and says it's killed another senior hezbollah commander. benjamin netanyau says there'll be no early end to his country's military campaigns — describing the military offensive as "a sacred mission." us forecasters issue dire warnings about the threat from hurricane milton, as it barrels towards florida. and conservative mps prepare to eliminate another candidate from the party leadership contest. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. welcome to the programme. i will start with the latest developments in the middle east. israel says it has killed the commander of hezbollah�*s headquarters in an air strike on the lebanese capital. it comes after israel's prime minister described his

country's year—long military campaign as a "sacred mission" which will "continue so long as its existence is threatened." benjamin netanyahu said the operations in gaza, lebanon and elsewhere in the region must not be stopped — as he put it — prematurely. his remarks came in a televised address at the end of commemorations marking the first anniversary of the deadly attacks by hamas. israel says suhail hussein husseini — the target of its beirut air strike — oversaw logistics for hezbollah — which is designated a terrorist group by countries including the us and the uk. hezbollah hasn't confirmed he's been killed. in a televised statement its deputy leader claimed hezbollah�*s capabilities were intact and that israel israel was, in his words, �*deluded' to think otherwise. here are the live pictures. this is the capital, beirut. we know from israel's military that its ground troops had

started operations in south—west lebanon, that is a change, they tend to focus on the south—east of the border but now they have begun ground operations in south—west lebanon. let's get all the latest from our correspondents joe inwood. beirut — plunged into darkness by this spreading war. huge swathes of the city illuminated only by the explosions of incoming missiles. israel says it is hezbollah positions it's targeting. the people of this city caught in the middle. many are trying to flee — either to safer parts of the country, or to neighbouring syria. at the main border crossing — recently destroyed by an israeli air strike — the journey is now made on foot. people who fled a civil war in their own country on the move once again. they went to lebanon to escape the war in syria. they are now going back to syria, escaping the war in lebanon.

so it gives a sense of the tragic absurdity of the situation that we are living. as civilians move out, ground forces move in. these pictures, released by the israeli defense forces, show the 9ist division preparing and then entering lebanon. singing. in israel, it was a night of commemoration as the country remembered the events of the 7th of october, the hamas massacre that lit the touchpaper on this spreading war. "the battle must not stop ahead of time," said the prime minister. "as long as the enemy is threatening our existence and our country's safety, we will keep fighting. as long as our hostages are in gaza, we will keep fighting." but the official government ceremony was not the only commemoration.

in tel aviv, the families of the hostages — around 100 of whom remain in gaza — held their own event with a very different tone. they have often been fiercely critical of the prime minister, and what they see as his focus on fighting a war, rather than bringing their families home. "exactly one year ago, the most beautiful place — a place filled with joy and hope — turned into hell," he says. "in a single moment, we understood the meaning of being alone." air-raid siren. but it was notjust commemorations that were heard in tel aviv last night — the sound of air—raid sirens, followed by distant explosions — a reminder that, as this war enters its second year, it is spreading, still. joe inwood, bbc news. in a moment, we'll hear from our correspondent in jerusalem, yolande knell. but first, hugo bachega in beirut has more on israel expanding its ground operation in lebanon. this announcement came

from the israeli military saying they have now started ground operations in south—west lebanon, so expanding this ground invasion to a new zone in the country. they had started these operations in the south—east of lebanon, and the military is still describing what is happening as a limited, targeted localised operation. i think this is another indication that the israeli military is expanding its ground invasion of lebanon, its campaign against hezbollah. more israeli troops have been deployed to lebanon and the israeli military yesterday warned people to stay away from a stretch of the lebanese coast, saying it will start targeting hezbollah also from the sea. indications this is likely to be a wider offensive by the israeli military in lebanon. today marks one year since hezbollah started firing rockets at israel, saying they were acting in solidarity with palestinians in gaza. now lebanon is very much

at the heart of this war, the focus of the israeli military. more than 2000 people have been killed here across the country, 1.2 million displaced from their homes and this is a crisis that is only getting worse. hugo, thank you. let's go to yolande injerusalem. we got a sense from prime minister benjamin netanyahu of the future direction of this conflict, saying there will be no early end? that's right, he was really trying to project an image of strength on the anniversary of those hamas led attacks yesterday. he also said as a cabinet meeting was held injerusalem that this was about the future of the country, the future of its children, but of course israel now fighting on multiple fronts. it gives people this sense of real uncertainty. that said, israel feels it

continues to have military successes as it continues with its operations against hezbollah in lebanon, that intense aerial bombardment we have seen and two important statements from the israeli military this morning, one concerning this man who they are saying was the commander of the hezbollah headquarters, suhail husseini, and that he played a crucial role in weapons transfers between hezbollah and iran, and he was also responsible for logistics management budgets within the organisation. his killing in an air strike in beirut has not been confirmed by hezbollah. the other important point as israel now expands its ground operation along the border between israel and lebanon over to the west where previously it has been more focused on the east, it said it is bringing in a fourth military division involved in this offensive,

that is one of the reservist divisions it is now using, said to be the first reservist division involved in these operations. you can see with the world watching to see what happens next, there is growing concern that this is not a limited operation as israel has said, and you look at the latest comments from washington, lots of questions being put yesterday to the state department spokesman. he said that the focus now... he was giving the indication that the focus now is about limiting and shaping israel's operation. he does not seem to be pushing for that ceasefire dealjointly proposed by the us a couple of weeks ago, but there are real concerns being expressed that there is the potential for things to become more entrenched, for this to turn into a more prolonged and widescale operation than perhaps israel had intended.

thanks to hugo and your land —— and your land now. michel douaihy is a member of the lebanese parliament. hejoins me now from beirut. cani can i get your reaction to the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying there will be no early end to the conflict here? what do you make of that? 0bviously things are going from bad to worse in this conflict and whatever the israeli intentions are, we as lebanese have two come together to find a solution. yesterday the opposition in parliament came together and issued a statement showing what steps need to be followed to save the lebanese people from the atrocities of this war. as lebanese of

different religious backgrounds and from different regions, we have two come together. this is a very lebanese movement. we know the atrocities and the level of violence is not only in gaza but also...- level of violence is not only in gaza but also... but what does that — in gaza but also... but what does that mean, _ in gaza but also... but what does that mean, come - in gaza but also... but what - does that mean, come together? meaning clearly we have to go back to the institutions, when i say political institutions i'd definitely mean electing a president. today lebanon is a bankrupt country, an economy that does not exist any more. it is facing an atrocity, an unprecedented war within the history of lebanon. and we have a caretaker government with no legitimacy and no president and the parliament is not working effectively, so we need to go back to the institution to put forward a plan to save the country, starting with a president.— country, starting with a president. country, starting with a resident. ~ ., ., , ., president. would that be enough to control hezbollah? _

president. would that be enough to control hezbollah? people - to control hezbollah? people are clearly aware there is the lebanese state on one hand and hezbollah, which is not controlled by the state of lebanon? why can't lebanon control hezbollah?— lebanon? why can't lebanon control hezbollah? this is why i said it was _ control hezbollah? this is why i said it was a _ control hezbollah? this is why i said it was a lebanese - i said it was a lebanese moment, i think supporters of hezbollah are lebanese people and this is an awakening moment. the moment of acknowledging that if we don't handle this war together and stop it together, none of us will be able to stop it so this is why this is a massive rally to all the lebanese out there to all the lebanese out there to come together behind the institutions, this is why we need to elect a president. i am not saying even if we have a new president of the formation of a new government that the war will end tomorrow but at least we will have someone with the backing of all the lebanese, with the legitimacy to negotiate a ceasefire, maybe going back to the un resolution 1701. we need to get lebanon

back on track based on the institutions and following the resolution. i institutions and following the resolution.— resolution. i understand and appreciate — resolution. i understand and appreciate you _ resolution. i understand and appreciate you are _ resolution. i understand and| appreciate you are proposing resolution. i understand and i appreciate you are proposing a concrete solution. but what does it mean working with hezbollah? hezbollah is a proscribed terrorist organisation by many countries including the uk and the us, do you want to work with them? if hezbollah moved from being their assistance, as they call themselves, to a political party, they are more than welcome, like any other party in this country. but state logic means abiding by the rules of the constitution of this country. it is game over for everybody in this country in the sense that we had to go back to the institutions, to get agreement and two respected so we can live together in this country based on institutions. do you think hezbollah would give up that side of its existence?— give up that side of its existence? ~ ., ., ., ~ give up that side of its existence? ~ ., ., .,~ , existence? we had to make sure they understand _

existence? we had to make sure they understand what _ existence? we had to make sure they understand what is - existence? we had to make sure they understand what is at - they understand what is at stake and we had to be sure for them to understand too that we are reaching out to them, together we are lebanese and we have to handle this together. this is a very, very important message i am sending out, this is the only way out for them and us. the future of this country is intertwined that we need to come together as lebanese to save the country. we will do everything we can at selected members of parliament to make that message very, very clear, which is why the constitution, the institution, electing a president and going back to state logic is the only way out. back to state logic is the only wa out. ., ~ ,, back to state logic is the only wa out. ., ~' ,, , back to state logic is the only wa out. ., ~ , . way out. thank you very much for coming — way out. thank you very much for coming on _ way out. thank you very much for coming on the _ way out. thank you very much | for coming on the programme, michel douaihy. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

the us gulf coast is preparing for a potentially catastrophic storm, as hurricane milton barrels towards florida. evacuation orders have been issued for parts

of the state's west coast. the mayor of tampa warned residents "if you choose to stay, you will die" these satellite pictures showjust how enormous milton has become over the past 2a hours, with wind speeds of up to 175 miles per hour. the storm is expected to make landfall on wednesday night or early thursday morning. people living in madeira beach were boarding up their homes and businesses in preparation for what is currently a category four hurricane. here's florida's governor ron desantis. now there's a lot of uncertainty about what is going to happen in terms of this track. it is predicted that this will weaken. but, you know, it was not predicted that it would get the strong to begin with. so we can hope and pray that it does weaken, but as of right now, this is a ferocious hurricane. cristian benavides of our partner network cbs news, joined me earlierfrom tampa. we are in st pete beach, a barrier island community part

of the tampa bay area, and these are some of the mountains of debris that officials are working to pick up before hurricane milton gets here. just two weeks ago this area had hurricane helene make an impact here. you had storm surge across florida, the northern gulf coast of florida, and this is one of the areas most heavily impacted. you can see debris lines the streets across this community here. this is not the only barrier island community where there is a lot of clean—up that still needs to happen before milton arrives. one of the major concerns by officials is that all of this debris will become flying projectiles, they could potentially injure or kill someone. in addition to that,

all of this could clog up some storm drains and that could potentially overwhelm an already overwhelmed system. the storm surge here, it is unclear what we could see but some of the projections are truly scary, upwards of 15 feet of storm surge, that is certainly unsurvivable. in this community you have had folks that have already been getting out while they can because we have about 48 hours before this starts to make an impact here. people were already impacted here by helene, already cleaning up, so you can imagine their mindset as they are cleaning up from helene, you have another major hurricane on the way. a suspect in the disappearance of british toddler madeleine mccann has been acquitted of unrelated sexual abuse charges by a court in the german city of brunswick. christian brueckner has been formally identified as a suspect in the case of madeleine mccann,

who disappeared from her bedroom in 2007 during a family holiday in portugal. he denies any involvement. in the trial in brunswick, brueckner faced three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse of children committed between 2000 and 2017. 0ur correspondent damien mcguiness in berlin explained what happened in court. churches have just announced they have acquitted christian brueckner of these current charges. —— churches. he had been accused of five separate cases of rape and child abuse. this morning, judges said there is not enough evidence to say he is guilty. lots of the evidence in court with testimony from people who said they had heard things from christian brueckner and videos that witnesses said they had seen but have not been

presented as evidence themselves. judges came to the conclusion there was no evidence linking christian brueckner to these five separate cases, but that does not mean that christian brueckner will be released because he is already in jail on another separate case, the rape of an american tourist almost 20 years ago in the same region where madeleine mccann went missing on the algarve. as things stand, christian brueckner will be in jail, things stand, christian brueckner will be injail, will remain behind bars, despite the acquittal of these five cases, will remain behind bars ordinarily until september. at these two separate cases are different again to the case of the disappearance of madeleine mccann. christian brueckner is seen by german prosecutors as the main suspect in that case but still has not been charged in relation to the disappearance of madeleine mccann. in the uk, conservative mps are voting this afternoon

to reduce the number of candidates in the party's leadership contest from four to three. mps are choosing between kemi badenoch, james cleverly, robertjenrick and tom tugendhat. here is our political correspondent, damian grammaticas. yes, what we will get around lunch time is a vote and a little bit after that, one and a half hours, a couple of hours, early mid afternoon, we will get that result, which of the four candidates is out. and crucially what that will mean is where their votes then go. we know that the last candidate to be knocked out had 16 votes, this is only an electorate of around 121 conservative mps, that is what the conservative party has been reduced to after its devastating losses in the last election, so a small number of votes moving can really shift this. and essentially in the four who are there, you have two on the right side of the party in robertjenrick and kemi badenoch, they topped the poll, got first and second in ranking of votes in the last round,

and then two slightly more in the centre, james cleverly and tom tugendhat. the feeling is tom tugendhat might be out this time but we will learn that this afternoon. really what you see here is a competition for what does the conservative party wants, what do mps want? do they want to pursue a more rightward direction, or something different? people might remember this process starting, it may feel to some like it has been going on for quite a while. talk us through the timeline. it has, yes. this takes us back to the election back injuly, it extends until the beginning of november. we will get this week, the candidates whittled down, one will go today, tomorrow one more, leaving us with two candidates who will be put forward to the wider conservative party membership outside parliament, the local members around the country, and it is their vote that will determine the winner.

traditional wisdom has it that you win that vote in the membership by appealing to the right, but we will see whether that is the case, whether they are presented with two candidates from the right or one from each of the slightly different approaches. but that decision will come at the end of october, announced at the beginning of november, and at that point we will see which direction the wider conservative movement is choosing. lunch time we should be getting a bit of an update on the process. thank you very much to damian grammaticas for bringing us up to date. a woman who spent 48 years wondering why her dream job application was never answered has finally found out why. tizi hodson could hardly believe her eyes when she opened the post to discover her letter — applying for the role of a motorcycle stunt rider —

had been returned to her, after being stuck behind a post office drawer since 1976. jake zuckerman went to meet her. 1976. britain sweltered through a record heat wave, the brotherhood of man topped the charts, and 22—year—old motorcycle courier tizi hodson applied for a newjob. dear sir, in answer to your advert asking for a stunt rider, i am applying for the position. accidents don't worry me having broken many bones, including my skull. fast forward to 2024 and that letter has finally returned to its sender after 48 years lost in the post. i couldn't believe it when i read the little note on top of the letter. as they said, "late delivery by staines post office, found behind a drawer. only about 50 years late!" for tizi, now aged 70, it clears up a long—standing mystery.

i remember very clearly sitting in my flat in cavendish mansions in london 50 years ago, writing the letter — typing it, in fact. and every day i looked for my post and nothing there. and i was so disappointed because i really, really wanted to be a stunt rider on a motorcycle. itjust seems incredible to get the letter back and to find out why they never replied to me, because they never got my letter. but it didn't stop tizi from making her dreams come true. she quickly got a job as a stunt rider with a different display team and embarked on a daredevil career — becoming a snake—handler in africa, an aerobatic pilot, and flying instructor, before eventually retiring to lincolnshire — where this reminder of her younger days appeared out of the blue. you're 70 now. you wrote that letter when you were 22. what would you tell that 22—year—old who wrote the letter? i'd say, "go and do everything i've done. doesn't matter if you break bones." i've had so much fun of a lifestyle, and so much wonderful time in life,

even though i have broken a few bones. i certainly wouldn't want to look back and think i'd done anything differently in life. jake zuckerman, bbc news. brilliant stuff. i want to point you want always to the bbc live page where we will have continuing updates of events here. these are live updates and be returned in the last few moments we had seen this big flute —— plume of smoke rising out of the capital in lebanon. this comes after continued strikes from israeli military, spiti —— specifically in the south. israel says its troops have become ground operations in south—west lebanon. until now the invasion had focused on the eastern side of the border. i will leave you with these live pictures. i'm lewis vaughanjones, this is bbc news.

as we go through the next couple of days, essentially we're looking at a mixture of sunshine and showers, but like today, some of those showers will be heavy and thundery with some hail and gusty winds around them. you can see them moving across england and wales while we've got rain pushing across northern england into southern scotland and northern ireland, and for the rest of scotland, it's fairly cloudy, with showery rain in the north and a cold northerly wind. top temperatures today up to 18 degrees. now, it's low pressure driving our weather and overnight it drifts a little bit further east, but we still have showers and rain rotating around it and this cold northerly wind. temperatures in the north falling away to seven to about nine degrees. come further south, we're looking at ten to about 13 degrees. tomorrow, then, our low pressure continues to push towards the north sea, eventually moving into it. that opens the door to this straight northerly coming across our shores, and also still some showery outbreaks of rain in eastern areas. move out towards the west and the south, it should be drier, but it will feel colder,

especially across the north of scotland, where it will feel quite raw with wintry showers on the tops of the mountains. wednesday into thursday, there goes our low pressure. this is the remnants of ex—hurricane kirk, and that will absorb our low pressure. all it will do for us, though, is produce some stronger winds at times down the north sea coastline. thursday sees a lot of dry weather coming our way. some showers across the south and the west. a few in the north—west to be replaced later by some heavier showers. but it's going to be a cold feeling day wherever you are. these are our maximum temperatures, eight to 12, 14 in the channel islands. on friday, the showers continue to push across scotland more of a westerly, but it will still feel cold. and you can see as we come further south for southern scotland, england, wales and a lot of northern ireland, it will be a dry day but still a cold feel. temperatures eight to about 12 degrees. temperatures at this time of the year in the south—east, for example, should be

around about 15. as we head into the weekend, we've got this ridge of high pressure across us, but it starts to weaken on sunday, opening the doors to some rain coming into the west. so we continue with the chillier feel into the weekend. drier in the south and east, but rain in the north and west.

keep those calls coming in and

welcome to our viewers on bbc news on bbc news and bbc two. we are on the iplayer, my regular phone in show on five live and also on tiktok this morning as well. some excellent, trenchant questions been coming on as well and to answer them we have leased is set and diplomatic correspondence, paul adams. set and diplomatic correspondence, pauladams. —— correspondence, paul adams. —— released correspondence, pauladams. —— released a set. this is what we are doing across the day on bbc news, asking how does it end and some great questions. zane and some great questions. zane and leeds, what would you like to ask? good morning.- and leeds, what would you like to ask? good morning. hello, my auestion to ask? good morning. hello, my question is. _ to ask? good morning. hello, my question is, what _ to ask? good morning. hello, my question is, what is _ to ask? good morning. hello, my question is, what is the _ question is, what is the long—term peace strategy let's say, 20, 30 years that ensures

people's stability in the middle eastern region? would it