welcome to bbc news, i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: palestinians flee their homes in gaza amid fears of an ground invasion by israeli forces massed on the border. meanwhile palestinian militants continue firing barrages of rockets at israeli cities, as the violence shows no sign of abating. india records almost the same number of coronavirus cases as the rest of the world combined. this is not an indian problem. what is happening here could affect the world's ability to recover from the pandemic. the number of cases of the indian variant double in the uk

with more than 1300 cases reported in england alone. and sir alex ferguson on his illustrious career, life—changing illness and the new film, directed by his son, that tells his story. hello and welcome. israel has intensified its assault on the gaza strip, with a number of explosions seen in the hamas—controlled enclave. it comes as palestinians flee their homes, fearing a ground attack. explosions lit up the sky over gaza city. the number of people killed in gaza has now passed 100. earlier, multiple missiles were launched by palestinian forces inside gaza, towards israel. seven people have died in israel. sectarian clashes between jewish and arab citizens who live side by side, on the streets of tel aviv,

lod and beyond have intensified amid warnings of civil war. the bbc�*s middle east editor jeremy bowen is injerusalem. palestinian families are fleeing their homes in northern gaza this evening. they told the bbc they were escaping heavy israeli shellfire. dozens of civilians were killed in their area in the 2014 war, so they left in a hurry, with their children still in their new clothes they were given for the end of ramadan. one man said the criminal occupation shows them no mercy. a renewal of the war between hamas and israel was always likely. the unexpected frontline on the streets of israel was not. sectarian violence between israeli citizens brings a new and vicious dimension. not all israelis arejews. around 20% are

palestinian arabs. young men have been on the prowl for people to attack. jews versus arabs, arabs againstjews, all israeli citizens. the president warned the country should not abandon itself to civil war. as for the other war, it was a day for decisions. among the hamas leaders assassinated by israel this week were top commanders. will that deter another escalation? probably not. israel has to decide whether it wants to follow artillery and air attacks with a ground assault against hamas inside gaza. that has been part of the pattern during 15 years of intermittent warfare between them. israel has called up 7,000 reservists. in jerusalem, tens of thousands of palestinians came to pray at islam's holiest place

after mecca and medina. in this city, religion is intertwined with politics, nationalism and power. the banners that celebrate hamas and its leaders, who wanted the people there to see them as the only true guardians of palestinian rights injerusalem. it was eid al—fitr, the holiday that marks the end of ramadan. it is meant to be a party. parents tried to make it fun. there is nothing right now to celebrate for the palestinian president mahmoud abbas, upstaged by his hamas rivals. no peace, security or stability is possible, he said, whilejerusalem is occupied by israel. this war mightjust save benjamin netanyahu's career. he was about to lose his job last weekend. he is still in political trouble but now he has soldiers to congratulate and his

rivals are quiet. the prime minister said the fight against hamas would take time, but israel would decisively restore quiet. it is a modest war aim, he will need more to tell israelis before this can end. especially in sderot, the town closest to gaza. a five—year—old boy was killed after a rocket hit his building. his neighbours have had enough. it is very, very difficult to live under these circumstances and the government should wipe out gaza, should wipe out gaza, once and for all. right across israel and the occupied territories this was the town of hebron last night on the occupied west bank. young palestinians and israelis, confronting each other, another generation cursed by the failures of its leaders.

we can speak to dr samer shehata, from oklahoma university who's carried out extensive research into us foreign policy towards the middle east. thank you so much forjoining us. let me ask you first of all, obviously the violence and the crisis we are seeing this time is so similar in many ways to what we have seen in the past but there are also key different, aren't there? in particular looking atjeremy bowen's piece there, the sectarian violence against israeli arabs and dues sets us apart from what we have seen before. . , _, , , before. that is completely correct — before. that is completely correct. we _ before. that is completely correct. we have - before. that is completely correct. we have seen - before. that is completely correct. we have seen in l before. that is completely i correct. we have seen in the last ten years or so, or even longer, a number of episodes of violence of attacks by the israeli military on gaza, 2014, we also saw the 2006 israel hezbollah war, a little bit different but also similar and as the piece mentioned, we did

not see a conflict inside israel among israeli arabs or palestinians, israeli citizens, and jewish israelis. we have seen that now and we have seen it at a frightening level so thatis it at a frightening level so that is certainly new and quite worrisome and i think mr netanyahu and others have pointed that out.— netanyahu and others have pointed that out. you have done extensive research _ pointed that out. you have done extensive research into - pointed that out. you have done extensive research into us - extensive research into us policy into the middle east. what do you see happening now? 0bviously what do you see happening now? obviously a different approach from the biden administration compared to the trump administration?- administration? that is correct _ administration? that is correct. the _ administration? that is correct. the trump - correct. the trump administration was the most pro— israeli, pro— right wing israeli us administration in the history of the united states. the biden administration is also very pro— israeli as our all american administrations but i think there are limits, certainly. president biden didn't call mr netanyahu for some time after coming to

office. he has been reluctant to criticise israel but i do think that their patience is running out and there is increasing pressure and there will be more pressure, proportional to the amount of violence and the number of palestinians that are killed. but again, there's also only so much that the biden administration can do. what do ou think administration can do. what do you think about _ administration can do. what do you think about the _ administration can do. what do you think about the role - administration can do. what do you think about the role of- administration can do. what do you think about the role of the | you think about the role of the international community, in particular the immediate neighbours of israel and the local neighbours, for example, egypt? what role does egypt have to play, do you think? sure. there are two points that need to be stated. egypt has always had a relationship with the prime minister area —— the palestinians and tried to play the role of broker between hamas and mahmoud abbas and to

curry favour with united states. but i think the larger issue is, the international community, irrespective of what the us administration does, needs to speak truth and needs to put pressure on israel to stop inflicting massive violence on largely palestinian civilians, in addition to putting pressure on hamas to stop firing rockets into israel. this is a david and goliath situation we of the most powerful militaries in the middle east, the israeli military, fully backed by the united states, inflicting really kind of, damage on largely civilians and gaza and so on, citing the international community needs to call it out for what it is, we saw that attempt by the international community at the security council. and other powers need to exert pressure on israel to stop its expansionist and violent policies. i don't know if we're going to see that but

i think that's what needs to take place. i think that's what needs to take place-— i think that's what needs to take lace. ., ~ ,, , take place. 0k, thank you very much. you're _ much. you're welcome, thank ou. every day, india is recording nearly as many covid—19 cases as every other country in the world put together. in the past 24 hours, more than 4,000 people have died from the virus. hospitals in many parts of the country are being overrun. one of the states seeing the most dramatic surges is west bengal, governed by a regional political party. from the state's capital kolkata, yogita limaye reports. 1,000 miles from delhi — kolkata. look at this. a frighteningly busy market in a region where covid has surged nearly 80 times in the past two months. people here are scared but they have to work, to eat. and this is the cost.

in the entrance of a public hospital nearby, people are already struggling to get basic care. all the beds here, hundreds, are already full. and the sick keep coming. "i don't know how long we can continue like this," says this doctor. "even a war comes to an end, but here it is wave after wave. " one in six people in the world live in india. and kolkata is among its most densely populated cities. covid has reached places where families live together in one room homes. distancing is impossible. amit and aarti's 63—year—old father died of covid. they spent the only money they had on trying to save him. as it spreads unchecked, the virus is taking on new,

more worrying forms. the highly infectious variant that is spreading through india has now reached more than 40 countries around the world including the uk. this is not an indian problem. what is happening here could affect the world's ability to recover from the pandemic. i spoke to dr soumya swaminathan, the world health organization's chief scientist. why should the world care about what is happening in india right now? this virus does not respect borders. it doesn't respect nationalities. it spreads before you know that it is spreading. if the virus keeps on replicating and multiplying, the number of variants is going to keep increasing and these variants will ultimately spread across the world. we will not be able to stop

that from happening. the only way out is to immunise this vast population, but vaccine supply is critically low. this country will need billions of doses. it's hard to see how it can do it alone. yogita limaye, bbc news, kolkata. the number of cases of the indian covid variant have more than doubled in the uk in the past week. more than 1,300 cases have been reported in england alone. most of the cases are in the north west of england and some in london. the prime minister says he is anxious about the rise in cases and says the government is ruling nothing out in tackling the situation. here's our correspondent dominic hughes. all right, sharp scratch. surge testing, and now an extra push on vaccinations is under way in bolton. this is a part of town that has seen a spike in infections. 553 new cases in a week, more than doubling the infection rate. we're doing just over 300 vaccines a day.

the concerns are around the unknowns, how many cases are linked to the variant that originated in india, and how far has it spread? the variant from india seemed to appear around the time that our rates started to rise. what we haven't really got the full detail on is to what extent the rise is down to that — that's why we are doing all the surge testing in part. we have lots of sites across bolton that allow people without symptoms to be tested, and we really need them to do that, because we need to get right down to the detail of what variants are in our community. next week, most students will be able to stop wearing masks in schools, but not here at the academy, where the vaccinations are being carried out. in light of the spike in this local area, it's really important that we continue wearing face masks for the next few weeks. i think it's important we all do our bit to keep each other safe, and that's the number one priority of any principal at any school, so the masks will continue. bolton has been here before. only a few weeks last summer were free of restrictions. follow the rules, - wear a face covering. the worry is that areas now seeing infections surge

could find themselves subject to yet more local lockdowns. it is a variant of concern, we are anxious about it. it has been spreading, but we want to make sure we take all the prudential, all the cautious steps now that we could take. the latest government data on cases linked to the indian variant show they have more than doubled in a week to over 1,300, many of them found here in the north—west of england. now, that figure does sound alarming and, certainly, the rise is startling, but when compared to the total number of cases, that figure is still relatively small. we've predicted that there will be new variants emerging... and experts say there is no sign yet the indian variant poses a much greater threat. we will see variants that escape or evade antibodies to some extent, but the vaccines do a lot of things and they protect us in many different ways, so i'd say this is something for scientists, public health people in government to worry about, rather than individuals.

the only thing a person in the street needs to worry about is getting vaccinated as soon as they can and, when they are offered it, to take both doses. there's been no change in national policy on who gets the vaccine, despite council leaders calling for more freedom to respond to local outbreaks. so far, vaccines remain highly effective. but new variants are the biggest threat to the path out of lockdown. you might feel a bit sore for a couple of days, all right? dominic hughes, bbc news, bolton. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: why elon musk and his electric tesla cars have sent the value of bitcoin tumbling over concerns about fossil fuels. "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 news. the latest headlines: israel has intensified its assault on the gaza strip with a number of explosions seen in the hamas—controlled enclave, while multiple missiles were launched by palestinian forces inside gaza towards israel. over 100 palestinians and seven israelis have now been

killed since monday. official figures show more than 4,000 died in india from covid for the second day in a row. india's highly infectious new variant has now been found in 40 other countries. the value of bitcoin, the world's biggest digital currency, has tumbled after elon musk, the chief executive of tesla, said the electric car company would no longer accept the cryptocurrency as payment. and it's all because of fossil fuels. 0ur chief environment correspondentjustin rowlatt explains. there are real concerns about the environmental impact of these cryptocurrencies. you will, of course, have heard of bitcoin, the biggest crypto of them all. it's seen its value soar in recent years. look at this. you could have picked up a bitcoin for $1.70 ten years ago. now, one would cost

you more than $48,000. and that's because, in part, because of the support from elon musk, the boss of tesla. the electric car company said it would accept bitcoins for car purchases in march this year but today, mr musk performed a screeching u—turn. and it's true. bitcoin relies on the use of staggering amounts of energy, much of it from fossilfuels. that is because of the way bitcoin is produced or �*mined'. it's like a kind of lottery run every ten minutes. computers around the world compete to create a record of every transaction ever made in bitcoin. they also have to guess a random number. get there first and you win the prize — 6.25 bitcoins, today worth £250,000.

the idea is the more computers verifying transactions, the more secure the currency is. and with such big cash on offer, huge numbers of people are getting in on the game. the effort they are making is truly enormous. bitcoin miners make some 160 quintillion calculations every second — that is 160 followed by 18 zeros — and that takes a huge amount of electricity. the uk uses just over 300 terawatt hours of electricity a year. at current rates, bitcoin is using 150 terawatts hours a year, so that is half of what the uk uses and about 0.5% of total world electricity use. we have a system with millions of devices all around the world that are constantly generating a whole load of useless computations and using a whole load of energy in doing that,

while bitcoin is, in essence, still very small at the moment. and researchers say at least two—thirds of that will have been generated from fossil fuel, which is why bitcoin is such a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions — something you may want to consider if you are thinking of buying the so—called currency. and also something that would make scaling it up to be a world currency on a par with the dollar or the euro a real challenge. justin roll out. —— justin rowlatt. let's get some of the day's other news. president biden has hailed what he called the extraordinary success of the covid vaccination campaign in the united states. he was speaking after the centers for disease control said fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks. the president said americans can see the smile on each other�*s faces again. the campaign to immunise america's 17 million teenagers between the ages of 12 to 15 has kicked off.

it's a a key part of president biden�*s strategy to push the country toward herd immunity. across the country, children have been lining up with their parents to receive the first dose of their pfizer vaccines. work has started in denmark to dig up an estimated 13,000 tonnes of mink carcasses, buried after the government ordered a coronavirus—related cull in november. they'll be incinerated now it's deemed they pose no risk of infection. the cull, which had no legal basis, sparked a political crisis. football, and liverpool have given their chances of qualifying for next season's champions league a major boost after they beat manchester united 4—2 at old trafford. the game was supposed to have been played earlier this month but was delayed due to fan protests. there were similar scenes before thursday's match, as united supporters continued to voice opposition to club owners, the glazer family.

but the game did go ahead, and it was liverpool fans who were celebrating at the final whistle. one man who won't be happy with that result is former manchester united manager sir alex ferguson. he enjoyed extraordinary success with the club and is now the subject of a new film charting his life and his recovery from a brain haemorrhage in 2018. he's been talking to our sports editor dan roan about his career and the men who played for him. the players i inherited at aberdeen — at aberdeen and manchester united were strong, were powerful and that has changed because it's become a more protective life nowadays, you know? and i know there is social media and things like that which has created some problems but in the main, i was very lucky to inherit the kind of players i did in my earlier days, you know?

do you think that you would find it harder if starting a managerial career today, because the role of the manager seems to have shifted somewhat? personally, i don't think so. i'll tell you why i don't think so — i think it's my personality. i think that i had something in me that was bound to get me somewhere in life, you know? i'm not being boastful here but i think i had that personality to do well and the drive to do well and the hunger and the energy. i think there are young people out there with the drive — you see with klopp for instance and the drive he has brought, he's a young man — and pep guardiola, thejob he has done at city. you know, there is a place for people with the right credentials and the right material and there are obstacles, but the good ones will find a way. you gave a quite recently around the super league. the champions league final

is the climax of the movie and builds to this crescendo, the whole film builds to that credible moment which i suspect even, what, 22 years on, you sometimes struggle to believe what actually happened that night. but the future of that tournament was obviously under threat up until recently. what did you make of that and what has happened since? well, as a player, i played in european football, with rangers and dunfermline, and then as a manager, i took a provincial club like aberdeen to beat real madrid in a final in gothenburg. every comp should have that dream, to achieve what aberdeen did, so that is the answer. you cannot ever forget that the real reason for football is that the smallest guy can climb to the top of everest. and that is a base where i can put that. we cannot do without that, really.

so alex ferguson. —— sir alex ferguson. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @ bbcmaryam. goodbye. hello. there's been no shortage of wet weather this week and there is plenty more where that came from as we head towards the weekend. thursday was a particularly soggy affair across some southern areas. you can see this curl of cloud on the satellite picture — a slow—moving weather system that brought heavy and persistent rain. there is more cloud behind me in the atlantic — another area of low pressure heading our way for the weekend. in between, well, arguably, a slice of slightly drier weather. there will still be some showers and actually, as we go through the day, the showers will tend to pop up in the areas where we develop some sunshine, so across northern ireland, eventually western parts of scotland, north—west england, wales, the south—west. it will turn into a sunshine and showers day after a dull start for some. but for eastern england and certainly the north—east of scotland,

we will hold on to more cloud. where we have more of the cloud, well, there won't be so many showers but it will feel chilly — 11 or 12 degrees — and there could be the odd spot of drizzle around at times. now, as we head through friday night into saturday, some bits and pieces of showery rain will be replaced by a band of more persistent rain pushing up from the south—west across england, wales, into northern ireland by the end of the night. quite a mild start to the weekend but it is going to be quite a turbulent weekend of weather, actually, with some very, very heavy downpours and thunderstorms, always with some sunny spells in between. 0ur band of rain will continue to push its way slowly northwards during saturday, perhaps getting up into the south of scotland by the end of the day. behind it, sunshine and showers, but those showers really will start to turn very, very heavy for wales and the south—west, with hail and thunder later on. top temperatures between 11 and 15 degrees. and then, we head on into sunday, and this area of low pressure is going to move right across the uk.

as this sits on top of us during sunday, it will allow for some very unstable conditions in the atmosphere. that means big shower clouds are going to develop with some hail and some thunder, frequent lightning potentially in these showers, torrential downpours of rain and some pretty squally, gusty winds. particularly windy for coasts of southern england and the channel islands — gusts here in excess of 40 mph. but in any sunshine between the showers, not feeling too bad — highs of 16 degrees.

this is bbc news, the headlines: as hostilities enter their fifth day over 100 people have been killed in gaza and seven in israel. now the israeli defence forces say they have intensified their assault on the gaza strip, but have said ground troops have not entered the territory. in india, more than 4,000 people have died from coronvirus in the last 24 hours alone, and hospitals in many parts of the country are being overrun, as the country records nearly as many coronavirus cases as the rest of the world combined. the number of cases of the indian covid variant have more than doubled in the uk in the past week. more than 1,300 cases have been reported in england and the prime minister says

the government is ruling nothing out in tackling the situation. now on bbc news, panorama. tonight — county lines drug dealers on the streets of britain. yeah, there you go. under lockdown, it's become bolder than ever. that is how blatant it is. it's a ruthless business that exploits vulnerable children. my phone rings, cj's been shot. and ijust remember being at the hospital, he had bandages on his head and it was blood everywhere. three minutes. panorama spent a year following one of the country's busiest police forces... door crashes in police! ..arresting street dealers... we found the holy trilogy — drugs, cash, phones. phone rings

..and targeting the suppliers bringing misery