warnings of growing hunger in gaza, aid workers say food hasn't reached northern areas this month, as an intense israeli offensive continues. and, on the front line in southern lebanon — we report from on the ground as israeli troops clash with hezbollah forces. there has been purse of small arms fire, artillery close by, despite reports of visual control round here this is still very much in active combat zone. —— reports of israeli control. hello, i'm karin giannone. alex salmond, the former first minister of scotland and a dominant figure in scottish politics for decades, has died at the age of 69. the former mp and msp, who led the country between 2007 and 2014 during the independence referendum, fell ill while in north macedonia.

mr salmond resigned from the snp in 2018 and later formed the pro—independence alba party in 2021. here he is speaking back in 2014 after the defeat of that referendum. scotland has by majority decided not at this stage to become an independent country. i accept that verdict of the people, and i call on all of scotland to follow suit in accepting the democratic verdict of the people of scotland. in a statement, his party hailed the former minister's leadership, who brought the snp into the mainstream and the scottish government. saying he was a titan of the independence movement. and the uk prime minister sir keir starmer has released a statement saying — for more than 30 years, alex salmond was a monumental figure in scottish and uk politics...

these are the final pictures of alex salmond — taken this weekend in north macedonia, where he was speaking earlier on saturday before he was taken ill. ian blackford who served as leader of the scottish national party in the house of commons from 2017 to 2022 said he was shocked to hear alex salmond had died. i think all of our thoughts are with moira his wife, his family and friends, a tremendous loss to them first and foremost but to the country as well, someone who was an inspiring political leader. let's not forget that when he was elected to the westminster parliament in 1987 there were three snp mps, he took them to the position of leadership, one of government, the only person who is everywhere the party in the scottish

parliament to have a majority situation leading to the independence referendum of 2014. he has a very strong legacy that he has left behind. i believe you knew him, alex salmond, since the 1970s, working together before you were both in politics in edinburgh. i was at the bank of scotland, alex was at the royal bank. we went for lunch occasionally. i have pretty well known him all my adult life, young members of the left—wing group in the snp, 79 group. i am well aware of the strength and personality, a larger—than—life character, who enjoyed social engagement, clearly very popular in many respects. had the attributes, characteristics of a leader. i saw that in the house of commons when we both went there in 2015, someone who was a big beast of politics. tell us about your relationship, the most recent

conversations you had. it is fair to say like a lot of people, we have had our ups and downs. he is not the kind of person you want to fall out with. having said that, i did fall out for many years ago at the turn of century. he doesn't bear a grudge and we came together again, we campaigned together in the 2015 election and he was a tremendous support to me when we were both in parliament together. the last time i spoke with him actually was on bbc radio on the night of the election injuly this year. there are times that we came together and engaged despite difficulties and differences we had, he having left the snp, always cordial. everybody else who has been so shocked by this news and you had no sense

he was suffering from any kind of illness, his energy seemed as undimmed as ever. yes, a tremendous capacity for work. he was a politician to his fingernails. i guess in some respects the fact he was taken while engaging in political debate is no surprise. he has a tremendous energy and enthusiasm for politics and for the country. that burning desire that so many of us have for scotland to become an independent country. where does this death leave that campaign, leave the spirit of that campaign? i suppose if you go back to that period where the snp was notjust winning but winning well, the independence referendum, the snp government were seen as one that could be trusted by the people and the challenge for us, those of us in the snp, to regain that trust as we approach the 2026 election. give people the enthusiasm that scotland should be an independent country. we need to deal with

the cost of living crisis we have in the uk. a vision of delivering that greener, more prosperous, fairer scotland with independence. we need to accept the responsibilities. alex said the morning after the referendum the dream will never die, we need to make sure we make that a reality and a legacy not just for alex but for so many people who have driven our movement toward scottish independence. ian blackford, served from 2017 to 2022 in the house of commons for the snp. let's speak to catriona renton, our scotland correspondent. you do not have to have agreed with his politics or a stance on scottish independence to be shocked by the news tonight. we are shocked by the news tonight. - are learning a little more about what happened today, alex salmond was speaking at the institute for cultural diplomacy, we understand he was talking about the ten year

anniversary of the scottish independence referendum and it is understood that at some point after this event that he collapsed and passed away this afternoon. as we have been saying, he was working right up until the end, was at that conference, we have seen a picture of him standing right in the centre of the leaders who were speaking at that conference. he was on social media this afternoon around about six hours ago, six or seven hours ago. really, mr salmond, there was no indication i would sayjudging by the reaction we have had from people today that we have heard from, no indication there was anything wrong. 0bviously deeply shocking news and they have been reaction from all across the political spectrum. some people of course fervent supporters of mr salmond and his politics. i think what is

coming across this evening is very much a deep respect for his position in politics, so keir starmer saying that for more than 30 years alex salmond was a monumentalfigure more than 30 years alex salmond was a monumental figure of scottish and uk politics, leaving behind a lasting legacy for prime minister rishi sunak, saying while i disagreed with him on the constitutional question, no design —— denying his skill in debate or passion for politics. may he rest in peace. nicola sturgeon, of course mr salmond's... mr salmond was her mentor for many years, she told us she couldn't avoid the fact there had been a fracture in their relationship, it would be wrong to. however, that doesn't take away from the fact that he was her mentor for

so long and they were very successful partnership in scottish politics and did it in uk politics. those messages coming in thick and fast evening from all across the names of politics in the uk and beyond. mr salmond leaves so much of a legacy behind him. arguably the person provided scotland closest thought it looked like the yes campaign, encompassing all pro—independence forces, had the momentum, in the end it wasn't to be. 45%, the no vote got 55% and at that point mr salmond stood down as leader of

the snp but his passion for independence has remained ever since. he founded the first and we understand he was planning on standing for the holyrood elections in 2026 for that pro—independence party. there have been troubles over the last few years, some complaints made about sexual misconduct. a criminal trial, made about sexual misconduct. a criminaltrial, he made about sexual misconduct. a criminal trial, he was cleared of all of the accusations against him. doubtless there was an impact on his reputation but that did not stop him from fighting for the political causes in which he believed and has carried on fighting, as we can see, until today when we learned of course he sadly passed away this afternoon. thank you very much, scotland correspondent catriona renton reporting live there.

this was earlier today, you can see very much taking part in a conference in north macedonia, standing in the middle of all the other people speaking on that day. the figures invited to talk. you can see him on the stage taking part in what is believed to be quite a lively discussion followed by on social media many tweets, no indication he was suffering any kind of illness. these are very poignant pictures of alex salmond taken a north macedonia at the conference where he spoke, it is believed shortly after that speech he collapsed and died. alex salmond there, the news that has shocked so many across scotland, across the united kingdom and beyond, that alex salmond has died at the age of 69 and the flags at half mast outside the scottish parliament building holyrood in edinburgh. to the middle east now and the un peacekeeping

mission in south lebanon, unifil, says another of its soldiers has been wounded, but says it doesn't yet know the origin of the fire. four un peacekeepers have been injured in previous incidents, which unifil blamed on israeli forces. the lebanese authorities say nine more people have been killed in israeli strikes on two villages north and south of beirut. the israeli army says hezbollah has again fired dozens of rockets into northern israel. 0ur correspondent anna foster is in beirut. unifil, which is the un peacekeeping mission in south lebanon, have once again issued a statement today. it's the third in three days because they are increasingly concerned about their peacekeepers coming under attack from israeli forces. now, they say again, their headquarters at naqoura, which is a well—known base that has been there for many years, has again, it seems, come into the crossfire of some sort of fighting that was going on between hezbollah and the idf. we know that the us president, joe biden, said that he was asking israel not to hit peacekeepers, because it's important to know that the peacekeepers, in this case, they are not fighting israeli forces,

and they are not defending the lebanese population. they are there to assist the lebanese army in maintaining that buffer zone in the south of lebanon. so there's been real international condemnation and concern that their safety might be at risk after five of them have been injured in just two days. and also, while there's so much focus in lebanon, of course, in gaza, the war there is continuing and the world food programme has said today that they are increasingly concerned about a fresh hunger crisis. they say they haven't been able to get food and supplies into the northern part of the strip since the beginning of this month. we know that 400,000 palestinians have been told again that they have to move from that area in northern gaza. and the hamas run health ministry says that 30 people were killed today in israeli air strikes injabalia. so again, real concern for the civilian population in gaza as that israeli military operation, it seems, starts to intensify once again there. anna foster. israel has denied accusations

it is deliberately targeting un buildings along the 2006 ceasefire line with lebanon, saying that the un mission should move to safer areas further north. it's been almost two weeks since israel invaded southern lebanon — with the aim, it said, of removing hezbollah weapons and infrastructure there. 7 to press that? message home, the israeli army has taken international journalists to?an undisclosed location?across the borderfor the first time. 0ur middle east correspondent lucy williamson and cameramanjoe phua were among?them. their access was restricted and the pictures — though not the editorial content — were checked for military security. we hugged the old ceasefire line dividing israel from lebanon. driving fast under the threat of hezbollah attack, israel's army broke through this border less than two weeks ago. now they're taking us in to show us one of the villages under their control.

the army had taken control here just a day or two before. the area still not clear of hezbollah fighters. we are literally in an area which we still haven't been neutralised, right? it's a war zone with all the explosions you can hear in the background. there was hidden terrorists here in this village, face to face battles. it means that my troops are seeing in their eyes, terrorists, and fight them in the streets. israel says these are limited, targeted raids. limited geographically, perhaps less so militarily. wow... wow. you can see the kind of fighting that has taken place here just in the last couple of days or so. hezbollah were clearly well prepared and well armed.

the army told us they'd found dozens of booby trapped houses here and demolished them. we only have their account of what happened here and were restricted in where we could go. this is 81mm mortars. this is what they wanted to show us. caches of weapons, including sophisticated anti—tank missiles, shoulder launched rockets and night scopes, some of them brand—new, still packed into boxes. anti—tank missile. 0ne anti—tank missile already semi—assembled. preparations for a cross—border attack into israel, the army said. this is, i can say, two times more or three times more than gaza in the weapons that this village contains. this, the army says, is why it's here, not for occupation. we don't want to hold these places. we want to clean them out from all the weapons and ammunition. that's what we want. after that, we are expecting

that the people will come back and understand that peace is better to them and terrorists controlling on them is a bad thing. but i leave it to the diplomat to solve. this is my guys fighting on the casbah. there's been bursts of small arms fire and artillery very close by. he says his forces are fighting hezbollah 500m away, despite israeli control on the ground here, this is still very much an active combat zone. the fighting gets closer. we're told to leave, fast. please, gentlemen, go faster, please. despite israel's small successes here, hezbollah has not disappeared from this fight. and israel's conflict with iran hangs over it. this is not a border war, but a regional one playing out along a border. lucy williamson, bbc

news, southern lebanon. let's speak to khalil helou in beirut. he is a military analyst and retired lebanese army general. thank you for talking to us, how important is the peacekeeping force in southern lebanon, unifil, and how does the lebanese army work alongside it?— the lebanese army work alonuside it? ., ., ., alongside it? the international force unifil— alongside it? the international force unifil mr _ alongside it? the international force unifil mr the _ alongside it? the international force unifil mr the presence i force unifil mr the presence didn't prevent the war previously and between israel and hezbollah. nevertheless their presence is extremely important because in peacetime they were the link between the lebanese army and israel. sometimes when there has been skirmishes across the border

they were working for appeasement. that presence also is psychologically important for the inhabitants of south lebanon. without their presence and do not think the inhabitants of south lebanon would have peaceful times between works. that presence is extremely important for us. as for the lebanese army, the lebanese army is in charge, according to the un security council, is in charge of restoring the sovereignty of the state of evident in south lebanon. successive lebanese governments since 2010 a turnover living sort of schizophrenic. 0n turnover living sort of schizophrenic. on one hand, unc 1701, no weapons should be

present south of the river except the lebanese army. and on the other hand, governmental communique, they recognised the right of hezbollah. this is a huge contradiction where the lebanese army has to deal with these sorts of things and politicians were always taking an attitude of denial when there were problems. the lebanese army was left on its own with day—to—day problems. we have so little time, general. the complications, difficulties, what can be done with the lebanese people caught in the middle? the with the lebanese people caught in the middle?— in the middle? the lebanese arm in in the middle? the lebanese army in south _ in the middle? the lebanese army in south lebanon - in the middle? the lebanese army in south lebanon is - in the middle? the lebanese army in south lebanon is notj army in south lebanon is not the fighting force, it is a security force, when you go to

the resolution, 1701, there should be ceasefire between lebanon and israel, they weather needs army is there to defend itself only. 0nce weather needs army is there to defend itself only. once there is ceasefire between hezbollah and issue, the lebanese army will be totally in charge in south lebanon. already the lebanese government informed the united states and the un that we are ready to send the lebanese army to self—evidently collect all the weaponry and hezbollah is ready to withdraw from the south. issue is not accepting now because it has upper hand and may be it goes beyond 1701, the dismantlement of hezbollah or the maximum degradation. we of hezbollah or the maximum degradation.— degradation. we have a lot of time, general, _

degradation. we have a lot of time, general, thank - degradation. we have a lot of time, general, thank you - degradation. we have a lot of time, general, thank you so l time, general, thank you so much, khalil helou speaking to us from beirut, we appreciate your expertise. now it's time for a look at today's sport with jane dougall. eight matches in the nations league on saturday — three of them are finished. croatia beat scotland 2—1, in zagreb — the visitors thought they had equalised in the last few minutes, but their goal was ruled offside. it finished goaless between bulgaria and luxemborg. kosovo beat lithuania 2—1. another five matches are under way — you can keep up to date with the scores on the bbc sport website and app. chelsea have kept their perfect start to the defence of their women's superleague title with a 2—1win over arsenal. player of the match colombia striker mayra ramirez opened the scoring in the fourth minute at the emirates with sandy baltimore doubling the champions lead with just the champions' lead with just over quarter of an hour gone.

arsenal hit back through caitlin foord in the second half but couldn't find an equaliser, they remain sixth in the table with just one win in four matches.... we are very disappointed with the result, with the start but also proud of the heart the players showed on the pitch. d0 players showed on the pitch. do ou players showed on the pitch. do you feel you're the man to lead the team forward as manager? i give my absolute everything, i think you certainly can see on the pitch the players give their absolute everything, that is what you can control. new zealand are still in with a chance of making the women's t20 world cup semi—finals after they beat sri lanka. sri lanka set a target of 116 to win with chamari athapaththu top—scoring with 35. georgia plimmer got her half—century and then sophie devine hit the winning runs as the kiwis chased the total with 15 balls to spare and won by eight wickets. it means new zealand are still third in group a, but separated from second—placed india only

by run rate. meanwhile, in the other game of the day — player of the match tazmin brits took the 2023 runners—up south africa to victory over bangladesh with a steady 42 off 41 balls. the south african side winning by seven wickets to edge closer to booking their place in the semi—finals. novak djokovic is into the final of the shanghai masters, beating america's taylor fritz in straight sets. djokovic — who's 37 — was struggling with a hip problem towards the end. however, during the match, he played some of his best tennis of the season, winning 6—4, 7—6. and awaiting him in the final will be jannick sinner. he's the player at the bottom of your screen. the 23—year—old beat tomas machatc in straight sets, becoming the first italian to reach the final in shanghai. it's his 64th win of the year to confirm his status as the year—end number one player in the world. it is amazing, something what you dream of when you are a kid, when you're young, to reach the number one now having

the year and is a different and special feeling. the year and is a different and specialfeeling. this happens special feeling. this happens during specialfeeling. this happens during the tournament, i no tomorrow is going to be an important day, finals ahead, it means so much to me. the top seed aryna sabalenka is through to the final of the wuhan 0pen after beating coco gauff in three sets. world number four gauff took the first set against her rival and fellow us open champion, but sabalenka dug in afterwards to take the next two. she'll play one of the home favourites in the final — zheng qin—wen who beat wang xin—yu in their all chinese semifinal. great britain have lost the first two races in sailing's most prestigious competiton — the america's cup final. there was disappointment for skipper sir ben ainslie and his crew who're up against the holders new zealand. it's a best—of—13 series off the coast of barcelona. in the 173—year history of the competition,

great britain have never won. and that's all the sport for now. thank you, jane dougal. 0ur breaking news over the last couple of hours, former scottish first minister alex salmond has died at the age of 69, he was taken out and believed to have collapsed after taking part in a conference, seen here only this morning at that conference, the institute for cultural diplomacy, a forum taking place in north macedonia. that is the news and many tributes have been pouring in. hello there. today we've had some sunshine, some rain and the winds are picking up this evening as well. tomorrow, sunday, should be a quieter, drier day. could be a bit colder than today, but the winds will be lighter. we've got some wetter, windier weather around at the moment due to that area of low pressure. that's going to move away — it'll be replaced by a ridge of high pressure for the second

half of the weekend, hence things calming down a bit. some strong winds around though during this evening, could be touching gale force through the irish sea, the north channel. it's a north—westerly wind that's blowing in colder air and blowing in a lot of showers early on, but those showers will get pushed away into the north sea and eventually the winds will drop, skies will clear, that's all pointing to a colder night. we're looking at a frost across many inland parts of scotland. could be down to —3 celsius or so, and a risk of frost for northern england and northern ireland. it'll be a cold start wherever you are first thing on sunday. sunny to begin with, cloud will increase through the day from the west. a lot of it will be high cloud — it will turn the sunshine hazy, but in the afternoon the cloud will thicken to give a few spots of rain to northern ireland and the far west of scotland. the breeze may freshen a little here, but otherwise the winds will be lighter. but a chilly day — temperatures lower than on saturday, 9—11 celsius. into that colder air,

we may well find this area of low pressure moving in from the atlantic. that's going to bring some rain and push its way eastwards overnight, and into our monday morning we've still got some rain for eastern parts of england. that will move away fairly quickly and leave a lot of cloud for england and wales, with the sunnier skies further north in scotland, northern ireland, perhaps the far north of england. should be a dry day for many parts of the country on monday, and temperatures are beginning to rise —12—15 celsius, but those temperatures are likely to get higher for tuesday. we'll have a stronger southerly wind that will lift the temperatures. it comes with a lot of cloud, mind you, limited amount of sunshine, but at least again it should be dry. those temperatures perhaps reaching 15 degrees in scotland and 17—18 in southern parts of england and wales. maybe on wednesday, across some eastern parts of england, temperatures could be briefly even higher. the week ahead is looking much milder. there will be some stronger winds at times and very unsettled, especially from the middle of the week with some rain from the atlantic.

this is bbc news, the headlines... alex salmond, the former first minister of scotland and one of the best—known scottish nationalists, has died aged 69. it is understood he collapsed after delivering a speech at an international conference in north macedonia. salmond was the first

pro—independence politician to hold the role of first minister, which he did