to attack hezbollah in southern lebanon, as the us says it's worried about an escalation. lebanese officials say the number of people killed in friday s israeli air strike in beirut has risen to 37, including children. hezbollah confirms two of its senior commanders are among the dead. dozens more women contact the bbc — and legal teams — with fresh allegations about the former harrods boss mohamed al fayed. kamala harris accepts an invite from cnn to have a second televised debate with donald trump. but he rejects the idea — saying it's too late. a pilot from new zealand taken hostage by separatists in indonesia — is freed after more than a year and a half.

hello. israel has been carrying widespread attacks on southern lebanon with fighter jets, as the us warns the risk of an escalation in fighting between israel and hezbollah |s "acute" a nd "real" these are the latest pictures we've received, showing explosions lighting up the night sky in southern lebanon. saturday has seen cross—border fire between israel and the iranian—backed lebanese group, hezbollah throughout the day. and those attacks have continued into the night. the israeli army says its using dozens of fighterjets and "striking extensively" after it learnt that hezbollah was preparing to launch a large—scale launch against israel. lebanon's health ministry now says 37 people, including women and children, were killed in friday's israeli attack on beirut. rescue workers have been searching through the rubble of a high—rise building that was targeted in the attack. hezbollah has confirmed two

of its senior commanders were killed in the strike. the us national security adviserjake sullivan also described the killing of the hezbollah commander as "justice" but also expressed concern. the cross—border attacks follow the pager and walkie—talkie explosions in lebanon last week which killed 37 people and injured thousands of people — thought to be carried out by israel. our senior international correspondent orla guerin reports from beirut. a beirut suburb turned into a battlefield. they are standing on the ruins of a 7—storey building in the hezbollah stronghold. israel says this was a precision strike. it doesn't look very precise. so the search for bodies is continuing here now. rescue workers are still picking

through the rubble. the strike took place in the middle of this densely populated residential area. the results for brother word has been the loss of atopic military leader and other commander. it's another blow to an organisation thatis another blow to an organisation that is looking exposed and weakened. but the dead here also included women and children, and every member of this family. still counted among the missing, four—year—old. .. among the missing, four—year—old... local people gathered today waiting for news, fearing what it might be. some said the attack would change nothing.— some said the attack would change nothing. people absorb the shock and _ change nothing. people absorb the shock and they _ change nothing. people absorb the shock and they start - change nothing. people absorb the shock and they start their i the shock and they start their life again. it's hard, but this is the way we choose and we

will not stop. we have to defend our country. we have to defend our country. we have to defend our country. we have to defend our border. we have to defend our border. we have to defend our border. we have to defend our people from any aggression from israelis or from others.— aggression from israelis or from others. ., , from others. hezbollah has been bu in: from others. hezbollah has been burying some — from others. hezbollah has been burying some of— from others. hezbollah has been burying some of those _ from others. hezbollah has been burying some of those killed - from others. hezbollah has been burying some of those killed by. burying some of those killed by israel yesterday. they were carried aloft on anger and defiance. the iranian backed group is fighting on fighting volleys of rockets across the border today. and israel has been hitting hard with dozens of fighter planes bombing southern lebanon, targeting hezbollah rocket launchers, israel says. if the international community was concerned before, it will be

far more worried tonight. earlier i spoke to najat saliba in beirut. she is a member of the lebanese parliament, she was part of the 12 change mps who were elected after the 2019 revolution. well, as of now, people are hearing the strikes or the over 100 strikes that were launched from israel. and we have we are seeing also pictures of fires and bombs everywhere. people are worried about a full scale war or an enlarger, a larger scope of war, which is really something that most people don't want to see in lebanon. and people are already deeply disturbed by by what happened to gaza.

and i hope this scenario does not get repeated in lebanon. this is really a moment or a time that is not something that we we wanted to see. we wanted to condemn all the indiscriminate killing of the civilians, of course. and for the past three days we have seen lots of killings in many different ways. first of all, the major blasts and then the walkie talkies. and tonight, the escalation of the bombing, the fires and the... ..and the more destruction. yes. we are not in a good position at this moment, i guess. and i wanted to ask you, first of all, israel is calling this precision attacks against top his brother officials. this precision attacks against top hezbollah officials. it said it has launched this latest attack after it learned that hezbollah was preparing to launch a larger scale attack against israel. but what is it like in terms of perception for people in lebanon? do they see this as a war between israel and lebanon, ora war

between israel and hezbollah? it's true that his brother called for this war unilaterally without discussing this issue with the parliament, but nonetheless, i mean, the killing and the indiscriminate killing that is happening is is not something that anyone could accept. this is against humanity. it's against human life. it's against it against anybody who can conceive the mass killing of people. so i think we all, we all as human beings, don't want to see any mass killing the same way we saw it in gaza. and that's why we condemn any, any, uh, act of, uh, of atrocity and any act of killing that is happening now in lebanon. now, we know israel says it wants its aim to be its new war, aim to return the 60,000 israelis who've had to leave their homes in north israel due to constant his brother rockets.

but i want to know how much of a force is his brother compared to the lebanese military, and what do you think that the lebanese government should be doing? so in in parallel to the 60,000 people who left their homes in israel, there are over 100,000 people who left their homes from the south as well. i think both parties, uh, lebanon and israel, need to honour the un security council resolution 1701 and both need to comply with a no war zone the same way they did after 2006. and we definitely need the governments, both the both governments, to comply with this. this is the only way we can find a peaceful, a peaceful, uh, agreement so that people can live in peace. how optimistic or otherwise are you about what you want to happen happening? how optimistic or otherwise are you about what you want to happen happening? we have no way other than reinstating the state

that we need to all have. we want the lebanese army forces to really take the sovereignty and the security of the country. and for that, we need people. we need members of parliaments to come to the parliament and elect a president as soon as possible, as per the constitution, to fill in the void so that the state becomes more active in calling for peace and doing the negotiations that are needed to safeguard the lives of all its citizens. the hamas—run gaza health ministry says at 22 people have been killed in an israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced people. the un has found numbers from the health ministry in previous conflicts reliable. the health ministry says most of the victims were women and children. the israel defense forces say a hamas command room

at the school was targeted. there are reports of an unborn child being among the dead. bbc verify has looked at several videos of the aftermath and clips appear to show a foetus being carried by a civil defence worker. lawyers representing women allegedly raped or sexually assaulted by the late egyptian billionaire, mohammed al fayed say they've received about 100 new enquiries about the investigation. the former harrods owner has been accused of sexual assault by more than 20 ex—employees of the luxury department store while it was under his ownership. harrods current owners say they are appalled by the allegations. and fulham football club has said it's trying to establish if anyone at the club has been affected. al fayed bought the club in 1997 for 30 million pounds. the manager of fulham's former women's team said precautions were put in place to protect female players from him. our correspondent ellie price, updated me on the story.

today we have had dozens of women contact us about all of this. i have testimony here. i have spoken to a number of them. of course, the egyptian billionaire mohammed al fayed owned harrods between 1985 and 2010. he died last year but we have been hearing about today a network of some have described as enablers. people who enabled the abuse to happen and there have been questions today about what their role was in all of that. i spoke to two women who described that they were pimped by senior members of harrods, of senior managers, who thought they were attractive, who thought that mohammed al fayed would find them attractive, and that they

should be promoted intojobs. and they both allege that he later sexually assaulted them. only now are we getting to understand publiclyjust how much — and i used the word monster yesterday and i stand by that — just how much of a monster he was. did the bastions of society, did those in power and influence protect him? i don't know the answer to that question. what i do know is he died without taking responsibility. given the number of women who are now speaking out, how are they likely to seek justice, also because mohammed al fayed is no longer alive? absolutely. i have spoken to a number today who say this is about closure, this is about talking about what has been happened and feeling like their voices have been heard. there are 37 women involved in the civil case.

hundreds more, we are told, have come forward. some of those are victims but some have evidence of what happened, so it is for the law firm to sort through what may be added to the case. i think it is worth noting that this is, as the lawyers say, an international case now, and we are focusing on harrods and fulham football club. but the abuse has been detailed as happening in properties paris. there are also victims who have come forward from the us, from dubai, australia, romania. the list goes on. this becomes an international case where lawyers will seek to sort through exactly what happened in that entire network. it is worth noting, harrods have said that they are appalled by what has happened and they accept that many victims were failed. and they are under new management now. absolutely. the business was sold to them in 2010 and so we are talking about 1k years ago. but quite clearly this is very raw for a number of people who are affected. this case will very much ask questions of who was involved

then and of course there are a number of people who were involved during the time in the business who have remained in post or who have gone on to other senior roles in business here in the uk. us presidential hopeful kamala harris has challenged donald trump to a second debate. in a statement, the harris campaign says the vice president has accepted an invitation from cnn debate on the 23rd of october. the nominees met for the first time at a debate earlier this month — and kamala harris says they �*owe it to the voters' to have another.donald trump has been addressing his supporters at a rally in wilmington in north carolina — a key battleground state — and appeared to rule out another debate. i've already done two. 0ne with crooked joe biden at cnn, and the other- one with kamala on abc. cnn was very fair, i thought. joe was driven out of the race — it was a coup, by the way, i but he was driven out of the race. - and they've been widely

criticised by the radical. left lunatics for all of the fairness — l they were very fair. in other words, they won't be fair again! i because they took a lot - of abuse from the radical left. abc was three—on—one, but i was given credit i for having done a very, very good job~ - crowd boos. i appreciate that — | we did a greatjob. it was three—on—one. cheering. the problem with another debate is that it's just too late, - voting is already started. bryan anderson is a politicaljournalist in north carolina. it's an interesting strategy. it's an interesting strategy. it's an interesting strategy. it's an interesting strategy. it's worth noting that trump says it's too late to debate, it's worth noting that trump says it's too late to debate, but if you remember back in but if you remember back in 2016 and 2020, those debates 2016 and 2020, those debates were actually scheduled for were actually scheduled for later than september 21, so he says it's because later than september 21, so he has accepted debates has accepted debates universally in 2016 and 2020 in universally in 2016 and 2020 in later times then we are now. he later times then we are now. he

sa s it's later times then we are now. he sa s it's later times then we are now. he says it's because voting, but you think it's for other reasons. you think it's for other reason— you think it's for other reasons. ., ., , , reasons. voting has 'ust started in i reasons. voting has 'ust started in north i reasons. voting hasjustj started in north carolina reasons. voting hasjust - started in north carolina were military and overseas ballots went out to voters just yesterday. early in person voting, there's certainly a lot of time and opportunity to get the information out for voters, but generally speaking, not specific to this race, butjust generally across all races and in my experience in people want to debate when it serves them in domine feel they'd don't. brian anderson it

southern lebanon. it says it days doing that in response to intelligence the tab that hezbollah is planning to carry out a series of attacks on israel. so israel's presenting this as preemptive action on its part. it says dozens of warplanes are involved. we been receiving locations in the south which really show massive air strikes taking place, and that's when the situation throughout the day today and indeed yesterday, some of the heaviest bombardment that we have seen in this year—long conflict. now we also know that today hezbollah, for its part, the reigning backed group, it isn't backing down, it has continued firing rockets across the border into israel up to 100 rockets and israel says that specifically it was targeting hezbollah lore rocket launch sites. but i have to say in broad terms that if the international community was

worried before about what is going on here and i think it certainly was, well i imagine it will be much more concerned tonight. the images we are seeing from the border areas show large explosions, show fires on the southern side of the border. we are told there are also fires on the israeli side and, of course, in recent days, israel has been stepping up days, israel has been stepping up its attacks on hezbollah, first of all with the exploding walkie—talkies, the exploding pagers, and then, of course, yesterday's deadly air strike here in beirut in which the death toll has now risen to 37. and those series of attacks and all sorts of different methods that you mention, what impact has the last few days had on hezbollah�*s capacity to fight? i think we can to be sure about that yet, but it has certainly been devastating. it's been a series of devastating blows for the organisation. first of all,

countrywide, it is communications network has been severely disrupted. many of its members have been injured. many innocent members of the public also and indeed two children died during that wave of attacks, the exploding pagers when they picked them up. so many hezbollah members wounded, many hezbollah members wounded, many killed. the communications network disrupted. then yesterday, israel targeted a very senior military commander, managing to kill him add other senior commanders who were meeting below ground in beirut. that will have had an impact on hezbollah�*s ability to respond. we just don't yet know how and when it's going to be able to mount a response and what level of response it can manage at this stage. of response it can manage at this stage-— of response it can manage at this state. ., ~ ,, , . this stage. thank you very much for reporting _ this stage. thank you very much for reporting live _ this stage. thank you very much for reporting live from _ this stage. thank you very much for reporting live from beirut. i votes are being counted in sri lanka's presidential election — widely seen as a referendum on the government's handling of the economy. there were a record 38

candidates running to lead the country, including the incumbent, ranil wickremesinghe. all of them are men. the full results are not expected until at least sunday. sri lankans are looking for a leader who will be able to further repair the country's finances, after an economic collapse two years ago. thousands of protesters faced with skyrocketing inflation and severe food shortages forced the country's president at the time, gotabaya rajapaksa, to flee and later resign. 0ur correspondent samira hussain is following the story from colombo, and sent this update. the economy was certainly one of the biggest issues for voters going into this election. the country is still reeling from the effects of that economic crisis two years ago. sri lanka had to borrow billions of dollars and as a result we are seeing that actually everyday sri lankans are paying higher taxes and they are paying much more for basics like food and medicine. at the same time, what has also been important, is to see political stability. that economic crisis was largely due to financial mismanagement by previous governments. and so a lot of voters were also talking about looking for a government that was no longer corrupt, that would actually have the best interest of sri lankans in terms of their mandates. if you look at the voter

turnout we see that about 75—80% of people came out to cast a ballot in these elections. and that is a little bit lower than what we have seen in the past two elections in sri lanka. and there are some that actually attributed that about 75—80% of people came out to cast a ballot in these elections. and that is a little bit lower than what we have seen in the past two elections in sri lanka. and there are some that actually attributed that to a real loss of confidence among the people in terms of their political leaders. going forward, in terms of when we are going to get some kind of result, most people don't expect to know any clear winner until well into sunday. that is because there are 38 candidates that are vying for the position of president, which means that it is going to take, notjust everyone's first choice into consideration, but it is going to have to take people's second and third choices into consideration when calculating who has won these elections.

ukraine's armed forces say they've attacked two russian ammunition stores overnight, including one near crimea, described as one of the largest in russia. ukraine's defence force said it hit another munitions warehouse and a military airfield elsewhere. jess parker reports. a fireball erupting into the night sky as ukraine staged a major drone attack. this, says kyiv, was a russian ammunition depot that included supplies it believes are from north korea — one of two munition stores ukraine claims to have hit last night. translation: these were . warehouses of russian tactical missiles and guided aerial bombs. all that russia uses for terror against our cities, our positions. ukraine has been ramping up these kinds of attacks, demonstrating a growing drone strike capability. but what kyiv really wants is permission to use western—made long—range

missiles on targets deep inside russia. permission president zelensky has confirmed he still doesn't have. he's heading to the us this coming week seeking further support. and this military analyst says the recent drone attacks are all part of kyiv�*s wider political message. the point is that ukraine could show to our western partners in the biden administration that even without western permission, western missiles, we could achieve our targets, our goals in russian territory. but of course, with western missiles, it could be better, more massive, more concentrated, more effective. in russia, authorities released footage of what it says are evacuees following last night's drone strike while in ukraine. moscow's bombs continue to cause devastation. its troops try to push further into ukraine. 0ne constant is the growing toll of victims. jessica parker, bbc news in kyiv.

a pilot from new zealand says he is very happy to be going home — after spending more than a year and a half held hostage by separatist rebels in indonesia. the 38 year old was released after lengthy negotiations. stephen murphy has the story. the moment after 19 months in captivity, philip was free. the indonesian army says he's lost a lot of weight but is in good health. he was kidnapped in february last year and a former dutch colony bordering papua new guinea. he landed a plane to collect construction workers but it was stormed by separatists from the west papua national liberation army. they are among several groups in the region who have been campaigning for independence from indonesia for decades. the kidnap of the pilot is part of a violent long—running issue between the government injakarta and the indigenous people of west papua.

earlier this year, at least one indonesian soldier was killed after a group searching for the pilot were ambushed by rebels. 0n on saturday, the pilot arrived back and was in the care of indonesian officials spoke of his release.— his release. translation: toda , his release. translation: today, finally _ his release. translation: today, finally i _ his release. translation: today, finally i have - his release. translation: today, finally i have been l today, finally i have been freed~ _ today, finally i have been freed~ i_ today, finally i have been freed. i am very happy that shortly— freed. i am very happy that shortly i _ freed. i am very happy that shortly i will be able to go home _ shortly i will be able to go home and meet my family. philip was greeted _ home and meet my family. philip was greeted back _ home and meet my family. philip was greeted back in _ home and meet my family. philip was greeted back in jakarta - home and meet my family. philip was greeted back in jakarta by i was greeted back injakarta by officials because there had been months of diplomatic efforts to get him home and to have a reunited with his family. new zealand's foreign minister says his family will be over the moon to have him back. a lot more on all of our stories on the bbc website and the bbc app with the live page running on the current israel hezbollah situation in israel. i will be back with more in a few minutes. goodbye.

hello there. we've had a lot of stubborn fog around the north sea coast today, but also some big thunderstorms, torrential downpours — really nasty if you're caught in one of those. they will continue through this evening, overnight, and indeed, they'll be around through sunday and monday. there are met office warnings because we're expecting quite a lot of wet weather to come along — a month's worth of rain potentially in places. so, notably, we've had those big storms through the midlands to name, but a few areas — those continue through this evening, meandering around an area of low pressure, and actually becoming more widespread, we think, as they move up from the south. whilst further north, a little bit of mist and fog — a fresher night here, so quite warm and close in the south — but the return of the mist and low cloud off the north sea coast. let's focus on some of that wetter weather — this is what the computer model thinks of the rainfall amounts in the next 2—3 days.

so, you can see we're edging towards a month's worth of rain in some parts of england and wales. it really could be quite wet, so there's a concern for flooding, clearly. and once again, as we come into sunday morning, as i say, they'll become more numerous overnight as outbreaks of rain with embedded thunderstorms in them, lightning, certainly, they're around as we go into sunday morning. rather grey and misty again near the north sea coast, and damp, damp and drizzly — but further west, under the clearing skies overnight, we may have had a little bit of mist and fog to clear away, as well, and that does linger till mid—morning at this time of year, as well. but once it clears, good spells of sunshine again — hopeful that that cloud will also break for the central belt where it didn't during the day today. but look at this further south — because we've got more extensive outbreaks of rain, thundery rain, there'll be more cloud, so temperatures won't be quite as high. but once again, if you're caught in those torrential downpours, where there is spray and standing water, really quite treacherous on the roads. now, that low pressure eventually moves out of the way, but not till the end of monday. we've got a little bit

of rain towards the north, but we've got another low pressure rushing in midweek — this time, more rain again in the south and perhaps strong winds. but let's get back to monday — still that band of slow—moving, heavy, thundery rain with us — again, mostly across england and wales, not for all, but more widely, as i've said, than we've seen today. there's just uncertainty as to how far north it's going to drift. by tuesday, a little bit of rain also for the far north of the country, but some brighter weather in between. but, as that brighter weather comes down from the north later, it will see the temperatures tumbling away, but there's more wet and windy weather to come midweek on, as i say.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the israeli military says dozens of its planes have carried out more widespread air strikes on hezbollah targets in southern lebanon. the us national security adviser, jake sullivan, has warned that the escalation in fighting could ignite a regional war. lawyers representing women allegedly raped or sexually assaulted by mohamed al fayed say they've received about 100 new inquiries about the investigation. harrods' current owners say they are appalled by the allegations. sir keir starmer has promised to show how his government will "fix the foundations" and rebuild the country, during his address to the labour conference in liverpool. but ministers are expected to deliver sobering messages. the us vice president, kamala harris, accepts an invite from cnn to have a second televised debate with donald trump. but he appears to reject the idea, saying it's too late.