this is bbc world news. i'm nuala mcgovern. our top stories: at least ten people are killed in israeli air strikes on gaza, inluding a top commander of the islamichhad movement. the group's responded by firing dozens of rockets at israel. conspiracy theorist alex jones is ordered to pay m5 million in punitive damages after falsely labelling the sandy hook school shooting a hoax. in the us, republican—controlled state indiana introduces a near—total ban on abortions. thousands of performers descend on edinburgh as the world's biggest arts festival

gets under way. hello and welcome to bbc news. palestinian militants from the islamichhad faction have fired dozens of rockets into israel in response to israeli airstrikes on the gaza strip. the airstrikes killed a commander of the group, as well as nine others including an infant. islamichhad said 100 rockets had hit tel aviv and other cities. israeli media said there were 70 within half an hour. azadeh moshiri reports. gaza's sky lights up israel's military launches successive air strikes. this is the footage they released of the attack. it lasted hours and claimed several lives — including that of a top military commander

of palestinian islamichhad, a militant group also known as the pi]. israel carried out a precise counterterrorism response against an immediate threat. our fight is not with the people of gaza. islamichhad is an iran proxy that wants to destroy the state of israel and kill innocent israelis. in response, the militant group fired back more than 100 rockets towards israel, most of them hitting its iron dome missile shield. sirens sounded out across the streets, with israelis seeking shelter. hamas, which governs the palestinian territory, condemned the strikes on gaza. translation: the occupation has initiated crimes in the middle - of the day by targeting residential buildings while the inhabitants were inside on a weekend and targeting a resistance leader. the crime occurred despite all our communication

through mediators. the occupation must pay the price of this crime. israel's airstrikes reportedly killed civilians as well with gara's local health officials saying a young girl was amongst the dead. translation: how is it this child's fault? - she was dreaming of going to kindergarten and asked her father for a school bag and clothes. what has she done wrong? this innocent child. thousands of palestinians carried the body of the dead commander after one of the most serious outbreaks of violence in gaza in over a year. israel says theirs was a preemptive move after they arrested one of the top leaders of the group earlier this week and received days of threats. now, hamas says armed groups are united in battle.

i spoke to natan sachs who's a senior fellow and director of the center for middle east policy at brookings. i asked him to describe israeli pm yair lapid's approach in dealing with this latest round of violence. well, in this case the israeli hope and lapid's hope is very much a continuation of previous policy, is to contain this in a very precise attack against palestinian islamic jihad, hoping that hamas does notjoin the fight. so i would characterise this as very much a continuation, an establishment kind of approach. it's a very forceful approach against palestinian islamichhad. still with a hope to continue what has been over a year now of easing control of the gaza strip, hoping that hamas doesn't join the fight. it is a mixed bag, but much like americans in a similar situations, the israeli approach to palestinean islamichhad is quite forceful and quick,

despite the cost it entails. and what do you think might be the issue over whether hamas does or does notjoin what has happened so far? well, there's been a lot of mediation, attempted mediation between the sides, between hamas and israel, and that is really the key. if hamas joins the fighting here, we can see another escalation and something similar to what we saw in may last year. if not, if it remains within a much smaller organisation, palestinian islamichhad, then we might see a shorter and more contained fight. the key here is relations between hamas and pi], and hamas' desire to continue the easing of the blockade that we have seen over the year now. hamas' calculation, of course, is really a black box. we don't know exactly what the relations inside there and also their relations with the palestinian islamichhad. but there is no love lost between the organisations, and hamas sees pij as a rival, a very small rival, but one that will often not

obey its desires for sometimes a ceasefire with israel and attempt to improve economic relations, at least for its own good. and you talk about easing off the blockade — i imagine for many palestinians, it isn't enough, but what do you see is progress or positive? it is far from enough from my perspective as well, but it has included some important steps on desalination of water, on power, on a dozen, almost two dozen thousand work permits of gazans into israel, the beach waters are for the first time in a long time now ones that people from gaza can swim in. people on the gaza strip were in dire circumstances but we have seen progress on the right direction. it would be an enormous tragedy if this round of violence moved that back, changed the direction back towards a hardening of the blockade and, of course, towards more bloodshed.

the conspiracy theorist alexjones has been ordered to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages after falsely claiming the 2012 sandy hook school shooting was a hoax. the defamation case against the infowars founder was brought by the parents of one of the victims. they say they endured harassment and emotional distress because of the right—wing host's disinformation. the bbc�*s nomia iqbal reports. after decades of building a cult following, alex jones is facing the cost of spreading lies. foryears facing the cost of spreading lies. for years he claimed that the deadly school shutting in us history in sandy hook, connecticut, ten years ago, was a hoax. he says it was staged by the government to increase gun controls. 20 children and six adults were killed. his allegations led to families being targeted with death threats. this action was brought by the parents of six—year—old jesse lewis. the judge already ordered him to pay $4 million for the trauma

he has cause.— pay $4 million for the trauma he has cause. this day is very important _ he has cause. this day is very important for _ he has cause. this day is very important for me. _ he has cause. this day is very important for me. it - he has cause. this day is very important for me. it has - he has cause. this day is very j important for me. it has been he has cause. this day is very l important for me. it has been a long time coming. i feel very good about being here today. to face alex jones good about being here today. to face alexjones and hold him accountable for what he said and did to me. and to restore the honour and legacy of my son that was tarnished by alex jones. , ., ~ jones. during the trial, alex jones. during the trial, alex jones withdrew _ jones. during the trial, alex jones withdrew his - jones. during the trial, alex jones withdrew his claims i jones. during the trial, alex i jones withdrew his claims and expanded his podcast why you did so. i expanded his podcast why you did so. , , . expanded his podcast why you did so. ,, ., , ., ., ., did so. i spread misinformation but not on _ did so. i spread misinformation but not on purpose. _ did so. i spread misinformation but not on purpose. i _ did so. i spread misinformationj but not on purpose. i apologise to families and the jury understood that. to families and the “ury understood that.�* to families and the “ury understood that. but he continued _ understood that. but he continued to _ understood that. but he continued to use - understood that. but he continued to use his - understood that. but he - continued to use his platform to continue to attack the jurors and judges. his lawyer said he had a right to free speech. said he had a right to free seech. �* _, , said he had a right to free seech. �* , , ., speech. alex jones will be on the air today. _ speech. alex jones will be on the air today. he _ speech. alex jones will be on the air today. he will - speech. alex jones will be on the air today. he will be - speech. alex jones will be on the air today. he will be on i the air today. he will be on the air today. he will be on the air today. he will be on the air tomorrow. he will be on the air tomorrow. he will be on the next week. he will keep

doing hisjob holding the power structure accountable. the consniracy _ structure accountable. the conspiracy theorist - structure accountable. the conspiracy theorist also claimed he is bankrupt. they court heard he wasn't that broke. , . , court heard he wasn't that broke. i,“ ,, broke. he is a very successful man. broke. he is a very successful man- he _ broke. he is a very successful man. he promulgated - broke. he is a very successful man. he promulgated some i broke. he is a very successful- man. he promulgated some hate speech and some misinformation but he made a lot of money and he monetised that.— he monetised that. earlier in the week _ he monetised that. earlier in the week an _ he monetised that. earlier in the week an unexpected - he monetised that. earlier in | the week an unexpected twist happened. jones' lawyers accidentally sent two years worth of text messages to the other side. worth of text messages to the other side-— other side. and that is how i know you — other side. and that is how i know you lied _ other side. and that is how i know you lied to _ other side. and that is how i know you lied to me - other side. and that is how i know you lied to me when . other side. and that is how i l know you lied to me when you said you didn't have a text message about sandy hook. did you know that because make the community investigating now want to talk to jones to see what role he may have played. alex jones established what role he may have played. alexjones established himself as a maverick of the far right but his reckoning could now set a precedent for the price of fake news. the republican governor of the us state of indiana has signed a controversial bill into law, banning most abortions. indiana is the first state to bring in such legislation

since the us supreme court decision injune to overturn a landmark ruling on a woman's constitutional right to terminate her own pregnancy, which was enshrined in the 1974 roe versus wade case. several other republican states already had bans or near—total bans on the books that were enacted soon after the supreme court decision. earlier, i spoke to arika herron, a reporter with the indianapolis star, which has been following the story. he could have chosen to veto the bill, but our state legislature can override a governotorial veto with a simple majority, but he had called on our legislature to address this issue in a special session, so it's not a huge surprise that he signed it, but, yes, that came through just a minute or two ago. 0k, well, thank you for telling us that. so, just to reiterate for our viewers — that has now become law in indiana.

where is abortion now permitted under the state's law? so, abortion is completely banned in indiana now, except in cases of rape and incest — a woman can get an abortion in those instances within the first ten weeks. it's also allowed up to 20 weeks in cases of fatal foetal anomalies or in cases when the life of the pregnant person is in danger. is it possible to know whether... there were some haven states, as we heard of, where people were going to get abortions. there was this case of a ten—year—old i think from ohio that went in, indiana, very much in the news, that particular very sad case. do you think the aspect that people were coming to the state made a difference, or what do you think is at the heart of it, this change in the legislation? i think there were certainly legislatures here who did not want to see indiana become what they called an abortion tourist destination, but i'm not sure that it really would have changed things too much. i think we had quite a few anti—abortion lawmakers

who were ready to take this action, the case of the... inaudible. i'm so sorry. china is halting co—operation with the us in several key areas, including climate change, military talks and efforts to combat international crime. the new measures follow a trip to taiwan by senior democrat nancy pelosi. china views the visit as a challenge to its claims of sovereignty over the island. but taiwan's foreign minister, joseph wu, has defended ms pelosi's visit, and said that taiwan would continue to invite democratic politicians from around the world. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield hayes sent this report from taipei. for the second day in a row, china has continued its military intimidation of taiwan. at least 68 chinese fighter jets are reported to have crossed into taiwanese controlled airspace. this video broadcast on chinese television this evening shows just how close some of them

came to the taiwanese coast. in the background, those are the mountains of central taiwan. china has also announced a long list of retaliation against america, including personal sanctions on nancy pelosi. but in taipei, foreign minister joseph wu told me he has no regrets about inviting the us house speaker to visit the island. the taiwanese government, especially the ministry of foreign affairs, has been working very hard in expanding taiwan's international space, making friends with important international leaders or trying to connect more with like—minded partners around the world, like speaker pelosi. to have an opportunity to visit taiwan is very significant, to allow the international community to understand that taiwan is a democracy. it's notjust taiwan's democracy that is threatened by china. it's a big chunk of the world's economy. one hour drive south of taipei, these are the huge fab plants

of the world's most important maker of advanced microchips. it's amazing to think that in these huge buildings behind me here, they manufacture around two thirds of the world's most advanced microchips, and in that building over there, currently under construction, they are going to start next year making the next generation of even more advanced chips. that makes this one corporation, tsmc, absolutely vital to the world's modern economy. it also makes this place very vulnerable. if only for this selfish reason, joseph wu says the world should care what happens to taiwan. without the computer chips here in taiwan, or without the tsmc, the international community is going to suffer. a chinese blockade of taiwan could make the worldwide chip shortage caused by the covid pandemic look like a minor blip on the global economy. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in taipei. in afghanistan, the islamic

state militant group has claimed responsibility for a deadly blast in the capital kabul on friday. afghan police said that eight people were killed and 18 wounded. they say the explosives were attached to a cart loaded with vegetables and parked in a shopping area. ukraine and russia have blamed each other for the shelling of the russian—occupied zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in europe. the attacks are said to have also hit nearby high—voltage powerlines. ukrainian and western officials have accused russian forces of using the complex to launch attacks, leaving the ukrainians unable to respond for fear of causing a disaster. ukraine's president zelensky said the kremlin must take responsibility for what he called a terror attack. translation: today, - the occupiers created another very dangerous situation for all of europe. they shelled a nuclear power plant, and have done it twice in one day. this is the largest nuclear station on our continent

and any shelling is an overt, blatant crime, a terrorist act. much of europe is struggling to cope with what's being described as the worst drought here on record. high temperatures and a lack of rain have led to serious problems in several countries. people are being told to conserve water, and the forecast says more hot weather is on the way. the bbc�*s tim allman reports. in this part of south—east france, these fields are usually bursting with colour, row after row of lavender. but this year, the soil is like sand. the plants seem lifeless. the heatwave taking its toll. ministers came to see the situation for themselves. the french government has set up a special crisis unit to try and deal with a problem they say is unprecedented. translation: we've never i experienced a drought like this one, and the bad news is as far as we can see, there's no reason to

think it will stop. it's even worse than that, because we have a heatwave and a drought, so we have a vicious circle. so, just how bad has it got? well, more than 100 towns and villages across the country have run out of fresh drinking water, with supplies having to be bussed in. the national energy company, edf, says some nuclear power stations have had to reduce output because river temperatures are too high to properly cool the reactors. and farmers are warning they've reduced yields, which could lead to higherfood prices. here, not far from the palace of versailles, the water inspectors are on patrol. visiting this golf club, they want to make sure the restrictions are being respected, the rules are being followed. translation: this year, obviously, the situation l here is similar to what's happening in france as a whole. we're experiencing a period of drought that is quite exceptional. it's not just france. italy is experiencing its driest year

since records began more than 200 years ago. in romania, the river danube is nearing its lowest ever level, with exposed sand dunes making navigation difficult. "i can tell you, the danube had a low level before, "but the elders say it's never been like this," said this man. "we hope maybe a divine force can help us with some rain." even in the uk, a country not exactly renowned for high temperatures, they've experienced the driestjuly since 1935. water restrictions are being imposed in the south—east and in parts of wales. and with the heat likely to rise and no sign of rain in the coming days, things may well get worse before they get better. tim allman, bbc news. un secretary general antonio guterress has attended the ceremony for the victims of the 1945 atomic bomb attack on hiroshima at the peace memorial park

injapan. around 70,000 people died when america bombed the city in 1945. three days later another attack took place in nagasaki. earlier this week, mr guterress called on countries to strengthen the nuclear non—proliferation treaty and work towards ridding the planet of nuclear weapons. it was last august that a coalition of international forces, led by the us, withdrew from afghanistan, marking the end of a 20—year campaign in the country. the taliban swiftly took over, leading to chaotic scenes, as people tried to flee. a year on, nearly 10,000 refugees who came to the uk are still in hotels, unable to find stability. our special correspondent lucy manning has been speaking to some of them about their new lives. my name is hala. i'm nearly four. my name is zara. for a year, home has been a hotel.

the shelgari family, six children and their parents living in one corridor of rooms. it's not the family life they hoped for. the hotel is not for long—term living. we are hopeless. but it looks very long time. you feel hopeless? yeah, of course. they say that it might be solved within one month or two months, but it's nearly one year. marwa had to flee afghanistan because her mother was a politician. the uk gave her safety, but not stability. for close to a year, she's lived in a hotel in yorkshire with her family. last week, it stopped housing afghans. she's now in sussex, split up from the others. it was very, very hard to be separated from my family and it was more harder that we are staying very far from each other. where has everyone gone? so my two brothers are in manchester and my sister is in leeds. to be honest, i couldn'tjust stop my tears. it's costing more than a million pounds a day

in hotel bills. unlike ukrainians, afghans have no sponsors, no—one to live with to help them, and they can't bring over otherfamily members. the scheme for afghans has not been a success in terms of housing or integration. there have been the odd success stories, one, a journey from kabul to aberdeen. we werejust left behind in a dark room. we first spoke to burhan, a former british army interpreter in kabul, pleading for help in august last year. through the danger at the airport with bombs, he managed to get his family to safety. we spoke to him in isolation when he arrived. everyone is ok and now we are in safety, and we are very thankful. he's one of the minority who've made it out of hotels... this is your new house. ..thanks to helga, the woman who saw our bbc news reports and offered him a flat in aberdeen. look in there. what do you see? the toys. a year on, we came to visit them.

i named this city city of 0pportunities. city of 0pportunities? leaving behind your home, leaving behind families is very hard. at least i can say that i'm the luckiest one amongst my friends, among tens of thousands of people who left afghanistan, that i am settled well in aberdeen by the help of generous, good people around me. the granite city has shown warmth. burhan has a job in security. narcis is learning english. before sepehr moved to aberdeen, he spoke little english. i'm excited about toys. now, that's all changed. and now my english is better, so i can speak english. and how is school? good. last week we learned about the human brain.

what did you learn about it? we learned about cerebellum. cerebellum controls your body control. nearly 10,000 are still in hotels. the home office says the housing process is a complex one, but lives are being built here. marwa will study at university. narcis, a doctor, wants to practise here. and sepehr hopes to be a mechanic. lucy manning, bbc news. thousands of performers from across the world are in edinburgh for the start of the world's biggest arts festival. pauline mclean reports. they're pulling out all the stops for a free gala show, which will welcome the world back to edinburgh. it's incredibly exciting. i think, you know, none of us really knew for sure whether the audiences would be back, whether the artists would be back, but here we are, ready to go, and the city's buzzing as much as it ever has been.

the show did go on last year, a smaller number of them in open—air venues like this multi—storey car park. those who took part say they owed it to edinburgh and its festivals. i cut my teeth here. in 1996, i was brand—new. i was in a competition called so you think you're funny. i learnt my craft in edinburgh. how to be a stand—up. over the years, they've had no mercy at all, you know what i mean? they'll go for your neck if they want when you're on stage. they're great hecklers, the scots! and it's notjust the fringe. all the summer festivals are back offering music, art, cabaret, philosophy and fun. and for an industry which has been so hard hit by the pandemic, it's never been more important to make a comeback. i think it's tested everybody�*s resilience to the extremes this year, but you only need to look at the streets, at the venues, at the stages, at the number of artists and creatives. i saw a human potato on the street yesterday

and you go, "the fringe is back!" anything can happen and everybody�*s just focused now on the festival, the artists, the shows, the audiences — it's great. both fringe and international festivals celebrate 75 years this summer, but no—one is resting on their laurels. this show challenging perceptions about robert burns and regular festival performer alan cumming. you know, i'm dancing and it's very, very challenging and i realise that sometimes i do things that really challenge me to the point when i think i might fail, and i think that's annoying, frankly. but i think it's — as an artist, it kind of keeps you alive. pauline mclean, bbc news, edinburgh. looks like a good time. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbcnuala.

i would love to hear from you. thank you so much for watching. stay with us. hello. well, let's see what the weather's got in store for us this weekend. and as you might expect, a lot of warm sunshine, but a bit of rain in the forecast too. not where we really need it, though. in fact, if we have a look at the rainfall accumulation over the next five days, most of it will fall across western parts of scotland, just dribs and drabs in the north—west of england, and no rain at all for many parts of wales and england further south. and, in fact, the longer—term outlook indicates that the next ten days across southern parts of england will probably be dry, possibly the next two weeks, which is farfrom ideal. ok, let's have a look at the short term, then — so here's the cloud and the rain heading towards

western parts of scotland. but for england and wales, the early hours are clear. a bit of a nip in the air first thing in the morning, temperatures will range from around 8 to 12 degrees in towns and cities, and in rural spots, it'll probably be a little cooler than that. now, the first half of the day may be quite overcast across more northern areas, but come the afternoon, the sun should poke through the clouds. but showers may continue in the north of scotland all day long. here, 15 degrees, 19 for newcastle, 22 for birmingham, and around the mid—20s expected in london and the south—east. that was saturday. this is sunday, and more of the same in scotland, thicker cloud, occasionally some rain, but really not an awful lot. elsewhere across the country, it is looking dry and turning warmer. temperatures perhaps in the mid—20s pushing into the peak district and yorkshire, around 27 expected in london. now, high pressure will build across the uk and much of western and central europe as we head into next week, and that is also going to open

up the doorway for hotter air to stream in from the near continent, all the way from spain, france, and then into the uk. so let's have a look at the outlook, then — london, birmingham, cardiff and manchester, very warm, if not hot. in fact, temperatures into the 30s, possibly even the mid—30s by the end of the week across some southern parts of the uk. further north, also warming up, but it's going to be far more comfortable, and here always, perhaps a little more cloud. that's it from me. have a good weekend.

this is bbc news. the headlines: israeli air strikes on gaza have killed at least ten people, including the target, a top commander of palestinian movement islamichhad. the group's responded by firing over a hundred rockets at israel. it's the worst bout of violence there in over a year. the conspiracy theorist alexjones has been ordered to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages after falsely claiming the sandy hook school shooting was a hoax. the defamation case against the infowars founder and host was brought by the parents of one of the children killed. in the us, republican—controlled state indiana has introduced a near—total ban on abortions. it's the first passed by lawmakers at state level since the supreme court removed american womens constitutional right to abortion six weeks ago.