hezbollah confirms a senior military commander is among those killed after israel's latest attacks on the militant group. early voting kicks off in the us presidential election — with voters casting their ballots in three states. meanwhile, georgia's election board officials approve a rule requiring counties to hand count all ballots the night of or the day following the presidential election. and new numbers show that more than 70,000 russian military personnel have died in the war in ukraine. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. we begin in lebanon, where there are concerns over escalating violence between the militant group hezbollah and israel. hezbollah has now confirmed the death of a top military commander — ibrahaim aqil — after israel struck the lebanese capital beirut on friday. he is considered the most

high—profile member of the group to be killed in the current conflict. israel says the �*targeted' strikes killed around ten hezbollah military commanders. the lebanese health ministry says 14 people were killed and more than 60 injured. hezbollah, has called the killing of mr aqil a "crime," and said israel will "pay the price." it all comes after a week of deadly attacks in lebanon, including exploding communications devices, which killed at least 37 people — and injured thousands. at a special meeting of the un security council on friday, the un's political affairs chief said there was a serious risk of a further escalation: but if things continue as they are, we'll see conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far. it's not too late to avoid such folly. there is still room for diplomacy which must be used without delay. 0ur correspondent 0rla guerin has been following the latest on those strikes in beirut. explosion. this footage captures the moment of the attack, in the heartland of hezbollah.

explosion. the skyline looks like a city at war. israel hit hard, without warning, in the densely populated residential district of dahiya. calling this a precision strike, the target was the veteran hezbollah military leader ibrahim aqil. israel said he had been eliminated, along with about ten commanders of an elite unit. at the time of the strike, aqil and the commanders of the radwan forces were gathered underground under a residential building in the heart of the dahiya in beirut, hiding among lebanese civilians, using them as human shields. they were in the middle

of planning more terror attacks against israeli civilians. aqil had plenty of enemies. the us had put a $7 million bounty on his head, accusing him of involvement in the killing of americans in beirut in the 1980s. day after day now, hezbollah is being hit and being weakened by warfare from a distance. we were repeatedly prevented from reaching the scene by locals and the lebanese army. well, emergency vehicles have been coming and going. we've counted at least ten ambulances coming up and down the road, going to pick up casualties. the dead are still being counted. there's a lot of anger here, a lot of tension. this was another major strike on hezbollah here in its stronghold in south

beirut. tonight, rescue workers still digging in the rubble for people who lived here. among the missing — four—year—old naya ghazi, a threat to no—one. 0rla guerin, bbc news, beirut. 0ur international editor jeremy bowen has more on the state of play at the end of what's been a dramatic week in the region. after a week of, well, exploding pagers and radios and now this raid on a meeting that the hezbollah leadership clearly thought was secret in a basement in their stronghold in the southern suburbs of beirut. i mean, they have had a disastrous week, and they must be wondering what else israel has got in store for them. however, these remarkable tactical victories by the israelis do not bring them

closer to their strategic objectives, which is, first of all, to stop the fire across the border into israel from lebanon, which has in fact intensified, and to get 60 plus thousand israelis back to their homes in border towns, which have become ghost towns. there are more lebanese, incidentally, on the other side, who've had to leave their homes because of what israel has been doing in return. so what's been happening this week, ithink, is israel trying to break out of the status quo and do some real damage to their enemies. now they've done the damage, but they haven't changed that status quo. and that's why there are fears that — and there's quite a bit of talk as well in israel — about the prospect of a military incursion by israeli ground troops into lebanon. and that is something that israel's western allies are against. but it may happen, and it's part of what is looking like a very dangerous slide

towards all—out war in the region at really one of the most dangerous moments in the last 12 months. the strikes this week are seen as a big blow to hezbollah. for more, i've been speaking with lina khatib, the director of the school of 0riential and african studies at the university of london's middle east institute. i want to start with these latest strikes that killed at least 14 people in lebanon, including a leading hezbollah commander. how significant is this? , , , this? this is extremely significant, _ this? this is extremely significant, especially. this? this is extremely l significant, especially for hezbollah. 0nly yesterday the leader was giving a televised speech in which he basically claimed that the group's communication and command are intact, despite the attacks that happened on tuesday and wednesday with the communication devices exploding. so this happening

today in the southern suburb of beirut where the headquarters of hezbollah�*s leadership is, and killing top commanders of hezbollah is a major blow. what hezbollah is a ma'or blow. what does it tell _ hezbollah is a ma'or blow. what does it tell us — hezbollah is a major blow. what does it tell us about _ hezbollah is a major blow. what does it tell us about the - hezbollah is a major blow. what does it tell us about the state of hezbollah, how we convey our? ,., . of hezbollah, how we convey our? , ., . , of hezbollah, how we convey our? ., , our? hezbollah is in disarray. i think it's — our? hezbollah is in disarray. i think it's very _ our? hezbollah is in disarray. i think it's very clear - our? hezbollah is in disarray. i think it's very clear that - our? hezbollah is in disarray. i think it's very clear that a i i think it's very clear that a group like this has been prepared for military action by israel, but what it has not anticipated at all is hybrid warfare of this kind, of this scale, where in one week, hezbollah�*s medications that work has shown to be infiltrated, its security has been breached, its supply chains intercepted, and on top of everything else it's elite commanders have been targeted and killed in an area it

considers a stronghold. it's a series of very significant blows. �* , . . blows. it's a leader, nasrallah, - blows. it's a leader, nasrallah, has - blows. it's a leader, l nasrallah, has vowed blows. it's a leader, i nasrallah, has vowed a response. what could that look like? , ,., , response. what could that look like? , , .,, like? the response was filed yesterday — like? the response was filed yesterday when _ like? the response was filed yesterday when he - like? the response was filed yesterday when he gave - like? the response was filedj yesterday when he gave that speech, but then they are met with this massive attack by israel today, so whatever he might have been thinking yesterday is definitely off the table today. all hezbollah could do today was launch rockets on israel and that's it. although hezbollah�*s military arsenal remains intact, its ability to actually use it has been significantly curtailed because any complex military action against israel will necessarily mean using communication tools and these have been compromised. even in person meetings between commanders exposes them to extreme risk like what happened today with the attack that killed several commanders at

once amongst whom was a very senior one. and so hezbollah will really be at a loss regarding what kind of retaliation it can do, and in a way it stuck because if it retaliates at a high level, then this exposes it to risk and if it doesn't do anything at all then it damages credibility, so for hezbollah, at least, the next steps will be similar to what we are saying already which is limited missile strikes on israel. haw missile strikes on israel. how does this _ missile strikes on israel. how does this look, _ missile strikes on israel. how does this look, then, - missile strikes on israel. how does this look, then, for - does this look, then, for israel, which has been engaged in this military operation in gaza, the war there. what are some of the challenges that you anticipate israel will face in battling hezbollah which is of course better supplied than hamas? ~ ., , ., course better supplied than hamas? ~ . , ., , ., , hamas? what israel is doing is t in: to hamas? what israel is doing is trying to paralyse _ hamas? what israel is doing is trying to paralyse hezbollah. i trying to paralyse hezbollah. because hezbollah, as he rightly said, is a lot stronger than hamas militarily, what israel is trying to do is prevent hezbollah from using

this military capacity by, for example, infiltrating its communications, infrastructure and causing disarray within the organisation. let's not forget that an attack like the page or attacker will mean that hezbollah will now become suspicious about practically any equipment that it has imported. and so this kind of chaos within a militant group like this is in a way more crippling than large—scale crippling than la rge—scale military crippling than large—scale military action against it. lena, wejust military action against it. lena, we just have about a minute left, but this is a pretty dramatic escalation we are witnessing. what do you think it means for the region? what it means is that ultimately, this is not going to end until the gaza conflict is settled. ultimately, hezbollah, despite its losses, will need to carry on just to save face and so the only way for northern israel to be secured and southern lebanon to be secured is by going back to diplomacy and getting a

settlement for the conflict at large in gaza.— large in gaza. we've been covering _ large in gaza. we've been covering all _ large in gaza. we've been covering all aspects - large in gaza. we've been covering all aspects of. large in gaza. we've been| covering all aspects of this story on our website, you can see the story at the top, his brother commander killed. —— hezbollah commander killed. 2a hours on our website, do take a look at our website there. more than 70,000 people fighting in russia's military have now died in the war in ukraine, according to new research by the bbc. working with the independent website mediazone, bbc russia has analysed the names of the dead published on social media, in obituaries and official publications — and they've discovered that more russian volunteers are dying on the battlefield than soldiers. 0lga ivshina has this report. the faces of russian fighters killed in ukraine are changing. now, more and more men in their 405, 50s and even 60s are volunteering for the front line. 62—year—old rinat khusniyarov was one of them.

before he volunteered, he had two jobs. fighting for russia, he earned seven times what he did before. russian authorities have repeatedly increased sign—up bonuses to attract men like rinat. he died in february this year — we don't know where exactly, but thousands of kilometres away from his home in russia. last month, russian forces faced a ukrainian offensive in kursk, the first on russian territory. the kremlin claims this attack has encouraged more volunteers to sign up to fight. there are no official figures on the numbers of russians killed so, since the start of the war, the bbc and its partner, mediazona, have been trying to build a picture of what is happening on the front lines. we have been using photos of graves, social media posts and news articles to uncover the scale of russian losses. this graph shows the extent of russia's weekly battlefield deaths we have been able to verify since the start of the war — 70,000 lives lost.

but real figures will be significantly higher. it tails off a bit in recent months because we're still gathering the data. it doesn't necessarily mean that fewer people are dying. let's now bring the numbers of volunteers we have been able to identify that have died. at the start, the numbers were pretty low, as losses were inflicted on regular soldiers and convicts. but the number of volunteers dying has dramatically increased, shown with a spike last october. since then, more than 100 volunteers have died each week, and in some weeks that has more than doubled. the spike in the number killed coincides with a russian offensive on avdiivka in the east of ukraine, one of the war�*s deadliest confrontations. they are fighting a battle where they are not prepared and might not have the needed equipment to fight. there isn't sufficient preparation, and there are also equipment shortages or nonexistent equipment for which they haven't prepared.

0ur account only shows deaths reported publicly. the true figure of losses is likely to be higher. asked for comment, the russian government did not respond. earlier this year, ukraine went public with its losses, acknowledging 31,000 of its soldiers had been killed. us intelligence suggests that number is higher. moscow continues to push on, willing to exchange thousands of lives for small pieces of scattered land. mum 0lga ivshina, bbc news. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. downing street says uk prime minister, sir keir starmer, will no longer accept donations for clothing. it follows a row over gifts, after it emerged the pm had received more than £16,000 for work clothing and glasses. deputy prime minister, angela rayner and chancellor rachel reeves will also stop accepting donations. the prime minister has maintained he always

followed rules on donations. there are significant differences in how long patients in england with different types of cancer wait to be treated, according to cancer research uk. people with head and neck, bowel and gynaecological cancers are more likely to face long waits. the charity says the differences in waiting times are putting lives at risk. people with a peanut allergy in the uk are being advised to avoid food that may contain mustard, because they could be contaminated with peanuts. the food standards agency says mustard ingredients can be found in dips, sauces, salads and pre—packed sandwiches. it is trying to identify how many products may be affected by the issue — around 50 have already been recalled. you're live with bbc news. millions of voters across three us states are heading to the polls on friday to cast their ballots in the us presidential election. early in—person voting is under way in virginia, south dakota and minnesota. the first ballots cast come with just over six weeks left til election day on novemberfive.

about a dozen more states will start early in—person voting by the end of october. in total, 47 states plus the district of columbia are offering early in—person voting. 0ur correspondent ione wells was outside of a polling location in virginia — and sent this report. election day itself is still more than six weeks away, but there has been a steady line of people all day here in fairfax virginia, lining up to cast their ballot. it's one of the first early in person voting stations at open ahead of the election, it's something people in virginia will be able to do from now until election day itself. i spoke to a couple of people in the line to ask them why they decided to vote so early. forsome, why they decided to vote so early. for some, they were donning either kamala harris or donald trump merchandise, they had already made their mind up, they didn't think about was going to change between now and election day itself. for others it was more a case of practicality, they said they

would be on holiday nearer the time and didn't want to risk not getting back in time. 0thers not getting back in time. others said they were worried about what could happen between now and then, one said you never know if you're going to be hit by a bus and it was and important for them to cast their vote and it was her civic duty for them to do that as soon as paul's. just on other side of the entrance there was a trump campaign stand, also a kamala harris campaign stand as well, volunteers out leafleting, canvassing support to people in the lines itself. there is a barrier before the polling station itself, there is no political campaigning allowed past that point. this will now be something that residents in virginia will be able to do it right up until the 5th of november. meanwhile in georgia, a stark change in how ballots are counted may impact the election in november. georgia's election board officials approved a rule that requires counties to hand count all ballots the night of or the day following the presidential election — something county officials say is physically impossible. advocates of the procedure —

who are said to be supporters donald trump — say it's an effort to prevent fraud and other irregularities, making the vote counting process more secure and transparent. many are concerned hand counting ballots could delay the certification of georgia's electoral vote, which could be key in determining who will win the presidency. 2020, president biden won the state's 16 electoral votes by fewer than 12,000 votes out of the five million cast. for more on how this change will impact the presidential election, i spoke to gowri ramachandran, director of elections and security at the brennan centre forjustice, a nonpartisan policy institute. what will the hand counting of ballots in georgia mean for the election there? so ballots in georgia mean for the election there?— election there? so this rule that would _ election there? so this rule that would require - election there? so this rule that would require poll- election there? so this rule - that would require poll workers to hand count the amount of paper ballots in the machines after they've been scanned on election night, would cause at

minimum, real difficulty recruiting poll workers, actually, at a time when election officials are preparing for a very big election in november. the reason for this is that this new rule asks poll workers to stay late after an extremely long working day at the polling place and actually remove ballots from the scanners, sort them into stocks of 50, hand count the amount of them, keep doing it until three of them reach the same number. look for any discrepancies between those amounts and the numbers of ballots that the scanners and the touch screen machines recorded, and then, you know, resolve all of those things before packing everything back up before packing everything back up and going home. so if that doesn't sound like fun to you, it's because it's not. so that's one concern with this rule. the rule is also going to create a huge risk for the security of the paper ballots in georgia. because that

process ijust described to you, you can imagine that it would be very easy for someone to innocently forget to put a stack of 50 back into the box or otherwise you know, make some kind of human error. let me 'ust some kind of human error. let me just ask— some kind of human error. let me just ask you this, it is expected to be a close race across the country but especially in the battleground state of georgia. we know that president trump disputed the results of the election in georgia in 2020 despite there being no evidence of any fraud. wouldn't the hand counting of paper ballots prevent the sort of challenging of the election results that we saw in the previous election? 50 results that we saw in the previous election?- results that we saw in the previous election? so of the contrary. — previous election? so of the contrary. the _ previous election? so of the contrary, the hand _ previous election? so of the contrary, the hand counting | previous election? so of the i contrary, the hand counting of the quantity of paper ballots would actually not really do anything to resolve people's doubts about the election. if anything it would probably risk sowing more confusion and more doubt, so for instance let's say you take a polling place and the poll workers do with this rule asks them to do, they

count the ballots, and there's one last ballot —— one last ballot then there are voters that checked in at the polling place. that could be an innocent problem, for instance somebody checked into vote then they got a phone call from their child's school about an emergency and they left before casting their ballot. but that would create the opportunity for people who want to sew confusion to claim that there were, you know, discrepancies and problems at the end of this account. ., a and problems at the end of this account. ., , ., , account. let me ask you this, is this even — account. let me ask you this, is this even actionable - account. let me ask you this, is this even actionable this i is this even actionable this late in the game? because as you know, we're pretty close to the election now. it’s you know, we're pretty close to the election now.— the election now. it's really late in the _ the election now. it's really late in the game, _ the election now. it's really late in the game, it's - late in the game, it's certainly very bad policy to be adding these kinds of procedures and messing with the already elaborate chain of custody procedures that exist in georgia law, it's a really bad idea to do that this close to the election. poll workers

are already being hired, they are already being hired, they are already being trained and in fact, the association of local election officials in georgia called on the state election board to stop changing the rules and adding these things at the last minute. the secretary _ things at the last minute. the secretary of _ things at the last minute. the secretary of state _ secretary of state roethlisberger in georgia who is a republican, opposed this because it is so late. i have to ask, as people start early voting in places like minnesota and virginia, how secure are these elections, because clearly these measures were attempted by this board to address concerns about election security, even if that might be not the end result. 50 not the end result. so elections _ not the end result. so elections across - not the end result. sr elections across the united states are really secure, and one reason for that is that we estimate that about 98% of voters in this election are going to cast their votes using a paper ballot. so they are either going to hand market a paper ballot or they're going

to print out a paper ballot from the machine and be allowed to verify that it represents their choices and their wishes before they cast the ballot. that is the most secure way to vote because that means you have a paper record that can later be audited in a tabulation audit which about 48 or 50 states perform. find tabulation audit which about 48 or 50 states perform.— or 50 states perform. and are ou or 50 states perform. and are you certain — or 50 states perform. and are you certain at _ or 50 states perform. and are you certain at this _ or 50 states perform. and are you certain at this point - or 50 states perform. and are you certain at this point that l you certain at this point that we would see states certify election results? so we would see states certify election results?— we would see states certify election results? so the law is that states — election results? so the law is that states and _ election results? so the law is that states and counties - election results? so the law is that states and counties and l that states and counties and other jurisdictions that states and counties and otherjurisdictions have to certify election results by, specific deadlines that are set and state law. and that's the law, they need to finish by that deadline and certified by that deadline and certified by that deadline. 0n the rare occasions in the past few years when we've seen some locals certifying officials delay who refused to certify elections, they've been taken to court and they've been taken to court and they fever back down or they've been ordered by a court to certify. after a week on the run,

cinnamon the capybara has been found safe and sound in a pond. the giant south american rodent, which captured international attention, is now �*recuperating' in her enclosure at hoo zoo in england. bob hockenhull has the story. ok, 0k, guys, we tracked cinnamon down to our pond on our conservation area... the moment cinnamon the capybara is finally captured after a week on the run. staff at hoo zoo in telford finally spotted the elusive rodent in a pond not very far away, and waded in so they could surround her. the taste of freedom has proved highly desirable. cinnamon was able to elude her keepers by hiding in thick undergrowth. this afternoon, the game was up. if you drew a line from her enclosure to where the pond is located, it's about 250 metres, so she really hadn't travelled that far, but she was obviously having too much fun out there and didn't want to bring herself back. so unfortunately, we did have to bring bring her back. we can'tjust leave capybaras out in the wild, as much as i'm

sure we'd all love that. so yeah, we're very pleased that she's now back here. the story of cinnamon the escapee has captured people's imagination. but for now, the zoo wants her to stay out of the public eye so she can recuperate. while cinnamon is resting from her ordeal in the enclosure behind me, the zoo says she'll be checked over by vets in the coming days and reintroduced to the public next weekend. meanwhile, an extra gate is being erected around cinnamon's pen to make sure there's no repeat of the great escape. bob hockenhull, bbc news, shropshire. good news for cinnamon. my colleague helena humphrey will be with the headlines at the top of the next hour, stay with us.

hello. well, friday brought some storms to southern parts of the uk, even a report of a damaging tornado. but at the same time, some parts of the country were also quite sunny and warm. in kew gardens, the temperatures reached 25 celsius. the days ahead are looking very different — it's turning unsettled, it's turning autumnal. a jet stream will send weather fronts in our direction. i think there's a fair amount of rain on the way, particularly across the southern half of the uk, and this time next week, some parts of the country could be around ten degrees cooler by day. now, in terms of the rainfall this weekend, you can see where most of it will be. this is just the potential for rainfall here, perhaps 50mm or so in some parts of england and wales. so it is a mixed bag this weekend. certainly some sunshine on the way, particularly across northern parts of the uk, but also heavy showers at times. so through the early hours, maybe some showers returning to southern parts of the uk, some cracks of thunder. it's not a cold morning by any means — temperatures

of around 14 in london, typically around 12—13 whether you're north or south. so further showers on the way on saturday, particularly across england and wales. later in the day, they could become heavy and move a little bit further north, but at the same time a lot of sunshine in the forecast around the irish sea for northern ireland, for western parts of scotland. 18 degrees in glasgow, but i think quite cloudy and much cooler along that north sea coast. and then notice the showers again here in the north—west through the course of saturday evening. and then on sunday the showers become more widespread and heavier across parts of england and wales. but again, the best of our weather on sunday will be in the north—west of the uk. so once again sunny spells for the western isles and not looking so bad there in belfast with a bit of sunshine too, but not so great for the south with all the cloud and the rain. now on monday, low pressure is over the uk. that again spells a fair amount of cloud outbreaks of rain and the air will start to come in from the north, so the temperatures will start

to drop from northern scotland, only 12 degrees in the south — still relatively warm. we're holding on to the mid, possibly the high teens. so here's the outlook for the week ahead. you can see that big drop in the temperature in the south 14 degrees in london. but look at edinburgh — by tuesday it's only around 11 degrees with showers. that's it. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. i'm toby carr, and over the next year, i'm going to kayak in all of the areas of the shipping forecast. now, the shipping forecast, issued by the met office on behalf of the maritime and coastguard agency, at 0015 on tuesday, the 11th ofjanuary. around every corner... ..there's something new. gps seems to... ..be switching around where it says it is.