last major stronghold of the extremists who call themselves islamic state, is entering its final phase. the current offensive by arab and kurdish fighters, with american and british support, started in june. just a few hundred is fighters are left now, holding the centre of the city. king salman of saudi arabia has issued a decree allowing women to drive for the first time. the order is due to come into force next june, after years of campaigning, and punishment of women found driving while female. saudi arabia has been the only country in the world that does not permit women to drive. president trump has been dealt a major blow after his choice to contest a vacant senate seat for the republicans in alabama lost a primary run—off vote. luther strange was beaten by roy moore, a hardline christian conservative, and ally of former white house chief strategist steve bannon. now on bbc news: the youngest and most vulnerable are paying a terrible price for over two years of war in yemen as food, medical shortages and now a deadly cholera outbreak take their toll.

this is the world's largest humanitarian crisis, say the un, with seven million people facing famine and hundreds of thousands infected with cholera. a saudi—led coalition, supported by the us and uk, has been accused of indiscriminate bombing and blocking the delivery of food and aid in its war with the houthi rebels, who have some support from iran. nawal al—maghafi reports from yemen on this unfolding catastrophe. herfilm contains distressing images that viewers may find upsetting. yemen — the world's worst humanitarian disaster. as the richest countries in the arab world relentlessly batter the region's poorest, the west stands accused of complicity. if something is not done soon, literally hundreds of thousands of children will die. the hunger, death and disease

rampant here are not accidents of nature. this crisis is a direct consequence of the way the war is being fought. and now, there's a deadly new threat — cholera. al—thawra general hospital, in the city of hudaydah — it is a chaotic place at the best of times. these, though, are the worst of times. in the eye of the storm, dr abdullah al—zouheiri. i met him here last year,

when the hospital was overwhelmed with patients from the villagers, who were dying of starvation. today, it is worse than ever. and now, patients infected with deadly cholera are turning up here. dr al—zouheiri takes me to where the new arrivals are treated, well away from the main hospital. what price a childhood in yemen? what price a child's life? i was born here. after leaving, i returned home every year to visit my family. in march 2015, a ten—nation coalition led by saudi arabia and backed by the us and uk,

started bombing yemen. they came to reinstate the government that was pushed out by rebels called the houthis, who received support from iran. since then, i have covered the fighting, the bombing and then the starvation. the suffering of ordinary people is a direct consequence of the way this war is being fought. both sides are using control of food and fuel as a weapon. the latest result is the biggest outbreak of cholera ever recorded. 500,000 people have been infected and millions more are at risk. so i am heading up to the highlands to see for myself where this outbreak started. and this is what cholera does to a man. and this is what cholera

does to a child. this child looks newborn, but she is 17 months old, and she has caught cholera for the second time. her mother walked for a day to get her baby to this clinic. nowadays, she can't afford transport. this nurse tells me, it is cases like this that show the authorities are failing to deal with the problem at source, by chlorinating the water, and finding out where the bacteria is spreading from. the nurse tells me of a village

where one of the latest outbreaks started, so that is where i am going. 0n the way up, i come across this scene. they say water is life, but in yemen, it can also mean death. cholera, a waterborne bacteria, spreads through public supplies, like wells, standpipes and reservoirs, which are contaminated with faeces. it has killed 20 people in the settlement i am going to now. this man and his sister have been showing cholera symptoms

for the past 2a hours. this is the same well he drank from. it is still contaminated with cholera. the people here have no alternative source. it is a potential death sentence

for the whole community. i have come back to hudaydah general hospital, to the familiar scenes of exhaustion and despair. all these people have spent all the money they have to get this far. now the electricity is off, so all the machines are off, all the incubators are off, all the oxygen has stopped. this happens all the time. this morning, i meet alaa and his family. he is just three years old and lives around the corner. his dad works in the local factory. alaa has severe malnutrition.

2a hours later, alaa has deteriorated badly. suddenly, a bed is found. this may be his best chance for survival. desperately malnourished, alaa lies between life and death.

yemen's hunger is the result of food shortages and soaring prices. so i am heading into hudaydah's port for some answers. it is the most important harbour in rebel territory. 20 million people's food supplies are supposed to come through here, but now it is barely operating. bombing and a blockade imposed by the saudi coalition, has impeded the access of food, fuel and aid. the saudis justify this by saying that the iranians are smuggling weapons to their houthi allies, in hudaydah. the port manager is a houthi political appointee and a powerful man. he denies the arm smuggling allegations. evidence to suggest the houthis have been profiteering from the blockade, and scoring political points by playing the victim. the un says both sides in yemen's war should do more to put civilians first.

we are trying to work with all parties involved to engage both sides, and to some degree they both help and to some degree they have issues. the cranes at hodeidah port have been bombed out of action. but the replacements, already paid for by the us, have been blocked. we loaded up the planes, we brought them in, and the saudis and the allied forces locked us from bringing the cranes in, so we had to send them back. if something is not done soon, what do you feel will happen? it this port is bombed and continues to be useless, literally hundreds of thousands of children will die and millions of people will die along with them. 90% of cholera deaths in the worst cases are in houthi controlled areas. the united states and united kingdom are saudi arabia's main allies. they have helped carry out the war and block independent

enquiries into war crimes. they also have military officers in the command centre for saudi strikes. they are the main suppliers of the billions of dollars of advanced weapons that have devastated yemen. bridges, hospitals, factories, schools, weddings and funerals have all been hit by coalition airstrikes. the saudi—led blockade of houthi—held areas does notjust affect big ships or armed smugglers. 0rdinary people are being targeted directly with military force.

these fishermen tell me their boats were attacked by the coalition just days ago. ibrahim lost his two sons, his brother and a nephew in the attack. 15 people across three extended families now depend on him for survival. the blockade has had a devastating impact on people's everyday life here. this used to be a profitable farm, but it collapsed when the coastal blockade cut off the export routes. sudden poverty caused by the war has destroyed the ability of working

yemeni families to cope. all of this has taken a terrible toll on their baby. starving children are a horrifying, and horribly common sight across yemen. but this crisis is also ruining

people in ways you can't see. the working class and even civil servants now have no jobs, no incomes, and they are going hungry. since the yemeni government has moved the central bank from the rebel held capital, millions of state employees, including medics and sanitation workers had not been paid for months. this money supply crisis has throttled the yemeni economy. these men are even selling their aid rations for ready cash. people keep telling me a lack of hard currency is making it impossible for them to weather this disaster. i find out more about this when a grandmother invites me to her home. there are many ways to die in yemen. i am suddenly called back

to the central hospital by alaa's mother. she tells me only to film the truth about what is happening to yemen ‘s children. when i arrive, it is a disaster. alaa has spent the night in the intensive care unit, fighting for his life. here is the body of another yemen child.

another statistic in a forgotten war. the child had a name, they all have names. he was called alaa, and he was three years old. he was born into a war and the war claimed him. alaa never raised a weapon in his life, he barely raised a murmur as he died. he had a family that loves him. he had friends he played with. three days ago, he had a future. and he lost it all. good morning.

yet again, if you had some sunshine yesterday you probably had some warmth, and in fact in the london area we saw highs of 22 degrees, with some sunny spells, as you can see from this weather watches from twickenham. but things are set to change. this low pressure is moving in, bringing wet and windy weather by the end of the day for many of us. we start off with the west—east divide across the country. a bit of patchy mist and fog slowly lifting away, but the wind will strengthen and cloud and rain gathers. some of it quite heavy in northern ireland by the middle of the afternoon. the best of the weather is likely

to stay into the south—east corner and we could have temperatures again into the low 20s. by the end of the afternoon across the south—west of england and parts of wales we'll start to see some rain arriving. east wales, though, you might get a bit of brightness. 17—18 degrees. the heaviest rain into northern ireland where it will feel dismal. not a bad end to the afternoon in much of northern england and eastern scotland. cloud thickening up, the winds strengthening across western fringes of scotland. so that weather front sweeps its way eastwards through the evening and overnight and in actual fact it's moving at quite a pace. there will be some rain, some of it heavy, for all of us at some point through the night, clearing away in all but eastern fringes towards dawn. with clearer skies and lighter winds we could see some patchy mist and fog forming. more favoured spots for it to linger perhaps through south—west england and wales first thing. but again the further west on thursday you'll see the best of the sunshine. after a cloudy and damp start

there is a slow improvement through eastern fringes, but we might keep a bit of cloud across east anglia and the south—east. the highest values, 14—20 degrees. now, as we move out of thursday and into friday, things are set to change. that's partly because of what's happening across north america, with a cold plunge of air coming out of canada, mixing with very warm, moist air in the caribbean, and that's going to strengthen the jet, which will in turn deflect these areas of low pressure across the uk. a spell of wet and windy weather moving into friday is likely, that wull sweep steadily eastwards, behind it a better clearance — brighter weather to come. 14—19 degrees the high. this pattern continues into the weekend. saturday could be a day of sunshine and showers before another significant area of low pressure brings wet and windy weather for sunday. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: the final phase of the battle for raqqa, the last stronghold of so—called islamic state in syria. we have an exclusive report.

this is the centre of raqqa, the very heart, if you like, of the islamic state. naim roundabout is about a few hundred metres away from here. locals call it the circle of hell. saudi arabia is set to lift the ban on women driving. but is the country really on the road to equality? a blow for president trump — voters in alabama choose a hardline christian conservative to contest the state's vacant senate seat for the republicans.