welcome to bbc news — i'm david eades. our top stories: twenty people have been killed in israeli air strikes on gaza say local health authorities — after rockets were fired from the territory towards jerusalem. injerusalem — israeli security forces fired stun grenades and rubber bullets during clashes with palestinians in which hundreds were injured. us regulators have authorised the pfizer vaccine for use in children as young as 12 years old. and china's population census shows slowest growth since the introduction of the one child policy in the 1970s.

the volatility in israel continues to rise. and now the death toll is rising with it. the palestinian health authority says twenty people including nine children have died after israeli air strikes aimed at militant targets in the gaza strip, where rockets were earlier fired towardsjerusalem. and there were renewed clashes outside — and inside — al aqsa mosque between israeli police and palestinians. in all more than 200 people were injured. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell reports. "our blood is a cheap price forjerusalem," shouts this bereaved gaza grandmother. while this woman, who lost four

children, can only weep. the casualties, mounting, after israeli air strikes. translation: this evening, jerusalem day, gaza's terror| organisations crossed a red line and attacked us with rockets on the outskirts ofjerusalem. israel will react very forcefully. his response to a barrage of rockets fired by palestinian militants. israelis ran for cover when one reached jerusalem for the first time in years. while angry palestinians cheered. tensions were simmering on this holiday, when israelis mark the capture of eastjerusalem over 50 years ago. there is a party atmosphere, as israelis gather from across the country to head down towards the western wall.

for them, this is a big day of celebration. for the palestinians, this march is a provocation. why am i here? because we are not going to let anyone win of when they are going to threaten us and try to stop us from being here and celebrate and dance. it is unbelievable. earlier, inside al—aqsa mosque, ramadan worship had quickly turned into violence. stun grenades and stones on this site, sacred to muslims and jews. at this gate there was frustration as israeli police stopped jews from entering. tonight, the al—aqsa compound was literally ablaze. the israeli celebrations continued.

the fire was put out. what has flared up here may be harder to extinguish. earlier i spoke to ambassador dennis ross. for more than twelve years he was the lead middle east negotiator for the united states. i asked him about the unique set of events that brought about this problem. well, it's a very good question, because you had a confluence of events that came together that are very explosive when they're all combined. so, you have the end of ramadan, you have jerusalem day which celebrates the israeli reabsorption of all ofjerusalem. you have the issue in sheikh jarrah, and the possibility of eviction of the palestinians who have lived there and then you have hamas, trying to take advantage of the fact that mahmoud abbas cancelled

elections, playing on the frustration there, all these things have come together in a way that is a very combustible mix and now when you have rockets fired from gaza, 160 total into israel, seven towardsjerusalem itself. you have both what is happening injerusalem and what is happening in gaza and somehow you have to re—establish calm injerusalem and you have to see if you can re—establish what is some kind of ceasefire in gaza. it's not easy to put all this together but unless there are some very rapid moves to try to calm the situation, it runs the risk of taking on a life of its own. antony blinken said all sides need to de—escalate but you worked through countless administrations at various stages and personifications, if you like, of a peace process of sorts. what do you think president biden can, and indeed will, do in terms of us involvement at this stage? also a very good question.

obviously the administration has not wanted to make this a priority and yet as we are seeing, the middle east, in this issue, has a way of imposing itself. i do think what is going to be required is an effort to try to work with the israelis to try to contain what is going on. i think talking to the egyptians so that they can work with hamas and the israelis to try to calm things in gaza. talking also to thejordanians because they pay the lot which manages the haram al—sharif, the temple mount area and i think all of these things together are probably required, it will require taking a number of steps in parallel by the administration to see if, as i said, you can calm the situation and also re—establish a ceasefire. it is interesting, you point to areas where you can bring in other players, other actors

to perhaps seek an answer. what about one or two of the specifics. let's take the settlements for example, and the population has exploded since the 90s, of course, continues to grow. joe biden has previously expressed considerable distaste for them. would he dare to put his head above the parapet now or are the settlements a foregone issue? i don't know if they are a foregone issue but i'm not sure that is the issue to raise right now. first of all, we don't know what government is going to emerge in israel and in the current setting, there will be an impulse, i think, not to look like they're making major concessions. so i don't think biden administration wants to adopt a position on an issue that makes it unlikely it can succeed. if it's going to play a role here it needs to, in a sense, show it can get something done. if it tries to elevate an issue that it can't do anything about, at least for the moment, it's going to highlight, in a sense, our inability to do things which is probably

to play a role and i'm afraid we are going to need to play a role. we are just about out of time but can you give us a grain of hope? i do think that if we can get the situation calm, we do need to think about how you use arab states playing a bigger role in this than perhaps they have in the past. the outreach towards israel can be used to also get the israelis to take certain steps towards the palestinians. i think we also have to think about how the arabs can play a role in helping to break the stalemate between israelis and palestinians. us regulators say they will allow children as young as 12 to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. they are being offered the pfizer—biontech jab, which had previously been limited to those aged 16 and over, under emergency use rules. the us food and drug administration said it had carried out a thorough review of all available data before reaching the decision.

most children who catch covid—i9 develop no symptons, or only mild ones, but can still spread the illness to others. dr meghan ranney is an emergency physician and associate dean of public health at brown university. she's been giving me her reaction to the news. good news. not unexpected, we all saw this coming. we had the pfizer press release over a month ago now and we've been waiting for this approval to come but it is really good news, both for kids and for communities. why is it such good news? we've long been told that actually children do not suffer particularly with covid—i9. that's absolutely right, kids are less likely to get severely ill, to be hospitalised or to die but as a parent i would say any preventable death of a kid is one death too many and kids are susceptible to that multi inflammatory syndrome in kids, they are susceptible also to potentially other long covid effects, we've heard of student athletes getting permanent

heart damage from covid and finally kids can spread covid to others. our kids have lost so much this year and this vaccine allows us to move back towards normality for them as well as the adults in the communities. and i guess in a way, maybe even more for the adults, children belong to a family, don't they? it's all very well if the parents have been vaccinated but still, moving around knowing your children haven't been leaves that void, that gap, that lack of certainty about one's own sort of position. that's exactly right, especially if one of the parents has a high—risk condition or is on immunosuppressants, has gotten an organ transplant, isn't sure the vaccine is going to work, god forbid your kid catches covid and brings it home, especially after making it through the last 16 months unscathed. it lets families breathe a sigh of relief about going on vacation, going to restaurants, letting your kid go to school, taking the mask off for play dates and sports

and things like that, it will make things a lot nicer and saferfor all. can ijust ask you one other point, then, and it is sort of a reference to comfort, there is a priority and this world, isn't there? there are an awful lot of people who are not getting the vaccine at all. is this the time to be giving it to those who are, frankly, probably the least vulnerable? that's a great question and i will say i spent two and a half years in west africa and i am deeply concerned for what is likely to come for sub—saharan africa as well as what's going on in india. vaccines should be made available to the rest of the globe and they should be made available today but i don't see this as an either/or proposition. we have more than enough vaccine right now in the united states, both to vaccinate our kids and to distribute vaccines overseas. things like covax are essential, the who, the fact that we are lifting patent protections, those are critical for us getting vaccines out into the world and we can protect these kids at home.

and in ten seconds, do you have any doubts about take—up on this? sure. the us isn't doing a terrific job with adult take—up either but i am hopeful that with time we will see more and more parents get the kids vaccinated as they see it's safe and effective. pakistan is experiencing a third wave of coronavirus infections, with cases shooting up last month. doctors say the terrible scenes across the border in india have helped persuade people to take more precautions, but there are concerns the eid festival this week will lead to a dangerous spike. so a partial lockdown is now in place. secunder kermani reports from lahore. friday prayers in lahore. at this mosque, plenty of masks, but no social distancing. throughout the holy month of ramadan, congregational prayers have continued.

beds for critically ill patients in the city have been filling up. in public hospitals, around 75% are occupied. outside, families wait anxiously. a few weeks ago, it seems the health care system was about to be overwhelmed. since then, admissions have actually fallen but the danger of another, bigger spike after eid is very real. we do believe that there is some level of fear in the mind of the people, now, about the disease. seeing the horrific pictures from india and from elsewhere. obviously we have limited resources, we have a limited number of beds. if the number of cases overwhelm the availability

of the hospital that's going to be a very, very painful situation. at this market last week, shoppers with masks, but out in force. the lead up to the eid festival is usually the busiest time of the year for retailers. but now a partial lockdown is in place to try and reduce transmission rates. all non—essential businesses are closed until next week. the security forces are being called in to help enforce the rules. what happens over eid is going to be crucial in preventing the health care system from becoming overwhelmed. this is an important part of that, but an even bigger challenge is going to be whetherfamilies decide to have their own gatherings at home, and that's going to be even harder to control. the only way we can do that at the houses level, is to request an appeal to the people to behave more responsibly. obviously it's not possible

for us to reach every house and household. a vaccination campaign is under way, but it is moving slowly with under 4 million doses administered so far. for now, all the focus is on avoiding a spike in the coming days. secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: hsbc is trialling �*zoom—free fridays�* in an effort to tackle stress caused by working from home. "the pope was shot, the pope will live" — that is the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism has come to the vatican. the man they called the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie,

went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked like a woman just sentenced to six years injail. the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out effort. to help the victims - of a powerful earthquake — the worst to hit the i country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion, gary kasparov. it is the first time a machine has defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. god bless america! this is bbc world news, our main headline this hour:

20 people have been killed in israeli air strikes on gaza after rockets were fired from the territory towards jerusalem. this follows clashes at one of the most sensitive sites injerusalem, between israeli security forces and palestinians. china hasjust released data from its 2020 national census, showing population growth has slowed to its lowest rate since the one—child policy was enforced in the 1970s. the total population is now 1.41 billion people. thats a 5.38% increase on the last time a census was held in 2010. this means the population growth rate has slowed by nearly half a percent. let's get some analysis from our correspondent, robin brant who's in shanghai. first things first, what does that mean? it first thing's first, what does that mean?—

that mean? it means that the population here _ that mean? it means that the population here continues - that mean? it means that the population here continues to | population here continues to grow. that is all in all good for china's economy, if we believe these government figures and remember that there has been a certain amount of scepticism in general attached to official government figures. that means there will be more people to make stuff, more people to make stuff, more people to make stuff, more people to buy stuff as well here in this country. the transition of china's economy towards one based on domestic consumption is hugely important so that is the very basics of it. it also means, again if we believe these figures, that china's government policy in terms of loosening the restrictions on the amount of children that people can have have been a success because there has been a small increase in the number of children between the ages of zero and 1a and even in the statement accompanying these figures, the government says the share of children rose again proving the adjustment to china's fertility policy has achieved positive results. so good for the economy and government policy

has been successful, apparently. fist has been successful, apparently-— has been successful, apparently. has been successful, anarentl . �* apparently. at the same time, the message _ apparently. at the same time, the message would _ apparently. at the same time, the message would be - apparently. at the same time, the message would be i- apparently. at the same time, i the message would be i suppose the message would be i suppose the population is getting a bit older and also more urbanised? yeah, i'm in the key thing is the rate of this growth is slowing substantially. its peak was back in 1982, growing 2% a year, it is now growing at 0.53% and that is the slowest rate of growth in decades. and the number of people between 0-14 the number of people between 0—14 has increased slightly but crucially the number of those over 60, retirement age here in a land china has increased by some 5.44%. so, fewer people in the working age group, more people going into retirement age and more people living longer as well. that is not a problem unique to china, but it is a problem that is most urgent here in china and already we are seeing today renewed talk about extending

the retirement age here in this country copy there is already huge pressure on the pension system here, people can retire at the age of 60 and many others are living for another two or three decades, renewed talk again of increasing the retirement age in small steps. 0k, retirement age in small steps. ok, thank you robin. the banking giant hsbc has announced zoom—free friday afternoons for some uk staff in an effort to tackle stress caused by working from home during the pandemic. it comes after the issue of work—life balance was highlighted by one hsbc employee who suffered a heart attack while preparing for the new working week. mark lobel reports. hsbc�*s commercial banking unit is putting limits on zoom use as it gears up for more homeworking... the banking giant's move comes after it 45—year—old regulatory programme manager, jonathan frostick,

suffered a heart attack. on a social media post four weeks ago, attracting 15,000 comments and over a quarter of a million likes, mr frostick said... after he laid down, his wife phoned for an ambulance. he then wrote... it is notjust hsbc changing things, the american investment bank, citigroup, told staff in march to observe zoom—free fridays. last week, even zoom's founder said he suffers from zoom fatigue and no longer schedules back—to—back meetings. i hope that there are kind of more companies following suit and that there's going to be more opportunities for workers to really get that permission to kind of

take a few steps back, you know, breathe, get outside, do other things. zoom has penetrated working lives even in the office here, at the bbc. we use zoom for our planning meetings to ensure we remain socially distanced from one another. it is also used by the courts... i am here live, but i am not a cat. ..just remember to switch off your filter. it's used for local authority meetings... they can't because your vice chair is here — i take charge. — you have no authority here, jackie wheeler, no authority at all. ..just remember to clarify who has the authority beforehand, to avoid scenes like these. dear me. perhaps citigroup has a point by going even further, with a holiday pencilled in for employees simply to reset, allowing staff to turn themselves off and on again. so, if we cannot beat the home computer,

why not at leastjoin it. mark lobel, bbc news. in other news: a cyber—criminal gang that took a major us fuel pipeline offline over the weekend has acknowledged the incident in a public statement. darkside wrote on its website that its goal was to make money and not to create problems for society. work to restore service is continuing. the pentagon says a us naval ship has fired multiple warning shots after more than a dozen fast boats from iran's revolutionary guards came close to an american submarine. a pentagon spokesman said the iranian boats came to within 130 metres of the us vessel. the us television network, nbc, says it will not broadcast the golden globes ceremony next year, joining a growing wave of criticism about the organisers' lack of diversity and ethical stance.

the hollywood foreign press association has come under pressure after it emerged that there were no black members. in a statement, nbc said: "we continue to believe that the hfpa is committed to meaningful reform. however, change of this magnitude takes time and work, "and we feel strongly that the hfpa needs time to do it right. as such, nbc will not air the 2022 golden globes." dominic patten is the senior editor of deadline hollywood — which broke the story — here's what he had to say. a lot of people, of course, have put emphasis on the fact that it was revealed, just before this year's golden globes, on february 28th, that the globes has not a single black member in their now 86 members because, of course, they lost a former president as a member recently because it turned out he was sending out racially offensive e—mails. so of their 86 members, 75 of them last week voted for a rather ambitious but not

that great on the details reform plan that the hfpa board has put forward. among various things, they said they wanted to raise their membership by 50% within the next 18 months, which would have passed it beyond the point of the 2022 globes, and maybe even the 2023, depending on that. they also had various by—laws that were yet to be approved under california law, and they wanted to bring in real governance and transparency and, after being around since the mid—40s, and actual code of ethics. those things may still happen — they seem to be moving forward — but as nbc and others pointed out and as netflix and others made a real point of, you need to show us the money and show us the reform. i've said this so many times, i've said this on the bbc, there is a reason they call it show business and not show friends. they got until august the second to come up with a game plan to convince the likes of nbc that things are changing at

the hollywood foreign press association. more of that story on the website. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcdavideades. hello. as yesterday, today is shaping up to be a day of sunny spells and showers. the devil is going to be in the detail, though, for the next few days. those showers circulating this large area of low pressure, with still fairly tightly packed isobars today. but as the week goes on, the low pressure remains with us, just slowly meandering southwards, but the winds become lighter, so the showers will become slow—moving. lengthier spells of rain even as we pick up another area of low pressure within our main one. so that means most of us will have some wetter weather as we go through this week, in the form of showers. but you can see those

rainfall totals are going to be totting up. for the day ahead, as i say, it's a day of sunny spells and showers. best of the sunshine will be through this morning but as yesterday those showers will be pretty intense as we go into the afternoon, with thunderstorms around. and we've got more persistent rain. across the north—west of scotland, still further showers to come. they're not easing away everywhere, and it will be a coolish night but largely frost free. a few showers will come into southern and western parts of england, possibly wales as well, towards dawn. any bits of mist and low cloud first thing will meander out of the way. plenty of sunshine to come, as you can see, through the morning hours but won't be long before that strong may sunshine gets to work, bubbling up the cloud, showers develop more widely. still a fairly brisk wind, as i say, in southern and western areas. our rain slow to clear but gradually clearing for the north—west of scotland, but a real rash of showers following behind, with hail, thunder, squally winds. in between, 16 and 17, feeling quite pleasant,

but clearly, in those downpours, there could be quite a lot of localised standing water. and they continue well through the evening and overnight. once again, temperatures falling back into single figures, but largely frost free. and then we're really chasing those showers. the devil really will be in the detail this week, with showers. it might be that we've still got that more persistent rain hanging around in the north—west of scotland, possibly even with a low pressure pushing into but what we do know is there will be heavy downpours around becoming more slow—moving by wednesday. still 15s and 16s between the showers but some lengthy spells of rain when they do come along, with hail and thunder. and as i say, it's a pretty showery picture for much of the rest of the week. as ever, there is more on the website.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the health ministry in gaza says 20 people, including nine children, have been killed in israeli air strikes. the strikes were retaliation after a barrage of rockets was fired from the territory towards jerusalem. israel says it killed three militants us regulators say they will allow children as young as 12 to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. children aged between 12 and 15 will be offered the pfizer—biontech jab. it had previously been limited to those aged 16 and over. china's 2020 census shows slowest population growth in decades. china's birthrate has been in steady decline since 2017, despite beijing's relaxation of the decades—old "one—child policy" in order to try and avert a looming demographic crisis.