died in by 700 children have died in six months. you can hear the statistics, but this is what it looks like on the frontline. a baby dies, a couple of hours later, another sick baby, brought in. two of the uk's major trade unions are calling on the government to scrap plans to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners. an exclusive report from the strategically important city of pokrovsk where ukrainian troops try to hold russia back. the pope is in timor—leste a for his first papal visit to the predominately catholic country since independence. —— for the first papal visit. hello, first pa pal visit. hello, thanks first papal visit. hello, thanks for being with us. we are going to go to that report on afghanistan, but first of all, let me take you to

demolish to, used to be known as east timor. because the pope, pope francis, is arriving there. it is part of a very big tour, and this is a mostly catholic nation, formerly a portuguese colony, in southeast asia. it is a three—day visit which will include an open—air celebration of mass, and the vatican says that it could include half the population, which is around 1.3 million, so, they are expecting very big crowds there. the pope, who is 87, isjust leaving his car, it seems, we canjust 87, isjust leaving his car, it seems, we can just see on the other side of the windows, i think.

at the start of this trip in timor—leste. part of a big tour organised by the vatican. he has just come to timor—leste from papua new guinea, and you can see there the pope... applause and cheering. being escorted there by his aides. he is 87, and he has been on this big tour, attendance of tens of thousands of people expected to gather there to meet him. applause and cheering. you can hear some of the crowds there, as we see pope francis take his place. and it is expected there will be an open—air mass as part of this formal visit to timor—leste. we

will come back for more on that in a couple of moments. we can go now to our special report from afghanistan, which is a country where millions of children are currently malnourished, and where in one hospital, 700 children have died injust the hospital, 700 children have died in just the last six months. it is a humanitarian crisis that deepens every day, with much of the country living in extreme poverty after years of war, causing economic collapse. the un says that more than 3 million children under the age of five are malnourished, with the delivery of aid becoming much harder since the taliban took over in 2021. the bbc�*s yogita limaye, together with camera journalist and producer, have been in the country for the last two weeks. they have been chronicling the disaster, and they are warning this report shows images of children in distress.

this is what an average morning looks like at jalalabad's main hospital. hundreds throng every corner, every passage, as extreme poverty pushes more children into disease each day. zara, 13 months old, one of 3 million malnourished children in the country. a disease that's ravaging afghanistan's youngest. for every child here who's made it to a tiny bit of space in critical care, four others have not. at seven months, bibi hajra looks like a newborn. her mother, amina, has already lost six children. "it's like doomsday for me. "my children are dying because we have nothing "to feed them," she told us. sharing the same bed is three—year—old sana. her mother died while giving birth to her baby sister a few months ago.

this is ilham. he's three — suffering from malnutrition and pneumonia. his sister died of the same diseases at the age of two. in this one room, there were dozens of stories of death. nasiba has lost four children. and now she watches as her baby girl asma struggles for life. her tiny body racked with multiple infections. by the time she was brought here, asma was already in a serious condition. translation: it's like the | flesh is melting off my body. i can't bear to watch my child suffering like this. asma went into septic shock. an hour later, she died.

700 children have died here in six months, at least three a day. we found out about the death of baby asma when we came back to this ward to just check in on her and what we can see in front of us already in the half a bed that she left empty there's another desperately sick child. this is baby aaliyah, three months old, severely malnourished and suffering from several other complications as well. and this is what it's like before anyone in this room, before the doctors, before the nurses have had time to register or recover from the loss of a child, another baby has to be brought in because there are just so many of them in need. you hear the statistics, but this is what it looks like on the front line. a baby dies. a couple of hours later, another sick baby brought in.

over the past three years, we've been to dozens of health facilities documenting the crisis. now, children are dying at a frightening pace from a lack of nutrition and curable diseases. umrah has severe pneumonia. a nurse tries to stabilise her. the treatment available at this hospital is only possible because aid agencies have stepped in to fund healthcare since the taliban took over. "i'm extremely scared about what might happen to my child. i wish i was suffering in her place," umrah's mother, nasreen, says. two days later, umrah also died. these deaths are being counted. but in the communities outside the hospital, children are dying silently.

and there's also an underreported but alarming surge in stunting. it's affected a staggering 45% of afghan children under the age of five. mohammed is two. far shorter than he should be and he cannot stand yet. translation: the doctor has told me that if he gets - treatment for the next 3 to 6 months he will be fine, but we can't even afford food. how do we pay for the treatment? i'm scared he will become disabled and he will never be able to walk. stunting can lead to irreversible physical and mental damage. in lane after lane, we see children at risk. it's in these communities where aid has been most dramatically cut. but where it is given, we find evidence of how it helps. eight—month—old mujib used to be severely malnourished.

his father says the food sachets they receive have significantly improved his condition. and from back at the hospital, there's good news. bibi hajra was in a fragile state when we saw her. but with the right intervention, she's now well enough to be discharged. yogita limaye, bbc news, jalalabad. unions are calling on prime minister to reverse the plans. the prime minister has told the

bbc his new government is going to have to be unpopular, accusing his predecessors of having run away from difficult decisions. but no 10 faces a potential rebellion from dozens of mps in parliament. our political correspondent henry zeffman is following developments. the government is going to win this vote. the winter fuel payments is going to be withdrawn for millions of pensioners. the only question is, at what cost for this new prime minister's authority among his own mps? because the unease among labour mps, many of them elected for the first timejust a couple of months ago, is really striking. rachel reeves, as you say, is going to address labour mps, a meeting of the parliamentary labour party this evening, and her message, i am told, will be very straightforward. she will say, this is a tough decision, it is a tough decision that the government has to make in order to get the public finances back on track. it is very similar to the argument that sir keir starmer made to our colleague laura kuenssberg yesterday. this is really tough and i do get that it is tough.

it is not easy and no prime minister wants to take a decision like this, but the winter fuel payments are now to be targeted. they were untargeted before. and i think everybody thought that was not a particularly good system, so it needed to be targeted. obviously those most in need will continue to get the payment. all of those on pension credit will get the payment, and we want to get as many people on to pension credit as we can. henry, the unions are meeting this week with the tuc and we have heard from sharon graham, the general secretary of the unite union, criticising this decision, calling for a u—turn which i guess is not expected, how much sway and how damaging is it to have unite voicing that criticism, given they are no longer so closely aligned with the labour party anyway? you are right that unite very much come from the left wing of british politics, but also even union politics, and that is also true for the other trade

union which has voiced severe dissatisfaction with this, the pcs union, the public sector union. however, it appears that over this trades union congress conference, other unions, unions which have previously been a bit more supportive of keir starmer�*s leadership, unions like unison, the gmb, they also are not going to want to be associated with this decision that keir starmer has made, and that again was the message that you heard earlier today when paul novak, the general secretary of the tuc, spoke to us. we are going to be debating that issue this week at congress, i think it is very likely our unions will ask the chancellor to rethink that decision around the winter fuel allowance. i think the chancellor, the whole of the government and indeed everyone down here at the tuc congress this week, will want to make sure that pensioners are not in a position where they cannot put on the heating this winter. we will debate that this week. i think it's right that the chancellor should rethink those plans and think about the support that she puts

in place for pensioners. henry, is there any other mitigation that the government could now put in? if you had asked me that an hour ago, i would have said, it sounds like there is, a home office minister diana johnson went on bbc breakfast and suggested the government was looking at a social tariff for energy bills, basically a way of having cheaper energy bills for those who might be struggling with the cost of them, especially after this winter fuel allowance cut. but shortly afterwards, government sources started messaging me saying, no, actually, she didn't mean that, she misspoke. that is awkward for the government on the morning at the start of a very delicate couple of days of negotiations, among themselves, over how to proceed, before they even get to the question of persuading the general public.

let's turn to the situation in the middle east, where the syrian state news agency says at least 1a people have been killed by israeli air strikes across the country. it says a number of sites were targeted, including a scientific research centre. meanwhile, one border crossing is due to reopen one day after three israeli security guards were killed. jordan's interior ministry said the attacker, a truck driver, was a jordanian national. he was shot dead by israeli security forces. the incident happened at the king hussein—allenby bridge crossing. jordan has launched an investigation into the shootings. in gaza, the un and local health authorities are moving to the north to vaccinate more children against polio. the campaign aims to immunise 640,000 children after the first case in 25 years. un officials said they are making progress, having reached more than half of the children needing drops. our middle east chief updated me on the latest situation in syria earlier. irate

me on the latest situation in syria earlier.— me on the latest situation in syria earlier. we are hearing 14 were killed _ syria earlier. we are hearing 14 were killed in _ syria earlier. we are hearing 14 were killed in those - syria earlier. we are hearing 14 were killed in those air i 14 were killed in those air strikes overnight, and strikes by israel, which has not commented on this one, into syria, they are not uncommon, they are a regular occurrence but they have certainly picked up but they have certainly picked up pace over the last year or so, and the targets tend to be related to the supply of weapons to hezbollah, that is the iranian—backed militant group operating out of lebanon and fighting between hezbollah and fighting between hezbollah and israel has certainly increased. there was a little lull a couple of weeks ago after a major crisis, that lull is now well and truly over. yesterday we saw 50 missiles crossing the border, and israeli jets striking several locations across lebanon. meanwhile, in gaza, we have got this polio vaccination programme which is now moving to the north, what is the latest on that?— to the north, what is the latest on that? so, they have finished the _ latest on that? so, they have finished the first _ latest on that? so, they have finished the first two - latest on that? so, they have finished the first two stages i finished the first two stages of this vaccination programme, you will remember the reason, the urgency behind this, is that confirmed cases of polio have been identified in gaza.

unfortunately, a baby girl was partially paralysed after getting this terrible disease. so, an arrangement to try to vaccinate around 600,000 children has been put into place, with both sides agreeing to pause fighting over different phases across the south, middle and north of gaza. the first two phases, in the south and the centre of the strip, concluded yesterday. the figures we have got now is about 450,000 children receiving that first dose, that is ahead of expectations. that now moves to the north, but today we have to report that there is a sustained fighting in the north of the gaza strip, so that may prove to be tricky. if they don't get that coverage, then the risk of this disease is spreading, which spreads through contact with human faeces, is going to increase, and they have not got enough children vaccinated to provide herd immunity. so there is real concern that they need to get this vaccination process finished now, obviously it

would be better, everyone says, if there were a ceasefire to be able to conclude this vaccination, but they have managed these localised initiatives, getting through hundreds of thousands of children, but a couple of hundred thousand still remain. that was jo floto. hundred thousand still remain. that wasjo floto. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

ukraine s surprise incursion into russia s kursk region last month boosted national morale. but in the past week the kremlin has retaliated with a series of devastating missile attacks ? and the ukrainian army also finds itself on the back foot in key parts of the battlefield at home. in the east of the country, troops are digging to hold on to the strategically important city of pokrovsk, but the front line of fighting is nowjust 8km away, prompting thousands of civilians to flee. the bbc s abdujalil abdurasulov has been to film with soldiers in the area and brings

this exclusive report. on the battlefield, speed is crucial. these ukrainian soldiers have just received the coordinates of a possible russian target. the same type of gun, a howitzer, was used in world war ii. 80 years on, ukrainian gunners in this small town rely on it in eastern ukraine to push back russian forces. and over the past few weeks, attacks on his unit have been relentless. translation: , translation: the fighting is very intense. _ translation: the fighting is very intense. we _ translation: the fighting is very intense. we fire - translation: the fighting is very intense. we fire up - translation: the fighting is very intense. we fire up to i translation: the fighting is | very intense. we fire up to 200 rounds a day. the enemy continues their attacks in small groups, sometimes up to 60 people. they try to break through our defence lines, so we provide cover to our infantry. we provide cover to our infantry-— we provide cover to our infant . , , . , ., infantry. this is the city that russian troops _ infantry. this is the city that russian troops are - infantry. this is the city that russian troops are trying . infantry. this is the city that russian troops are trying to | russian troops are trying to reach. pokrovsk is a major

transportation hub in eastern ukraine, essentialfor transportation hub in eastern ukraine, essential for getting supplies to the frontline. but the fighting is nowjust eight kilometres away. pokrovsk is turning into another ghost town on the frontline. banks, shops, and other businesses are closed. the sound of explosions is getting louder and louder each day. and this city is already within the range of russian artillery. about half of pokrovsk�*s population has left since the war began. those who still remain are being told to get out while they still can. this 69—year—old signs up for evacuation. she takes just one bag and her two kittens. volunteers help her to get on board the bus. trains no longer run here.

translation: ~ translation: we lived peacefully. _ translation: we lived peacefully, worked - translation: we lived peacefully, worked until retirement, and look at what russians did to us. i curse putin. ,, russians did to us. i curse putin. ~ ., putin. do you know where you are going? — putin. do you know where you are going? i — putin. do you know where you are going? i ask— putin. do you know where you are going? i ask her. - putin. do you know where you are going? i ask her. no, - putin. do you know where you are going? i ask her. no, she| are going? i ask her. no, she replies. but the most important thing is to get out of the city. this tank unit has just returned from another mission, to stop any attempts of a russian breakthrough. translation:- russian breakthrough. translation: ., translation: today, soldier sa s, it translation: today, soldier says. it was — translation: today, soldier says, it was very _ translation: today, soldier says, it was very loud. - translation: today, soldier says, it was very loud. they l says, it was very loud. they load ammunition _ says, it was very loud. they load ammunition to - says, it was very loud. they load ammunition to prepare says, it was very loud. they . load ammunition to prepare for tomorrow's shift. another day of trying to hold their positions, on a front line where so much is at stake abdujalil abdurasulov, bbc news, pokrovsk. acta idris elba is in downing street today, taking part in the first annual knife crime summit with the prime minister and home

secretary. he spoke a short time ago about the importance of the summit and why he is participating. of the summit and why he is participating-— of the summit and why he is participating. five or six days auo i participating. five or six days ago i started _ participating. five or six days ago i started an _ participating. five or six days ago i started an organisation | ago i started an organisation because a young lady who had lost her life outside of a tube station. and i use instagram and social media. the effect of that was incredible, that people wanted to hear a voice like myself, that had a soapbox to use and speak up and say something. five years later, six years later, though, unfortunately, we are still talking. and talk is good but action is more important here. the other thing the prime minister and i spoke about during the run—up to this was, how do we make the action points, what does that look like? and it felt like that we the coalition, we needed joined up the coalition, we needed joined up thinking. so many different perspectives, parents'

perspectives, parents' perspectives, youth workers' perspectives, youth workers' perspectives, and charity organisations, governance, policing, we need all of these perspectives, to sit round the table while we think about this. we aren't going to end crime, we can't, it is not realistic, but we can tackle the attributes towards it. at the attributes towards it. at the centre of it is obviously young people. my son is ten. and i'm hoping the work that we do angrily keeps pushing to help him by the time he is 16. there are kids right now 16, 24, that are in that cycle right now but that might not be able to help, but without joined up thinking, we can help the future generation. at least 48 people have been killed in niger after a petrol

tanker collided with a lorry carrying passengers and cattle. the news agency says the blast engulfed both vehicles in flames as well as several others nearby. there is no efficient railway system to transport fuel, so fatal truck accidents remain common along major roads in nigeria. these are images that have come into us. in vietnam, 59 people are now known to have died after a typhoon, the most powerful storm in asia this year, caused heavy rainfall and landslides. authorities say that 13 people are now missing. this bridge collapsed. let me take you back to timor—leste, east timor, as it was, with the pope on a visit there, which is part of a big tour of southeast asia.

this is a predominantly catholic nation, and it is a three—day visit, the pope is due to be having an open—air celebration of mass. they are expecting big crowds for that. the pope, also dealing with a child abuse scandal affecting at least one very prominent bishop that was involved in the independence movement, and campaigners, calling on him to address that and to meet victims of that. but this is an overwhelmingly catholic country, despite all that, and a lot of support is expected for this visit by pope francis. this is bbc news.

by by wednesday, a big change on the way, feeling much cooler, the way, feeling much cooler, the nights will be more chilly, with some nighttime frost for some, and it will be quite windy at times as well, with a mixture of sunshine and showers. today, already starting to feel a bit fresher, but not to that degree yet. weather fronts across eastern england producing lots of cloud and bits of rain and drizzle, the cloud struggling to leave here completely. sonia spells elsewhere for the afternoon, some good spells of sunshine across northern england and wales, a big improvement compared with yesterday. it should feel nice in the sunshine. western scotland and northern ireland, outbreaks of rain developing for the evening rush—hour, with rain throughout the night, on and off, pushing down into northern england, as the wind picks up, gale force winds across northern scotland as we head into tuesday morning. temperatures, 9—13,

not particularly low but the wind will make it feel a good deal fresher as we start the day. here is the weather weather chart4 tuesday. low pressure sitting around in northern ireland, where we —— the northern isles, where we will see some persistent rain, and colder air coming all the way from the arctic. but it is still balanced by some strong sunshine at this time of year. the wince at the start of tuesday will be particularly billowy, gale in places. the weather front moving southwards. sunny spells in the far south, just one or two showers, before it arrives. living away from northern scotland but showers developing, some of them heavy with hail and thunder and over the scottish mountains it will be cold enough for some sleet and snow on the mountain tops. temperatures, 11—12 in northern scotland, the colder air with us all into wednesday, a fresh start, winds coming down from the north or north—west, bright but fresh start to the south and east but showers more

widely pushing across all areas into the afternoon, given the strength of the wind, and some of them will be heavy with hail and thunder and still a little bit wintry on scottish mountains.

this is bbc news, the headlines: health officials in afghanistan say 700 children have died

of malnutrition atjust one hospital in the past six months. the covid inquiry enters a new phase today — covering the pandemic�*s impact on healthcare systems. two of britain's biggest unions call on sir keir starmer to abandon plans to take winter fuel payments away from millions of pensioners. pope francis is in timor—leste for the first papal visit to the predominantly catholic country since its independence. hello, i'm keith edgar and murphy. thanks for being with us. —— geeta guru—murthy. the next phase of the covid inquiry is about to get under way — with the public hearings looking at the impact on patients, healthcare workers and the wider nhs. the hearings will also focus on issues such as the diagnosis and treatment of patients with long covid, protective equipment in hospitals, and the policy of shielding. more than 30,000 people in the uk have shared their personal stories from the pandemic ? as part of a report called every story matters, which will be published today. our health reporterjim reed is outside the inquiry in central london.