scotland's heritage. 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 busts of small arms fire, artillery close by, despite israeli control despite israeli control on the ground here this is on the ground here this is still very much in still very much in active combat zone. who led the country active combat zone. still very much still very much an active combat zone. hello, i'm karin giannone. an active combat zone. hello, i'm karin giannone. alex salmond, the former first alex salmond, the former first minister of scotland minister of scotland and a dominant figure in scottish politics and a dominant figure in scottish politics for decades, has died for decades, has died at the age of 69. at the age of 69.

the former mp and msp, 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.

and the uk prime minister sir keir starmer has released a statement saying... 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. let's speak to catriona renton, our scotland correspondent. so much shock across the board at the shocking, sad news. find at the shocking, sad news. and in turn shock— at the shocking, sad news. and in turn shock to _ at the shocking, sad news. fific in turn shock to people today,

this news, as you said alex salmond was speaking this morning at a conference for the institute for cultural diplomacy in north macedonia, talking about the tenth anniversary of the scottish independence referendum, at a lunch with other leaders this afternoon and then passed away. that is the latest information. as you were saying, tributes coming on all evening from across the political divide, not brave course agreed with alex salmond's fuse with the constitution but i think there is an overwhelming level of respect for alex salmond's contribution to politics, to politics, uk politics, scottish politics, uk politics, scottish politics and indeed to world politics and indeed to world politics over his lengthy career, he was elected in 1987 as a westminster mp for banff and buchan, going on to lead the snp from 1990 until 2000

and once again from 2004 until 2014, that is when the scottish independence referendum took place, momentum had been building very much behind mr salmond's yes campaign but it was not to be in the end. 55% of scots voted against becoming independent, voting to remain independent, voting to remain in the uk. that didn't curb mr salmond's passion for politics, he set up as you said the alba party and intended to stand in the scottish elections in 2026 in holyrood, his last day, tweeting this afternoon on social media. also of course speaking at that conference, no indication there was anything wrong and certainly from the reactions we have heard today, people talking about mr

salmond, we have heard from nicola sturgeon. she succeeded alex salmond. as first minister. known fortheir alex salmond. as first minister. known for their cause political relationship which fractured irreparably in recent years. allegations of sexual conduct made against mr salmond, whether criminal trial, cleared of all of the charges against him. the relationship never really got back, we would say. she said in a statement on it, i am shocked and sorry to learn of the death of alex salmond, i cannot pretend the events of the last four years which led to the breakdown of a relationship did not happen, it would not be right for me to try. however, it remains the fact that for many years alex was an

incredibly significant figure incredibly significant figure in my life, my mentorfor more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in uk politics. she like so many other sending her condolences to mr salmond's widow mara and his many family and friends. as we learn more about what happened in macedonia today, we will let you know. —— widow moira. haw you know. -- widow moira. how is it thought _ you know. -- widow moira. how is it thought it _ you know. -- widow moira. how is it thought it was _ you know. -- widow moira. how is it thought it was of _ you know. —— widow moira. how is it thought it was of such a towering figure in the scottish independence movement will affect the campaign? i independence movement will affect the campaign?- affect the campaign? i think the death — affect the campaign? i think the death of— affect the campaign? i think the death of alex _ affect the campaign? i think the death of alex salmond l affect the campaign? i think| the death of alex salmond of course has rocked the political establishment and politics in scotland and of course the uk, he was such a well—known name, so synonymous with independence and probably to be fair the person who in his name was the person who in his name was the person who in his name was the person who had scotland courses to independence in 300 years. that vote was close, 45% four years, 55% for now, as alex salmond would always have said,

it is about more than one man, it is about more than one man, it is a movement, he went on to form the alba party, another pro—independence party grouping together with other pro—independence forces, still supporting independence. in recent times we have seen the snp looking at different ways to strategise. still line one, page one in their manifesto at the general election. but how independence is achieved is an issue for all of the pro—independence movements in scotland. and still we hear from polling that the numbers haven't really changed very much, still not far off 50—50 on each side. while the tectonic plates haven't moved particularly, there is still very strong independence movement in scotland. 0f movement in scotland. of course, salmond's name will forever be synonymous with that.

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, and to one of government, the only person and to one of government, the only person ever lead a 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 strengths and personality of alec, 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 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 alec but for so many people who have driven our movement toward

scottish independence. ian blackford. 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. 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. 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. a couple of miles into lebanese territory. 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. khalil helou is a military analyst and retired lebanese army general. he served 28 years in the army as a specialist officer. he told me about the role of unifil peacekeepers and how they work alongside the lebanese army. the international force, unifil, their 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 have 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 without their presence i do not think the inhabitants of south lebanon would have peaceful times between works. peaceful times between wars. 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 were living a sort of schizophrenia. 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, when put in charge, they recognised the of hezbollah to arm and fight israel. 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 the lebanese army was left on its own. the complications, difficulties, what can be done with the lebanese people caught in the middle? the lebanese army in south lebanon is not the fighting force, it is a security force, when you go to the resolution, 1701, it says there should be ceasefire between lebanon and israel,

the army is there to defend itself only. once there is ceasefire between hezbollah and israel, 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 the south to collect all the weaponry and hezbollah is ready to withdraw from the south. israel is not accepting now because it has upper hand and may be it goes beyond 1701, the dismantlement of hezbollah or the maximum degradation. khalil helou. the indian politician, baba siddique, has been shot dead in the city of mumbai.

reports say that gunmen opened fire on the former opposition minister near the office of his son, who is also a politician. mr siddique was a senior figure in the state of maharashtra, which is heading to polls next month. two people have been arrested over the killing but a motive is still unclear. people are returning to their homes in florida to assess the damage from hurricane milton. the storm caused extensive destruction, killing at least 17 people , but rescue workers say that total could rise. more than two million homes and businesses are still without power at the height of the storm, whilst thousands had left the region to seek safety, a few influencers stayed behind risking death for clicks and cash. merly thomas form bbc verify has more. how many of y'all can hear me? while most people were trying to escape hurricane milton, michael smalls junior says he went towards it to livestream himself with nothing but an air mattress and an umbrella.

why? to make money. the winds are picking up and i don't know how to swim. and this isn't the first time he's done this. a few weeks ago, he says he went out with a different prop, a tent in hurricane helene. he's one of several content creators on platforms like kik, a social media platform for live streaming, who've made money from pulling reckless stunts and risking their lives in these hurricanes. you know, you know, make a little money, i didn't make, i didn't make 10,000 off of that. but i definitely, it definitely, you know, paid a couple bills off of that. while relief workers were trying to help those in need in tampa, florida, in a mandatory evacuation zone, michael decided to stay. you know, i take safety very seriously, to a degree. i guess you can say it's irresponsible. but for me, i would say it's a calculated risk. say, for example, you did get into trouble. some people might say that you're kind of taking away resources from somewhere else. yeah, i've definitely heard that. and, you know, it's definitely a sticky situation. but at the end of the day, i don't want to pay... for my dumb decision, i don't want to put other

people's lives at risk and people try to come save me. so i mean, they would definitely come and save you because they're emergency services. don't save me. i know what i'm getting myself into. don't save me. for others, it was a case of life or death. millions of people in florida rushed to leave their homes as hurricane milton hit the west coast, and florida undertook the largest evacuation effort in years, local tampa officials said. ignoring mandatory evacuation orders puts lives at risk. when individuals disregard these warnings, they not only jeopardise their own safety, but also create additional some digital experts say the onus is on platforms allowing people to monetise the sort of content. kik, the platform that mike used, said: michael's profile and his content from the hurricane is still available on the platform. merlyn thomas, bbc news, washington. the white house has published

a medical report which says kamala harris is in "excellent health" and has the "physical and mental resiliency" to serve as president. the vice president's doctor has released a letter summarising her medical history and status. the move is seen as putting pressure on her republican rival, donald trump, to publish his own health records. and in new mexico, an array of hot air balloons have been dotting the morning skies across the city of albuquerque all week. the international balloon fiesta is said to be the largest in the world according to organisers with more than 500 hot air balloons ascending to the skies. the festival concludes tomorrow. it's been an unsettled start to the weekend, with low pressure pushing several bands of rain southwards across the uk on saturday, but we did manage some spells of sunshine between these successive areas of rain. it was a mild day, particularly across southern areas of england and wales. top temperatures reached 17 degrees, but in cardiff we've got a drop of four degrees celsius on the way

as we head into sunday. low pressure then clears off out of the way. a ridge of high pressure follows, bringing a better day for many of us on sunday. however, it is going to be a chilly old start to the day underneath these clearing skies, temperatures are dropping like a stone at the moment. we've got a few showers coming and going across the far north coast of wales, parts of coastal cheshire and into northern areas of scotland, but otherwise it's dry. lowest temperatures heading into sunday morning, about minus threee degrees celsius. so, a cold start to the day then for sunday. but underneath this ridge of high pressure, a lot of fine weather and for some a fine sunrise, some of this high cloud in the west getting illuminated by the rising sun. through the day, well, there probably will be a few patches of rain getting into northern ireland and western scotland, but nothing particularly heavy in the afternoon. and for the most part, i think temperatures will probably reach around ten to 13 celsius. well, that takes us into sunday night and we're looking at a more substantial pulse of rain as a weak area of low pressure scoots its way eastwards across england and wales.

scotland and northern ireland having largely dry weather with a few mist and fog patches and again a few patches of frost. into monday, the worst of the rain will clear away from central and eastern england, but it might well stay damp, even into the afternoon, for some. the best of the weather on monday for scotland and northern ireland, where it should stay dry with spells of sunshine. if anything, temperatures coming up by an odd degree or so, and generally getting close to or a little bit above average for the time of year. tuesday looks like being a drier day for all of us. however, there's likely to be quite a lot of low cloud first thing. some mist and fog patches around as well. probably see a few bright or sunny spells breaking through that, particularly to the north of high ground, so northern scotland might be one of the sunniest places. it's turning milder, though, 14 degrees for glasgow and edinburgh, a 17 for cardiff and for london. it gets even milder into the middle portion of the week, could hit 20 degrees in london, but the week's often going to be quite wet and at times really quite windy. bye for now.

newscast 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 from 2007 to 2014. he led the yes campaign during the scottish independence campaign and resigned after voters backed remaining in the uk. the un world food programme says no food aid has entered the north of gaza since the 1st of october. the humanitarian group says it's unclear how long the limited food supplies previously delivered can last. 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 wounded in previous incidents. now on bbc news, al fayed: predator at harrods, episode 3. yeah, i went back to harrods about a year ago.

probably the first time since i left.