and coming up on sporstday later in the hour on bbc news, the new look champions league get�*s underway, liverpool start their campaign against old foes ac milan at the san siro. mayor says oxford street will be pedestrianised with the backing of the government. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. at least eight people have been killed and almost 3,000 have been injured, according to the health ministry in lebanon, after hand—held pagers simultaneously exploded across the country. the pagers are used by the armed group hezbollah to communicate with each other. a ten—year—old child is among the dead after her father's pager exploded. hezbollah fighters, medics and iran's envoy to beirut are also among the injured. security officials say the devices were hacked by israel, who have not yet commented.

a hezbollah official called it the "biggest security breach" suffered by the group. paul adams has the latest — a warning his report contains distressing images from the start. this was a devastating attack... in supermarkets... on the street, in cars, at home and even in barbershops scores, perhaps hundreds, of hezbollah members simultaneously injured by exploding pagers. incidents reported from all over lebanon, from beirut to the bekaa valley, and even in neighbouring syria. each explosion was small, but some left terrible injuries, more than 2700 wounded, according to lebanon's health ministry, and eight dead. israel is saying nothing. but yesterday, the defence minister told american envoys that only military action would resolve the situation in the north.

a message repeated by the prime minister. "the status quo will not continue," mr netanyahu said. "this requires a change in the balance of power on our northern border." the situation there remains extremely volatile. exchanges of fire every day between israel and hezbollah. civilians on both sides exhausted by almost a year of tit for tat fighting. kiryat shmona has been hit several times by hezbollah rockets. yesterday, for the first time, israel said its gaza war aims included allowing israelis to return to homes evacuated close to the border. today's wave of attacks will have injured hezbollah�*s fighters, wrecked communications and damaged morale. but will it change the course of the war? paul adams, bbc news, jerusalem. our security correspondent frank gardner is with me. how did this happen?

well, this took two things. it took a really timely intelligence to note that this batch was coming and where it was, and it took the technical capability to insert the explosive inside it. this was military grade high explosive. i have spoken to experts on this, they think it is something called hm x, probably 10-20 something called hm x, probably 10—20 g. everybody thinks it is israel. somebody got inside of the supply chain, was able to insert the explosive ingredient disguised as a fake electronic component, that would then have been activated by something called an alphanumeric text message. once that signal was sent, damn the explosive, the next person to touch the phone to activate it... not the phone, the pager, would have detonated it. these were, 99% of cases, not fatal. they cost a lot of injuries, but less than i% were fatal. it is sent

as a warning, sent as a message. it has got a massive psychological impact on hezbollah. the only comparison i can think of was back in 1996, israel inserted explosives inside the mobile phone of somebody, a mac bomb maker, to kill him, which is why hezbollah told its people not to use mobile phones —— a hamas bomb maker. a man has appeared in court charged with the murders of the wife and two daughters of the bbc�*s racing commentatorjohn hunt in a cross bow attack at their home in hertfordshire. the court heard that 25—year—old louise hunt was tied to a chair when she was found injuly. 26—year—old kyle clifford has been remanded into custody. steve knibbs reports. 26—year—old kyle clifford was charged overnight. police had to wait to question him as he was receiving treatment for serious injuries he was found with when they arrested him in a cemetery injuly.

that was the day after carol hunt and her two daughters, hannah and louise, were found fatally wounded at a house in bushey. kyle clifford appeared in court this morning from a room in the custody suite at kempston police station. he told the chief magistrate that he couldn't speak very loudly as he had a voice injury. during the hearing today, details emerged of the case against kyle clifford. the court was told that when police arrived at the house in bushey injuly, they found that louise hunt had been tied up and shot with a crossbow. her sister hannah was found nearby, also with crossbow wounds. their mother, carol, had multiple stab wounds. the court heard that despite treatment at the scene, all three women later died at the house. kyle clifford has been charged with the murders of carol, hannah and louise hunt, possession of a crossbow and a ten—inch butcher's knife, and the imprisonment of louise hunt. he is yet to enter a plea. he later appeared again by video link at the royal courts ofjustice, where there were discussions

about finding a suitable court forfuture hearings due to him having to use a wheelchair. injuly, john hunt, pictured here with his wife carol, released a statement with their daughter aimee, saying that their devastation cannot be put into words, and that the support they've received has provided a great comfort. steve knibbs, bbc news. instagram says it's overhauling the way it works for young people, promising more "built—in protections" for teenagers and added controls for parents. part of the measures being introduced will see new "teen accounts" for 13— to15—year—olds, which will have strict controls on sensitive content to prevent recommendations of potentially harmful material. here's our technology editor zoe kleinman. instagram already claims to have more than 50 tools aimed at keeping teens safe on its platform, but an ofcom study earlier this year found that every single child it spoke to had seen violent material online. these new measures aim to put more

control into the hands of parents. accounts belonging to anyone under the age of 18 are already made private by default. now, if someone under 16 tries to make their account public, they'll have to add a parent to approve it. that parent will then also be able to see who their child messages, and which topics they follow. older teens will have to verify their own age. notifications will be muted overnight, and young people will get an alert if they spend an hour on the app. the biggest change is that under 165 will need parental permission to alter any of the teen settings. i think there's a side to instagram where you go down a wormhole and you can't get out of it. we spoke to some pupils in belfast about their experiences on instagram. there's a lot of racism and a lot of homophobia going on on instagram, and people are just going along with it in the comment section. so yeah, ijust feel like i shouldn't be able to see that. i think that people of younger ages,

parents should definitely get - involved in their children's - accounts and just even monitor it. it doesn't mean, like, j you need to always be on your child's account. some parents have campaigned for years for better protection for their children. ian russell's daughter molly took her own life in 2017 after viewing self—harm content on instagram. meta are very good at drumming up pr and making these big announcements. what they also have to be good at is being transparent and sharing how well their measures are working. so sometime before christmas, when these measures are in place and children are using them, we should know from meta how they're working and where there are still problems and what they're doing to plug the gaps. these tools might give parents more oversight, but they still can't control instagram's algorithms or what gets put on the app in the first place. and this is all assuming parents actually want the extra responsibility and understand what they're supposed to do. meta's uk chief, sir nick clegg, had this to say last week. one of the things we do find — i'll be very open about this — is that even when we build these

controls, parents don't use them. other big platforms like snapchat and tiktok also offer screen time and parental controls. instagram hopes this new combination of teen account limits and parental supervision will result in fewer young people seeing harmful content on the app. zoe kleinman, bbc news. in france, a man accused of drugging his wife and allowing dozens of strangers to rape her during a period of ten years has admitted to all the charges against him. dominique pelciot, who's on trial with 50 other men, acknowledged that he was a rapist, and said his wife gisele, who has waived her right to anonymity, "did not deserve" what happened to her. andrew harding reports. prison vans arriving at the courthouse in avignon. inside, some of the 51 men on trial here. handcuffed, all accused of raping one drugged and unconscious women. but many of those on trial remain free men.

masked, they entered the courthouse through the front door. and look who walks in beside them each day. the woman they are accused of raping, gisele pelicot. boldly refusing anonymity, insisting the shame that belongs not —— boldly refusing anonymity, insisting the shame belongs not to her, but to her attackers. no cameras are allowed inside the courtroom, but today pelicot�*s former husband dominique finally took the stand. he had this to say about the decade he admits he spent drugging his wife, then filming strangers raping her. translation: i regret what i did, even if it is unforgivable. - i had nothing but love for my wife. we had a perfect family. it was me who was not good. pelicot told the court he was not born evil, that he was abused as a child. significantly, he was quick to condemn his co—accused. translation: i am a rapist,

like the others in this room. | they knew everything. gisele then told the court it was hard to listen to a man she had trusted completely for half a century. news from the trial is creating new tensions here in mazan, the nearby village where the couple lived. the sense of shock in this small community is deepening by the day. the french police now say they have evidence that 80 local men took part in the rapes. 50 of them are now on trial, 30 more have yet to be tracked down. translation: we know 30 of them still haven't been caught. _ there are tensions here because we don't know if we can trust our neighbours any more. but some here, strikingly, claim the whole pelicot case has been overblown. translation: it could have been far more serious. - there were no kids involved,

the women were killed. - —— there were no kids involved, no women were killed. - the family will have a hard time, but. they can rebuild. after all, nobody died. such attitudes do persist here. applause. but the far bigger story is how gisele pelicot is becoming a national hero. breaking into a rare smile as she is cheered on her way out of court today. her poise deliberate, designed to inspire other victims. andrew harding, bbc news, france. a former director at the company which built the titan submersible has told the us coastguard hearing into the disaster that he had no confidence whatsoever in the way the vessel had been built. all five people aboard were killed when the submersible imploded during a trip to look at the wreck of the titanic lastjune. david lochridge accused the company of rushing to get titan ready for lucrative trips. our science editor rebecca morelle reports.

it was heading into the depths of the atlantic to see the titanic. but oceangate's titan sub suffered a catastrophic failure, killing all five people on board. nothing but the truth, so help you god. a public hearing has heard from david lockridge, the former director of marine operations with more than 25 years of submersible experience. it's the first time he's spoken publicly about his safety concerns. you have to have the confidence in the equipment to do the job. it's like every other industry. if you don't have the confidence in it, you don't do it. that's it. and did you have confidence in the way that the titan was being built at this time? no confidence whatsoever. and i was very vocal about that, and still am. oceangate was told about significant problems with its sub. on this full—scale model, you can see the viewports. its manufacturer certified it to 1300m, but the sub was diving three times deeper to the titanic — at 3800m.

titan had an acoustic monitoring system, in—built microphones to listen for signs the sub was cracking, an early warning so titan could resurface, but any failure would happen in milliseconds, leaving no time to act. oceangate said the sub was experimental, but it had made 13 previous dives to the titanic, so passengers thought it was safe. however, the material it was made from — layers of carbon fibre — was getting damaged with every descent. so, counterintuitively, people were safer on the first dive rather than on the last. david lochridge warned about the poor quality of the five—inch thick carbon fibre. on the left, you can see where the layers are coming apart, and on the right, he's shone a torch through it. he was asked why oceangate ignored his warnings. cost cutting and bad engineering decisions. i'd say that's the two main things. the desire to get to the titanic as quickly as they could

to start making profit. there was a big push to get this done, and a lot of steps along the way were missed. oceangate pushed on, but david lockridge was fired in 2018. i was phased out of the project completely. it wasn't my intent. i didn't want to lose myjob. i wanted to... i wanted to go to titanic. you know, it was on my bucket list. i wanted to dive this, but to dive it safely. the hearing continues for the next two weeks. rebecca morelle, bbc news. the time is 6:16pm. our top story this evening. hospitals in lebanon struggle to cope as at least eight die and thousands are injured after handheld pagers explode simultaneously. as students get ready for another year, universities say tuition fees need to rise to cover a funding black hole.

coming up on sportsday in the next 15 minutes on bbc news. with more games being added to the football calendar, manchester city's rodri says players could go on strike because of the increased workload. winner in leatherhead who is giving back with community crazy golf. the commonwealth games is set to return to glasgow in 2026 12 years after the city last hosted the event, but it will be scaled down. the scottish government has backed proposals to stage fewer events with a smaller number of athletes after the original hosts, the australian state of victoria, withdrew because of rising costs. organisers say the game will come at no cost to the public. here's our sports news correspondent laura scott. praised by many as the best ever commonwealth games, glasgow 2014 attracted some of the world's

biggest sports stars. usain bolt�*s showboating and was hailed for galvanising the country. a decade on, and the city is already preparing to host again, stepping in to rescue the 2026 games after the australian state of victoria withdrew. i think it's a brilliant idea. it brings loads of new tourists here, loads of new faces. it shows glasgow in a good light as well. i read a couple of stories where they were like, oh, i don't know because it's quite expensive, but i think it's a really good idea. oh well, it's very good. good for the city and it will bring the money in, i suppose. - the man in charge of sport within the scottish government said we shouldn't expect the same again. it will be a different games and i don't think we can shy away from that. we're now coming forward with the model that means that i hope this will be a more sustainable offering, meaning the commonwealth games can be sustained going on into the future, and we see a more diverse mix of countries and cities looking to host the games in the future.

england have done it! england's last gasp netball gold was one of the standout moments of the gold coast games in 2018, and those involved in the sport say the commonwealths offers crucial exposure. it's one of the pinnacle events in the calendar. it's what you build up towards. it's our version of the olympics. we're not in the olympic games, which we often get mistaken for, and it gives us an opportunity to shine as a standalone sport, which is incredible. plans for glasgow 2026 need to be finalised in the coming weeks, but its expected the number of sports will be cut from 17 in 2014 to 10 in two years time, acrossjust four venues. how concerned are you that a slimmed down commonwealth games will be too much a shadow of its former self? yeah, no. i'm not. i mean, i think that our members told us that it was time to change and to innovate, and we know that this is a first step towards what an ideal model would look like. this is a very unusual situation where you're pulling off something in a very short period of time,

but we are completely confident that this will be a world class, albeit smaller, commonwealth games and a great experience for athletes and fans. scotland! for now, the commonwealth games has been given a lifeline, but given the difficulties finding future hosts and scrutiny around the relevance of the commonwealth, doubts remain about how much longer it can survive. laura scott, bbc news. universities in england say tuition fees need to be increased in line with inflation to help prevent them from "sliding into decline". fees for students from england have been frozen at £9,250 since 2017. the government says universities are responsible for their own financial sustainability as ellie price reports. the first night of the rest of their lives. freshers' week hasn't changed much for university students over the years — the debt they rack up by the end of it most certainly has. the average now more than £48,000. 100%. oh, my god.

like, we've never had to pay taxes in our life and stuff. so yeah, it's going to be a lot of debt and no way to pay it off. if i spend my whole uni experience stressing about money, then it's going to ruin it. like, i have the rest of my life to worry about money and mortgages. so i think while i'm in uni, i'll just sort of enjoy it while i can. the morning after the night before, freshers are searching for a bargain, and as these second and third years know, every penny counts. money isjust, i'd say, probably the biggest worry i have at uni, even more than my dissertation, which is this year. and i'm even going to be missing lectures to work. well, i have to work fourjobs, so i do twojobs here and then two jobs in my hometown of birmingham. it's notjust students who are worried about their finances this freshers' week. universities are warning 10,000 jobs could go across the sector if they can't bring more money in. they're putting that down to a drop in the number of international students and higher inflation. that's why they're calling for higher tuition fees and more direct government funding.

without question, the whole sector is at stress right now. i talk to a lot of vice chancellors, and every single person i speak to is cutting back, is reducing their expenditure lines. we do know that about 40% of universities are currently returning annual deficits in their accounts. that's projected within three years by the office for students to be 80%. almost the entirety of the sector will be in a deficit position. tuition fees have been frozen at £9,250 a year since 2017. universities say a rise to around £13,000 a year would simply keep them in line with inflation. i think now if you had to pay more, i think people would really consider whether they should go down the degree apprenticeship route, or whether they should just go into work experience and kind of on there. so i think... i think that difference in the three grand would really make a difference. the choice on offer at the freshers' fair is as eclectic as ever. you want to join the taylor swift society...? the choice for universities

and what they offer their students might have to be more limited. ellie price, bbc news, norwich. the american rapper and music mogul sean combs ? who used to be known as �*puff daddy�* ? has been arrested in new york and charged with crimes, including racketeering and sex trafficking. he had been under investigation since last year, after a number of women accused him of sexual assault and abuse. our correspondent nada tawfik is in new york for us. sean combs is expected in court shortly where he is due to give a plea of not guilty according to his lawyer, but prosecutors want him held until a trial, labelling him as a flight risk, a serial abuser and someone who abused his vast wealth as a billionaire and position of power to sexually abuse and exploit women. sean combs is one of the most influential producers in hip—hop...

the key to the city! ..whose hits shaped the sound and culture of a whole generation and propelled the genre onto the global stage. # i did it before # i'll do it again. but he is now facing some of the most serious charges — sex trafficking and racketeering. in a newly unsealed indictment, prosecutors accused him of engaging in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals from at least 2008. we are not done, this investigation is ongoing, and i encourage anyone with information about this case to come forward and to do it quickly. the charges follow a raid by heavily armed agents on his properties in miami and los angeles in march. today, outside of court in new york, his sons showed up in support. his lawyer said they knew the charges were coming ahead of his arrest last night. i am going to fight like hell to get him released, and he should be released with all that he's done and coming here voluntarily. graphic details in the indictment matter much of the allegations

in a lawsuit against him by his former partner and r&b singer cassie ventura, which he settled the next day without admitting wrongdoing. but his tone of defiance changed after this security video was released showing him chasing and assaulting cassie in an la hotel hallway in 2016. my behaviour on that video is inexcusable. i take full responsibility for my actions in that video. the rapper cultivated a bad boy image, but the disturbing claims against him now threaten the legacy he built in this city. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. the liberal democrat leader, sir ed davey, has said his party will provide a positive alternative to the government's message of doom and gloom. he was speaking at the close of his party 5 annual conference in brighton, where he also criticised the conservatives. chris mason reports. this is what the liberal democrats

stonking general election performance looks like. find stonking general election performance looks like. and this is what their leader _ performance looks like. and this is what their leader sounds _ performance looks like. and this is what their leader sounds like - performance looks like. and this is what their leader sounds like when he is singing. perhaps wisely, he quickly reverted to talking. so here we are, quickly reverted to talking. so here we are. having _ quickly reverted to talking. so here we are, having a _ quickly reverted to talking. so here we are, having a party _ quickly reverted to talking. so here we are, having a party after - we are, having a party after winning our largest number of mps for over 100 years. our largest number of mps for over 100 ears. ., , , .,, 100 years. soon sir ed davey was talkin: 100 years. soon sir ed davey was talking about _ 100 years. soon sir ed davey was talking about the _ 100 years. soon sir ed davey was talking about the topic _ 100 years. soon sir ed davey was talking about the topic the - 100 years. soon sir ed davey was talking about the topic the lib . 100 years. soon sir ed davey was i talking about the topic the lib dems are determined to focus on relentlessly, health and care. carers weren't mentioned once in labour's election manifesto, but carers did feature in keir starmer�*s first prime minister's questions because i made sure they would. social care was mentioned by labour, but sir ed davey wants to politically own the issue and he also wants to be optimistic. we will

cut through — also wants to be optimistic. we will cut through the _ also wants to be optimistic. we will cut through the government's - also wants to be optimistic. we will| cut through the government's doom and gloom with our ambition for our country. and gloom with our ambition for our count . , , . and gloom with our ambition for our count . , .. , and gloom with our ambition for our count . , ,. , ., ., country. this is a party that hated brexit but pretty _ country. this is a party that hated brexit but pretty much _ country. this is a party that hated brexit but pretty much shut - country. this is a party that hated brexit but pretty much shut up i country. this is a party that hated i brexit but pretty much shut up about it during the election, but a closer relationship with the european union is popular here. he wants... to boost is popular here. he wants... trr boost british businesses and give the young people hear the freedom to travel and work across europe. there mi . ht travel and work across europe. there miaht be a travel and work across europe. there might be a labour— travel and work across europe. there might be a labour government, i travel and work across europe. there might be a labour government, but the lib dems see their principal opponents as the tories. fiur the lib dems see their principal opponents as the tories. our “0b is to consiun opponents as the tories. our “0b is to consign the i opponents as the tories. our “0b is to consign the conservative i opponents as the tories. ourjob is to consign the conservative party l opponents as the tories. ourjob is| to consign the conservative party to the history books. find to consign the conservative party to the history books.— the history books. and look at this, oliticians the history books. and look at this, politicians don't _ the history books. and look at this, politicians don't tend _ the history books. and look at this, politicians don't tend to _ the history books. and look at this, politicians don't tend to endorse i politicians don't tend to endorse candidates in elections abroad. but sir ed davey did.— sir ed davey did. with the looming sectre of sir ed davey did. with the looming spectre of a _ sir ed davey did. with the looming spectre of a second _ sir ed davey did. with the looming spectre of a second donald - sir ed davey did. with the looming spectre of a second donald trump| spectre of a second donald trump presidency, how i hope and pray to see kamala harris defeat him this november. �* , ., , see kamala harris defeat him this november-— november. and this was his concluding _ november. and this was his concluding date. _ november. and this was his concluding date. let's i november. and this was his concluding date. let's build | november. and this was his l concluding date. let's build a briuhter concluding date. let's build a brighter future _ concluding date. let's build a brighter future and _ concluding date. let's build a brighter future and let's i concluding date. let's build a brighter future and let's keep concluding date. let's build a i brighter future and let's keep on winning so we can make it happen.

this has been a four day celebration for the liberal democrats, but they now have to work out how to demonstrate influence in a parliament where labour are so dominant. it is though, for them, a nice problem to have after years in the doldrums. chris mason, bbc news, in brighton. this is cinnamon, she's a capybara and she is on the run after escaping from a zoo in shropshire. capybaras are native to south america and they're the largest living rodents in the world. despite her size, this one hasn't been seen since saturday night.. navtej johal has joined those searching today. meet cinnamon, the capybara. she's meant to be living here at hoo zoo and dinosaur world, near telford, with her mum, dad and twin brother. but on friday, the nearly one—year—old engineered a dramatic escape. when we were coming

in to mow her paddock, she was actually hidden in the long grass next to the gate and the keeper didn't notice. when he opened the gate, she very quickly slipped round the side of the tractor and got out. at the moment, the area that we're pretty sure that she's living in is basically a capybara dream. it's got waterways, marshland, loads of food. so she's going to be living her best life over there. with the zoo's permission, we approached cinnamon's family for a comment. would you like to see cinnamon back? are you worried about her? hopefully, if she's a bit further away, we'll draw her back into the area. we set out with the zoo staff to the woodland where they suspect cinnamon may be hiding out. they're even playing capybara calls through loudspeakers here to lure her home. if you see her, don't try and capture her yourself. not because she's likely to do anything to you. she's absolutely isn't. what she'll do is she'll run away, and that could push you further away from home, which we don't want. although the zoo is confident she'll return unharmed, they are conducting a mass search tonight.

meanwhile, the only eyewitness to the escape didn't want to talk. have you seen cinnamon? navteonhal, bbc news, telford. time for a look at the weather. here's chris fawkes. i'm glad he didn't interview a llama. renowned for, you know. today we've had plenty of sunshine across the uk and it's the high pressure that has been building across the uk and bringing them is warm temperatures as well. we have seen highs of up to 24 celsius in a couple of spots in scotland, 7 degrees above average for the time of year and we will keep the warm weather for a few days yet. on the satellite picture, one thing to point out is we have some cloud in the southern north sea and it looks likely as we go through the evening and overnight that that will start to move in across east anglia, the midlands, maybe reaching eastern wales and that will stop

temperatures from falling too far but further north, scotland in particular we could see dense fog forming by the end of the night and it will be quite a chilly night where we keep the clearer skies, with the temperature around 8 degrees. the area of high pressure dominates and we still have the remnants of storm boris, targeting italy with some thunderstorms over there in the next few days but for us it is quiet and the cloud we have to start the day in england will break up with sunny spells becoming widespread and it's another day that will see some pretty high temperatures for this time of year, about 24 in parts of northern scotland and 24 for london and 21 for western counties in northern ireland and a similar looking charts through thursday, starting the day with some cloud, some sunshine coming through quickly through the morning and the afternoon, fine for most but temperature is not really changing too much. for most of us into the 20s and the warmest spots at 24 degrees but we do see a change

through friday and in