welcome to newsday. i'm steve lai reporting live from singapore. the headlines: israel launches air strikes on southern lebanon, as hezbollah�*s leader vows punishment after a wave of explosive device attacks killed dozens of people. the bbc reveals the former boss of the luxury department store harrods — the late mohamed al fayed — has been accused of rape by five female ex—employees. a team of scientists say it's "beyond reasonable doubt" the covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak. can china play a peace—brokering role in myanmar�*s ongoing civil war? we have a special report from the chinese border with myanmar. and as polls show kamala harris and donald trump neck—and—neck in the us presidential race, we're in michigan, one of the crucial swing states.

we start in the middle east, where israel has launched fresh air strikes in southern lebanon, in what security sources there say is some of the most intense bombing since the start of the gaza war in october. and these are the latest pictures of israeli strikes on the southern lebanese border village of rihan. it all comes as the leader of hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist organisation by some western governments, was giving his first public reaction to the wave of attacks across lebanon. at least 37 people have been killed and thousands injured by exploding pagers and walkie talkies. hassan nasrallah described the attacks as a massacre and said it could be called a declaration of war. our chief international

correspondent, orla guerin, has this report. israeli fighter jets swooping low over beirut this afternoon, dominating the skies and sending a message to hassan nasrallah. .. booms ..breaking the sound barrier as the hezbollah leader was making a televised address. that's something israel likes to do. and before he spoke today, a wave of israeli attacks in southern lebanon — perhaps the heaviest since the gaza war began. this footage appears to show some of the latest strikes. israel says it was targeting rocket launchers. hassan nasrallah said today that israel had dealt a major military blow with attacks

on tuesday and wednesday. "the enemy," he said, "had crossed all red lines." first it was pagers exploding, then walkie talkies blowing up at funerals. hezbollah�*s communication system may have been the target, but a lebanese minister told us the attacks — widely blamed on israel — break international law. minister, are you saying that these attacks are a war crime? i think they are. you know, i think that the whole world could see that these attacks occurred in markets, they occurred in hospitals, they occurred in people driving their cars. these were not people who were at the battleground, fighting. in its stronghold in south beirut, hezbollah is

still mourning its dead, killed on and off the battlefield. they are getting ready here now for the funeral of another fighter. hezbollah has been hit hard this week, notjust in terms of the dead and the wounded, but the attack on its communication systems was a major humiliation. there's anger here, and there's uncertainty. many are wondering what might come next. haja miriam said, "we can expect anything from israel, but we are prepared, both men and women." as for the wounded, she said, "we pray god will heal them. i would donate my own eyes for all of those who lost theirs." so far, it appears those killed this week were foot soldiers in hezbollah, which is classed as a terrorist organisation by the uk and the us.

hassan nasrallah says the enemy has declared war and hezbollah won't stop until israel does. orla guerin, bbc news, beirut. i'm joined now by alam saleh, senior lecturer in iranian studies at the centre for arab and islamic studies at the australian national university. thank you forjoining me at this hour. i want to start with your reaction to the last 48 hours, where we have seen both those pager and walkie—talkie attacks. those pager and walkie-talkie attacks. , , , ., ., attacks. one impression for sure has — attacks. one impression for sure has been _ attacks. one impression for sure has been very - attacks. one impression for. sure has been very effective, very sophisticated, and it shows israel has ecological superiority over its enemies in the region, in terms of intelligence. it has been quite

successful, and well coordinated. however, the q coordinated. however, the 0 question remains to be answered, to what extent this operation helps israel strategically to deal with it security challenges in the region. some of these key challenges and threats are structural and cannot be resolved by the act of sabotage and or assassinations in syria, in lebanon or in iran. indeed, israel needs a clear and well—planned strategy to get rid of key security challenges that are surrounding it, from gaza to hezbollah, into syria, yemen and even iraq and iran, of course. so, i would argue that such operation will only put israel under further

pressure, it will never vanish hezbollah and its allies in the region and, indeed, israel, would put israel under a true menace amount of pressure in the future, for instance, prime minister then yahoo promised that israeli citizens will return to their hometown in the northern part of israel. however, now, it would be quite difficult to imagine that they will return under such circumstances. hezbollah will definitely sooner or later, start further operations against homes and towns and villages in the northern part of israel. villages in the northern part of israel-— of israel. your sing israel is lookin: of israel. your sing israel is looking to _ of israel. your sing israel is looking to pursue _ of israel. your sing israel is looking to pursue its - looking to pursue its objectives through military might and that ultimately will not be successful, because it willjust drop retaliation from those parties you were talking about, whether they be

hezbollah or hamas or even iran? , ., , iran? yes, of course. in the ast iran? yes, of course. in the past 20 _ iran? yes, of course. in the past 20 years _ iran? yes, of course. in the past 20 years or _ iran? yes, of course. in the past 20 years or so, - iran? yes, of course. in the past 20 years or so, we - iran? yes, of course. in the| past 20 years or so, we have witnessed in the middle east that military forces using military means will not solve a problem. israel needs to reconsider its policies, particulate with palestinians, in order to somehow reduce the tension, to reduce the security issues that it's facing. iran has shown that they are determined to attack israel when needed and they are supporting some of the key non—state militias and actors in the region such as hezbollah and the houthis in yemen, that in the long—term would undermine the israeli security for sure. undermine the israeli security forsure. israel cannot undermine the israeli security for sure. israel cannot afford a long—term and frustrating war

in the region. the tension is not helping israel, and i would say, perhaps tel aviv hopes that such a raise of tension would get the united states involved in this war, something that washington has declined so far and has shown very little willingness to get involved, and they are very reluctant to get involved in a war, we have seenin get involved in a war, we have seen in the past 11 months or so. ~ . ., so. we will leave it there for now. thanks _ so. we will leave it there for now. thanks so _ so. we will leave it there for now. thanks so much - so. we will leave it there for now. thanks so much for. so. we will leave it there for. now. thanks so much for your time today. appreciate your thoughts. alam saleh. senior lecturer in iranian studies at the centre for arab and islamic studies at the australian national university. more women have contacted the bbc saying that they were assaulted by the late

mohammed al fayed when he was the boss of harrods. more than 20 women who worked for him have already come forward as part of a bbc investigation accusing the egyptian billionaire, who died last year, of multiple counts of rape and attempted rape during his 25—year reign at harrods. many claim that during that time, the company helped cover up allegations of abuse. our correspondent helena wilkinson has this report, and a warning that it contains descriptions of sexual violence. he tried to rape me more than once. and he pushed me in and onto the bed so that i couldn't move. he was 79, nearly 80, and i was 15. when mohamed al fayed took over harrods, he quickly embraced his high—profile role and the status that came with it. to his customers and the celebrity guests, he was all charm, but to many of his female employees, he was a different man, a predator. we've heard testimony from more than 20 of al—fayed's female ex—employees.

i think mohamed al fayed is a rapist. i think he's a serial rapist. gemma worked as al fayed's personal assistant for two years. just didn't know which way to turn. so i'd bought a small dictaphone that i had in my pocket. and these are the transcripts from those recordings. one of them was in paris, in his residence there, villa windsor. i said, "i just want to go to sleep on my own. "mr fayed, i don't want to. mr fayed." and he kept saying, "relax. please, relax. " not long after this incident, gemma says al fayed raped her. in 2009, gemma contacted a lawyer, who told harrods she was leaving herjob on the grounds of sexual harassment. she didn't feel able to disclose the more serious allegations at the time. they agreed to pay a settlement if she signed a non—disclosure agreement. there was also one other condition — material was to be destroyed. it was shredded in front of us, including tapes i had of him. someone from hr was present for the shredding of all

of the evidence i had. i thought i'd lost the transcripts, but actually what i did have was the transcriptions sent to my lawyer in my sent items of my email account. the current owners of harrods said they had watched the documentary and expressed sympathy towards the victims. earlier today, they said they were utterly appalled at the allegations and said that employees who were his victims had been failed, for which they sincerely apologised. they also said that the harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by al fayed. since this morning, the bbc has been contacted by other former employees who alleged they too were attacked by al fayed. this woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, we are calling melanie. i was sexually assaulted by being groped by al fayed at his park lane apartment.

it was late in 2007. at the time, melanie was in her 20s and in herfirstjob. last year, she told the police. the police then told me that they had intended to arrest him. they had enough evidence. but they couldn't because he was unwell. tonight, the metropolitan police said they were aware of various allegations of sexual offences made over a number of years. each one was investigated and no charges resulted. there were several attempts to expose al fayed before his death, but it is only now that many of the survivors feel able to speak publicly about the abuse they experienced. helena wilkinson, bbc news. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

a team of scientists say it is "beyond reasonable doubt" the covid pandemic started

with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak. they were analysing hundreds of samples collected from wuhan, china in january 2020. i've been speaking to one of those researchers, professor michael worobey from the university of arizona. he explained what his team had uncovered. the data that we're looking at here was from samples collected the day that this market, the huanan seafood market, was closed down at the beginning of the pandemic, 1st to january 2020. the scientists from the chinese cdc sent swabbed surfaces from all over this market — floors, walls, cages, carts — and what we're looking at now is the data that they generated from that when they asked, you know, not specifically, is sars—cov—2 there? but let's sequence the heck out of all of the dna and rna in each sample and just see what's there. and when you do that,

you can start to see what potential host species were definitely there. and how cooperative were chinese authorities when it came to this research? well, they've shared the data on public databases that anyone around the world can access. and that is great because it allows teams to take slightly different looks at the data. and so we've done things like going right down to the population level. henetic diversity of the racoon dogs were there to show that there were many populations, probably from different parts of china, that were part of the supply chain at the market. and how can you be so confident, then, that this data is accurate that you've been working or basing your research on? yeah, the data itself, you know, when you look

at real data like this, you see, you know, bacteria, plants, fungi, animals and viruses. and so, for example, we looked at other viruses that were present there and saw obscure wildlife viruses from bamboo rats from southern china. and so it has all the hallmarks of being real data. we don't really have any doubts about that. china has fortified its border with myanmar by building higher walls and holding military drills as the civil war on its doorstep threatens its investments and its economy. armed ethnic groups in myanmar have made significant gains capturing key cities and towns on the main road to china which some believe could be a turning point in the war. our china correspondent laura bicker has this report from the chinese border. for families with the right paperwork, the chinese city of ruili has become a safe haven.

the few that make it through from myanmar, with their precious blue and red work passes, are searching for peace and have hopes of prosperity. cross—border traders try to sell goods from their homeland, but it's hard to make a living in a city where so many are just glad to be alive. translation: what's happening in myanmar right now, _ it's really, really cruel. i don't know when things can start to improve. i hope some decent people can tell all sides to stop fighting so the ordinary people can suffer less. otherwise, it's really tragic for us. you know, the bombshells hit hospitals. people were killed, including women giving birth there. another border checkpoint... china fortified this once porous border during the pandemic. but higher walls can't protect it from myanmar�*s

brutal civil war. in the last two months, armed insurgents have stepped up theirfight against the military regime. a beijing—brokered ceasefire was ripped apart. thousands have fled the fighting. much of the land you see behind me, these vast swathes of northern myanmar, are no longer ruled by the country's military regime. instead, they've been taken by armed ethnic groups who also control major ports and major cities. now, this is a critically important trade route to china, which is now having to grapple with this conflict on its doorstep. it is the only major country with the power, with the influence, to help end this crisis in myanmar. china is holding regular military exercises along the border. state media said this is to maintain order.

there's also been a flurry of diplomacy to push myanmar�*s rulers to hold promised elections. nothing looks open... strict covid lockdowns ravaged ruili's economy. beijing desperately needs stability to restart trade. many lives depend on it. after long shifts making car parts and clothes, these burmese workers can relax. they've been brought from myanmar as cheap labour for chinese factories. translation: there is nothing we can do because _ war is happening in myanmar. everything is expensive. everywhere, there is a battle going on and everyone has to run because of war. their work here comes with conditions. their movements are often restricted. and while theirfuture

is in chinese hands, beijing will be considering how big a part it's willing to play in the fate of their homeland. laura bicker, bbc news, ruili. the polls for the us presidential election show the race is still too close to call. so to try and win over undecided and marginal voters, both kamala harris and donald trump are crisscrossing the battleground states. one of those states is michigan, and my colleague caitriona perry has been speaking to voters there. welcome to saginaw in michigan. this is up the north part of the state. and in this swing city, in this swing county, in this battleground state, only 300 votes separated joe biden from donald trump in 2020. so that gives you an idea about just how tight some of these communities are. you'll see streets where one house has a kamala harris sign in it, and their next door neighbour has a donald trump sign in their front garden. so it's very close, very tight — people reporting issues here and in the other cities

we've been in michigan, just like we're hearing right across america. we're hearing about the economy. about the cost of living and affordability crisis. we're hearing about the rates of inflation, housing, education, immigration, the lack of good quality jobs, as people see it. but of course, in one part of michigan, dearborn, just outside detroit, that's home to the biggest arab—american and muslim—american community in this country. and for them, those voters are concerned about all of those issues ijust mentioned, but top of the agenda is the situation in the middle east. they're very concerned about the us policy towards supporting israel, what they're seeing in gaza, what they're seeing this week in lebanon. many of the voters we spoke to were lebanese—american, had either lived there themselves or their parents or grandparents had immigrated from there. and they're watching those scenes on the television, telling us stories about their own family members who had been caught up in those device explosions a little earlier in the week and how angry they feel about the situation in this country. we can have a listen to some of what some

local businesswomen told me. it's heartbreaking just knowing that our tax money and our hard work is helping fund this. somebody that's claiming to be a democrat, somebody that's claiming to be a republican, and they're parroting the exact same platforms. the thought of voting - for someone who's directly contributing, right now directly contributing, l to the death and destruction of our home country and - of our relatives overseas — i've made the decision - to vote forjill stein. and i know that there i are people who will say, you know, "it's a wasted vote." trump, he is offering to stop the war, so... during his four years of presidency, we haven't experienced any wars and the economy was booming, actually. many of those we spoke to in the arab—american and muslim—american community

had said they had voted democrat most of their lives, but now they were minded not to do that this time around, such is their upset and disappointment in the democratic policy. many of them, as you heard there, don't know how to vote, are choosing not to vote, are voting for donald trump. many telling me as well they plan to vote forjill stein, the green party candidate. and of course, we saw that news today from the uncommitted movement — who were those democratic party members who, in the democratic primary here in february, chose not to vote for joe biden, choosing to write uncommitted on their ballot paper — and today they've said they're not endorsing kamala harris. they feel they can't, as i say, because of that policy. but you crisscross through this state, as we have, talking to voters, you really do get that sense of a mixed picture. the other thing you see is many appearances from the candidates. kamala harris is here today. donald trump was in flint, michigan, just a couple of days ago this week as well. the two vice presidential candidates, jd vance and tim walz, have been here in the state of michigan

as well because they know the margins are really tight in this state. a personal appearance could be something that tips an undecided voter into your camp, and this state could be a state that either candidate needs to take them on to the white house, so we'll keep a close eye on what happens here as part of our voters' voices series over the next few weeks. our coverage of the us election will be quite extensive over the next 47 days to the us election on the 5th of november. we are going to stay in the us and give you a bit of baseball news. japan's shohei ohtani has made mlb history. he's become the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal more than 50 bases in a single season. the la dodgers' slugger completed the feat against the miami marlins. baseball has a huge following injapan and he's become one of the biggest stars in the game. shotime certainly doing well overin shotime certainly doing well over in the us! thanks for

joining me on newsday. i will be back with business today. hello there. for some parts of the uk, there is a big change on the way weather—wise, particularly in the south, where on thursday we saw a lot of sunshine. temperatures in london got above 26 celsius. but we're watching this area of low pressure swirling up from the south, increasingly bringing some showers and thunderstorms over the next few days. and the rainfall is really going to accumulate. some spots could be looking at around a month's worth of rain from these intense downpours and thunderstorms — however, only really in the south. further north, it remains largely dry. the best of the sunshine across north—west england, northern ireland, western scotland. eastern scotland, north—east england likely to be plagued by a lot of cloud, which will make it feel rather cool. and actually that cloud has been rolling its way a long way inland, taking its time to burn back towards the east coast through the day on friday, but it should do. staying quite murky, though,

for parts of eastern scotland, north—east england. and then down towards the south of england, perhaps into the midlands, wales, we will see some of these showers and thunderstorms popping up, some of which will give a lot of rain in a short space of time. 23 degrees in london, just 15 if the cloud lingers there in aberdeen. and as we go through friday night, that cloud again rolls a little bit further inland. still the chance for some showers and thunderstorms rumbling around across the channel islands, getting back into southern counties of england. a mild night forjust about all of us, a mild start to the weekend. and again on saturday, down towards the south, we'll see these showers and thunderstorms across southern counties of england, into east anglia, the midlands,

parts of wales. but for northern england, northern ireland, western scotland, we'll see some sunshine. eastern scotland, north—east england, still plagued by that cloud, perhaps the odd spot of drizzle. could be quite misty and murky around some of the coast, and temperatures, if anything, coming down a little bit from where they have been. and then into sunday, it looks like we'll see some slightly more persistent, heavy, thundery rain, again affecting southern parts of the uk, east anglia, the midlands, wales. further north from there, largely dry. best of the sunshine in the north—west, more cloud into the north east, so the pattern continues. but a change in the weather pattern next week. it does turn really quite unsettled. showers or longer spells of rain, could be quite windy, and it turns quite a lot colder as well.

the us federal reserve moves chaired by president biden and wall street. and here in singapore we are drifting into an f1 weekend. we'll look at the economics behind the race. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. why make entering a new phase of economic recovery in the speech promoting his policies to bring down inflation. let us be clear. _ to bring down inflation. let us be clear, lowering _ to bring down inflation. let us be clear, lowering interest - be clear, lowering interest rates is a declaration of victory in the declaration of progress. entering a new phase of our economy and our

recovery. i believe it is important