live from washington. this is bbc news. as fighting rages on in gaza, negotiators present a new proposalfor a ceasefire and hostage release between israel and hamas. ukraine destroys a strategic river bridge in the kursk region as it continues its cross—border offensive. the world health organisation urges wealthy nations to share mpox vaccines with affected countries as concerns grow over an outbreak in africa. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. us presidentjoe biden says a deal between israel and hamas is "closer than ever".

it comes as mediators put forward a new proposal to try and bridge the gap between the two sides at talks in doha. qatar, egypt and the us said that the past two days were "serious, constructive" and "positive". mr biden shared the news with reporters as he hosted an event in the oval office a little earlier. one of the reasons why i was left is i was dealing with the ceasefire effort in the middle east. we are closer than we have ever been. i don't want to jinx anything, but as my grandfather would say, with the grace of god, the goodwill of the neighbours and a lot of luck, we may have something. but we're not there yet. but it is much closer than it was a few days ago. keep your fingers crossed. hamas wasn't present for negotiations but the group is in direct communication with the mediators.

it said it wouldn't participate as it wanted to stick to the terms of an earlier deal. it accused israel of changing what was agreed to. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the success or failure of a deal was up to hamas, and urged other countries to pressure them to agree. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is heading to the region this weekend, in hopes of getting a deal over the line when talks resume next week. earlier our state department correspondent tom bateman told me the latest on where the negotiations stand. there has been a lot of feverish american diplomacy to try and get some sort of agreement. we are not there yet but what about diplomats and officials saying to you? i think it is really interesting that, from president biden downwards, we are hearing incredibly positive tone around the way

the last two days discussions in doha have gone. president biden saying we are closer than ever to a ceasefire deal. i was hearing from one senior administration official that said there was new spirit to drive this to a conclusion. on the other hand from the palestinian side, we had much more positive messages about how this has gone. they believe the israelis have moved. a statement from the office of benjamin netanyahu saying this was about hamas�*s refusal to take the proposal on the table. the parties themselves are not reflecting the positive message we are hearing from the americans. there is a couple of things going on. what the us is doing and has been doing for a few weeks is trying to apply as much pressure as possible to say this is the last chance saloon. if you don't take it now we will not keep going with this. so stop, as one official put it, trying to draw more blood

from the stone. this is the best it will get. for both sides. it is time to take the deal and also that means doesn't further risk the lives of hostages held in captivity by hamas to keep drawing this out and crucially for the huge numbers of palestinians killed by israelis, israel's military offensive in gaza, it would bring that to a close finally. the stakes aren't that high and i think the americans, by using this tone, are trying to apply pressure —— the stakes are that high and i think the americans, by using this tone, are trying to apply pressure but they are not there yet. we're talking about another week of technical discussions around what they say is implementation of the deal but frankly that is still hammering out details of this deal. and more talks and the american say it would be final round of talks in cairo next week. a lot of positive messaging. i think there is progress. whether we see a deal signed next week still feels unlikely but never say never. we now know secretary of state antony blinken is heading to

the region. there were talks he would go earlier in the week. that was postponed. he has been to the region on a number of occasions since october �*s seven. what can he do being there in person? his seven. what can he do being there in person?— there in person? his ninth visit, i have _ there in person? his ninth visit, i have been - there in person? his ninth visit, i have been to - there in person? his ninth visit, i have been to a - there in person? his ninth visit, i have been to a few| there in person? his ninth i visit, i have been to a few of them with him over the few months. it's interesting he is going to israel first because they feel they have to apply pressure on netanyahu to state engage on this process. there has been a lot of internal criticism in israel who believe mr netanyahu has vested interest in just stringing things alfresco political survival. therefore i think what we have seen in the past from mr blink and is bumping into protests of hostage families and trying to visibly show this is what for the

israelis are at stake and remember that and get that into the consciousness and message that he benjamin netanyahu. applying pressure to israelis. there is no announced visit to capital cities of arab and gulf countries although i think that will probably happen. that is all to keep up the pressure, thatis all to keep up the pressure, that is more indirect because they want to keep the message go to hamas that now is the time to take the deal and keep the pressure up. that is the purpose of this visit but as we saw in other visits, much of this happens behind closed doors and can be hard to get firm sense of whether it is helping push through the deal. there are so many reasons for both sides not to do a deal as well. have to keep that in mind and that is why this whole thing remains in the balance.

david daoud is a seniorfellow at the foundation for defence of democracies, a think tank that takes a hard line on iran. is biden�*s optimism warranted? we heard from president biden who was fairly optimistic that the so—called gaps can be narrowed. are you as optimistic?— narrowed. are you as otimistic? �* . , ., optimistic? i'm really that optimistic _ optimistic? i'm really that optimistic and _ optimistic? i'm really that optimistic and i _ optimistic? i'm really that optimistic and i think - optimistic? i'm really that | optimistic and i think there optimistic? i'm really that i optimistic and i think there is already reports of some snags. hamas publicly criticised the offers on the table. american official said not to take that at face value but at the same time there are unbridgeable gaps between israelis and hamas we had seen in the past. talking about the identity of hostages to be released and exchanged for what palestinian security prisoners are going to be released. the number of hostages to be released and what phases they will be released, how many will be

living versus not not store life. this has been a snack that has been there in the past. i don't see this necessarily changing there is also the issue israel is objectives a set to dismantle hamas has not in his early changed. this is something hamas cannot live with. they are not going to agree to. we have seen products —— progress on certain issues but between israel and mediators rather than israel and hamas. there are signals for optimism but i think there are equal signals, equal signals of optimism between what president biden has been presenting. i between what president biden has been presenting.- has been presenting. i was speaking — has been presenting. i was speaking to _ has been presenting. i was speaking to a _ has been presenting. i was| speaking to a commentator earlier that suggested one of the challenges is president biden polymer clock is ticking intent of the time left on presidency so he is going at a great pace and perhaps israel

or hamas want to go out for various different reasons on either side. various different reasons on either side-— various different reasons on either side. president biden handed over _ either side. president biden handed over the _ either side. president biden handed over the torch - either side. president biden handed over the torch for i either side. president biden. handed over the torch for the 2024 election to his current vice president. he made give her a clean slate to start with competing against former president trump for general election. my want to wrap up the gaza issue putting a strain on the coalition he got. it very much is so, could be so where's considerations and security on whether a deal with hamas could guarantee notches were 20 october six situation. what real security and real permanent ceasefire in the genuine sense of the term, these things may be working across and is and the timeline might not be overlapping. hamas has its own considerations. it wants to rebuild as leadership

stated over the course of the war and they plan to continue attacking israelis in the future. we have three different positions, three different interests and it is going to take a little more effort. you talked about _ take a little more effort. you talked about three _ take a little more effort. you talked about three different interests and there is something else in the background which is the region on high alert for some kind of retaliation from iran. hat on high alert for some kind of retaliation from iran.- retaliation from iran. not 'ust iran but water i retaliation from iran. not 'ust iran but water resistance h retaliation from iran. notjust| iran but water resistance from his hezbollah. the iranians led region alliance and the israelis, the hezbollah said this is its objective from the outset. preconditioned to it seizing attacks initiated. once

that this is what ron mckee reiterated that once there is ceasefire, hezbollah. these attacks. matters become complicated over the past few weeks but the strike that happened from hezbollah that killed 12 israeli children and the israeli counterstrike. they don't want war with israel now. they are not at the stage where they can monster —— launch this promise is real war. still a long—term project. whether avoid full confrontation now. these two assassinations and the public put them in a position where they have to strike at the israelis in a painfulfashion. and that strike at the israelis in a painful fashion. and that could put the region on a path to conflict. this ceasefire

negotiations, prior commitment to seizing fire themselves could give them an offering. they could say we forced the israelis through the support funds to stop their attack on gaza. we started to see this narrative from iraq a malicious and that for them could be sufficient to save face. thank ou so sufficient to save face. thank you so much _ sufficient to save face. thank you so much- _ the un says pauses in fighting are desperately needed to allow for 600,000 children in gaza to be vaccinated against polio. the disease has re—emerged in the strip for the first time in 25 years. the un secretary general, antonio guterres, spoke to reporters earlier.

the ultimate vaccine is peace and an immediate cease—fire but in any case, a polio pause is a must. it is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over. and amid the humanitarian crisis in gaza, violence also flared in the west bank. jewish settlers stormed a village thursday night, killing one palestinian man. the attack took place injit in the north of the occupied west bank. benjamin netanyahu condemned the attack. our middle east correspondent lucy williamson reports no—one knows who made rashid asidi a village hero. who shot the young it worker as he threw stones to keep armed jewish settlers at bay. but they know who to blame. translation: even the ambulance that came for him was blocked -

by the army. they waited until he died. the blame is more on the army, because they are not controlling the settlers. they protect them. his mother said she didn't know if it was a settler or a soldier who fired the fatal shot. rashid's brother mahdi took me to where he was killed. the village boundary fence, broken in several places. a neighbour said dozens of settlers gathered here last night, and that he heard a hail of gunshots. he said he called the israeli army, who took two hours to arrive. the army said they deployed within minutes. residents say the settlers were masked, armed and organised into groups. some dressed all in black, some all in white. hassan was at home with his family when they came down this road. his surveillance camera caught the moment they confronted him, setting fire to his car and entering his family compound.

translation: they were all. armed with automatic weapons, light weapons, pepper spray. their attack was organised. they had a clear goal to kill or burn. here we are, unarmed. they have the government supporting them. we have nothing except ourselves. israel is under fierce international scrutiny over settler violence in the west bank. israel's army says it has launched a thorough investigation into last night's attack. those gathered for rashid's funeral prayers had little faith injustice. the body of rashid asidi is leading a procession of anger through the village ofjit. people here trace this violence right back to the behaviour of israeli security forces and the policies of israeli politicians.

a palestinian village surrounded by israeli settlements, distrustful of israeli forces, burying their anger along with their grief. ukraine has destroyed a strategic river bridge in the kursk region, cutting off a russian supply route as it continues its second week of a cross—border offensive. officials in moscow say destroying the bridge will disrupt evacuations, and make it harderfor the kremlin to supply its troops. the head of the ukrainian military says troops are strengthening their position, advancing between one and 3km further into the region. ukraine claims it has taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150 square kilometres, or 444 square miles, in the region since august 6. meanwhile in eastern ukraine, russian officials say a series of ukrainian strikes wounded at least seven people and set a shopping centre ablaze in the russian—controlled city of donetsk on friday.

our ukraine correspondent, james waterhouse, sent us this report. ukraine isn'tjust targeting russian troops, but their supply lines too. a missile makes light work of a major bridge in russia's kursk region. it was a counteroffensive which surprised just about everyone. apart from the ukrainian paratroopers who've released this footage. complete with dramatic music and muscular armour from when they first overwhelmed a russian border crossing and the soldier manning it. after a blistering land grab in the kursk region, ukraine's gains are starting to slow. russia is diverting resources, like these artillery units, to stem the tide. nevertheless, ukraine is bringing in more troops to consolidate what it's taken.

this is the main route from ukraine's sumy region into russia itself. you have to imagine it as an artery. and as advances start to slow, the question becomes, what next? kyiv took this territory relatively easily, with the element of surprise and elite forces. but keeping hold of it, as russia turns its head and redeploys thousands of troops, that will be very different. arnie signed up to defend ukraine with the full—scale invasion. translation: no-one likes war, we want to finish it. _ i am not keen to fight. but for our ukraine, for our people, we'll stand till the end. anatoly has just returned from russian soil and has noticed a difference in progress. translation: we are still advancing. - it's slowed down a bit, but we are moving forward. as long as we have orders and instructions, we'll

anatoly hopes his effort will relieve pressure on other parts of the front line. as of yet, that's not happening. regardless, ukraine's goal seems to be shifting from liberation to producing bargaining chips for a future peace deal, whenever that might be. james waterhouse, bbc news, sumy region. aid agencies are warning of a critical shortage of treatments and vaccines for mpox across africa, and are urging wealthy countries with supplies to share them. the who declared the outbreak a global health emergency on wednesday. our correspondent simonjones reports. democratic republic of congo campaigns are under way to warn people about the dangers of an

pops. it is transmitted through close contact such as sex, skin to skin contact or breathing close to another person. it causes flulike symptoms and skin lesions. they often clear within a couple of weeks but it can be fatal, particularly for people with weakened immune systems. translation: three of my children - and i were infected. one was treated here and the other two were taken to a hospital. after two weeks they were discharged. a week later my wife was infected. now a case of the more dangerous case of mpox has been recorded in sweden. the authorities say the person became infected during a stay in an area of africa where there is currently a major outbreak. it is very probable that we will see more cases in europe in the near time. so it's important for all countries to be aware that this can happen. there have been 450 deaths in the democratic republic of the congo following an outbreak

of the new strain. it's also been detected in neighbouring countries including the central african republic, uganda, kenya, rwanda and burundi. doctor meera chan from the uk health security agency has said the risk to the uk population is currently considered low, however planning is under way to prepare for any cases that we might see in the uk — this includes ensuring clinicians are aware and able to recognise cases promptly. outbreaks can be controlled by preventing infections with vaccines. the uk government says it has stockpiles as part of its preparedness plans. the world health organisation says a coordinated an international response is now vital. simon jones, bbc news. us vice president kamala harris has announced her vision for the economy, with a focus on bringing down prices. speaking in north carolina, the democratic nominee called for the first—ever federal ban on price gouging

for grocery items. harris said she'd take on companies who continue to charge high prices as inflation falls to under 3%. many of the big food companies are seeing their highest profits in two decades. and while many grocery chains pass along the savings, others still aren't. look, i know most businesses are creating jobs, contributing to our economy and playing by the rules, but some are not and that is just not right and we need to take action. kamala harris unveiled several other economic proposals friday. they include a $25,000 subsidy to first—time homebuyers to help with their down payments. harris said she wants to implement a $6,000 child tax credit for families during the first year

of a child's life and she says her plan will eliminate medical debt for millions of americans, and cap prescription drug costs. on the issue of drug costs, on thursday kamala harris appeared with president biden to celebrate the outcome of the first—ever medicare drug price negotiation. the white house announced price reductions for 10 major drugs, with the highest reduction being the diabetes drug januvia at 79%. our north america correspondent nomia iqbal has more on harris and donald trump's visions for the future of the economy. the vice president has been accused of being all style and no substance. this was her first major opportunity to show americans what president harris would look like, how would she govern? what would herfirst 100 days in the white house looked like. she unveiled all proposals to see how she would

lower the cost of living. what struck me about her speech was she had much more of an easy way of talking about policy. simple sentences, examples from her own life, in the way president biden was accused of not being able to do so. the vision she had was not hugely radicalfrom his but she delivered her speech about half—an—hour, shorter than biden speech. shorter than the speech of donald trump has been giving on the economy recently. she also accused donald trump of coming up with proposals that would only benefit rich people, billionaires, executives of big corporations. mr trump tried to tie kamala harris to the cost of living going up and inflation as well. both of them are going hard on the economy. the economy is the number one issue for voters. the polls suggest it is the one thing they really care about

going into the selection. they both have delivered speeches from north carolina. key paragraph states where they stayed they are statistically tired. when it comes to economy, polls suggest voters do trust trump a lot more about. let's go live to chicago where next week democratic national convention will take place. it kicks off on monday and there will be big—name speakers at the convention throughout the week. on thursday by the democratic nominee kamala harris who we were talking aboutjust then, formally accepting the party nomination when she addresses the convention on thursday. also in the week we will hear from former president barack obama, presidentjoe biden will also be there and so will the

bbc team. tuesday across all of that. we will have full coverage. bye for now. hello there. we're into fine settled spell of weather now, just in time for the weekend, and we should see a lot of sunshine on both saturday and sunday, especially across england and wales. winds light in the south, always a bit fresher further north. that's because scotland is closer to this area of low pressure over iceland, but the azores high, bringing plenty of sunshine and lighter winds to england and wales. but it will be quite a cool start to saturday morning. cool and fresh, with temperatures in single digits out of towns and cities. but there'll be plenty of sunshine to begin the day, cloud tending to bubble up into the afternoon, and that will bring a few showers to northern and western scotland and northern ireland through the day, where it'll stay quite breezy but light winds further south. temperatures here 24—25 degrees. mid to high teens across the north, maybe 20 degrees

across northeast scotland. now the showers tend to fade away across most of the north, the odd one continuing across the highlands through saturday night. lengthy clear skies again, light winds to the south. so it's going to be another fresh night to come with seven the azores, high across the south, just nudges up a little bit further northwards. so large parts of england and wales, maybe northern ireland, southern scotland will see lighter winds, but still quite breezy across the north and west of scotland, where again we'll have a few showers and a few showers, perhaps for northern ireland, maybe just one or two across western england and wales, but similar sorts of temperatures, mid 20s in the south and mid to high teens further north. now as we head out to sunday to monday, our area of high pressure begins to get squeezed out in towards the near continent as low pressure takes over across western areas, it goes downhill through the day across the north and the west. wetter and windier but central and eastern parts of the country will stay dry. plenty of sunshine and light winds, too. further north and west it will be turning blustery with that rain, so temperatures here high teens at best,

quite warm and turning increasingly humid across the southeast 25, maybe 26 degrees. tuesday looks more unsettled generally across the country. could even see a few showers in the southeast. it'll be a breezier day to come, but the heaviest of the rain will tend to be across the north and west of scotland. temperatures here again mid to high teens up to around 20 to 24 in the south. further areas of low pressure will cross the country, bringing wet and windy spells to the north and west, but it should tend to stay largely dry, quite warm, humid and breezy across the southeast.

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