welcome to bbc news — i'm tim willcox. our top stories: more airstrikes and rocket fire between israel and palestinian militants — attacks continue despite reports that the two sides are close to agreeing a ceasefire. serious differences but talks are constructive — the us and russia foreign ministers meet on the sidelines of the arctic council in iceland. we report from japan where politicians and the ioc insist the tokyo olympics are safe, but public opposition is intensifying. us actor billy porter says no to stigma — he shares with the world that he's been hiv positive for the past 14 years.

hello and welcome to bbc news. as the conflict enters its 11th day are the hostilities between hamas and israel finally about to end? a senior hamas official is predicting a ceasefire within days. it follows us presidentjoe biden�*s call on israel for a serious de—escalation. the conflict has already cost over 200 lives, including dozens of children. mark lobel reports. more trauma and tears in a gaza hospital. behind this crowd, a palestinian father killed alongside his pregnant wife and daughter after an israeli air strike hit their home as they cooked a family meal. israel continues to shoot down rockets fired from gaza. a near miss here as an israeli

family fled this house moments before a rocket struck. the us presidentjoe biden has told benjamin netanyahu he expects a significant de—escalation. i do think that president biden has been appropriate and actively engaged, although today's public statement may be the first time he is making it clear that he is applying some pressure. the israeli prime minister says he is determined to carry on until calm and security are restored to israeli citizens. outlining his strategy for dealing with hamas to foreign ambassadors in tel aviv. there are only two ways that you can deal with them. you can either conquer them, and that's always an open possibility, or you can deter them, and we are engaged right now in forceful deterrence, but i have to say we do not rule out anything. for a watertight ceasefire to emerge soon, israel will want to prove it has

deterred hamas from attacking israel for some time, especially after hamas launched rockets atjerusalem in solidarity with the wider palestinian cause. but for any endgame on the horizon, a political process will need to rise from the ashes. translation: our work is now focused on stopping the israeli | aggression against our people injerusalem, the west bank and gaza. and then entering a serious political process under clear international backing that leads to ending the israeli occupation of the lands in the state of palestine. as the conflict enters its 11th day, it's notjust arabs in occupied lands who need reassurance but those living within the state of israel. unexpected violence between israel's jewish majority and arab minority

is now an open wound that needs serious attention. mark lobel, bbc news. meeting in iceland, the us secretary of state, antony blinken, and the russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov, have sought to ease tensions in their first meeting since president biden took office. they have said that despite their many differences, the two countries should work together on some issues. it's the most senior in—person contact yet between the biden administration and the kremlin, and as our correspondent will grant says, it comes just months after president biden called vladamir putin a killer. and i think that really was the initial low point, perhaps president biden setting out his stool after president trump was seen as so close to moscow, so close to president putin personally. and this clearly is an effort to rebuild from that point on some level. the two nations need to work together on a variety of issues and i think this was an opportunity on the sidelines of this arctic council summit to actually have a little

face—to—face contact. the secretary of state, antony blinken, said that what the biden administration wanted with russia was a predictable and stable relationship. both men then went on to set outjust how difficult that would be, but this was perhaps a first step on that path. but have either side softened their position publicly? america is still very exercised about the solarwinds hacking and nord stream 2, for example. crimea, the death of the skripals — you name it. has either side changed? no, it's an extensive list when you put it like that. i think the nord stream 2, the pipeline to supply russian national gas supplies to germany, a huge and vital piece of infrastructure for both germany and of course for russia, and it's at a very developed stage of development. the state department after this meeting did announce certain restrictions there will be waived, so on the company that's making the pipeline,

on its ceo, on a number of its seniorfigures, the sanctions there will be waived, which i think is some form of olive branch at the very least. you will likely end up having a slightly illogical situation where ships building the pipeline still have sanctions on them while the company behind the project does not, but, nevertheless, i think it's seen as a step in the right direction by moscow. will grant reporting from washington. let's get some of the day's other news. the us house of representives has voted to go ahead with a bipartisan commission to investigate the siege of the capitol building by donald trump supporters in january. the commission would be charged with examining security and intelligence failures surrounding the riot in which trump's supporters interrupted the formal congressional certification ofjoe biden�*s election victory after an incendiary speech

by his predecessor. five people died in the violence. the health authorities in malawi have destroyed more than 19,000 expired doses of the astrazeneca covid—i9 vaccine. malawi is the first african country to publicly destroy expired vaccines. authorities there say the move is intended to convince the population that alljabs they're being offered are safe and in—date. brazil's environment minister — who is in charge of conserving the amazon rainforest — is at the centre of a police ricardo salles has presided over a wave of deforestation in the amazon since taking office in 2019. a supreme courtjudge has authorised access to his bank and tax records as part of the probe. china has released the first images of their zhu rong rover on the surface of mars.

the spacecraft tianwen—i landed on the surface of mars on saturday. the rover will study the planet's surface soil and atmosphere, and look for signs of ancient life. china is the second country to land a craft on mars, after the us. to texas now, where a new law banning abortion from as early as six weeks has been signed in. the texas heartbeat act, as it's called, bans abortions after the detection of what anti—abortion campaigners call a foetal heartbeat. but medical authorities say this term is misleading. and unlike past anti—abortion laws, this one gives individuals the right to sue doctors who perform abortions after six weeks. meanwhile, most women are unaware they are pregnant before six weeks. to unpack what is unique about this compared to previous abortion laws, i spoke to carliss chatman, a constitutional lawyer

at the washington and lee university school of law in virginia. unlike previous bills which allowed enforcement to happen through the attorney—general, this bill allows enforcement by private citizens. what that means is that planned parenthood, whole women's health, and other organisations that provide abortions, cannot file for an immediate injunction and sue ken paxton, the attorney—general. they have to wait around to be sued by private citizens. this also means that with the courts backed up with covid, there is the potentialfor this to linger and cause a lot of backlog in the court system. and in the meantime, you know, women are going to suffer if this bill is able to go into effect september one. because there are 12 other states,

aren't there, who have what is called this heartbeat clause but this is taking it once stage further, unprecedented in the states. it is. making it difficult for the organisations to sue is really an attempt to block the bill from being blocked immediately. every six week abortion ban has been stricken down. every single one of them has been unconstitutional under the current president. and it has a wider impact as well on things like private health insurance, and other areas of normal life as well? you know, i'm not sure about the private health insurance implications but it is possible that if the bill is allowed to go into effect, health insurers are not going to pay for a procedure that is illegal. and the people who are really going to be hurt by this are the women who can't afford to travel to another state. we are talking about the black and brown women, low income women, who are in texas and would be in need of the procedure and not

be able to get one. and i know a particular focus for you is that this goes against the 14th amendment. just describe why that is. so in my scholarship i have spoken a lot about comparative personhood and how the 14th amendment guarantees equal protection, and a lot of these bills are claiming that they are defending the personhood of foetuses. but my argument has been that we don't protect people who are born. the unborn seem to have superior rights to natural persons who are walking and talking. the unborn seem to have superior rights to even their mothers. and i believe that the current cases strike a proper balance providing equal protection by protecting the constitutional rights of the mother until the foetus is viable, versus just giving, you know, an equal protection to a foetus from the

time of conception. carliss chatman speaking to me a little earlier. here in the uk, prime minister borisjohnson said there is �*increasing confidence�* that the existing vaccines for coronavirus are effective against the so—called indian variant of the virus. almost 3,000 cases of the indian strain have now been identified across the uk, but health experts warn they still can't say for certain how infectious the new variant is. our health editor hugh pym reports. the drive to get more people vaccinated has added momentum, with concern about rising cases of the indian variant. whatever you do, don't run away after you've finished, because i'm going to have stuff to give you. at this vaccine bus in the london borough of brent, no bookings are needed. government officials say second doses should be pulled forward for certain groups, and that is what those we spoke to had come along to get. i just thought when the time is right i would get my second dose. i saw the van and thought i would pop along now.

we cannot ignore what is still going on. just all do our bit, really. for the people who live here, really, it's good and nice. - lam happy and i am relaxed. ministers believe vaccines can work against the variant. we have increasing confidence that the vaccines are effective against it. that means that our strategy is the right one. to carefully replace the restrictions on freedom with the protection of the vaccine. what is your current assessment of how fast this new variant is spreading relative to the existing uk variant? we have a credible range that goes from a few percent more transmissible through to — and you have probably read the sage papers — through to 50% more transmissible. i think most people feel it is going to be somewhere in the middle rather than at the extremes of that band.

he said things would be clearer from data next week. more pockets of cases of the indian covid variant are emerging, including five at a school in shropshire. a testing centre has opened and all secondary school pupils, staff and their families in the newport area have been urged to take a test. in the south side of glasgow, where the variant had been detected, there was surge testing for the first time. three secondary schools have asked senior pupils to stay at home for three weeks unless they have assessments. back in brent, the focus is on parts of the borough where take—up of the vaccine has been low. for some people it can be difficult to get to big vaccination centres, for example, a couple of bus rides or more. the idea here is to use the vaccine bus to get to the heart of local communities. they are monitoring developments with the variant. we are seeing an increase in the variant that was first described in india, and while many of the cases

are associated with travel, or contacts of people who have travelled, there has been some community transmission. the uk—wide situation is encouraging. some intensive care units have no covid patients. for the second successive day, total hospital admissions have been below 100. the question now is whether the variant changes that picture in any way. hugh pym, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we report from japan where opposition to the games is intensifying with the country facing growing numbers of coronavirus cases and stretched medicalfacilities. this morning, an indian air force plane carrying mr gandhi's body landed in delhi. the president of india walked to the plane to solemnly witness mr gandhi's final return from the political battlefield.

ireland has voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage. in doing so, it's become the first country in the world to approve the change in the national referendum. it was a remarkable climax to what was surely the most extraordinary funeral ever given to a pop singer. it's been a peaceful funeral demonstration so far! - but suddenly, the police - are tear—gassing the crowd — we don't yet know why! helen was said to be in good spirits, butjust a little apprehensive. in the last hour, east timor has become the world's newest nation. it was a bloody birth for a poor country, and the challenges ahead are daunting. but for now, at least, it is time to celebrate. this is bbc news, the latest headlines:

pressure on israel. a senior hamas official has predicted a ceasefire within days and joe biden tells benjamin netanyahu to ease back on airstrikes. no breakthrough yet, but they've been talking. us and russia foreign ministers meet on the sidelines of the arctic council in iceland. the american actor billy porter, who stars in the hit show pose, has shared with the world that he's been living with hiv for the past 1a years. in an interview with the hollywood reporter, the emmy—winning actor said:. la entertainment reporter kj matthews explains how this announcement will help breakdown the stigma. it has always been a stigma. if you recall, the biggest star in the united states in hollywood to come out was in 1991 when the great athlete magicjohnson

revealed he had aids. after that, the biggest announcement would be the actor charlie sheen in 2015. here in hollywood we would like to think that we have come a very long way, that we are open, that there is no stigma, that there is nothing negative quantitated in revealing the fact that someone has hiv. that simply is not the case and we know that now with billy porter. he has been hiding this for 1h years. you know, he said in the year 2007 he learned he had hiv, he also filed for bankruptcy and during the time that it was revealed he had hiv, did you know that he did not even have health insurance. so it was truly the worst year of his life. i saw that in an interview. but what impact will him announcing this have now, do you think? i think it is huge. it opens a door to so many

other people who are suffering from the same illness in hollywood who may feel that their life is over, who make deal that they have to go on all these auditions and try to be in hollywood and hide this because they cannot have a career. billy porter is proof that you can have a career. he has been living with the disease for 1h years, he looks great and has had some of the most important film and television roles in his life after he was diagnosed with hiv. so what billy wants people to understand is that if he can do it anyone can. he wants to be a beacon of light and hope and motivation for people who are in the dark and hiding right now, suffering from the same illness. 2007, with his career on the precipice as well and he did not think he had a career left. he also pointed out that perhaps the covid pandemic had made people re—evaluate things like hiv. it is an interesting point, isn't it?

yes. he spoke about that. he said it was the first time that he came to terms when he grew up everyone called him all sorts of horrible names and he was ashamed of what he was and he did not think that god loved him because he was different and he carried the shame for so long until the pandemic where he said he was able to see a trauma therapist and get in touch with who he was and come to terms to accepted and, also, finally to reveal it to his mother, the most important person in his life. and a very touching response to that as well. what is the response been in hollywood from fellow actors? overall it is very positive. many people were just surprised because, you know, he really is a pinnacle of good health and he is an open book. billy porter loves to talk and he loves to talk about himself and he is always out there on the red carpet and living life to the fullest so i think people thought that if something was going on with billy porter, billy porter would have said

something much earlier than 1a years. so i think people were surprised that he held onto the secret for so long but they are related that he finally feels free enough to come out and all the people i have spoken to so far a positive thing, especially for so many people in hollywood who i really suffering with hiv in the shadows as well anything about him in kinky boot, he is not shy about coming forward at all. the international olympic committee president thomas bach has insisted this summer's olympic games can go ahead safely. opposition to the games though is intensifying, with the country facing a growing numbers of coronavirus cases and a slow—moving vaccination programme. our tokyo our correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes reports. shouting. never before has the summer olympics face such overwhelming opposition from the people of the host nation. as japan's covid pandemic continues to get worse, the opposition is growing louder and more prominent. this double—page spread has appeared in several newspapers.

it's an old photo from world war ii of japanese children training to fight the americans with bamboo spears. except now the enemy is covid. "no vaccines," it reads, "no drugs, are we supposed to fight the virus with bamboo spears?" the head of japanese online retailer, rakuten, is also making headlines. he described holding the olympics now as a suicide mission. even those who have signed up as olympic volunteers are saying it is time to stop. definitely so. i don't hear people saying, "we should have the event." i never hear about it. they're just hoping, you know, that they're going to cancel the event. i think that's the public main opinion. while the virus is now well

into its fourth wave here, japan, has barely begun vaccinations. so far, just 3% received a single shot. this is the city of nagoya, in centraljapan. and i've come here because this city has just been placed under a state of emergency because of rapidly raising covid infections i've also come because medical workers here are up in arms that they are being requested to volunteer at the olympic village in tokyo, when they're desperately needed in hospitals here. this young nurse who doesn't want to show her face has watched the covid unit in her hospital filled to capacity. translation: we already don't have enough staff in hospital- beds for covid patients. people are already dying at home because they can't get into the hospital. they want 500 nurses to volunteer for the olympics.

that means more covid patients won't get the care they need. far to the north of the amid the rice fields of niigata, the small town of kamo has been preparing to host the russian gymnastics team. some of kamo's young gymnasts are trying out the new equipment, specially installed for the russians. takashi ikarashi tells me the town spent over a $500,000 us on all of this. because of covid, the russian team will now never use it. long—timejapan resident and sports promoter robert maes thinks there is one very obvious solution. to delay the olympics again. whenever you asked the people in charge, "why would you not even consider 2022?" there's really no answer. there is only, like, very direct and firm, "we will not organise in 2022, it's now or never." i argue for the exact opposite, because i think that everybody involved here is better off with an organisation in 2022. it may already be too late for another delay, it looks like the olympics will either go ahead or be cancelled.

but for these young gymnasts in kamo, the excitement they once had a welcoming the world to japan this summer is already a fading memory. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in niigata, northern japan. those games are due to start at the end ofjuly. it looked like something from a hollywood film car chase, but a high—speed police chase in florida that was caught on camera was all too real. the chase started after a suspected burglary, and police pursued them along the highway with a number of other police cars joining the pursuit. eventually the driver lost control of the suv after clipping two vehicles as it attempted to change lanes. officers with guns drawn

surrounded the wreckage. miraculously, all four occupants survived you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbctimwillcox. hello there. wednesday was another unsettled day. the majority of the showers that formed were across eastern areas through the afternoon, so we had some of these thunderclouds going across the skyline in cambridgeshire. further west, though, wales and western england, well, it was a largely fine afternoon with some long spells of sunshine at last. but it's not going to stay that way. on the satellite picture, we've already got our next weather system. it's been moving quite quickly across the atlantic, but it's going to put

its brakes on and become really quite slow—moving as the low spins its way across the united kingdom. so, we've got rain and strong winds to come for the next couple of days. now, that rain is already beginning to arrive across westernmost areas, and that process will continue for the next few hours. whereas across eastern areas, it stays drier. a dry start to thursday morning and not particularly cold. the winds picking up across the south—west, though, quite quickly in the morning. bright start across eastern areas, and to be honest, there probably won't be that much in the way of rain across the south—east. northern scotland not faring too bad either. but, otherwise, a lot of rain to come across western areas, with some strong winds blowing into the coast of wales in particular. winds that strong will likely bring down a few tree branches. there could be some localised transport disruption.

heavier rain this time going in across into the south—east of england through the afternoon. and the strongest winds going through the english channel. again, we could see some localised disruption, but the majority of the rain will start to spin away from northern ireland. here we'll see some brighter weather pushing in, but probably with a few showers as well. what about the weekend? well, the rain clears, showers follow to saturday. and then we've got another dollop of rain for sunday. so, there's no end in sight, really, to this unsettled run of weather. marginally, saturday looks like being the better of the two days of the weekend, although rain never too far away from the south—east of england. and there will be some heavy showers around as well. still, there will be some areas that get through the gaps between those showers and stay dry with some sunshine. temperatures continue to be pretty disappointing. sunday starts off on a promising note across the east,

this is bbc news. the headlines: israel intensifies its attacks on the gaza strip as palestinian militants continue to fire rockets at israeli towns. a senior hamas official says that a ceasefire might happen soon. us president, joe biden, has told the israeli prime minister that he expects to see a significant de—escalation. in iceland, there's been a slight thawing in relations between the us and russia. russian foreign minister sergei lavrov on wednesday praised his talks with us secretary of state antony blinken as "constructive" and "useful", saying both sides understand the need to mend ties. the international olympic committee president, thomas bach, is insisting that the tokyo olympic games can go ahead safely. but opposition to the games is intensifying in the country. now on bbc news, can tech turn back time?