the agony of the hostage families, as israel's military says 203 people are now thought to have been taken by hamas. developments in the middle east are our top focus, but also looking at another big story developing. a woman's body has been recovered from a river in scotland, as a major storm batters the country. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to the programme. there are indications this hour that israel's expected ground invasion of gaza could be nearing. the israeli defence minister has told troops on the border that they will soon see the palestinian enclave from inside. meanwhile in gaza, there continues to be a critical shortage of supplies as hundreds of vehicles

carrying aid still wait at the rafah crossing in egypt till they can go in. the uk prime minister rishi sunak has become the latest world leader to visit israel and pledge support while seeking to prevent a wider regional conflict. he's now travelled on to saudi arabia. our first report is from jeremy bowen in israel. britain's prime minister came, he said, because israel faces its darkest hour. israel is welcoming its allies. it will need their support in the next few weeks. waiting injerusalem was benjamin netanyahu, israel's prime minister, a day after he welcomed joe biden. we absolutely support israel's right to defend itself in line with international law, to go after hamas, to take back hostages, to deter further incursions and to strengthen your security for the long—term.

now, i know that you are taking every precaution to avoid harming civilians, in direct contrast to the terrorists of hamas, which seek to put civilians in harm's way. we have here two forces. one is an axis of evil led by iran, through hezbollah, hamas and others, that want to bring back the middle east of the middle ages, to an age of bondage and war and slavery and annihilation. and the other force is the forces of progress and humanity that want to push the middle east into a world of peace and prosperity. in southern gaza, united nations workers were among the wounded as israel's strikes continued. more thani million palestinians have fled to the south on israel's instructions. gaza's civilians, sealed off from the world by israel's siege, face catastrophe. aid has been waiting for days on the egyptian side of the border.

joe biden persuaded the israelis to allow 20 lorries to cross into gaza tomorrow. injerusalem, philippe lazzarini, head of the un's agency for palestinian refugees, called unrwa, told me they need much more. a few days ago, you had some very strong comments after civilians sheltering in one of the unrwa schools were killed. is there is a safe place for anyone in gaza? there is no safe - place in gaza today. there is nowhere where the civilian population feels safe. _ what do you make of the biden plan? listen, we are calling - for a humanitarian corridor, but the humanitarian corridor needs to be uninterrupted, _ needs to be predictable. we will need at least 100 trucks a day. - if we cannot bring fuel and we have to bring i the water in bottles, _ we will need much, much more. we are now in a situation . where there is a total siege being imposed in the gaza strip.

we are in a situation where more |than a million people have been| asked to be displaced. this amounts to collective l punishment, and collective punishment is a violation - of international humanitarian law. do you have any sympathy with the israeli perspective that hamas use people, they say, as human shields? israel has gone through a traumatic event. - i condemn this horrifici and barbaric massacre. but killing other people, - this event does not stilljustify that war is conducted | without any restraint. the war, he said, has left the middle east on the edge of an abyss. the united nations has called for a humanitarian ceasefire.

that was jeremy bowen, reporting from israel. us presidentjoe biden is expected to address the american people less than 2a hours after his visit to israel. president biden, seen here returning to washington, will try to rally support for his approach to conflicts both in israel and ukraine. the us state department has issued a worldwide security alert for all citizens overseas, citing the potential for attacks. our correspondent david willis has more from washington on president biden�*s speech, in less than one hour's time. the white house is saying that he will be seeking to reflect on the events of recent weeks — particularly, of course, those in the middle east — and look to address both the conflicts in ukraine, as you mentioned, and in israel, and seeking to draw a line between them and the impact that they potentially have on democracy around the world and, of course, also on

the american people. this at a time when it's said that the president is about to ask congress for a military aid package in the region of $100 billion worth of aid, both for israel, for ukraine and also for taiwan. all this just a few hours after the president returned from that whirlwind trip to the middle east, having given his warm endorsement to israel and pledged unwavering support to that key ally in the middle east, whilst also securing the agreement of both israel and egypt for humanitarian aid to pass into gaza, possibly as early as tomorrow. right, david, of course, america goes into elections next year. how does that aspect play into critical foreign policy

decisions that we're likely to hear president biden outline? well, it's bound to have an impact and it's bound to be a potential distraction, isn't it? but i think the greater concern at the moment is the fact that there is still no speaker elected to the lower house, the house of representatives. it has been in a state of paralysis for more than two weeks now as a result of infighting amongst republicans on the floor of the house of representatives. the ohio representative jim jordan has failed to get the votes that he needs to get the speakership in two separate votes. he's huddling, we hear, with people who are opposed to his candidature right now. and it remains to be seen whether he's going to press for another vote on his candidature either tonight or tomorrow. but it doesn't appear that mrjordan has the support that he needs.

and all the time, there is this legislative paralysis. any hope of passing any sort of military aid package in congress is effectively dead in the water. on the ground there in gaza and israel... charities hope lorries waiting on gaza's border with egypt will be allowed in on friday, but there are fears the first consignments of up to 20 trucks will not be nearly enough for the 2.2 million people in gaza desperately waiting for basic supplies. israel cut electricity, restricted water supply and stopped deliveries of food and medicine following the hamas attack. our correspondentjon donnison reports — and a warning, it does contain some distressing details. this morning, a funeralfor fatima. she never knew life. "stillborn," he says, after her mother was killed along with two of her other daughters,

aged 10 and 14. "they were sleeping peacefully," a relative tells us, "when israel bombed a neighbour's house in rafah," he says, "after the family had fled from the north." the un says there are 50,000 pregnant women in gaza, with more than 5,000 due to give birth over the next month. medicines are in short supply, and people are being asked to donate blood, with the border still closed to foreign aid. volunteers are cooking on wood fires. fuel is scarce. there's food, but it's running out. "most getjust one meal a day or sometimes every two "days," mahmoud tells us. in the neighbouring town of khan younis, many who've fled their homes are now in makeshift camps.

hoda arafat says her daughter, "the flower of their household," died when their home collapsed on top of them. "we're living in tents, humiliated. "we don't have water nor food or anything at all. "we fled with the clothes on our backs," she says. "i never dreamed i would leave my house in gaza city," says kamil. "i built it with rooms for all my kids and now i'm "in a place like this." the united nations says more than a million gazans have been displaced, with hundreds of thousands moving to the south. and in the north, you can see why. jon donnison, bbc news. i've been speaking to ricardo pires, who's a spokesperson for unicef. he said there are yet to see any movement on the ground at the rafah crossing. at this point, no movement yet.

the supplies are still at the border. they're still blocked, waiting to get in. unicef has quite a large volume of supplies that are ready to go at this first batch. what we're hearing is that not every single supply that has been pre—positioned at the egyptian border will be able to get in. but the delivery of aid at this point is a matter of life and death for children in gaza. as you saw in the piece before, you know, children are suffering, the images and stories are very clear. they're coming with horrendous burns, mortal wounds, lost limbs, and hospitals are utterly overwhelmed to treat them, they don't have the capacity, and yet the numbers keep rising. so we need these supplies to get in as soon as possible. and we are hoping that this will happen in the next hours. right. and time is of the essence, as you point out. but as for the agreement, 20 trucks will be allowed into gaza, but compared to the demand on the ground and the number

of displaced civilians in gaza, is that really enough? not at all. it's not enough. it's a very good start. it's a breath of hope for those suffering in the gaza strip for all those families and children who have been displaced, who lost their homes, who've seen their loved ones die in front of their eyes, who are running out of water, out of food, out of medication, out of health care, out of electricity. so anything now that comes through the border is a glimpse of hope for them. but it's not enough. it's a small drop in an ocean, and this access needs to continue. the corridor in rafah needs to continue to be open so more supplies can get through. unicef is ready to continue that work and we're hoping that this will be the case. i also want to understand your take on how aid agencies are looking at this. israel has said that it will stop aid into gaza if they see it is also being picked up by hamas. how do you ensure something like that on the ground, especially in an active war zone?

well, as you said, volatile situations like this are very hard to predict, but we have very strong mechanisms in place that unicef has used before in similar, if not so horrendous conflicts where children were in urgent need of humanitarian support and there were risks that one of the parties to the conflict would eventually misuse our humanitarian supplies. so we have very strong mechanisms in place. obviously in a situation like this, there is no 100% guarantee, but for sure there is the willingness and the dedication of unicef staff on the ground and our partners to ensure that these supplies go to those in need, to the hundreds of thousands of children who have seen enough horror since the 7th of october. the trucks still waiting on the egyptian side of the rougher

crossing. the other big concern we are tracking is the hostages hamas continues to have in its possession. israel now says over 200 hostages were taken by hamas. but the identities of more people who were killed in the surprise hamas attack are still emerging. the bbc�*s middle east correspondent lucy williamson reports from nir oz. nir oz, three miles from gaza's border, is now a place of silence... explosion ..and noise. they're still finding bodies in the communities and fields near here. this woman, pulled out yesterday, naked and bound with metal wire. recovery teams say more than 20 children were found nearby, tied together and burned. deaths like this enough to break the living. hamas gunmen attacked early in nir oz, with drills to loot... ..and guns to kill.

survivors say one in four people are dead or missing. among them, a british man and his mother's first husband. danny darlington was born and bred in manchester. a neighbour identified his body, but there's still no official confirmation that he's dead. his mother's first husband, haim peri, lived on the kibbutz. haim used to cross regularly into gaza to drive sick children to israeli hospitals. he's just been formally listed as a hostage. haim and his wife, osnat, were hiding in this safe room. this door held out against the first group of the militants, but they came back a second time. by that time, osnat was hiding behind this couch and haim decided the door would not hold and he should offer himself up. his wife was still hiding when a second group burst in, less disciplined, more destructive.

the door to the safe room was open. it was dark inside, they did not bother to look. danny wasn't meant to be in the kibbutz that morning. he stayed on an extra night and sent a text to his half—brother as the attack unfolded. that's the last i heard of him, and now i'm trying to help the family because the family are still in manchester and they are really in the dark. the family, in limbo, feels out of sync with israel's national mood. revenge is a very strong emotion which a lot of people have now, but now let's not talk about revenge because we lost the first act, ok? so let's. .. before winning the war, let's gather the remains and do whatever we can to get out of this hostage situation. israel is eyeing the next stage in this conflict — a major offensive in gaza aimed

at destroying hamas — while the families of those still missing here stay frozen in the hours after the attack. lucy williamson, bbc news, nir oz. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news — bringing you different stories from across the uk. when the police use horses, normally, you think of crowd control, but this plan is very different. dorset�*s a rural county, and some places can be quite hard to reach by road, so volunteer horse riders on a rota will be an extra set of eyes and ears for the police stop. about two and a half years ago, there was three individuals in the rural crime team. we've now moved, we now have about 18, and we have the rural mounted volunteers. we are now launching, in effect, a neighbourhood watch on horseback — and that's what you're seeing behind me. i go out three or four times a week in the countryside. and i'm quite nosy.

so this will fit in perfectly. i'll be able to have a little look around and, you know, if there's anything a bit unusual, i'll be able to report on that. everyone taking part has been vetted. the police currently has six volunteers, but they're hoping that'll rise to 24. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. the other big story we are tracking here on the programme... police in scotland say a woman has died after being swept into a river in glen esk near brechin as storm babet begins battering the uk with rain and strong winds. hundreds of people are being advised to leave their homes tonight in parts of scotland as the storm hits bringing what may be unprecedented rainfall. a red weather warning — meaning a risk to life — is in force until midday tomorrow with heavy rain sweeping through parts of northern and eastern scotland. fiona trott has more.

the sea — sending a signal hours before the red warning comes into effect. this is lossiemouth earlier today. and here in stonehaven, another coastal community used to storms, but not like this. i think it's way over what it used to be. i don't remember this as much when i was young. i mean, i grew up here and it does seem to be a lot worse, these storms. and it's almost every year, every year, round about now, you get some big storm. we've seen some big storms but nothing with the froth like this. it's notjust here in stonehaven where they're protecting their property. here in brechin, it's a race against time for chris. it's bricks and mortar at the end of the day — somebody can't take it off you. a river can take it off you. flooding can take it away from you. what's going through your mind knowing this might be happening

in the next few hours? well, this was a retirement project. and i'mjusta bit... it'sjust not happening, is it? it's not happening... it's not happening. at paul and kim's housejust moments later, the official warning comes through. they're instructing people to leave their houses. i'm not going. are you going to? yeah. oh, aye. i'm not. i'm not leaving my dog, i i am not doing this again. no way! i'm not going. a tough conversation. and this is just one family in one town. will they and others heed the advice? we're not going to be able to eliminate the disruption. i'm afraid there will be significant disruption given the amount of heavy rainfall that's likely to fall. but we want to first of all prioritise people's welfare, and the way people can do that is listen to the advice, particularly in that red weather warning area. and the most important thing you can do is listen

to the advice about travel. so if you're in the red weather warning area, do not travel. is this what they could be facing? parts of ireland have already been flooded. this is middleton in county cork yesterday, a town completely submerged. back here in brechin, they're bracing themselves. hour by hour, the river is rising, and as the night draws on, what does that mean for the residents who have decided to stay? let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. a former lawyer for donald trump has agreed to a plea deal relating to six charges of interference in the 2020 us presidential election, a day before her trial was set to start. sidney powell was accused of helping tamper with voting machines in an attempt to overturn the results in the state of georgia. canada says it has withdrawn 41 diplomats from india in a continuing bilateral spat over the killing of a canadian—sikh activist

in british columbia. relations have been tense after canada said india may have been behind the killing of hardeep singh nijjar on 18thjune. new delhi has denied the allegations, calling them "absurd". social media platforms have seen a surge in misinformation relating to the israel gaza war, including doctored images and mislabelled videos. under its new stringent digital services act, the eu has written to social media firms tiktok and meta to formally provide information on the possible spread of what it calls disinformation, terrorist content and hate speech. the bbc�*s azadeh moshiri has more. this isn'tjust a simple request for information. the stakes are high for these social media companies, and that's because of the digital services act. under this act, platforms with over 45 million users in the european union must assess potential risks of their platforms to those users.

they must also report that assessment and put in place mitigating measures. and if they don't, the penalties can be severe. the eu can fine as much as 6% of a company's global turnover, and it could even lead to the potential suspension of their service altogether. the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, explained why this act was so important. thanks to our dsa, the digital services act, we are able to oblige the platforms to take hate speech and terrorist content down. we know that hate speech leads to terror acts. now, here are some of the statements from the social media companies. tiktok has said... and they provided some figures. they said that...

now, meta has said that... and these are their figures. they've said... and to put that into context, meta said... now, this request for information has come a week after the eu made a similar request to x, formerly known as twitter. and so far, they've responded by saying that they've removed hundreds of hamas—affiliated users from their platforms. but of course, as this eu process continues, so does the war and the spread of misinformation.

and that's why our bbc verify team has been looking into all of this, so do check our website. and before we go, a quick recap of the top story once again. the israeli defence minister has told troops that they will soon see gaza from the inside, amid signs that israel is readying itself for a massive ground incursion. israeli air strikes have continued to bomb the policy and enclave. we are tracking that along with all the other stories. tracking that along with all the otherstories. do tracking that along with all the other stories. do stay with bbc news. hello. storm babet continues to bring hazardous weather, not least because of the amount of rain that is falling. a red warning from the met office covering parts of eastern scotland. this is the highest tier of warning the met office can issue. it implies a danger to life up to 250 millimetres of rain falling in the very wettest locations. no wonder that there is the ongoing risk of significant flooding.

a broader amber warning affecting parts of eastern and, indeed, northern scotland. and the rainjust keeps on coming. a soggy start to friday, but further south, there's quite a lot of rain in the outlook as well, across wales, central and northern parts of england, northern ireland, some really heavy downpours of rain becoming very slow—moving through the day. across scotland, the rain increasingly becoming confined to the south—east of scotland, at least the heaviest of the rain. it is going to be very windy. gusts of 50 to 60 miles per hour, even more than that across central and northern parts of the uk. lighter winds further south, a mix of sunshine and showers here, but a met office amber warning affecting parts of south—east scotland and down the spine of northern england in force from 12 o'clock on friday because we could see up to 120 millimetres of rain. that rain relentless, really, as we head through friday evening, and then actually moving back in across the eastern side of scotland, so that could

exacerbate flooding issues here. we start the weekend with temperatures north to south between 5 and 12 degrees and we start the weekend with low pressure still firmly in charge, bands of rain circulating around the low. still quite windy in places, in the far south—west and more especially up towards the north, but not as windy by this stage. but we will see further outbreaks of rain, especially across the eastern side of scotland, into northern scotland as well, places where we really will not need it. further south, a mix of sunny spells and showers or some longer spells of rain. temperatures north to south, 8 to 16 degrees. a cooler day for many. now, into sunday, less rain, fewer showers, lighter winds, more in the way of dry weather and some spells of sunshine. so the story of the weather through the weekend will be for things to slowly but surely calm down. that's all from me. bye for now.

staying the course — the chair of the us federal reserve hints that interest rates will remain at a 22—year high at its next meeting. plus — the international monetary fund says india's contribution to global growth is set to go up. we'll look into why that is happening.

hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm arunoday mukharji. starting with the us — we are counting down to an important speech by the us presidentjoe biden in half an hour. we are keeping an eye out for any major announcements on possible funding, amid reports that biden is preparing to request a wartime aid package for israel and ukraine. but staying with the us and the economy — let's tell you what the head of america's central bank, jerome powell, is saying. he is hinting that the federal reserve may leave rates on hold at its next meeting. here's the bbc�*s north america business correspondent, michelle fleury, with more from new york. one of the most powerful people in the financial world, the chairman of the financial world, the chairman of the us federal reserve, says inflation is still too high. speaking at the economic club of new york, jerome powell acknowledged progress had been made but said inflation was not yet at the target rate of 2%.