lebanon could risk becoming another gaza as cross—border attacks between israel and hezbollah intensify. speaking at the labour party conference, david lammy called for a de—escalation between israel and hezbollah. de-escalation between israel and hezbollah.— de-escalation between israel and hezbollah. our message to all parties _ and hezbollah. our message to all parties is — and hezbollah. our message to all parties is clear. _ and hezbollah. our message to all parties is clear. we - and hezbollah. our message to all parties is clear. we need - all parties is clear. we need an immediate ceasefire from both sides so that we can get to a political settlement. votes are being counted in a key regional election in germany with exit poll suggesting the party of olaf scholz is slightly ahead of the far right afd. russia's chess team is to remain banned from international competitions. hello, i'm nicky schiller. we start this hour with the latest on the tensions

in the middle east. the united nations chief has said he fears the escalating cross—border conflict between israel and lebanon's hezbollah could become another gaza. antonio guterres also voiced his pessimism about the chances of a ceasefire deal in the gaza strip. his comments came as the deputy leader of the armed group hezbollah said its confrontation with israel had entered a new phase, describing it as an "open—ended battle of reckoning". naim qassem was speaking during the funeral of a senior hezbollah commander killed in friday's israeli airstrike on beirut. friday's attack has been followed by a further escalation of cross—border strikes with three people killed in an israeli attack on southern lebanon. and israel says hezbollah has fired more than 150 rockets into its territory. this dashcam video from a parked car, verified by bbc verify, shows the exact moment of an impact in kiryat bialik in israel.

you can also see in another video that cars and buildings were set alight. some people were injured. in haifa, 30 kilometres from the lebanese border, hospital patients have been moved to underground facilities and residents have been told to restrict gatherings and stay near shelters. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, issued a video message warning of more attacks against hezbollah unless, as he put it, the iranian—backed group understood the message of previous strikes. the united states has warned israel against any escalation. more on that shortly but we start of coverage with this report from our diplomatic correspondent paul adams from jerusalem. northern israel under attack this morning. houses hit far from the lebanese border. hezbollah are seeking revenge after days of devastating setbacks.

israel's air defences in action over the northern city of haifa. hezbollah rockets now reaching deeper than ever into israel. evidence across the north that the iranian—backed group is using longer range weapons. haifa's main hospital has been preparing for this for weeks, the injured brought to its converted underground car park. israel's relentless assault on hezbollah goes on. jets attacking targets across southern lebanon overnight. israel says it is hitting the militant group's infrastructure, especially its rocket launchers, trying to keep hezbollah on the back foot. translation: in the last few| days, we inflicted on hezbollah a sequence of blows that it did not imagine. if hezbollah has not understood the message, i promise you it will understand the message. where all of this is heading is not clear. there have been several other moments of high tension over the past 12 months. but israel's war on hezbollah

has stepped up several gears in the past week. now the group is trying to prove it remains a formidable enemy. none of this bodes well for southern lebanon, caught in a battle between deadly enemies. it has already paid a heavy price and seems destined to suffer more. scenes like these from northern israel are likely to trigger further action. for now, the two sides locked in a dangerous spiral. paul adams, bbc news, jerusalem. the united states says it has warned israel that a conflict with lebanon is not in its best interests. white house national security spokespersonjohn kirby has been speaking to abc about the escalation. the prime minister can speak for himself and what policies he's trying to pursue. what operations he's trying to conduct. we're all, of course, recognise that the tensions are much

higher now than they were even just a few days ago. we certainly have been monitoring the reports of strikes back and forth across that border. but all that does, george, is underscore for us how important it is to try to find a diplomatic solution. nobody�*s pollyannaish about how hard that's going to be. certainly in light of the events over the last week or so. but that doesn't mean we're going to give up on it. we don't believe that a military conflict, and we're saying this directly to our israeli counterparts, george, we don't believe that escalating this military conflict is in their best interests. it's certainly not going to be in the best interests of all those people that prime minister netanyahu says he wants to be able to send back home. the news organisation, aljazeera, has accused israel's armed forces of committing a criminal act after they raided its office in the occupied west bank, closing it down for an initial period of 45 days. the qatari—owned television network aired dramatic live footage, showing heavily armed israeli soldiers entering its bureau in ramallah with a military order, before the israelis disrupted that broadcast. the israeli government had previously shut down aljazeera's offices in occupied eastjerusalem,

confiscating the channel's equipment and banning its broadcasts in the country. the israeli army said aljazeera was a threat to israel's security and accused the broadcaster of using the offices to incite terror, which aljazeera has strongly denied. it's the labour party conference in liverpool this weekend. among the speakers today were deputy leader angela rayner, we also heard from foreign secretary david lammy. he's addressed the recent escalation between hezbollah and israel. take a listen. we've seen a worrying escalation between israel and lebanese. this is in nobody�*s interest. our message to all parties is clear. we need an immediate ceasefire from both sides so that we can get to a political settlement so that israelis and lebanese

civilians can return to their homes and live in peace and security. let's speak to our political correspondent, alex forsyth, in liverpool. so david lamy mentioning the middle east and also the war in ukraine. he addressed that escalation directly, calling it worrying. he also said to any british citizens in lebanon they should leave now. more broadly, he was keen to draw a distinction between what he saw as a difference between the current labour administration and the previous conservative administration, saying under this government britain was back on the global stage, stressing the reset of relations with european leaders and of course he did reiterate britain's support for ukraine, something the government has been clear on. they supported the previous government's approach when it came to

ukraine in terms of a further commitment of the support that ukraine needs. deputy leader angela rayner also addressed the conference after having to defned using a donor's new york flat for a holiday. that is the backdrop to this conference, questions over gifts and hospitality and angela rayner spoke to my colleague this morning, saying she did not break any rules, but the questions are persisting. the government wants to move away from that and reset the narrative, shift it onto the ground they want to focus on and on that front when they want to talk about is what they want to talk about is what the government has already done since it has been in power and what it plans to do and when angela rayner took to the poll, her speech was focused on three areas of policy, house—building, improving home standards, devolution, handing power away from westminster to the rest of the country, and also the package of work as' rights she wants to bring

forward. no more talking but doing. 80 days in government, and we've been busy. a devolution revolution, a bill to deliver new rights and protections for renters, planning reform to get britain building, a landmark review to fix our nhs, a child poverty task force, a 100 new specialist officers to tackle criminals and end to one word ofsted inspections ending the ban on onshore wind and fines for bosses who pollute our waters, bills to kick start great british energy and to prevent another liz truss disastrous mini budget, put buses in local hands and bring rail into public ownership. conference, change has begun. angela rayner wanting to talk about policy and tomorrow the big speeches from the chancellor, do you think she will have to address those concerns over the removal of

winter fuel payments for some pensioners?— pensioners? that row has been rumblin: pensioners? that row has been rumbling on — pensioners? that row has been rumbling on the _ pensioners? that row has been rumbling on the sidelines, - pensioners? that row has been rumbling on the sidelines, it i rumbling on the sidelines, it may well come to the fore tomorrow because there are some unions, the unite union, that wants to have a vote on back up to winter fuel payments on the conference floor because they disagree with the government's stance on it. more broadly in the run—up to this conference we have had the message from the government which has been about further tough economic decisions to come, particularly in the budget that rachel reeves will currently be writing. or will be interesting to see is weather there's any shift in that narrative, more optimism from the chancellor. we will try to hear from the government explaining or why they are doing what they are doing because there is a sense among some that they have been among some that they have been a bit too gloomy in their outlook so rachel reeves, the big centrepiece speech of the conference tomorrow, followed by the prime minister on tuesday. by the prime minister on tuesday-— by the prime minister on tuesda . �* �* , tuesday. and i'm interested in what the move _ tuesday. and i'm interested in what the move -- _ tuesday. and i'm interested in what the move -- the - tuesday. and i'm interested in what the move -- the mood i tuesday. and i'm interested in what the move -- the mood isj what the move —— the mood is like among delegates because this is the first party

conference for labour in ia years where they had been in power. years where they had been in ower. , _, . ' power. first conference in 15 ears power. first conference in 15 years because _ power. first conference in 15 years because of _ power. first conference in 15 years because of the - power. first conference in 15 i years because of the timetable and the way things work out, the first conference under keir starmer as prime minister, there is a sense of celebration and the sense of responsibility of government, we have not heard a lot from keir starmer but there have been a few moments when he arrived yesterday and addressed activists and members, allowing himself a moment of celebration, saying to them, you deserve congratulations for your hard work, so it's a significant moment for the labour party, this conference, but as we have heard the stories in the run—up to it and some of the tensions are an economic policy and direction are bubbling away underneath so it's not entirely plain sailing. it's not entirely plain sailing-— it's not entirely plain sailinu. ., ~' ,, , it's not entirely plain sailinu. . ., , . sailing. thank you very much indeed. and _ sailing. thank you very much indeed. and we _ sailing. thank you very much indeed. and we will - sailing. thank you very much indeed. and we will have - indeed. and we will have continuing coverage over the next couple of days from the labour party conference including that speech tomorrow by the chancellor. next to sri lanka — the left—wing anti—corruption opposition candidate, anura kumara dissanayake,

has won the country's presidential election. it was first such vote since the country's economic turmoil two years ago. in his first comments, the new president said it was a victory for all sri lankans. he promised a fresh start, but he also said he was committed to continuing the deal struck with the international monetary fund to bail sri lanka out of the economic crisis while reducing the impact of its austerity measures on the country's poorest. the official result was announced after an historic second round of counting. our correspondent samira hussain is following developments from colombo. i'm actually standing outside the election commission office. and this is where the official result was announced, that, in fact, noora kumara dissanayaka was presented. he has moved away from some of extreme messages when he came onto the political and has now become the voice of the working class here in sri lanka. he

very much campaigned on being someone who can rebuild the country's economy after that crushing economic crisis two years ago. he is a candidate thatis years ago. he is a candidate that is not part of the usual sri lankan political dynasty and very much seen as a candidate of change. this election has really been marked with a lot of firsts, the first time you see an election in sri lanka not being fought on ethnic and religious lines, but it was all about the economy. this is also the first time we are seeing a peaceful election, past elections in sri lanka have been mild by violence. now that they have won the election, he has the arduous task of actually making good on his promises, not only to rebuild the country's economy also rebuild the trust of people in government.

to germany now and results are being counted in a key regional election in the state of brandenburg. early exit polls suggest that the party of the german leader, olaf scholz, isjust ahead of the the far right afd party which had been looking to win a second regional poll in a month. supporters of the chancellor's social democratic party gathered to hear the results. the spd has governed the state since german reunification in 1990. the vote's been seen as a key test for the german chancellor's leadership. let's now to speak to german historian and author katja hoyer. explain for our viewers around the world the significance of this state. i the world the significance of this state.— this state. i think it is more significant _ this state. i think it is more significant than _ this state. i think it is more significant than these - this state. i think it is more i significant than these regional elections usually are, not least because it has been in the hands of the social democratic party, the party of the current chancellor since 1990, so a move away from that

would have marked a significant shift of politics in that state. it is also the state around berlin, so it is around berlin entirely. a lot of politicians live in and around the area as well, so it would have affected the area they live in as well. and lastly, for a long time, the far right afd was projected to win that state as well as the other two elections we have had in the last three weeks. so this could have been quite a significant power base for them had they won all three states in eastern germany that they contested the election in this month and the fact this did not work out is quite significant change from the original predictions. emit the original predictions. exit oll the original predictions. exit poll saying _ the original predictions. exit poll saying olaf _ the original predictions. exit poll saying olaf scholz is narrowly ahead, but the fact it is quite narrow, does that have an impact on his future as the leader? there have been questions about it. i

leader? there have been questions about it. i think it is more significant, - questions about it. i think it is more significant, the - questions about it. i think it is more significant, the fact| is more significant, the fact is more significant, the fact is party did well in this election and it did well under the state leader, who is the leader of the brandenburg branch of his political party, so people will be asking, why is this party doing quite well when nationally it is quite low in the polls, and why are the personal approval ratings for the chancellor solo when one of his party members is doing comparatively well? so the pressure of this will be on olaf scholz to think about personnel, his own role going into the general election next year and weather there is not perhaps a better and more popular choice to be made around the chancellor, the candidate for next year's election. candidate for next year's election-— candidate for next year's election. �* , , �* , election. and why is the afd -a so election. and why is the afd party so nebular— election. and why is the afd party so popular at - election. and why is the afd party so popular at the - election. and why is the afd - party so popular at the moment? a lot of this is driven by immigration as a key issue so most of the polling you look at

the moment in germany names immigration as the number one issue the german voters. that was driven onwards by several terrorist incidents that happened over the last few weeks and months which were committed by asylum seekers in germany, so this has fuelled a debate around who is in the country, does the government have control over this and, if not, where does the future for german voters live? that is the key issue. a lot of them are reluctant to vote for the afd but have decided to do so on this single issue so this will be a huge thing going into the general election next year. thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news. the crown prosecution service says it twice considered bringing charges against the former harrods owner mohamed al—fayed but,

on both occasions, it concluded there was no realistic prospect of a conviction. all of this has come to light since a bbc documentary this week led to dozens of women coming forward with allegations of being sexually assaulted or raped by the billionaire, who died last year. here's the latest from our reporter, ben king. well, that's right. we learned today that, in 2008, the metropolitan police looked into the case of a 15—year—old girl who said that she was sexually assaulted by mohamed al—fayed in the harrods boardroom. that case file was passed to the cps, but they took no further action. and they've said today that the reason for that is that they didn't believe there was a realistic prospect of a conviction based on the evidence that they had at the time. there was another case in 2015 which got as far as the cps, but no further, and three other cases which didn't even get to the stage of having a file presented to the cps. now, contrast that with the more than 20 women who have got in touch with the bbc and told their stories of sexual assault at the hands

of mohamed al—fayed while working at harrods and dozens more who have contacted the corporation since the documentary was broadcast. now, angela rayner, who wejust heard from, she was asked about this on the television this morning and she said that she found the allegations horrifying and she said that she was concerned about powerful people who seem to get away with it time and time again. now, harrods is no longer owned by mohamed al—fayed. he passed away last year and it's now... it was sold in 2010 to the government of qatar, the gulf state. they have said they've admitted that victims were let down and they have said that legal claims will be settled. a mass shooting in the us state of alabama has left at least four people dead and dozens wounded. police say several gunmen fired at people in the five points south district of birmingham, just after 11:00 pm local time.

two men and a woman were found dead at the scene. a fourth victim died in hospital. 18 people were wounded, with at least four sustaining life—threatening injuries. president biden has said he will announce a new executive order on gun law soon. here's truman fitzgerald from the birmingham police department in alabama. just after 11pm, officers receive multiple calls of multiple shots fired in and around the 2,000 block of magnolia avenue south. multiple people were shot. our officers arrived on the scene and then observed two adult males and one adult female who were lying on a sidewalk unresponsive, suffering from an apparent gun shot wound. we also began locating multiple gunshot victims in and around the 2,000 block of magnolia avenue. also, we began to receive multiple calls that gunshot victims were arriving at various hospitals. birmingham fire and...

an investigation has revealed the following, we believe that multiple shooters fired on a large group of people who were outside in the 2,000 block of magnolia avenue south. we have no one in custody and we have reached out to our federal partners and the fbi to assist us. to italy now, where two children and their grandmother have been killed in an explosion at an apartment block. a body of a brother and sister aged four and six were first to be pulled from the rubble — rescuers found the grandmother dead after continuing to search with sniffer dogs. it happened early on sunday in saviano, a southern town norfarfrom naples. a statement from the local fire brigade said a gas leak was the likely cause but that investigations were continuing. next, russia's chess team is to remain banned from international competitions. the international chess

federation voted to maintain excluding russia, along with its ally, belarus, because of the war in ukraine. to explain more, with me is our europe regional editor, paul moss. russia and belarus were kicked out of the international chess federation after the invasion of ukraine, and the reason was this, what the supporters argue this, what the supporters argue this chess is not like any other pastime game in russia, it is directly controlled by vladimir putin, and if you look at the russian chess federation, on its board, they have kremlin spokesman and they also have the former defence secretary. so this is an arm of government effectively, and there is another thing, what they claim is that the russian chess federation organise matches in areas of ukraine there have been captured by russia, so they say effectively chessis russia, so they say effectively chess is part of the invasion. the boycott of russia really

matters, you have to understand that chess is taken very seriously in russia. if you look at the last hundred years, most of the world's chess champions were russian so what vladimir putin did, this weekend there has been a chess contest in budapest. and the small nation kurdistan tabled a motion to readmit russia and belarus. the ukrainians took this very seriously as well, volodymyr zelensky sent one of his top people to budapest to lobby country is to vote to maintain that ban. so lobby country is to vote to maintain that ban. so what has ha--ened maintain that ban. so what has happened today _ maintain that ban. so what has happened today without - maintain that ban. so what has happened today without vote? | happened today without vote? russia lost. the vote did not support the admitting russia but the only caveat was that they agreed they would look at they agreed they would look at the possibility of allowing junior russian teams under the age of 12 and also teams that feature disabled people to participate but vladimir putin has lost in this matter is for another reason, a lot of people

think that what vladimir putin was hoping was that if he could lift this boycott he would show, look, i can get group of countries together, enough to outvote the others and may be other more serious boycotts and sanctions might be removed, but that did not happen so if that is what vladimir putin was hoping for i would say russia today has one very disappointed president. i5 today has one very disappointed resident. , ., , today has one very disappointed resident. , ~ , ., president. is there likely to be another _ president. is there likely to be another vote _ president. is there likely to be another vote anytime i president. is there likely to - be another vote anytime soon? he lost theirs by such a wide margin is unlikely, he would be foolish to try again, only 21 countries out of all of the countries out of all of the countries in the world voted to reinstate russia, he doesn't seem to have them on his side. thank you for explaining that. finally this half hour, a previously unknown composition by wolfgang amadeus mozart has been performed in the german city of leipzig, where it was discovered.

the work, which is 12 minutes long, is thought to have been composed in the 1760s when mozart was between ten and 13 years old. researchers discovered it in during work on a library in the city. due to its resemblance to mozart's most famous piece a little night music, it was subtitled a very little night music. the unearthed manuscript, in brown ink on medium—white paper, is thought to be a copy and not penned by mozart himself. often considered classical music's greatest composers, mozart was a child prodigy and died aged just 35. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there! big contrasts in our weather

this weekend with the sunshine in the northwest, the grey cloud for the east coast, and torrential downpours for england and wales. some places have already had a month's worth of rain. it's left a lot of excess spray and standing water around, so dangerous conditions out on the roads. the warnings still remain in force throughout the rest of today and into monday because this area of low pressure remains around through monday. in fact, because it's already falling onto saturated ground, some areas have already seen a month's worth of rain. the met office have escalated the warning to an amber in some parts, as you can see, but generally for most of england and wales, it looks like another disturbed day as we go into monday, with showers or longer spells of intense rain falling on that saturated ground, leading to flooding impacts, potential damage to buildings, certainly disruption to transport, and we're seeing that already. we've got more storms to come through the rest of this evening. we've got drier weather up in the north and west,

but that misty low cloud and fog creeps back in. and where we get the clear spells in the south, no doubt, a bit of mist and fog as well. and another warm and uncomfortable night for sleeping in southern areas for some. a little bit fresher further north, but you may have noticed the weather front arriving in the far north of scotland. that's a change in type of weather as we go through the latter part of monday. but it's the story further south about all this intense rain, no doubt feeding into the river system. so we'll keep an eye on the flood warnings as well as the weather warnings. as i say, that amber is in force. we'll be keeping you updated on any movements there, even if it dries up and brightens up further south, that will allow some heavy thunderstorms to develop with more cloud. generally, temperatures willjust be pegged back a little bit. it gets a little bit cloudier for northern ireland as well as northwest england. compare with the weekend. so, as we go into the early week, the risk of those torrential downpours continues across england and wales. by tuesday a little bit drier. but we've got the rain by that stage in scotland

across the bulk of scotland and then midweek we might well have some more wet weather, especially in wales, but also combined with some autumnal gales, so we need to keep an eye on that and once that clears away, we open the door to some northerly winds. so much, much colder. by the end of the week, temperatures down into what, 11 or 12 even in london. but between now and then we've got that amber warning. a lot more heavy rain to come.

this is bbc news,

the headlines... the un chief warns lebanon could risk becoming another gaza as cross—border attacks between israel and hezbollah intensify. fighting between israel and hezbollah increased overnight, with both sides carrying out large strikes. speaking at the labour party conference, the foreign secretary david lammy called for a de—escalation between israel and hezbollah. and an immediate ceasefire so a political settlement could be achieved. votes are being counted in a key regional election in germany with exit polls suggesting the party of german leader olaf scholz is slightly ahead of the far—right afd. and russia's chess team is to remain banned from international competitions. a vote on the issue was held at the international chess federation meeting, currently under way in budapest. we will get more on all of those top

stories later