live from washington. this is bbc news. a huge explosion rocks the lebanese capital beirut, after the israeli military warns people in a southern suburb of the city to evacuate. this is the scene now live in beirut, where the clock has just hit 6am. you can see smoke still rising from an earlier strike. and, asi and, as i was saying... picking up where he left off. donald trump returns to the stage in butler, pennsylvania — months after an attempt on his life there injuly. and the democratic republic of the congo begins a vaccination campaign against the mpox virus that's killed nearly 1,000 people this year. hello, i'm carl nasman.

we start in the middle east, where there have been more overnight israeli strikes in the lebanese capital, beirut. these pictures show a large explosion following one of those strikes. earlier on saturday, the israeli military had issued orders to residents of specific buildings in southern beirut to evacuate. we don't yet know what was hit in the strikes — but israeli forces have bombed areas reported to be hezbollah strongholds. they have also clashed with hezbollah fighters in lebanon's southern border region. the israeli military says it has killed 440 hezbollah fighters since the start of the ground invasion. meanwhile the border region remains tense hezbollah has fired rockets into northern israel, with reports that this residential buildings were hit. also on saturday, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, addressed iran 5 missile attack on his country earlier this week saying "israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks and we will do so.

shortly after that large blast took place in beirut i spoke to our correspondent there, anna foster. we have seen and heard that really particularly powerful explosion from an israeli air strike. now, the reason we know it was an israeli air strike is because the idf, particularly at night, tend to issue warnings — they do not do it for every air strike, but around about midnight at local time, we do often see on social media platforms, they have maps of certain areas, the southern suburbs of beirut where hezbollah are based and ask people in those areas to evacuate to an area of about 500 metres clear. that is what happened again this evening, which is why we believe these were idf strikes full of those warnings. what is different is really, as you can see, the visual impact of this particular explosion, this huge orange ball of flame rising into the sky.

here, people are trying to work out now what could have been hit to produce that sort of effect. in the lebanese media, there were early suggestions it might have hit a petrol station, because there is one there in that area. whether or not that was the target, we don't know — it may be that a building nearby was the target and then the petrol station may have ignited. that is one thing that is being discussed here. but there have also been some secondary flashes here, what looked like secondary explosions, so again, people saying perhaps it means some sort of weapons storage area that's been hit. hezbollah said a few days ago that they said they were not storing weapons in those areas. we know that actually, strikes over the last week or two weeks including the one that killed hassan nasrallah, the leader of hezbollah, have been focused on that area because that is where the top hezbollah leadership are. so at the moment it is too early to say what it was, what was hit, what the specific

target was, but what we do know and what you can see is how powerful that explosion was that was heard and seen from all over the city. fighting is also continuing in gaza. israeli warplanes are reported to have struck a mosque in deir—al—balah in central gaza, killing several people. palestinian doctors said at least 20 others were wounded in the attack on the facility, which was housing displaced people. israel says it struck a hamas command centre there. a short while ago i spoke about all of these latest developments with laura blumenfeld — a middle east analyst at thejohns hopkins university school of advanced international studies. i just want to get your reaction first of all to this massive series of explosions in the southern area of beirut tonight. i mean, i can't tell you specifically, but i would guess that what you're watching is israel shredding iran's insurance policy

and their nuclear facilities, this has always been a deterrent to israel, the missile stockpiles that hezbollah was building and i think we are looking at a kind of race to the stockpiles. ever since israel eliminated hassan nasrallah last week, both hezbollah and israel have been trying to get to them first, where hezbollah feels like it is a "use it or lose it" situation and for israel it is to strike before it is deployed against themselves. what do you make of the way that hezbollah has been responding or maybe hasn't been responding, how we can to do you think the group might be after all these attacks of the last several days? israel has always referred to hezbollah as being ten times as tough as gaza so there are no illusions that i would be easy hezbollah especially compared to the fight with hamas which in itself was a slog. they took some heavy losses earlier, which really struck the kind of morale of israel so i don't think israel

thinks it is goign to be easy. they are determined i would say, they would prefer their wars to be nasty, brutish and short and if they can achieve that, they will have the wind they will have the win they are looking for. and this is all taking place in lebanon, but the strike tonight in beirut where many people live, there were warnings for people in the area to get out of harm's way, a 500—metre radius, but what is the current humanitarian situation mean for lebanon, and how equipped is the country to deal with what could be up to a million people internally displaced? terrifying. i was in touch with a friend in beirut this evening who said she feels like she's tough, she has been around a lot of war, she feels like she's standing on the edge of a cliff looking down, and if iran in particular goes berserk and orders hezboolah to fire their long—range missiles, 1982, which devastated beirut, is going to look like, in her words, a walk

in the park. that's why the us has been pushing for this 21 day ceasefire agreement to get both sides including hezbollah to stop firing at each other. is there any hope now, do you think of any kind of diplomatic, even a short—term solution? that 21—day ceasefire proposal was met with a 21—gun salute by israel, eliminating nasrallah. israel believes that you cannot earn at the negotiating table what has not been won on the battlefield. so they believe fight first and talk later. i think that the united states central command top general in the middle east has arrived in israel, boots on the ground, that will provide some sort of clarity for israel and no daylight between israel and the united states, which hopefully will bring this to a swift end. and the fighting being able to translate that into some kind of long—term political solution, everyone agrees you need a political horizon.

laura, what do you think about iran now we have the perimeter benjamin netanyahu pledged to respond to iran's attacks. do you think they might take an opportunity to respond? i think this is the final showdown he has been utching forfor years. the first two obvious options, nuclear facilities and oil facilities, have been taken off the table at least by precedent but so it'll be interesting to see whether he defies the us president during darryl meggatt, summer interwar period president during the summer interwar period in us politics where you have three presidents in one, you have vice president harris and you have a former president trump with his own... he is rooting for a strike on iran, and the nuclear facilities.

when you have president biden going down the diplomatic route. so it be interesting to see which way netanyahu goes but it is certainly the opportunity he has been looking for. and sinwar of course began this flood about a year ago and what better message to deliver to the world that israel is not the victim by any by taking the initiative? we can look at the live images in lebanon with the sun just beginning to come up and we are getting a clearer look at the site of one of those israeli strikes within beirut and you can see some fires still burning, smouldering there with smoke coming up through the sky and you can see how densely populated the area of than strikers and we did hear that the idf gave a warning about an hour or so ahead of the strikes but several of them striking beirut overnight as the sun begins to come up and we will continue to bring you more on the situation as we get it. donald trump has finished a rally in butler,

pennsylvania — the site where he survived an assassination attempt injuly. this was the moment mr trump walked on stage, as some of his supporters held signs that read �*fight fight fight�* — a callback to the moment when the former president stood up and pumped his fist after being injured by bullets fired by a gunman on a rooftop. 0ne rally—goer was killed and two others injured in the attack. the former president reflected on that moment at the start of his remarks. exactly 12 weeks ago this evening on this very ground, a cold—blooded assassin aimed to silence me and to silence the greatest movement, maga, in the history of our country. maga. we love maga. for 16 harrowing seconds during the gunfire, time stopped as this vicious monster unleashed pure evil from his sniper�*s perch, not so far away. but by the hand of providence and the grace of god,

that villain did not succeed in his goal. did not come close. i spoke about the symbolism of the event with eric cortellessa — time magazine's national political correspondent. eric, we heard the opening remarks from the president saying, "where was i?" picking up kind of some unfinished business, it seems. well, yes. he certainly pitched it as a defiant speech, an attempt to come back to where he survived an assassination attempt and present himself as someone who will not buckle to a collection of forces trying to stop his ascent back to the white house, so i think what you're seeing is donald trump trying to reignite some of the momentum he had gained after the shooting. we go back to that day, and in the days after he survived that attempt on his life, he was in a better

position to win the white house than at any other point since. a lot has changed since given the entry of kamala harris and the way in which she has been raising a lot of money, more than he has been, and he went back to pennsylvania, where right now they are neck and neck in the polls. i guess, just sticking with politics for a second, do we have a sense right now, it's been a couple of months, what kind of effect that event had, whether or not this really did reshape the race, or whether that has already kind of flowed away? i think it goes to showjust how erratic an election cycle is in the current era. in the week after the shooting, donald trump was projected to win by pretty much every major pollster, every forecast model had him up, joe biden was still competitive at the time but within a week, joe biden dropped out of the race,

just a week later, then the following sunday after that weekend, joe biden announced he would not seek to run for re—election and kamala harris consolidated the democratic support very quickly. and it'sjust an entirely new race. i think basically, all the momentum and goodwill that he engendered after surviving an assassination attempt is really the mark of a previous chapter in this campaign cycle. a lot of the beginning of this rally was almost like a memorialfor the people injured, the man killed at that original rally back injuly, but this was a bigger rally, there were many people there including elon musk, the tech billionaire, owner of the platform x, what kind of effect do you think that kind of endorsement might have in terms of giving trump a bit of a boost?

well, elon musk did endorse trump right after the assassination attempt, so it had a kind of symbolic significance as well. elon musk obviously is a powerful and influential person, he's a billionaire, the owner of one of the most, if not the most powerful communications platform in the world. i don't think elon musk necessarily gets a trump any more votes than he already has. he is someone who is very popular and kind of the fraternity—like podcast circuit, has a specific following that is already pretty aligned with maga and other influencers who are already in the trump camp. i don't think elon musk necessarily helps trump gain new voters but at best he can help to excite a certain segment of the trump base. security is a lot tighter, donald trump was speaking from behind bullet—proof glass

that was there to protect him. do you have a sense right now how much confidence there is in the secret service to keep donald trump and also kamala harris safe as this campaign continues? i know the donald trump's close aides and confidants had worried about his security detail before the shooting which was one of the reasons why it generated a lot of anxiety and a strong response, and the fact that there was another incident months later at his golf course of course — that incident, one of the members of his security detail, the secret service, identified the shooter before trump got within range and was able to neutralise the threat. i think that the secret service is under siege since these two events took place and they have ramped up their security ever since. so i'm sure there are still concerns, but there has also

been ramped up details since especially the original incident in butler. meanwhile, vice president kamala harris on saturday visited north carolina, which is reeling from damage caused by the deadly hurricane helene. the us department of transportation has released 100 million dollars to north carolina to rebuild its roads and bridges damaged by the storm. north carolina is one of the states most severely affected by helene. our partner cbs news reports that about half of the 229 deaths attributed to helene have been recorded there. the vice president's visit comes just one day after donald trump hosted a town hall in the state. a two—year—old child is among four people who have died trying to cross the channel from france to england. french authorities say it's likely he was trampled to death in a boat whose engine failed. the bodies of a woman and two men were found in the bottom of another vessel. aru na iyengar reports. dozens of migrants off

the coast of dover today, as news came from france of four more fatalities, including a two—year—old boy. french officials said the toddler, born in germany, had been separated from his somali mother by the smugglers when boarding the boat and was trampled to death. translation: to secure - their profits, the unscrupulous smugglers did not hesitate to separate young children from their parents. the parents were not allowed access to the boat, while the child alone had already been forced into the boat. rescuers off the coast of calais found the bodies of two men and a woman in the bottom of another boat. 2024 is now the deadliest on record for migrants crossing the channel — 51 lives lost so far this year. recent good weather has seen a spike in numbers — 395 arrived in the uk on friday alone. over 25,000 have come since january, around the same

as this time last year. home secretary yvette cooper says she will meet with her french counterpart next week to discuss how to tackle the problem. aruna iyengar, bbc news. let's turn to some other important stories from around the world. a huge rescue operation is under way in the bosnian city ofjablanica as floodwaters recede. at least 17 people have died. emergency workers are trying to locate those who are still missing after torrential rain triggered mudslides and flooding. some houses there have been completely buried, and the regional government say many people remain unaccounted for. the uk government is set to unveil a major package of reforms to workers rights next week. labour had promised to introduce legislation for what it calls it�*s �*new deal for working people�* in the first 100 days after winning the election. it�*s expected the reforms will entitle workers to certain rights on sick pay, parental pay and protection from unfair dismissalfrom day

one of their employment. and tunisians will vote on sunday in the first round of a presidential election that�*s expected to hand the incumbent, kais saeed, an easy victory. his most outspoken critics have been jailed on what human rights groups have called trumped up charges, leaving just three candidates in the contest. it�*s the third presidential election to be held in tunisia since the arab spring. the democratic republic of congo has launched its first vaccination campagin against the deadly mpox virus. a hospital in the eastern city of goma kicked off the campaign — which will target high—risk groups such as children and pregnant women. nearly 1,000 people have been killed by mpox in the drc this year — 70 percent of whom were children underfive. i spoke about the vaccination campaign with doctor anne rimoin, a professor of epidemiology at ucla.

vaccinations finally under way in the drc, so how effective do you think that will be a stopping this outbreak? well, what we�*ve seen in the 2022 outbreak is that these vaccines played a very important role in being able to stop the spread of the virus. it�*s not the only thing that will make a difference, you need to be able to do risk communication, you need to be able to get out and give people opportunity to protect themselves, to understand risk. that in concert with vaccination will make a big difference. then you have to work on being able to treat cases of mpox and being able to give these hospitals and health facilities opportunity to be able to do so and for health workers to understand it so there�*s a lot of work to be done, but these vaccines are going to be very important in terms of being able to stem this outbreak, to slow in town and to make a big dent. how challenging do

you think this pull—out could be? this is a big country, about 100 million people, it�*s a one thing to get those vaccines there but could this maybe be a difficult roll—out? absolutely. we learned this with covid, it�*s notjust about getting vaccines someplace, it is getting vaccines into arms, and in the drc it is a problem that is compounded by logistics, by infrastructure in terms of roads, being able to keep vaccines at the appropriate temperature, there are so many different pieces of this that will be complicated. plus we also have to think about vaccine acceptance and how the population that is quite a bit that will be offered the vaccine will be able to accept getting vaccinated. these are all big questions the need to be addressed. many people across the continent might be asking, what took so long? this is an outbreak now that has killed nearly people

already this year, 70%, as we heard, are under the age of five. what was really the hold—up? well, mpox has been something that has been endemic in drc for decades. it is not a new virus. but seeing this rapid increase was something that was unprecedented. we needed to get an emergency declaration, we needed to be able to get resources out there, but also a reminder that there is always disparity in terms of how the world views these outbreaks. we have known it�*s been a problem for a while. when it was spreading in high resource settings, the world acted a lot more quickly. unfortunately, we continued to see africa and other low resource settings suffer from a response that is just not as rapid and not as robust.

it started with just 13 runners in a london park — well now, two decades later, millions of people take part in park run, a free 5 kilometer race that takes place each week in more than 20 countries. charlotte gallagher has the story. starting horn. it�*s a weekend ritual for thousands of people across the uk and beyond. and this is where it all started — bushy park in london. back in 2004 there were just 13 runners taking part. just look at the crowd now. everybody who was at the very first parkrun, 20 years ago, was given one of these gold bar codes on the tenth anniversary, so we�*re called the parkrun pioneers. it'sjust a social thing, and i think that's missing in the world so much these days. it gets the heart rate going. it's just good to get out, and it's a good start - to the weekend as well. i�*m going to count you down from 20. 20, go! and runners in great yarmouth get the picturesque sea views. there have been millions of miles covered, lifelong

friendships made, and even some parkrun romances. brought us together. yeah. got down here on a winter's day and summer's day and all the rest of it, and, yeah. brilliant, it's been fantastic, changed our lives, hasn't it? it has, it has. and we started talking over covid, didn't - we, to start with? yeah. and then sort of, i think because i had covid, - i had a costa delivered, and that's how it - started, really! and this is the man behind it all — paul sinton—hewitt. it�*s a wonderful story. everybody is in this together. we are all invited. inclusive for everybody. and yes, you�*re right, there are many, many people whose lives have been changed because of parkrun. the average time people take to finish the course is slowing down, but for paul, that�*s good news. that shows that more and more average, regular people are involved in parkrun. it�*s not about athletics, it�*s not about competition. well done, everyone. parkrun is now in 23 countries and even held in some prisons. the event, which started with just a handful of people,

is set to run and run. charlotte gallagher, bbc news, bushy park. one more story to bring you. the music legend dolly parton has announced she will make a personal donation of one million dollars towards disaster recovery efforts in the wake of hurricane helene which tore through the south—east us last week. in addition to a personal donation of one million dollars, the dollywood foundation will also donate one million dollars for relief. stay with us here on bbc news — my colleagues in london will pick up with the latest headlines at the top of the hour. plenty more on our website and on the bbc news app. but for now from the team here in washington — thanks for watching.

hello. a weather front is approaching us, and that does mean a lot of cloud for many of us on sunday. quite a few showers too, some of them will be heavy, but i think early in the morning, if you�*re closer to the north sea coast, there�*ll be some sunshine. let�*s have a look at the satellite picture. here�*s the jet stream pushing the weather front towards us, and that weather front brought a spell of very wet weather saturday evening for cornwall and devon. but i want to talk about the next few days and highlight this feature here. this dartboard low coming out of the tropics — that�*s actually a hurricane which will transition into an extratropical weather system or a mid—latitude weather system. and look at it. if you eyeball it, it�*s ominously heading in our direction — or is it? well, actually, there�*s a lot of uncertainty. it could go to the south of us, taking its very strong winds and rain. it could just about clip us.

and it looks as though midweek we could see some potentially bad weather across the south of the uk. but it�*s still some days away and there�*s really a lot of uncertainty with this weather system. so keep track of the weather forecast. now, here�*s the here and now, or sunday morning, temperatures hovering around 10 degrees, so it�*s not too cold first thing. and rather a lot of cloud with this weather front sweeping off the atlantic, remember, pushed by that jet stream. a lot of showers through the morning and lunchtime across western areas, around the irish sea, into northern ireland. again, the further east you are, so closer to that north sea coast, the drier it will be. there might be some sunshine around. but i want to show you what�*s going to happen later on sunday afternoon and evening. the showers in the south really could be quite heavy, downpours moving through parts of wales, into the midlands and also through the peak district and into northern england, but clearing up towards the southwest later. now, monday, ithink the gaps between the showers will be bigger, but there�*ll still be plenty of showers around, so you�*ll need your brolly at some point or another, but at least we�*ll have the sunny spells. how about the temperatures

on monday? at best, 17 in the sunshine. most of us around about 15 or 16 degrees. so, that�*s monday. how about the week ahead? well, we talked about that potentially bad weather coming to the south, but look at this. by the end of the week, we�*ll see colder northerly winds developing across the uk. and look at that temperature drop — in london from 18 down to 12, cardiff from 17 to 11 degrees. so there�*s a real chill in the air coming in about a week�*s time. bye— bye.

we will have the headlines for you at — we will have the headlines for you at the _ we will have the headlines for you at the top _ we will have the headlines for you at the top of— we will have the headlines for you at the top of the - we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour - you at the top of the hour after— you at the top of the hour after this_ you at the top of the hour after this programme. - yeah, i went back to harrods about a year ago. probably the first time since i left. i knew if i could walk through and come out the other side, i�*d be in a good place to be talking to you. when i walked through the doors to start myjob there, i was excited. at no point in time did i ever anticipate being on the receiving end of an attempted rape.