this is bbc news. i'm lisa—marie misztak. our top stories: several people are killed in germany in a shooting at a jehovah's witnesses' centre in hamburg. russian shelling temporarily cuts power at ukraine's largest nuclear energy facility. the un demands immediate action to avoid disaster. we are rolling a dice here and there will be a day when our luck will run out. tens of thousands of israelis staged further protests against a planned judicial overhaul. their president says the legislation should be abandoned. and threats to sushi train dining as three people are arrested injapan during investigations

into an unhygienic craze. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. police in the german city of hamburg say several people have been killed in a shooting incident, and several others were injured. the attack happened inside a meeting hall forjehovah's witnesses where an event had apparently been under way. it's believed the attacker was among the dead. tim allman has more details. a quiet street in hamburg at around nine o'clock in the evening local time. in the distance, a figure appears to have climbed up the outside of a building and is peering inside. then, after a short pause, he raises what appears to be a handgun and opens fire.

not long after, armed officers arrive and are storming the building. slowly, carefully they make their way upstairs, no idea if the gunman is waiting for them. this is kingdom hall, a place of worship for local jehovah's witnesses. it is believed they were in the middle of a service when the attack took place. translation: | did not - realise what was happening. i was filming with my phone and only realized through the zoom that someone was shooting at the jehovah's witnesses. then i realised what was going on there. a little later, once the building had been secured, a number of people were escorted out, with their hands on their heads. initially there were reports the attacker may have escaped and been at large in the city but police now believe the gunman, whoever he may be,

never left kingdom hall. translation: the officers also heard a shot from the upper - part of the building and went upstairs, where they also found a body. so far we have no indications that any perpetrators fled. for now, no motive has been given, no reason for this carnage. a full investigation will now begin to try and work out why these terrible events happened. a place of peace, witness to such deadly violence. tim allman, bbc news. the head of the united nations nuclear watchdog has warned of potential disaster after russian missile strikes once again cut off the power supply to europe's biggest nuclear power plant in southern ukraine. power lines to the zaporizhzhia plant have since been restored, but for some hours staff had to rely on diesel generators for essential cooling of radioactive material. missiles also struck other energy targets across ukraine in one of the largest such attacks in weeks.

from kyiv, here's our diplomatic correspondent james landale. this is what a cruise missile can do. a residential part of lviv in the far west of ukraine. homes turned to rubble. streets torn apart. lives turned upside down. in all, five people died here. this may be hundreds of miles from the fighting but this morning, it's very much on the front line. in a residential area in northwest kyiv, cars were damaged by falling debris and shrapnel, after a russian drone was shutdown in the sky. two people were injured and taken to hospital. translation: there was an explosion in the sky. l i saw smoke and fire. victor told us how his car was damaged and how he tried to help his neighbours. translation: cars were set on fire. we took fire extinguishers from our vehicles to try and put them out, but it didn't

succeed and the fires spread. translation: i'm fed up| with it, can't stand all this. i don't have the strength any more. why are they doing this? they are scaring the children. these strikes might have been targeted against energy infrastructure, but here, not so much. as you can see, cars damaged, some of them destroyed and burnt out. all around me, the windows have been blown in, in the residents' blocks, and over here debris litters this children's playground. smoke on kyiv�*s skyline — the aftermath of a strike on energy infrastructure in the south, one of many such attacks on similar targets across the country. for some hours, power was cut to the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in europe, currently under russian control. the risks of overheating reactors all too evident for the un nuclear watchdog. each time,

we are rolling a dice. and if we allow this to continue time after time, then one day our luck will run out. but for now, people are trying to get on with normal life after the most substantial air strikes for several weeks. they know they won't be the last. james landale, bbc news, kyiv. let's get some of the day's other news. president biden has unveiled his budget plans for 2024, including increased spending on infrastructure and social programmes, and higher taxes for the rich and for big companies — each rise worth several trillion dollars. the plans may form the backbone of a presidential re—election bid. the italian prime minister giorgia meloni has outlined stiffer penalties for people smugglers after holding a cabinet meeting near the site where at least 72 migrants died in a shipwreck last month.

da rt dart the american actor robert blake has died. he was best known for his role in the 1970s tv show beretta. he had a career that spanned nearly six decades. in 2002 he was charged with murdering his second wife bonnie but was acquitted in 2005. he was 89. three people have been wounded in tel aviv in what police say was a suspected terror attack. the police say the attacker was — in their words — neutralised at the scene. it comes hours after the us defence secretary lloyd austin arrived in israel for talks. he told israeli leaders to take steps to reduce tension in the west bank amid an escalation in violence. all this on the day israel's president said the government should abandon its controversial plan to overhaul the legal system, as tens of thousands of israelis take to the streets in protest. isaac herzog said he could not watch his country being ripped apart before his eyes. here's our middle east

correspondent tom bateman. the protesters have now breached the main north—south highway that runs through tel aviv. we can now see mounted police, israeli security forces heading towards the protesters. this is exactly what israel's far right police minister said he would not allow. he calls these people anarchists. they say they are fighting for democracy. so, what is this all about? this is about the new nationalists israeli government led by benjamin netanyahu pushing through a series ofjudicial reforms that its critics say would strip the israeli supreme court of its independence, and would stack the judiciary in favour of the government. the mounted police are now pushing these protesters back. we're seeing a stand—off. the ones who breached this main

road here are digging in. this is a clash for them over the future of this country. the protesters here are shouting, "shame" at the security forces. the border police are now forcing back this crowd. we are seeing the sense of tension really spiral now. the border police are still trying to push people away. we are seeing the protesters being broken into two groups and somebody being very forcefully arrested here. the border police have got two people on the ground now, as you can see. mounted police are here. they are continuing to arrest these israelis. well, earlier i spoke to dan arbell, who's a scholar—in—residence at the center for israeli studies at american university,

and a 25—year veteran of the israeli foreign service. i asked how divided israeli society has become in the wake of these recent mass protests. this is absolutely tearing israeli society apart. the government's plan to overhaul the justice system and to alter the checks—and—balances system is making many israelis fearful and very upset and angry. you know, israelis who usually sit at home and watch tv are taking to the streets and are opposing this government's plans because israelis feel that this government was elected democratically, however, it is going much beyond its mandate. it is trying to alter the very nature, the very character of israeli democracy, pushing it towards dictatorship, and that is what scares many israelis and therefore you see so many,

day after day, out in the streets. the protests are seeping into the reserves corp, which are pulling different branches of the israeli society. how unusual is that for them to get involved? highly unprecedented. this has never happened in the history. reservists, senior army, former generals, pilots, combat pilots from special units, specialforces are out there, and they are saying, "we have served, we are willing to give up our life for the defence of this country, however, we are doing so on the basis that this remains a democracy." if israel becomes a dictatorship, we will not serve any more, we will not volunteer for combat missions and so on. so, this is very, very unprecedented and in the days to come, if there is no resolution, no compromise, i believe we will see more and more greater numbers

of people following in their footsteps. you mentioned compromise, do you expect any compromise to come from the government and if so what do you think that would look like? everybody�*s talking about a compromise. the person who was leading the efforts for a compromise was president herzog, and his statement tonight, i think he's about to give up, but he is kind of sending a message to everybody, especially to the government that their plans as is right now is destructive, and he will abandon his efforts if they do not change it, so the onus is on the government, the onus is on mr netanyahu. then, of course, once they agree for some sort of measures to tone down their plan, then there may be people on the other side that will entertain that, but at the moment, the onus is on the governing coalition, on mr netanyahu to adopt

changes to the plan. xijinping has secured a third five—year term as china's president. nearly 3000 members of china's national people's congress voted unanimously for xi. there was no other candidate. the role of president is largely ceremonial, but the re—election is seen as an affirmation of mr xi's grip on power. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the 15 —year—old making waves as she trains for the special olympics world summer games in berlin. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 24 hours then, the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots in the gym _ then he came outj

through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much, do you think? i don't know, really — _ i've never been married before. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: several people have been killed in the german city of hamburg inside a meeting hall forjehovah's witnesses. police believe a person found with fatal injuries on the upper floor of the building was the attacker.

russian shelling has temporarily cut power at ukraine's largest nuclear energy facility. the un has demanded immediate action to avoid disaster. thousands of people have been demonstrating in the georgian capitalfor a third night, despite the country's ruling party saying it would withdraw a controversial law targeting organisations that receive foreign funding. the opposition says it will keep fighting against what it sees as russian—inspired attempts to derail the country's pro—european ambitions. 0ur russia editor, steve rosenberg, reports from tbilisi. outside the parliaments, it was clear where most georgians see their country's future. clear too, the results of people power. the protesters had won. they had forced a u—turn. the ruling party had withdrawn the controversial foreign agents bill that many here saw as a threat to civil society.

and they accused their government of trying to move georgia back into russia's orbit. we don't really want to be part of russia and everything they're doing. the whole georgia is against it, actually. what do most georgians want? we want more integration in europe. this is our goal. this is our main request. we want to be part of europe. the scene earlier this week. pitched battles by the parliament building. water cannon and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. but it didn't stop the protests. and along with the eu flag, out of solidarity, the flag of ukraine. the war there and events here have something in common. in many ways what's happened in georgia this week and what's happened in ukraine are part of the same picture.

both these countries were part of the soviet union and more than 30 years after the fall of the ussr, the consequences of that geopolitical earthquake, the collapse of the soviet superpower, are still being felt across the region. in ukraine, the kremlin launched a full—scale invasion to try to force the country back into russia's sphere of influence. it invaded georgia too, more than a decade earlier. there are thousands of russian troops on what is internationally recognised as georgian territory. russian aggression against georgia and russian aggression against ukraine are part of the same picture of putin's policy to restore his influence in his, you know, his neighbourhood and restore some new version of the soviet union. this week, georgians have made it clear they want no part of it. steve rosenberg,

bbc news, tbilisi. three people have been arrested injapan as part of investigations into an unhygienic craze that's become known as "sushi terror". video clips, showing restaurant diners tampering with food on conveyor belts, have gone viral. 0wners say this method of dining, known as the �*sushi train�*, is under threat, as our tokyo correspondent, shaimaa khalil, reports. i want to apologise and warn our viewers, if you're eating, you might want to put your food down before you listen to this. this happened last month when a viral video came out of a man in a sushi restaurant, the kaiten—sushi, as it's called, the conveyor belt, showing him licking a soy sauce bottle on the sushi trail and also rubbing saliva on the sushi as it moved on the conveyor belt. this happened in a branch

of a famous sushi chain restaurant called kura sushi. and since then, dozens of videos surfaced online of similar, unhygienic pranks. and of course, you can imagine the shock and the disgust that it provoked online among people and among customers. remember, of course, this is horrible anywhere in the world, but this is japan. this is a country that is very, very particular about hygiene, about high standards of cleanliness. people still wear masks around, indoors and outdoors, even though the rules have been relaxed a little bit, you have to take off your shoes again for hygiene reasons. and so for this to happen here in a country with very, very particular and exacting culinary etiquette, you can imagine how shocking and horrible it was for people. today, three arrests have been made, one 20—year—old man and two teenagers. and we understand that they all admitted to what happened in the kura sushi restaurant,

and one of them has reportedly apologized. but since then, really, sushi restaurants around the country have been trying to assure customers of their hygiene standards. some of them, one of the more known ones actually around japan, sushi maru, said that its conveyor belts are going to grind to a halt. it's stopping the conveyor belt main attraction, really, of those sushi restaurants and now is resorting to order, direct orders, where staff bring people sushi. britian�*s prime minister rishi sunak is due in paris on friday for a meeting with the french president emmanuel macron. it's the first bilateral summit between britain and france since 2018. our paris correspondent, lucy williamson, looks at whether, after years of tension, the cross—channel relationship could be thawing. being good allies takes practice.

as the prime minister prepares to renew ties with president macron, british soldiers have been taking part in france's biggest military exercise for decades. against the backdrop of a new war in europe. the elysee palace says defence cooperation suffered from brexit, covid and a broken security deal and that now is the time forfresh momentum. 0n the ground the view is different. we use the metaphor of the channel. if you think, on the surface you have the rough seas, you have the wind, you have the weather, maybe that's political, i don't know. but for us there is the channel tunnel, there's a smooth, constant interaction between both of our armies, both of our armed forces that works constantly and that has not failed at any time. there have been plenty of rough seas and bad weather between paris and london. rows over migration and post—brexit fishing rights left emmanuel macron and borisjohnson trading accusations across the channel.

things were not much better during liz truss's brief premiership. when asked last year if president macron was a friend or foe, she replied, "the jury's out." sylvie bermann, a former french ambassador to the uk, russia and china, says cross—channel relations are now ripe for a reset. rishi sunak is not emotional as, well, borisjohnson was because brexit was his baby and also, well, liz truss, she didn't stay for a long time, but there was a problem. it's been five years since the french and british leaders met like this to discuss key issues. both sides say a better political relationship is due and rishi sunak is seen here as a pragmatist who has already proven he can work with the eu to resolve disputes. but how far will warmer political ties help solve deep—rooted issues like migration?

france has been cool towards mr sunak�*s new plan to tackle small boat crossings. london says french patrols, partly funded by the uk, are helping, but a real game—changer, like sending migrants back to france, is still off the table for paris. the commitments and challenges that span the channel can both endure a lot of change in political ties. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. one of the biggest sporting events in the world gets under way in berlin this summer. more than 7,000 competitors from nearly 200 nations will take part in the special olympics world summer games — a celebration of sport for people with intellectual disabilities. taylor mackenzie from dundee is 15 years old and the youngest member of the british team. joe wilson has been to meet her.

every day after school, taylor mackenzie trains. all that commitment for this moment. oh, my god! yeah, she's going to the special 0lympics world games in berlin. i got accepted into the s0 gb team! wahey, that's amazing! i struggle in school quite a bit, so i'd say swimming kind ofjust blurs all that out, and itjust is a better thing to focus on. it gives me something to express my feelings and how iam. taylor has autism and a learning disability, but swimming is her identity. something exceptional happened when she was five. she got out of the water, and then she says, "tickle toes touching water." and we looked at each other and we went, "what did she say?" and it was the first time we had actually heard her speak. when taylor started achieving at galas, i think she realised that she actually could do something well and that she could be like any other person in the pool.

in the pandemic, taylor trained in the garden with a piece of bungee rope. brilliant. but everything changed. and across all levels of intellectual disability, sport is often crucial. for our athletes, the pandemic has created a lot of challenges for them. they've lost their structure. they've lost their social connection. they've lost their support. they've lost that sense of being and belonging. so being able to have the world games come back with a bang is so significant for us in the movement. taylor's training for berlin alongside mainstream swimmers. she gets clear, concise instructions. to be honest, what works for taylor when we are adapting it that way works really well for the other kids as well. so break it down in the way that taylor understands, but you're helping everybody. ah, that's inclusion in action. that is the special olympics represented by taylor mackenzie. joe wilson, bbc news, dundee.

moral nurse and all the other stories on our website at bbc.com/news. that's all for now. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lmmisztak. hello there. disruptive snowfall has been affecting central and southern scotland, onto northern england, north wales and northern ireland and heavy snowfall likely to continue across northern england, north wales, north midlands as we head into friday morning. so some disruption likely, roads will be treacherous in those areas. the snow clears away though fairly quickly from scotland and northern ireland early on friday and will slowly pull away from england and wales as well but it will be a windy morning across england and wales, some drifting of that snow too. eventually it starts to pull away into the north sea, allowing skies to brighten up for many. plenty of sunshine for scotland and northern ireland

but further snow showers affecting northern and north—east scotland. a colder day to come across the board including southern england, temperatures range from around 2—7 celsius. then as we head through friday night, we are under a ridge of high pressure, light winds, an area of cold air sitting across the uk, so temperatures tumble as we head through friday night. clear skies, light winds. further snow showers across northern scotland but ice will become a problem, particularly where we've got all that lying snow. don't be surprised if we see —10 celsius across the snowfields of northern england and —15 or so across the snowfields of highlands and grampians. so here's the pressure chart for saturday, we see the weather front working its way into southern and western areas through the day but ahead of it, it'll be dry, clear and very cold so we start crisp and sunny for saturday before skies start to turn cloudy. as this weather front works its way into the west, we could see some sleet and snow for the higher ground

of south—west of england, wales, northern ireland. it will be turning back to rain is milder air moves in, should see up to 10 degrees there in plymouth by the end of the day. but it's much colder further north and east but at least dry until after dark. that weather works its way across the country saturday night preceded by some heavy snow across northern england and scotland for a while but it reverts back to rain as milder air moves in behind it. so a milder air on sunday, the rain clearing its way from the north—east of scotland, windy and quite a bit of cloud, more rain piling into southern and western areas. some of it will be heavy at times but look at those temperatures, much milder across the board, up to 13 degrees in the south.

this is bbc news. the headlines: at least six people have been killed in a shooting incident in the german city of hamburg. several others were injured. the attack happened inside a meeting hall forjehovah's witnesses. police believe that a person found with fatal injuries on the upper floor of the building was the attacker. the head of the united nations nuclear watchdog has warned of potential disaster after russian missile strikes temporarily cut off the power supply to europe's biggest nuclear power plant in southern ukraine. president zelensky said russia was willing to jeopardise nuclear facilities anywhere in order to create terror. three people have been wounded

in tel aviv in what police say was a suspected terror attack. at the same time, thousands of israelis took to the streets for a day of protest against a planned judicial overhaul.