live from london, this is bbc news. 12 dead and nearly 3000 injured in the synchronised explosions of hezbollah pagers in a live and on. iran calls it mass murder. a taiwanese electronics firm denies any involvement, saying the pagers were made by a hungarian firm it signed a deal with three years ago. the bbc speaks to a doctor who treated the injured in beirut. i have never removed as many eyes as i had to yesterday. america's top diplomat, antony blinken is back in the region to try to revive stalled ceasefire talks.

we are still gathering information and gathering the facts. �* ., , , , ., facts. and in other news russia artiall facts. and in other news russia partially evacuate _ facts. and in other news russia partially evacuate a _ facts. and in other news russia partially evacuate a town - facts. and in other news russia partially evacuate a town afterl partially evacuate a town after a ukrainian drone strike. hello, i'm annita mcveigh. many say the spy agency mossad is behind the explosion of pagers that caused panic across lebanon yesterday. they were used by hezbollah which is backed by iran and has been exchanging fire with israeli forces since the exhibit seventh attacks by hamas which is an ally of. it has been described as mass murder by iran and israel has been blamed. the region is pushed to

the brink of war. the israeli military has so far not commented. the lebanese health ministry said 12 people died including two children and as many as 2800 people were injured among them iran's ambassador to beirut. security sources say mossad had placed explosives inside 5000 pagers which are thought to have been brought into 11 on months ago and which detonated when a coded message was sent to them. the pagers blew up simultaneously across 11 on. the pagerfrom simultaneously across 11 on. the pager from apollo gold's boss said they were made by bac consulting, a company based in hungary with a deal signed three years ago. america's top

diplomat, antony blinken, has been speaking on the matter. we will hear from been speaking on the matter. we will hearfrom him been speaking on the matter. we will hear from him shortly. been speaking on the matter. we will hearfrom him shortly. at first this report. hundreds of pagers exploding simultaneously. they have made it hard for the messages to be intercepted but instead they saw a massive security breach. reports a small amount of explosives were hidden in a shipment of pagers earlier this year. hospitals have been overwhelmed by the thousands of casualties, many as they checked an incoming... . when devices have exploded in their faces, the injuries affected their eyes, ears and hands with

some losing fingers. a lot required ventilators and had facial swelling. the explosions appear to be the latest blow in appear to be the latest blow in a deepening conflict. ever since hamas attacked israel on october seven, hezbollah has 0ctober seven, hezbollah has been firing missiles into the north in response. although israel has not commented, it came a day after israeli leader said they were ready to step up attacks against hezbollah. as hezbollah threatened revenge for the explosions, i asked a former israeli intelligence official what the strategy could be. official what the strategy could be-_ could be. from the psychological - could be. from the psychological point could be. from the i psychological point of could be. from the - psychological point of view, this is enormous that hezbollah was penetrated. we know what kind of equipment they use, it is a huge psychological effect.

from the military point of view, this is shutting down all of the backbone of their control. of the backbone of their control-— of the backbone of their control. ~ , . �*, ., , control. with israel's allies calling- - - _ control. with israel's allies calling... the _ control. with israel's allies calling... the us _ control. with israel's allies calling... the us secretary j control. with israel's allies i calling... the us secretary of state said mac was back in egypt today discussing the ceasefire efforts of gaza. washington said diplomacy is the way to de—escalate tensions. across the region. but so far, that message is not getting through. i spoke to yolande after she submitted that report and asked about if the pagers might have been set off prematurely. that could be a _ been set off prematurely. that could be a case _ been set off prematurely. that could be a case of— been set off prematurely. that could be a case of use - been set off prematurely. that could be a case of use it - been set off prematurely. that could be a case of use it or - could be a case of use it or lose it when it came to the capability that seems to have been gained by people saying israel's intelligence services because of the infiltration,

because of the infiltration, because of the access to these pages, a shipment that had come in from europe, we understand, that has been ordered by hezbollah in recent months as they became more concerned that their communications services that using phones in particular, and that has left us with this huge security breach, something so humiliating for hezbollah but it really affect its capabilities are now israeli analysts are pointing out that we have not seen anything like military moves by israel that could indicate this is the start of an all out war but they are not dismissing the idea that that could follow, especially when we are really waiting to see what happens when the hezbollah chief speaks tomorrow which is what hezbollah has indicated he is

planning to do. we have had lots of security meetings, situational assessments and people in israel being told not to change their behaviour in any way but at the moment thing you're very much on edge as people wait to see what happens next. ., , people wait to see what happens next. . , xii $1 $1 people wait to see what happens next. . , ;;:: :: :: , .,, " next. nearly 3000 people in 11 on injured _ next. nearly 3000 people in 11 on injured on _ next. nearly 3000 people in 11 on injured on tuesday - next. nearly 3000 people in 11 on injured on tuesday while i next. nearly 3000 people in 11 on injured on tuesday while 14j on injured on tuesday while14 believed to be wounded in neighbouring syria. this map shows the locations of confirmed pager explosions with lebanese official saying the majority of those injured, more than 1750 people were in the beirut area. the bbc arabic team has been speaking to a doctor that helped treat some of the wounded.

i can say it has been a nightmare. it has probably been the worst day of my life as a physician. i believe the number of casualties and the type of damage that has been done is humongous. unfortunately, we were not able to save a lot of eyes. more than 60% or 70% of the patients ended up with eviscerating or removing at least one of their eyes. we are talking about a young population, patients in their 20s, and unfortunately the damage is not limited only to the eyes. some of them have intracranial damage, damage to their brain, facial damage, whether to the nose, mouth, ears. unfortunately, most of them, they lost at least one of their hands. definitely, it is long and painful, because first, at least if we could save one of the eyes, this is already an achievement. unfortunately, like i said, some of the patients,

we had to remove both eyes. it kills me. as i said previously, in my past 25 years of practice, i have never removed as many eyes as i did yesterday. these pictures coming into us live from the lebanese capital beirut. art showing the procession of people gathering for the funeral of four of those killed when the pages detonated simultaneously across lebanon on tuesday but mainly here in the capital beirut, hezbollah holding a funeral for four of those killed by the detonating pages. 0ur middle east correspondent hugo bachega gave us this update earlier. i’m hugo bachega gave us this update earlier. i'm standing outside a — update earlier. i'm standing outside a hospital— update earlier. i'm standing outside a hospital and - outside a hospital and relatives have been gathering here waiting for any information from doctors here and we did have an update from

the lebanese health ministry earlier today which gave us a sense of the scale of this attack, so 12 people have been killed including a girl aged eight, a boy aged 11 and for health care workers were carrying those pages and now almost 3000 people have been injured and more than 4000 surgeries performed including four i, facial and hand injuries and also amputation because these pages exploded after people received a message that they believe had been sent from hezbollah. here in lebanon across the country there is a shock but also anger because these pages exploded as people were in shops with their families at home and for almost a year, this country has been concerned about the possibility of a major confrontation between hezbollah and israel and today after this attack, those fears are on the rise

once again. much attention on the pages themselves, where they came from and you might have handled them before they arrived in lebanon. ibiblc arrived in lebanon. bbc verified's _ arrived in lebanon. bbc verified's richard - arrived in lebanon. bbc verified's richard evan l arrived in lebanon. bbc verified's richard evan brown has been looking into the chain of companies involved. —— richard irvine—brown from bbc verify. here are close—ups of the remains of those pages which started circulating online shortly after explosions took place. on the back of both pages you can see bar codes and the word gold, then the model number beginning ap or ar which makes it seem like it could be made by a company whose boss has denied it. they have said

this model is produced and sold by bac, the hungarian company, and they go on to say apollo only provides the brand trademark authorisation and is not involved in the design and manufacturing of the product. the registered address of bac reveals a very nondescript building in a budapest suburb in front of a movie studio called sparkle and we have been doing a lot of digging into bac consulting. they have the same address on the contact page as they had in the old apollo statement and interestingly on this page, they say that it works on developing technology projects that include the sale of telecom munication products which also involves expanding businesses from asia and the website also lists this person is the ceo and founder and this is the ceo and founder and this is her about section. we've been trying to contact her to learn more about the company, calling her several times and

so far we have been unable to reach her. she has however told nbc news that, yes, our company works with gold apollo but she is just the intermediate and did not make the pages. our team has also been looking at the company's records and found that bac consulting was only incorporated in may 2022 with a single shareholder and looking back at the location, that nondescript building, there are 13 other companies registered here as well as bac and as we go to air, our team continues to work in the background to try to contact the company to assess their business and to find out what more we can tell you about how these pages exploded in lebanon yesterday. and the us secretary of state antony blinken is in egypt today where he has been speaking about what happened in live and on, he is talking earlier. live and on, he is talking earlier-— live and on, he is talking earlier. ,, ., , earlier. the united states did not know about, _ earlier. the united states did not know about, nor - earlier. the united states did not know about, nor was - earlier. the united states did not know about, nor was it i not know about, nor was it involved in, these incidents and we are still gathering the information and gathering the

facts. broadly speaking. we have been very clear. we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we are trying to resolve in gaza, to see it spread to other fronts. it is clearly not in the interest of anyone involved to see that happen and that is why again it is imperative that all parties refrain from any actions that could escalate the conflict. we are focused on getting this ceasefire over the finish line, that would also, i think, materially improve the prospects of actually defusing the situation in northern israel and southern lebanon on, particularly creating an environment in which people have the confidence to return to their homes, the tens of thousands of displaced people in israel as well as in southern lebanon on. getting the ceasefire would facilitate getting to that kind of agreement and that is clearly the best path forward for all involved so again it is

imperative that everyone avoids taking steps that could further escalate or spread the conflict. antony blinken there and we are seeing reports on the reuters news agency that hezbollah has said that today, wednesday, it has attacked israeli artillery positions with rockets in the first cross—border attack since the pager explosions, that news just coming into us, hezbollah saying it has attacked israeli artillery positions with rockets in the first cross—border attack since the pager explosions with almost daily fire across the southern lebanon, northern israeli border since the october seven attacks between hezbollah and israeli forces. hezbollah backed by iran of course and an ally of that hamas. —— an ally of hamas. just to get your

reaction first of all to that news literally coming into us in the last few seconds, a pretty speedy response from hezbollah. pretty speedy response from hezbollah-— pretty speedy response from hezbollah. , ., , ., hezbollah. indeed, pleasure to be with you- — hezbollah. indeed, pleasure to be with you. it _ hezbollah. indeed, pleasure to be with you. it does _ hezbollah. indeed, pleasure to be with you. it does seem - hezbollah. indeed, pleasure to be with you. it does seem to i hezbollah. indeed, pleasure to| be with you. it does seem to be a rather prompt response from hezbollah which had waited several days when you look at the response previously but in this instance i'm not surprised. what israel may have been seeking to do is try to get hezbollah notjust to absorb the blow and return any north but to see if hezbollah might attempt to save face, do some escalation that might... and we have to assess the activity as well as the strike you mentioned on some of those artillery positions in the north, see if at least tactically they may... speaking of tactics and _ tactically they may... speaking of tactics and politics, - tactically they may... speaking of tactics and politics, we - tactically they may... speaking of tactics and politics, we had. of tactics and politics, we had from israel in the past couple of days it had a new war goal,

namely to allow the return of the israelis, to allow them to return. where does this action, the exploding pages, where does that fit in with the stated war aim? it that fit in with the stated war aim? . ., , that fit in with the stated war aim? . . , , ., that fit in with the stated war aim? . . , ., , aim? it certainly is an attempt to at least _ aim? it certainly is an attempt to at least do _ aim? it certainly is an attempt to at least do a _ aim? it certainly is an attempt to at least do a death - aim? it certainly is an attempt to at least do a death by - aim? it certainly is an attempt to at least do a death by a - to at least do a death by a thousand cuts approach and try to signal that they cannot afford to continue the fight. right now we are coming up on the one—year anniversary of the october seven terrorist attack. 0ctober seven terrorist attack. hezbollah was the first to enter that fray including the fire in the position is that you mentioned and socially this was always something the positions that you mentioned and socially this was always something israelis would do, it was economic, political and social issues and to have 80,000 displaced in the north while mobilising the old country for a war in the south as well as trying to keep your country on alert to reject

projectiles but the imperative of moving these people back to their homes and getting them to have a sense of security will require a whole government... from israel which is why you will see more military pushback by the israelis like they like to have seen now, to get hezbollah to stop firing regardless of the situation in gaza. ~ ., , regardless of the situation in gaza. ~ . , ., ., gaza. we are seeing another line, the _ gaza. we are seeing another line, the head _ gaza. we are seeing another line, the head of _ gaza. we are seeing another line, the head of the - gaza. we are seeing another line, the head of the un - gaza. we are seeing another. line, the head of the un human rights organisation demanding accountability as the word that is used for the 11 on pager explosions and i guess the united states, where you are, will also be wanting answers with antony blinken in that news conference in cairo absolutely clear that washington was not involved. there had been some reports washington had been told a very short time before the excursions happened and he denied any prior knowledge. how will the us government to be assessing this action in 11 on

given that anthony blinking —— antony blinken is back in the region and promoting the idea of a ceasefire deal, getting palestinians back to their homes and the question of the hostages as well. is a homes and the question of the hostages as well.— hostages as well. is a very important _ hostages as well. is a very important question - hostages as well. is a very l important question because washington, jerusalem have taken different approaches towards establishing peace in the region and stability in the region because they both claim to want the same two things, deterrence and de—escalation, but when push comes to shove, washington as we see now, the word he kept using again and again was political will in his recent press conference, washington will prioritise the escalation of a deterrence so likely there will be some kind of political transaction cost to the pager attack between israel and the us but the israelis, when push comes to shove, will prioritise

deterrence de—escalation and that means at least signalling a few more escalate rounds. thank you very much for your thoughts on that developing story today. thank you. and here we have the israel— 11 on border and that news coming into us in the last few moments that hezbollah says it has attacked israeli artillery positions with rockets in this first cross—border response since the pager explosions and the un human rights chief also saying that accountability for those explosions is needed and these pictures are coming into us from beirut where the funerals are taking place of four of those killed when the pages exploded. hezbollah holding this funeral for four of those killed whose pictures you can see on the screen there. we will have more

reaction to those pager explosions and analysis on what is happening in the region for you here on bbc news around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

0ur large—scale... a partial evacuation has been ordered in a region of russia after a ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire there. it happened in the town of toropets — more than 100 miles from ukraine's northern border. videos on social media showed detonations and smoke covering a large stretch of sky. 0ur ukraine correspondent james waterhouse is in kyiv. the reasons for ukraine carrying out this attack are obvious. fora pet carrying out this attack are obvious. for a pet is a place where russia had assembled a

large arsenal in a —— toropets is a place. 0fficials large arsenal in a —— toropets is a place. officials say missiles supplied by north korea were housed there although we have not... with footage appearing to show huge explosions, the types we haven't really seen for a long time when it comes to ukrainian drone strikes in the accompanying force with those fires and a minor earthquake was even reported in the area and nasa said it could see the heat sources from satellite imagery so that suggests there is ammunition stationed here and there is also political backdrop, too because the west is yet to give ukraine permission to use the missiles it provides on targets inside russia so ukraine clearly has

said, right, we will do it ourselves within the confines of defending ourselves against a full—scale invasion. james waterhouse. here the post office boss nick read is to step down from the role next year. he had previously announced his intention to temporarily step back from the role to give his "entire attention" to the next stage of the horizon it inquiry. its is scrutinising failings over the wrongful prosecutions of hundreds of sub—postmasters based on faulty accounting software which made it look as though money was missing from branches. he has called it an extraordinarily challenging time at the post office and i think it is impossible to disagree with that. he took overin disagree with that. he took over in 2019 just as the post office was in the process of losing their litigation and not only did he have that to deal with and the subsequent inquiry

that has dominated the headlines for much of this year but has in fact been going on for years previously coming out to deal with the business situation of the post office which was also externally challenging with a business losing money and seeing many revenue streams disappearing with services shifting to online and not only did he have these two great difficult things to deal with, he had some unforced errors on his tenure in the business with first of all at the end of last year this row about a bonus paid to him and other senior post office executives for completing the inquiry when had not been completed and the post office said there was a way of office said there was a way of justifying that when on the ice he did voluntarily pay that back and also this year he was in a big row with the chairman who said he had twice asked to increase his pay and now this was obviously an extremely bad look at a time when many of the postmasters who have been victims of the scandal were struggling to get the compensation they were entitled to. ~ ., compensation they were entitled

to. ~ . , , ,, , to. we will have business news cominu to. we will have business news coming up _ to. we will have business news coming up for _ to. we will have business news coming up for you _ to. we will have business news coming up for you and - to. we will have business news coming up for you and just - to. we will have business news coming up for you and just a i coming up for you and just a few minutes. do stay with us here on bbc news. hello there, good afternoon. a lot more blue sky in september sunshine to come in the forecast. while it is warm across the board with tippett is above the seasonal average, it is particularly warm in northern scotland and across northern ireland. these are some of the high temperatures record yesterday. 35 celsius in aboyne in aberdeenshire, the average for theirjust 17. we expect something similar later this afternoon so a lot of sunshine as you can see on the map here, a lot more clout to the north sea facing coast so here it will feel cooler and quite taking north—easterly wind blowing in towards east anglia and south—east england, too, but these are the highs for today, the mid 20s for northern scotland and may be

down toward south—east england as well. high pressure remains very much in charge of the next few days, slowly starting to drift its way eastwards. we have a keen easterly wind blowing across southern england, quite busy here overnight and we see more low cloud blowing with moisture in the air and quite a murky start with these eastern faces and coasts and very keep the clear skies to the west could be more fog and mist developing into tomorrow morning and quite a range of temperatures, too, mildest towards the south, 13-14 c mildest towards the south, 13—14 c here. now a lot of low cloud around, some mist and fog into tomorrow morning and again that will slowly bend back to these eastern facing coasts but towards the north sea facing coasts, some cloud lingering for some of the day so the rest of the sunshine probably out towards the west on thursday but we could still get to 25-26 c but we could still get to 25—26 c across parts of south—east england with 23—24 from north—west scotland. now, a small chance of a shower or

two on thursday but a greater chance on friday as he started drawing some more unstable air from the south, still a keen easterly wind, still some cloudy conditions for these north sea facing coast but watch out, the heavy possibly sundry downpours across southern and western parts as we head through friday afternoon and generally still drive further north in the sunshine where it will continue towards the west but all change over the weekend with low pressure moving in from the south and it will turn really quite unstable, so more showers particularly want southern areas on saturday and again on sunday were drier further north. goodbye.

live from new york at the opening bell, this is business today. wait and see mode. us stocks inched higher in anticipation of the federal reserve's first rate cut in four years. reserve's first rate cut in fouryears. by reserve's first rate cut in four years. by the us central bank is widely expected to cut the cost of borrowing the question is by how much? plus rates relief on the way for millions of americans but how have households and businesses been coping with borrowing costs at a two decade high? and what will a cat mean for them, we report from pennsylvania. and the parties over for tupperware, we lift the lid on what went wrong at the firm.