in the last hour we have heard — hostage release. in the last hour we have heard that _ hostage release. in the last hour we have heard that 52-year-old - hostage release. in the last hour we have heard that 52-year-old qaid i have heard that 52—year—old qaid farhan alkadi has been rescued in an

operation by the israeli military in the southern gaza, a 52—year—old father of 11, a bedouin arab citizen of israel. ., ~ father of 11, a bedouin arab citizen of israel. ., ,, , ., father of 11, a bedouin arab citizen of israel. ., ~' , ., g ., father of 11, a bedouin arab citizen of israel. ., ,, g ., of israel. thank you, jon donnison. on social media, _ of israel. thank you, jon donnison. on social media, an _ of israel. thank you, jon donnison. on social media, an update - of israel. thank you, jon donnison. on social media, an update from i on social media, an update from hostages of missing families. this is what they posted, the forum, on social media. the hostages of missing families for an ounce that hostage qaid farhan alkadi, 52, freed himself from hamas captivity, escaped to relate forces, a father of 11, worked technic abducted from his workplace 326 days ago and is now back in israel, the wonderful news of his return is a sign of light amongst the darkness for the families of the hostages and people are visual. we wish to thank the wonderful forces of our idf who

helped him return home safety. there are 108 hostages still held. asjon donnison was referring to there, a deal is the only way to secure the return of the remaining 108 hostages in the eyes of the forum. we have that post saying that qaid farhan alkadi was able to free himself from hamas captivity and escaped to israeli forces, a father of 11, according to the social media post, from the city of rahat, 326 days ago abducted from his workplace, now back in israel.

in ukraine — russia has launched a wave of missile attacks across ukraine for a second day. at least four people were killed as more than half of the country was targeted. president zelensky said his forces would �*undoubtably respond'. our correspondent reports from kyiv. bbc�*s security correspondent, frank gardnerjoined me earlier to discuss russia's strategy in these latest strikes. it's tempting, i think, to look at this as simply putin lashing out in revenge because he's so angry at the ukrainian incursion into the kursk oblast, which began on the 6th august, which is clearly humiliating for russia, it's emarassing for him. you know, this was supposed to be a special military operation —

don't worry about this, we've got got this, and now the war is coming home to russia. so it's incredibly annoying for the kremlin but it's a bit more than that. there is a strategy behind it. what russia is doing is aiming to... ..so degrade ukraine's infrastructure, its critical national infrastructure, specifically its power generation, its ability to turn on the lights and turn on the radiators. it's august, it's still summer but winter is coming and this will be the third winter where russia is aiming to keep the ukrainians shivering in the dark and the cold — with the aim that they go to their government and say, please, make a peace deal. stop the war, end this by whatever means, and that peace deal would be on russia's terms and we know what those terms are. it means that russia gets to keep

the bits of the four oblasts that it has illegally annexed and occupied. so that would be kherson, zaporizhzhya, donetsk, luhnask. and that ukraine forgets any hope ofjoining the eu or nato or looking west and basically comes back to moscow's fold. ukraine isn't ready to do that. they've been quite resilient so far, but that is their aim in doing this. it's rather like, it's a continuation of what they've been doing already, just an intensification of it. the analogy i would use — it's like a boxer, hitting the same part of his opponent's body, or her opponent's body, again and again, not changing, just hitting it again and again, trying to wear down the opponent and that's what they're doing with ukraine. rafael grossi, head of the un nuclear watchdog, the international atomic energy agency, is visiting russia's kursk nuclear plant, following ukraine's cross—border offensive into the russian region.

russian president vladimir putin last week accused ukraine of trying to attack the kursk nuclear power plant, which is less than 50 kilometres from fighting between russian and ukrainian forces. mr grossi's been speaking in the last few minutes. we see the plant still operating and at the same time the fact that the plant is operating makes it even more serious in terms of an eventual action against it. when a plant is operating the temperatures much higher, if there was a case of an impact or something that would affect it, there would be serious consequences. let me remind everybody that this nuclear power plant is a very special one. it does not have the containment dome,

protective structure, this makes it extremely exposed and fragile. for example two artillery impact or a drone or a missile.— example two artillery impact or a drone or a missile. uk prime minister sir keir starmer has delivered a major speech in downing street — vowing to reverse what he's called a "decade of decline" under the previous conservative government. the pm has warned the budget in october will be "painful" and asked the country to "accept short—term pain for long—term good". the opposition conservatives have dismissed the speech as a "performative" attempt to distract the public from promises sir keir never had any intention of keeping. our political correspondent hannah miller reports. on a beautiful day in the downing street garden, the prime minister's message was not so sunny. looking ahead to the autumn and signalling unpopular announcements to come.

there is a budget coming in october. it is going to be painful. we have no other choice, given the situation we are in. those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavy a burden. should bear the heaviest burden. i will have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well. he defended a decision on his government has already taken to limit their winter fuel payment to any of the poorest pensioners. to only the poorest pensioners. i didn't want to means test the winter fuel payment but it was a choice that we had to make. a choice to protect the most vulnerable pensioners while doing what is necessary to repair the public finances. keir starmer said scenes like this had demonstrated the need to fix public services as well, claiming those taking part in the summer's riots were betting they could not be caught. they saw the cracks in our society

after 1a years of failure and they exploited them. that is what we have inherited. notjust an economic black hole, a societal black hole and that is why we have to take action and do things differently. the rose garden has provided the backdrop for some of the most dramatic moments in modern politics. we ended up on the outskirts of barnet castle town. afer driving half an hour. the prime minister claimed his production was the end of politics as a performance, issuing a stark warning. things will get worse before they get better. the conservatives said the government was rolling the pitch to break promises on tax that labour made during the election but the liberal democrats said they wanted to be constructive. this is not necessarily the change people voted for in the recent general election.

there is no doubt there is a very strong and negative legacy from the last conservative government that needs to be addressed. people who cleaned up their communities after the riots are, the prime minister suggested, a model for how the country can come together to rebuild. thank you very much indeed. he hopes people beyond here can applaud his promised decade of renewal although he only has five of renewal although he only has five years guaranteed in power. years guaranteed in power. hannah miller, bbc news. hannah miller, bbc news. this is bbc news. this is bbc news.

just to bring you up—to—date with news, in the last hour or so the israeli military saying it has rescued a hostage kidnapped by hamas, the 52—year—old man qaid farhan alkadi. rescued in the complex operation, it said, in the southern gaza strip. the military briefing, the media statement, we are told it will be delivered in english as well in a couple of minutes' time, we will bring you

that when it happens butjust to let you know the details of what we know so far. the man is a bedouin israeli hostage who worked in the... sorry, was taken to the gaza strip 300 plus days ago, 52 years old. he is now backin days ago, 52 years old. he is now back in israel receiving medical checkups and israeli medical facilities, condition described as stable. he is a father of 11, from a bedouin village in the area of rahat. abducted from his workplace ten months ago. the israeli military

saying he was kidnapped by hamas during the 7th of october attack on israel, held in gaza since then. still waiting for the translation of this media statement, we are told it is imminent we will be getting some details there in english but we are still waiting for that. when that happens we will head straight back there to tel aviv. the un secretary—general, antonio guterres, has told the bbc that the small islands in the pacific were facing an enormous environmental injustice. mr guterres is in tonga to attend the pacific islands forum leaders' meeting. his warning came as the world meteorological organisation said the pacific islands were facing a triple threat of warming waters, a rise in sea levels and growing acidity because of carbon dioxide.

let's speak to rosanne martyr. she's a senior scientist at climate analytics policy institute. talk us through the specifics of the threats of global climate change, what are the specific threats to these countries? here they report these countries? here they report the un secretary—general highlighted shows there is a risk by sea level rise globally, the pacific are particularly vulnerable. the majority in the pacific are 1—2 metres above sea level, they are feeling the impact of rising seas already, some countries in 2020 using 1% of their gdp to sea—level rise damages, having an impact now, only going to get worse if we don't reduce our emissions. is there anything these countries can do themselves or are they completely dependent on the rest of the world

taking action? the dependent on the rest of the world taking action?— taking action? the un secretary-general - taking action? the un i secretary-general called taking action? the un - secretary-general called out to taking action? the un _ secretary-general called out to the secretary—general called out to the 620 in secretary—general called out to the g20 in this report trying to highlight two things, the first, sea—level rises notjust a problem for small islands, the report shows the impacts in major economies to low—lying cities, london, new york city, tokyo, just because you are a big economy doesn't mean you are immune. 80% of emissions come from the 620, immune. 80% of emissions come from the g20, he said, the world's largest economies. when we talk about emissions reductions we need, we are looking to this small subset of governments to act with more urgency than they are now. what of governments to act with more urgency than they are now. what is our urgency than they are now. what is your assessment _ urgency than they are now. what is your assessment of _ urgency than they are now. what is your assessment of the _ urgency than they are now. what is your assessment of the level - urgency than they are now. what is your assessment of the level of - urgency than they are now. what is| your assessment of the level of that urgency? irate your assessment of the level of that ura en ? ~ . ., your assessment of the level of that uraen ?~ ., urgency? we can look to where the climate commitments _ urgency? we can look to where the climate commitments are - urgency? we can look to where the climate commitments are now. -

urgency? we can look to where the climate commitments are now. forj climate commitments are now. for small islands, this is not acceptable, we need to be on a path that reduces warming as soon as possible as much as possible to keep below 1.5 degrees otherwise we are looking at the potential tipping point in the climate system, irreversible damages for several of the smaller islands. irate irreversible damages for several of the smaller islands.— the smaller islands. we appreciate our time, the smaller islands. we appreciate your time, rosanne _ the smaller islands. we appreciate your time, rosanne martyr, - the smaller islands. we appreciate your time, rosanne martyr, thank| your time, rosanne martyr, thank you. your time, rosanne martyr, thank ou. ., ~' your time, rosanne martyr, thank ou. ., ~ , ., your time, rosanne martyr, thank ou. . ~' ., your time, rosanne martyr, thank ou. . ~ ., ., police in india have fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protests in kolkata over the rape and murder of a junior doctor in the hospital where she worked earlier this month. the incident has sparked massive outrage across the country. a man, a police volunteer, has been arrested. at the weekend doctors across india walked out of hospitals as part of a nationwide strike called by the indian medical association with only emergency patients being seen. medical staff have called for greater protection for female hospital workers. our reporter salman ravi has more.

behind me as a mob of students protesting against the rape and murder of a medical student at the leading medical college in kolkata, west bengal. these protesters march towards the state headquarters, where the government functions from. there were skirmishes between protesters and police because the police barricaded that area, the protesters fought, the police were charging, using water cannons, students gathering from all directions, from different parts of west bengal, demanding justice for the victim, alleging that initially when the police took up the matter, they destroyed evidence. now the

case has been transferred to a private investigating agency, the central bureau of investigation. the anger among the people, especially the student community, is growing by the student community, is growing by the day and because the police has failed to arrest any other person so far in this case, just one accused. our reporter salman ravi. israeli military spokesperson update, after a show said it has rescued hostage kidnapped by hamas. from the bedouin community of rahat, kidnapped from israel by hamas terrorists on october seven, has been rescued, he is alive, back in israel. we cannot go into many

details of the special operation, i can assure that israeli commanders rescued qaid farhan alkadi from underground town following accurate intelligence. his medical condition is stable and he will undergo examination in hospital. his family had been waiting 326 days to receive the news they did today. but there are still 108 hostages whose families are still waiting to hear the news that their loved ones are home. and they should know that we will not rest until we fulfil our mission to bring all our hostages back home. we will pursue the return of our hostages through all means possible. i repeat, through all

means possible, thank you. we got a sister, the brief statement from the idf spokesperson, reiterating basically those details we already knew in the next hour or so. the israeli military saying it has rescued a hostage kidnapped by hamas gunmen during the october seven attack on a show, taken by israel back —— from israel back into gaza 300 days ago, qaid farhan alkadi, 52 years old, rescued in our complex operation, is the phrase used there, in the southern gaza strip. no further details can be published they say due to the safety of hostages. he is described as being in a stable condition, a

father of 11. plenty more details coming up, this is bbc news. make sure of weather today, dry and relatively sunny weather, temperatures as high as 26 this afternoon, it is not like this everywhere, the slow—moving weather front affecting parts of wales, northern england, parts of scotland too. underneath the cloud and rain temperature for some have been pegged back into the upper teens with the rain coming down heavier in perth and kinross. when scotland patchy in most areas, heavy bursts in the far south, the heaviest rain in the far south, the heaviest rain in the far south, the heaviest rain in the afternoon across northern areas of england, rain quite steady for west and wales. sky is brightening up for northern ireland, best of the session across eastern areas of england, temperatures hitting 26 in the warmest areas. the

fronts weaken overnight as they run into the area of high pressure over the continent. the next weather system making its presence felt. overnight in it, rain light and patchy across wales, northern areas of england, could be mist and fog patches across the coastal hills, the next area of an approaching northern ireland the end of the night. temperatures 13—14 c. tomorrow, the week with a front bringing some rain for parts of northern england and wales. the next more substantial area of rain moving into northern ireland and western scotland on wednesday. heavy bursts. east anglia and south—west england best of the dry and sunny weather. —— south east england. temperatures hitting 27. for thursday, slightly cooler, fresher air working into east anglia and south—west england, because the average for the tie through fear, some showers are run,

blustery for scotland, some showers for northern ireland, temperatures for northern ireland, temperatures for many areas running cost average for many areas running cost average for the time of year. then we see another change in the weather pattern, friday into the making, new area of high pressure setting the weather down, bringing a fine end to august for many. lots of sunshine friday, saturday and sunday, feeling warm in the sunshine with a small chance of some showers into the far of the penguin, goodbye for now.