this is bbc news. china's long—time second—in—command, the former premier li keqiang has died of a sudden heart attack. eu leaders call for humanitarian pauses in the fighting to get aid into gaza as food and supplies run dangerously low. authorities in maine search for the suspect in wednesday's shooting in which 18 people were killed. the former premier li keqiang has died at the age of 68. according to state media, he

died of a sudden heart attack in shanghai. china's long—time second—in—command, he was known for his pragmatic economic policies and rose through the party ranks despite not having a power base. at one point he was in marked the top role of president. during his ten years of premier, he served under the shadow of xijinping, of premier, he served under the shadow of xi jinping, whose grip on power dominated domestic and international policy. with more on his legacy, i spoke with the chief geo— economic analyst at bloomberg, who served as national security council director with china and taiwan. li keqiang was premier for ten years, retired earlier this year. what do you see as his legacy? thank you so much for having me. this news is certainly a shock that he passed away at a relatively young age. li keqiang leaves behind a legacy of being seen

as a premier to xi jinping but also a senior official in his own right, someone who many believe was working to help keep the economy on good footing, a reformer, and a man of the people, as some are calling him. what was the relationship like between li keqiang and president xi jinping? many think they came from rival political backings in terms of li keqiang coming up through the chinese communist youth league, and xijinping coming from a slightly different group of folks known as princelings. there were various representations at the highest levels of leadership. li keqiang was seen as close to the former chinese president hujintao, being one of his main proteges. so a lot of speculation, especially early on in xijinping's tenure, of xijinping essentially moving past li keqiang to take

the top leadership role. and then xijinping being a major leader, looking to have full control over the reins of power, questions about whether that was shifting roles that are traditionally leveraged by the premier, in particular when it comes to the economy. when li keqiang retired earlier this year, he gave a retirement speech. there was a lot of commentary at the time, reading between the lines of what he said, that he'd been frustrated that he hadn't managed to carry out a lot of those reforms, and in fact power had shifted back to the party during his time. that's right. it was a really remarkable speech. he was giving it in a very windy atmosphere, and commented on that being emblematic of some of the headwinds he had faced as well. it was seen by many as very careful, very quiet and subtle criticism, but also i think in many ways an attempt

by li to frame his career and the accomplishments he had, notjust as premier, but in the many senior roles he had played before that point. how do you think his passing will be marked in china? he will obviously get, ithink, a majorfuneral. it will be very interesting to watch the public reaction to this. again, it came as quite a surprise. i don't believe people had seen li as having any health conditions. he's relatively young. a little bit of a shock to the system, so to speak. it is not without precedent that there have sometimes been occasions when senior officials passed away suddenly, and that becomes a moment of broader political and public mourning for them, and a reflection not just on their tenure, but what they represented. it will be very interesting to watch the public reaction to his death.

calls for a ceasefire to allow aid into gaza are growing amid warnings from israel that it is preparing for what it called the next stages of combat against hamas. these are pictures from the israeli military as tanks entered northern gaza on wednesday. israel says it was a targeted raid and not the start of a delayed ground invasion. inside gaza, the humanitarian situation is going dire as fuel and supplies are running low. the palestinian red crescent says it will be forced to shut down ambulance services within 2a hours. 12 more trucks entered from egypt with aid on thursday. 7,000 have been killed since the israeli air strikes began according to the hamas health ministry. israel reports more than 220 people are still being held hostage in gaza. hamas says about 50 hostages

held in gaza has been killed. jeremy bowen spoke to civilians and soldiers on the ground about what lies ahead. for hours, we could hear the explosions around ten kilometres away in israel. it was the biggest israeli raid into the gaza strip so far in this war. the army released this video, it said of the battlefield being prepared, presumably for the invasion of gaza that the government says is coming. the soldiers pulled back into israel sometime before dawn. in khan younis in southern gaza, more raids and death in a place where israel told palestinians to go to be safe. "we want to live beautiful lives," said this girl, "not have rockets hitting our heads. the building fell on our heads." the un says nowhere is safe in gaza and the siege violates the laws of war.

israel has killed thousands of palestinian civilians. just a few miles away in israel, sally partrush lives in one of the communities hamas attacked. this is me, this is one of my friends, gil, and he was murdered. i'm all the time thinking how they... what they did to them, how they suffered. with so much loss, whole families, she is furious that israel's response has been questioned. this time we realise that, after that, it's us or them. if it is, as you say, us or them, is it ok to ignore international humanitarian law? i'm tired of it, of what the law, the international law said. the international law didn't

prevent these murders, these brutal murders. where was the world? people were happy about it. along the gaza border, civilian volunteers are bringing home comforts to the troops. the soldiers�* commanders say they're ready and that it's a waiting game until the war cabinet orders them into gaza. the men i spoke to are certain that israel's actions since hamas attacked were legal, morallyjustified and vital for the security of their families. most of the soldiers here were reservists, called out of civilian life. you said you're a social worker. you must deal with people with trauma. how long will it take israelis to process this national trauma, if ever? generations. i think something is broken here. we want to protect. i we don't want to fight. we don't want to kill. but if we need to do it, - so here we are, here we are. do you want to side with people like you?

we are the same, we have the same values of freedom, free speech, women's rights, lgbtq rights. ahead is complex urban warfare. when might depend on the success or failure of talks to free the hostages. israelis get behind their soldiers, especially at times like this. almost everybody has been in the military or has a son or a daughter in uniform. it's a different thing when it comes to politicians. prime minister benjamin netanyahu makes carefully choreographed appearances, but he avoids his many political enemies who say he left israel vulnerable to hamas. israelis, though, are united in their fight against hamas, but their country faces big challenges, and their leader is under crushing pressure. jeremy bowen, bbc news, in southern israel.

eu leaders have called for a pause in fighting in gaza to allow aid to come in. the 27 member states expressed their gravest concern in brussels for the deteriorating humanitarian situation. that call came as the general assembly held an emergency session after deadlock in the security council. the general assembly is debating a draught resolution that calls for an immediate ceasefire for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. assembly resolutions are not legally binding but do hold the weight of world opinion. talks are expected to last several days before a final vote. the permanent observer on the state of palestine to the un criticised those standing by israel, listing the number killed and saying they were almost all civilians. is this the war that some of you are defending? can this war be defended? these are crimes. this is barbarism.

if you do not stop it for all those who were killed, stop it for all those whose lives we can still save. but israel's ambassador reiterated israel's position that it was not the time for a ceasefire. the resolution calls for an immediate ceasefire, a ceasefire means giving hamas time to rearm itself, so they can massacre us again. this is not speculation. they will do so. you all know this. today hamas held a rare press conference in beirut in lebanon and a spokesman told the bbc that the group's attack in israel on october the 7th was intended as a military operation and denied it intended to target civilians. israel says 200 others

including women and children are held hostage in gaza. it was a military operation, it was directed for military purposes. hundreds of civilians were killed. and for the military soldiers, imposed sanctions and collective punishment against our people. and i think from the first moment, we declared this operation was not directed to civilians. but i can confirm and assure again and again that there was no combat to kill any civilians. you say this was a military operation, but the result is hundreds of civilians were killed. because the area is many wide, there are many people there and there were clashes and consultations. you invaded houses... i can tell you, we didn't have any intention or decision to kill civilians. you now have more than 200 hostages, many of them civilians. why don't you just release those civilians? we are willing to deal with the point of these hostages.

with highly positive. but i think we have to find suitable circumstances for this. we are not planning is on the first moment to have hostages, as you say, civilians. i think it is a military operation. how does it advance the palestinian cause? i don't accept... this is a shame for you to do that. it is not a question. we are fighting for dignity and for freedoms. by killing people in their homes and invading a music festival and killing people? israel as a state, they supply the occupation, they supply them with money, weapons. but how do you... israel is a state of massacres. how do you justify killing people as they sleep, families? how do you justify that? i want to stop this interview. some breaking news. the pentagon says us presidentjoe biden has ordered what it called self defence strikes

against two facilities in syria are used by iran's revolutionary guard. we will bring you more on that as it comes. this is bbc news. some other stories making the news now. the supreme court in nigeria has upheld the president's election victory in february. his second and third challengers had sought to overturn the result, alleging irregularities. thejudgment by seven supreme courtjudges, which is final, follows the pattern seen in previous challenges to presidential election results, none of which have been successful. british lawmaker crispin blunt has named himself as the mp arrested on suspicion of rape.

he said he raised the incident with police three weeks ago because he was concerned about extortion. he represents the seat of reigate in surrey and said he was confident he would not be charged. he has been suspended as a tory mp. uk prime minister rishi sunak has announced the uk is creating the world's first artificial intelligence safety institute to test new types of ai and new types of risk. he said ai would bring new opportunities for economic growth, but that it would be easier to build chemical and biological weapons. a major manhunt is under way in maine as police searched the home of the gunman suspected of a mass shooting which left 18 people dead and 13 injured. police consider ao—year—old robert card to be armed and dangerous. he was a sergeant at the nearby us army reserve base,

and law enforcement officials say he was temporarily committed to a mental health facility over the summer. local residents are under shelter in place orders and our reporters on the scene say lewiston has become a ghost town. the us coast guard, fbi and other federal law enforcement agencies are helping local and state police in the manhunt. nomia iqbal has more. the latest is we still don't know where the suspected gunman is. more than 2a hours since the shooting in the town of lewiston, nearby. i am in the town of bowden, 20 minutes away, where the suspected gunman is from. police still don't know where he is. the us coast guard has confirmed to the bbc that they are involved in a search, also officials at the canadian border, given maine's proximity to canada, also involved

and issuing alerts. people here still very much in lockdown while the manhunt continues. it is more than 2a hours that people have been in lockdown in that region. what is it like there at the moment? at the moment, it is really quiet. when you drive through, and it's pretty easy to kind of drive through, because it's a small town, the communities in lockdown are pretty close to each other. it almost feels like it was during covid time, it was eerily quiet. shops are closed, businesses are closed, schools are closed. so it kind og feels really eerie, and on top of that, you know there is a suspected gunman on the loose. people are obviously in huge grief. earlier today, we spoke to a woman who said she had to tell her two children that their dad was no longer coming home. he was one of the people that died in the shooting. what i've seen, when i have covered high—profile mass

shootings, you have the anger and the grief, and then the politics comes. it always ends up that way. earlier there was a press conference. maine senator susan collins was in attendance, and i put to her... the yellow flag laws in maine flag up to officials, prosecutors and police if someone has mental health problems and if they should be carrying a gun. police confirmed that the suspected gunman did have mental health problems and it was known. so i put to her, did the laws work? she said she doesn't know if the laws were used in that case. she would want to know why they were not used if not. a lot of questions will be asked as the manhunt continues. to discuss the situation we are joined by the former chief of

staff at the department of homeland security, miles taylor. thanks forjoining us. you have unfortunately worked on the federal response to mass shootings during your time in the trump administrations. lewiston and surrounding areas dealing with the death of 18 people, still in lockdown. what is likely to be going on there at the moment? the is likely to be going on there at the moment?— at the moment? the priority riaht at the moment? the priority right now — at the moment? the priority right now is _ at the moment? the priority right now is finding - at the moment? the priority right now is finding the - right now is finding the suspect and preventing more danger and more death. what law enforcement is doing at this moment is trying to figure out as much as they possibly can, as much as they possibly can, as quickly as they can, about this subject. they are asking themselves, who is this guy? where does he go? what is his pattern of life? what are his motivations? who are his associates? where does he go? when does he do it? to try to piece together where he might be right now, and try to ensure, again, that no one else

gets hurt. that is rapidly becoming a sprawling law enforcement operation, what we call inter—agency coordination. that's why the coastguard is involved, the fbi is involved, a range of different agencies. they are trying to put out their feelers and create tripwires to find the suspect as soon as humanly possible. lice and safety of the first priority, and then, as you know, legislation, mistakes, recriminations. that will come later. fist recriminations. that will come later. �* , , later. at this point, still very much _ later. at this point, still very much a _ later. at this point, still very much a hot - later. at this point, still i very much a hot situation. later. at this point, still - very much a hot situation. is it unlimited, the number of resources that would be provided to the folks on the ground locally?— ground locally? this is the -e of ground locally? this is the type of moment _ ground locally? this is the type of moment where - ground locally? this is the | type of moment where you ground locally? this is the - type of moment where you really see an extraordinary response, that get elevated to the us federal level, and you have those federal departments and agencies that have capabilities that state and local law enforcement don't have. i don't want to specifically name some

of those capabilities, but there are technical and electronic methods that the federal government can access, that it's hard for state and local authorities to get access to. the types of things that might help track down the subject, figure out where he was in the hours ahead of this attack, or potentially understand his motivations and planning in the lead up. all of those things could help identify and arrest this subject. identify and arrest this subject-— identify and arrest this sub'ect. ., , ., ., ., subject. people in the area are headin: subject. people in the area are heading into — subject. people in the area are heading into their _ subject. people in the area are heading into their second - subject. people in the area are j heading into their second night of a shelter in place order. do you expect that will stay in place until this individual is apprehended?— place until this individual is apprehended? place until this individual is a- rehended? ~ ~ apprehended? well, i think the authorities _ apprehended? well, i think the authorities are _ apprehended? well, i think the authorities are going _ apprehended? well, i think the authorities are going to - apprehended? well, i think the authorities are going to have i authorities are going to have to revisit that, based on what the investigation shows. if for some reason they had evidence that the suspect had fled the area, they might revisit that more quickly. but at this point, it doesn't seem like we have enough information to know. one of the other things you also see in these cases is

the public themselves become tripwires. 0ften the public themselves become tripwires. often you have tips from the public to indicate where a subject might have gone. we saw that in the boston marathon bombing, where the subject ran and hid inside a boatin subject ran and hid inside a boat in someone's back yard, and a tip helped lead to that individual. while people are sheltering in place, law enforcement is also putting out these orders to be on the lookout for any indicators of where the individual might be. this has inevitably again raised the debate over the gun laws in this country. a new speaker in the house now. do you expect any legislative changes in the near to medium future? i changes in the near to medium future? ., �* . ~' future? i don't, and i think the speed _ future? i don't, and i think the speed of— future? i don't, and i think the speed of my _ future? i don't, and i think the speed of my response| future? i don't, and i think- the speed of my response should show you how deep the divide is on this subject. regardless of whether the specifics of a yellow flag law should have been triggered in this case or not, it is evident that an individual like this, that had

mental health red flags months ago, probably should have been investigated more deeply. probably should have been prevented from accessing firearms. and that didn't happen. you would think that would be likely to lead to change, given the magnitude of tragedy we have seen here. but given the division on capitol hill in washington between republicans and democrats on gun laws, unfortunately, i don't expect to see any progress. don't expect to see any progress-— don't expect to see any rouress. ~ , ., ., ~ progress. miles taylor, thank ou progress. miles taylor, thank you joining — progress. miles taylor, thank youioining us- _ progress. miles taylor, thank youjoining us. he _ progress. miles taylor, thank you joining us. he was - progress. miles taylor, thank you joining us. he was once l you joining us. he was once called the king of crypto. san bankman—fried has testified in a trial where he and his associates are accused of stealing billions of dollars. he founded the cryptocurrency exchange stx and faces charges including fraud and money—laundering. he put forward arguing that he was acting on legal advice good faith.

sam bankman—fried was once the poster boy for cryptocurrency, amassing billions by aged 30, hobnobbing with the celebrities he paid to market his companies. it's a safe and easy way to get into crypto. uh...| don't think so. and calling for greater oversight of the unregulated crypto industry. he founded two companies — a crypto exchange called ftx, that customers use to convert conventional currencies into cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, and to store and trade their funds, and alameda research, an investment fund. both saw a swift rise with ftx becoming the second largest crypto exchange in the world. but then, a stunning fall, when ftx and alameda collapsed and filed for bankruptcy nearly a year ago. customers lost billions of dollars. mr bankman—fried was arrested in the bahamas and extradited to the us. now, he's on trial here in manhattan, charged with stealing the money customers deposited on ftx in order to prop up the investment fund and fund his lavish lifestyle. mr bankman—fried denies those

charges but faces decades in prison if he's found guilty. what you have to say to sam? his trial has been the talk of new york as former colleagues, including his ex—girlfriend, have appeared, describing not just their plush communal living in the bahamas but also how mr bankman—fried directed them to defraud customers and investors. but now, mr bankman—fried is telling his side of the story. it's a step defence lawyers usually advise against because it opens up the accused to cross—examination. but those who've met mr bankman—fried think testifying on his own behalf is just the sort of risky move he relishes. sam's a gambler, you know? sam has always had a high risk tolerance, so if there were a defendant to take the stand in his own defence, sam bankman—fried is, you know, high on that list. given what's at stake, appearing on the witness stand may be mr bankman—fried's

biggest gamble yet. that's it for the moment, thank you for watching. stay with us on bbc news, take care. hello there. it's been a wet 0ctober so far. for many of us, but not all of us. especially wet across eastern areas of scotland, not a lot set to change as we head through to the end of the month, it will stay unsettled, low pressure close by. heavy showers and longer spells of rain. wet again for eastern scotland where the ground is already stacked all saturated. if we look at the rainfall accumulation, you can see the bright colours are starting to emerge in eastern scotland,

could be another 50—100 millimetres of rain. this could cause some further issues. why is it happening? low pressure out to the west in the atlantic, the showers at spiralling around it, some longer spells of rain being drawn in on a conveyor belt in the south easterly wind across eastern scotland. it will be a constant stream of rain, a lot light and patchy, but the totals will stack up. further south and west across northern ireland, western scotland, england and wales, sunny spells and heavy thundery showers. temperatures around average, a little above towards the south, 15-16 little above towards the south, 15—16 here. 0vernight friday into saturday, again, not a lot going to change. still a steady stream of showers into eastern scotland. some clearer styles scotla nd. some clearer styles further south, scotland. some clearer styles furthersouth, mist scotland. some clearer styles further south, mist and fog patches forming, showers out to the west. a very mild start to the west. a very mild start to the day, particularly for the time of year, 7—11 degrees. 0ver time of year, 7—11 degrees.

over the weekend, we will start to see changes. low pressure starts to move further north and east, sending more heavy persistent rain towards the south, england this time. the showers continue for eastern scotland, thundery downpours across england and wales, and northern ireland. winds pick up toward the south coast. 45—50 mph gusts and heavy rain into saturday afternoon and evening. weather warnings in the force, keep an eye on the websites. the timing is rather uncertain, but the low pressure pushes heavy more persistent rain across northern england and southern scotland, still more rain for eastern scotland through the day on sunday. further south, some bright and sunny spells, some dry weather but also more heavy showers at times. things start to cool off a little towards the north, mild in the south. you can see the jet stream position mild in the south. you can see thejet stream position into thejet stream position into the start of next week, a powerful jet the start of next week, a powerfuljet pushing further

low pressure systems. it starts to feel, so not quite so i'm settled at the start of next week. more of a northerly wind across scotland, so the colder air sinking further south. some night—time trust expected across scotland through the start of next week. some cooler conditions on monday. —— night—time trust. some dry weather in the north. further south, the milder air holes on. showers likely. 111—15 in parts of england. the quiet spell not set to last, another deep area of low pressure pushing in from the atlantic through the middle of next week. turning very windy, and further showers and longer spells of rain at times too. the low on wednesday into thursday, but again the timing might change. it stays unsettled, more wet weather expected, temperatures around the seasonal average.