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. the prime suspect in the disappearance of madeleine mccann has been acquitteded on unrelated sex offence charges in court in germany. and, conservative mps prepare to eliminate another candidate from the party leadership contest. hello, this is bbc news. israel says it has killed the commander of hezbollah�*s headquarters in an air strike

on the lebanese capital, where there have been further air strikes today. israel further air strikes today. says it is expanding its ground israel says it is expanding its ground invasion of lebanon. the target, according to israel, was suhail hussein husseini. he played a crucial role in weapons transfers from iran. hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by countries like the uk and us, have not confirmed his death. meanwhile, the decalitre of hezbollah has made a televised statement here insisting his organisation �*s capabilities remain intact and said israel was deluded to think otherwise and that the group had fulfilled all of its senior positions after the strides of recent weeks. this is the scene just across the skyline of beirut, the capital of lebanon. you can see the thick smoke there above the

capital. in the last few minutes, israel has said that 25 projectiles were fired from lebanon, that is the israel defense force, saying they have identified projectiles which usually means rockets, crossing into israeli territoryjust after 9am uk time. earlier we heard from our international editorjeremy boehm injerusalem. international editorjeremy boehm in jerusalem. i international editorjeremy boehm in jerusalem. i think it is a massively _ boehm in jerusalem. i think it is a massively long _ boehm in jerusalem. i think it is a massively long way - boehm in jerusalem. i think it is a massively long way away, j is a massively long way away, and at the moment there is no scope for diplomacy, although i have to say in previous crises come for example in lebanon 2006 war, and also i think, i was there but it was a long time ago, in 1996 there was a

big military operation by israel in lebanon, and both times the us secretary of state was taking part in shuttle diplomacy, going between different players, trying to find a way to get to a ceasefire and eventually anyway, and there is nothing like that going on at the moment. so i think it is a really grim picture, and essentially in the middle east there are some really deep, unresolved conflicts, and one of the most fundamental is the one between israelis and palestinians for control of this land, which both of them call home and that conflict has been going on in different forms for over a century. if you are in a region that has those conflicts in it, there is also iran and israel. iran absolutely against the existence of the state of israel. israel is now thinking they might have a chance to really do that islamic regime

in tehran some damage, so while these massive conflicts are in these massive conflicts are in the region it is an illusion to think that the region will be anything other than turbulence. so, longerterm, anything other than turbulence. so, longer term, those problems have to be addressed. short and medium term, at the moment sadly, it is looking like the logic of war is the thing that is driving it. vice president kamala harris has defended president biden�*s efforts to prevent all—out war in the middle east, even though israel has repeatedly brushed aside us appeals for restraint. she was speaking to cbs 60 minutes host bill whittaker. we supply israel with billions of dollars in military aid. and yet prime minister netanyahu seems to be charting his own course. the biden—harris administration has pressed him to agree to a ceasefire. he's resisted. you urged him not to go into

lebanon, he went in anyway. does the us have no sway over minister netanyahu? the work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles. but it seems that prime minister netanyahu is not listening. we're not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the united states to be clear about where stand for the need for this war to end. let's speak to our correspondent nick beake in northern israel. just talk us through what the latest military activity has beenin latest military activity has been in the region.- latest military activity has been in the region. yes, it was a ear been in the region. yes, it was a year ago _ been in the region. yes, it was a year ago today _ been in the region. yes, it was a year ago today that - been in the region. yes, it was| a year ago today that hezbollah started firing rockets into israel in solidarity, they said, with hamas. to mark this anniversary there have been reportedly more than 100

rockets fired from southern lebanon by hezbollah and they have been targeted on israel �*s third city, haifa. in the north of israel where we are, the lebanese borderjust beyond the hills there, there have been a lot of loud explosions this morning. at the same time, the israelis say they are expanding their operations. so far they have looked to get into lebanon in two particular points. 0n the east of the border, but what they have said is in the past 2a hours they have moved to the west, so right next to the mediterranean sea, and the israelis are saying they have carried out limited and targeted operations. that is worth pointing out because that's the sort of language they have used in gaza over the past year or so, and critics say that it might sound like it is being portrayed as targeted, but it is anything but. they point to the fact that more than 40,000 civilians are reported to have been killed in gaza over the last year. find

gaza over the last year. and 'ust talk gaza over the last year. and just talk us _ gaza over the last year. and just talk us through, - gaza over the last year. and just talk us through, if - gaza over the last year. and just talk us through, if you can, what we can, and what different people are interpreting, from benjamin netanyahu �*s comments that this will not be ending soon. the military operations will not end prematurely.— military operations will not end prematurely. well, the israelis have _ end prematurely. well, the israelis have said _ end prematurely. well, the israelis have said that - end prematurely. well, the israelis have said that a - israelis have said that a fourth division of the army is now operating in the ground invasion into lebanon. just last night it was said that 100 israeli jets carried out 120 raids on hezbollah positions in the space of an hour, so that gives an indication of the intensity of what is happening here. it is clear that the israelis are widening their operations. it is not absolutely clear how much deeper they are going into lebanon at the moment, and the resistance that they are facing from hezbollah. sadly, hezbollah are saying they are fighting back and inflicting injuries on the advancing israeli troops. but yes, you are right, benjamin netanyahu says this is an operation that

needs to intensify. just a reminder, his central justification for this is so that people who have been out of their homes for nearly a year now in some cases, the northern israeli border communities, that they can return there and live in peace, he says, without the threat of daily hezbollah rockets coming over their heads and landing. that is the aim. achieving that seems a long way off, but the israeli army certainly are committing more troops and more resources to that particular aim. thank you. michelle douaihy is a member of the lebanese parliament. he gave his reaction to the comments by benjamin netanyahu that there would be no early end to the conflict. obviously, thins end to the conflict. obviously, things are _ end to the conflict. obviously, things are going _ end to the conflict. obviously, things are going from - end to the conflict. obviously, things are going from bad - end to the conflict. obviously, things are going from bad to l things are going from bad to worse in this conflict, and whatever the israeli intentions are, we as a lebanese have to come together to find a solution for this war.

yesterday, groups of the opposition parliament came together and issued a statement, a road map, indicating clearly what steps must be followed so we can save lebanese people from further atrocities of this war. as lebanese from different religious backgrounds, from different regions, we have to come together. this is a very lebanese moment. we know the israeli countries and we know the atrocities and the level of violence that has been used, not only in gaza but also in south lebanon...— not only in gaza but also in south lebanon... but what does that mean. _ south lebanon... but what does that mean, come _ south lebanon... but what does that mean, come together? - that mean, come together? meaning clearly we have to go back to these institutions. i say political institutions and i mean electing a president. today, lebanon, which is a bankrupt country, an economy that does not exist any more, is facing an a war unprecedented in the history of lebanon. imagine that, we have

a government that does not have legitimacy and we don't have a president and the parliament is not working effectively, so we need to go back to the institution to be able to put forward a plan to save the country and that starts with electing a president. without be enough — electing a president. without be enough to _ electing a president. without be enough to be _ electing a president. without be enough to be able - electing a president. without be enough to be able to - electing a president. without i be enough to be able to control hezbollah? because clearly there is a lebanese state on one hand, and then hezbollah which is not controlled by the state of lebanon.— state of lebanon. why can't lebanon — state of lebanon. why can't lebanon control— state of lebanon. why can't lebanon control hezbollah i lebanon control hezbollah customer this is why i said it is a lebanese moment because supporters of hezbollah, the community, they are lebanese people. this is an awakening moment. a moment of acknowledging that if you don't handle this board together, stop it together, no one is going to be able to stop it. this is why this is a call, a massive rally for all the lebanese out there, to come together behind the institution. this is why we need to elect a president. i am not saying, even if we have a new president, even if we have

the formation of a new government, i am the formation of a new government, iam not the formation of a new government, i am not saying the war will end tomorrow, but at least we will have someone with the backing of ordinary lebanese, with legitimacy, to be able to negotiate a ceasefire, mainly going back to the un resolution 1701. we need to get back, get lebanon back on track based on the institutions and following the un resolution.— institutions and following the un resolution. ok, i understand that and i appreciate _ un resolution. ok, i understand that and i appreciate that - un resolution. ok, i understand that and i appreciate that as - un resolution. ok, i understand that and i appreciate that as a l that and i appreciate that as a concrete solution you are proposing. what does it mean to be working with hezbollah customer it is a proscribed terrorist organisation by many countries, including the uk and us. , ., ., countries, including the uk and us. ., ., countries, including the uk and us. do you want to work with them? if— us. do you want to work with them? if they _ us. do you want to work with them? if they move - us. do you want to work with them? if they move from - us. do you want to work with l them? if they move from being them? if they move from being the resistance, as they call themselves, to a political party, they are more than welcome. any other party in this country the same. we are talking about state logic and that means abiding by the laws of the constitution of this country. it is game over for everybody in this country in the sense that we have to go

back to the institutions and the agreement and respect so that we can live together in this country, based on institutions.— this country, based on institutions. �* ., ~' institutions. but do you think hezbollah — institutions. but do you think hezbollah would _ institutions. but do you think hezbollah would give - institutions. but do you think hezbollah would give up - institutions. but do you think hezbollah would give up that| hezbollah would give up that side of its existence? we have to make sure _ side of its existence? we have to make sure they _ side of its existence? we have to make sure they understand| to make sure they understand what is at stake here. we have to be sure, for them to understand as well that we are reaching out to them, telling them we are lebanese and we have to handle this together. this is a very, very important message today i am sending out. this is the only way out for them and for us. our future this is the only way out for them and for us. 0urfuture in this country is intertwined and we need to come together, all of us as lebanese, to save the country. we are going to do everything we can as an elected member of parliament to make that message very, very clear. this is why the constitution, the institution, electing a president, going back to the state logic and mentioned earlier on, is the only way out. ., ~ , ., 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 24 hours, with wind speeds of up to 175mph. 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's is currently a category 4 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 this 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 a storm surge across the northern gulf coast of florida, and this is one of the areas that was most heavily impacted. you can see the 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, so 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. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

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. judges have just announced they have acquitted christian brueckner of these current charges. 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, said they had seen, but that 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, will remain behind bars, despite the acquittal of these five cases, and he will remain behind bars ordinarily until september. 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. just remind us of the madeleine mccann case, and how this connection occurs.- connection occurs. yes. case. but the difficulty the judges is ti occurs. case. but the difficulty the judges is t| occurs.- connection occurs. yes. christian _ connection occurs. yes. christian brueckner - connection occurs. yes. christian brueckner has | christian _ connection occurs. yes. christian brueckner - connection occurs. yes. christian brueckner has | connection occurs. yes. - christian brueckner has been, connection occurs. yes. - christian brueckner has been, is a convicted rapist, and that is a convicted rapist, and that is a convicted rapist, and that is why he is currently in jail, is a convicted rapist, and that is why he is currently in jail, behind bars. he spent a lot of behind bars. he spent a lot of time in the region where time in the region where madeleine mccann disappeared. madeleine mccann disappeared. there have been many witnesses there have been many witnesses who have linked him to the who have linked him to the disappearance, who claimed that disappearance, who claimed that he is related to her he is related to her disappearance, but so far no disappearance, but so far no evidence has emerged. and this evidence has emerged. and this is the difficulty for german is the difficulty for german prosecutors. they remain prosecutors. they remain convinced that he is the main convinced that he is the main suspect, and they say they do suspect, and they say they do have evidence and that they are have evidence and that they are going to carry on with this going to carry on with this case. but the difficulty the case. but the difficulty the

judges is they judges is they say that well, you know, that is all well and good but we can't keep him behind bars unless there is evidence for the madeleine mccann case. at the moment you have got three different cases, and the once—a—day is what he has been acquitted for. he will remain behind bars, and then the madeleine mccann case is carrying on. german prosecutors say they are still convinced

mps are choosing between kemi badenoch, james cleverly, robertjenrick and tom tugendhat. here is our political correspondent, damian grammaticas. 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. despite poor weather and an approaching hurricane, the european space agency has successfully launched a mission to study an asteroid system. hera is set to inspect the damage a previous spacecraft did when it crashed into an asteroid, to deliberately change its orbit, two years ago. it's all part of plans to protect the earth from any flying space rocks in the future, as pallab ghosh explains.

go hera, go falcon, go spacex. on its way to an asteroid system 7 million miles away to develop a defence system to protect the earth from being hit by dangerous objects from outer space. it's to follow a nasa mission which tried to deliberately deflect an asteroid called dimorphos. nasa's dart spacecraft crashed into dimorphos two years ago. a telescope captured the dust and debris that was hurled into space. hera is on a two—year journey which takes it past mars and eventually to its destination. it's going to take a closer look at the damage with a battery of instruments. the spacecraft will come within 200 metres of dimorphos and deploy two shoebox—sized mini spacecraft that will look closer still. what did dart actually due to this asteroid? is there a crater? how big is that crater? did we actually, instead of making a crater,

deform the entire body? that's what we think might have happened. an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. collisions with smaller objects occur more often, like this giant meteor strike in russia in 2013. the hope is that next time, we'll be better prepared. pallab ghosh, bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news. we will of course have continuing coverage of the eventin continuing coverage of the event in the middle east in the hours ahead. these are pictures of haifa, not buried, do forgive us there, this is haifa in northern israel. hezbollah is firing rockets at the northern israeli city there. this is bbc news.

hello again. 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, its 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.

this has beijing's this bazooka lost its power? china says it's confident of hitting its 5% growth target — investors are not so sure. the boss of uber speaks to the bbc and warns that tarrifs on chinese evs could hurt the environment. and a us court orders google to open its app store to more competitors. welcome to business today. we start in china where stocks soared to their highest level in two years; it was pent up energy because markets in china had been closed for the past week after beijing announced new economical stimulus measures. but the rally has lost steam — after the chinese government