as the presidential campaign continues across key swing states — kamala harris releases her medical records, and calls on donald trump to do the same. hello, i'm carl nasman. alex salmond — the former leader of the scottish national party, who led scotland to the brink of independence in the 2014 referendum — has died at the age of 69. he reportedly collapsed after speaking at an event in north macedonia earlier on saturday — this is one of the last pictures taken of him at that event. mr salmond was a formidable campaigner for independence in scotland — and led the snp to power there in 2007 — becoming the country's first minister for seven years. among the dozens of tributes — the king said in a statement: my wife and i are greatly saddened to hear of the sudden death of alex salmond. his devotion to scotland drove his decades of public service. we extend our deep condolences to his family and loved ones

at this time. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon looks back at alex salmond's life. closer to ending the union with england than alex. the greatest cam aiun england than alex. the greatest campaign in _ england than alex. the greatest campaign in scottish _ england than alex. the greatest campaign in scottish democratic history. is campaign in scottish democratic histo . , ., ., ., , history. is a formidable political _ history. is a formidable political figure - history. is a formidable political figure who - history. is a formidable i political figure who guided history. is a formidable - political figure who guided the party that for decades was on the fringes of politics to the heart of power. changing the political landscape of the united kingdom and delivering a referendum on independence. this is referendum on independence. this |- , ., referendum on independence. thisi , ., ~ this is sad news that alex hammond _ this is sad news that alex hammond has _ this is sad news that alex hammond has died - this is sad news that alex hammond has died and i l this is sad news that alex - hammond has died and i extend my deepest condolences to his wife moira and his family. this is a moment that individuals will reflect on the exceptional

leadership that alex has given to public— leadership that alex has given to public life in scotland with his works in parliament and especially as the first minister of scotland. while stud in: minister of scotland. while studying economics - minister of scotland. while studying economics that i minister of scotland. while i studying economics that alex salmond joined the scottish national party, he worked as an oil economist but politics soon exerted its pull.— exerted its pull. alex salmond has won the — exerted its pull. alex salmond has won the leadership - exerted its pull. alex salmond has won the leadership of - exerted its pull. alex salmond has won the leadership of the | has won the leadership of the scottish— has won the leadership of the scottish national— has won the leadership of the scottish national party. - has won the leadership of the scottish national party. filexl scottish national party. alex salmond led _ scottish national party. alex salmond led the _ scottish national party. alex salmond led the snp - scottish national party. alex salmond led the snp in - scottish national party. salmond led the snp in the 19905 salmond led the snp in the 1990s but salmond led the snp in the 19905 but it salmond led the snp in the 1990s but it was during his second stint that his party became a major political force. it is good to be back.— it is good to be back. within three years. _ it is good to be back. within three years, the _ it is good to be back. within three years, the snp - it is good to be back. within three years, the snp were l it is good to be back. within | three years, the snp were in government in edinboro. then in 2011, he pulled off a few thousand thought impossible, winning a majority at holyrood. alex salmond negotiated a referendum on independence with david cameron. he was a formidable and inescapable voice in the debate that followed in on the airwaves,

and the towns and cities across scotland. in the end, the referendum result was no and alex salmond stepped down his first minister and snp leader, carrying on the fight for independence of the new political party.- independence of the new i political party._ the political party. speaking the other day — political party. speaking the other day of _ political party. speaking the other day of him _ political party. speaking the other day of him speaking i political party. speaking the i other day of him speaking with a colleague at the royal bank of scotland and outlining a strategy for achieving independence are scotland and i think_ independence are scotland and i think he — independence are scotland and i think he thought about that every— think he thought about that every day of his life since being _ every day of his life since being a _ every day of his life since being a young man. and nearly brought— being a young man. and nearly brought it _ being a young man. and nearly brought it to fruition. and more recent _ brought it to fruition. and more recent years, - brought it to fruition. fific more recent years, there were controversies. he was cleared of sexual assault in 2020 and also fell out with this protege and successor is first minister. tonight, she said...

the former mp died after being taken ill in north macedonia. it is understood he collapsed after giving a speech. alex salmond led the snp to political dominance in scotland and pushed independence to the top of the agenda. in oratory, strategist and campaigner whose voice travelled far beyond the boundaries of scotland. former first minister of scotland alex salmond — who has died at the age of 69. to the middle east — where the un peacekeeping mission in southern lebanon, unifil, says a fifth soldier has been wounded — but it's not yet known who is responsible for the fire. the incident took place at the un base in naqoura — near the border between israel and lebanon. four un peacekeepers were wounded in previous incidents, which unifil blamed on israeli

incidents, which unifil blamed on israeli forces. meanwhile, lebanon says nine more people have been killed in israeli strikes on two villages to the north and south of beirut — while the israeli military says hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into northern israel. and in the last few hours, a0 nations — including the uk — that support unifil in southern lebanon have released a joint statement calling for an immediate halt to the attacks on peacekeepers. our correspondent anna foster is following from 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. its been nearly two weeks since israel invaded southern lebanon — with the aim, it said, of removing hezbollah weapons and infrastructure there. trying to press that message home, the israeli army has — for the first time — taken internationaljournalists to an undisclosed location across the border. our middle east correspondent lucy williamson and cameraman joe 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 still hasn't been neutralised. blast it's a war zone with all the implications you can hear in the background. hear in the background. there was hidden terrorists there was hidden terrorists here in this village, here in this village, face to face battles. face to face battles. it means that my troops it means that my troops are seeing their eyes, are seeing their eyes, terrorists, and fight them terrorists, and fight them in the streets. in the streets. israel says these are israel says these are limited, targeted raids. limited, targeted raids. limited geographically, limited geographically, perhaps. perhaps. less so militarily. less so militarily. dozens of booby trapped houses wow, wow. wow, wow. you can see the kind you can see the kind of fighting that has taken of fighting that has taken place here just in the last place here just in the last couple of days or so. couple of days or so. hezbollah were clearly well hezbollah were clearly well prepared and well armed. prepared and well armed. the army told us they'd found 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.

that's what we want. after that, we are expecting that the people will come back and understand that peace is better for them and terrorists controlling them is a bad thing. but i leave it to the diplomats to solve. these are my guys. these are my guys, fighting. there's been bursts of small arms fire and artillery very close by. he says his forces are fighting hezbollah 500 metres 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. 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. go, go, please go. meanwhile the un world food programme says no food aid has been able to enter northern gaza since the start of this month. the warning comes as up to 400 thousand palestinians still living in the area have been told to evacuate for their own safety. israel has been carrying out a major offensive to try to prevent hamas from regrouping. health officials in gaza say that around 150 people have been killed in the israeli operation, which has focused onjabalia — the biggest refugee camp in gaza. joining me live now is frank lowenstein, who served as special envoy for israeli—palestinian negotiations for the us state department. 40 nations that send troops to the un lebanon peacekeeping force have now condemned what they call �*attacks' on troops there. how much risk does this pose for groups on all sides here but particularly for israel? a unifil spokesman has said he fears an escalation southern lebanon could spiral out of control with catastrophic impact for everyone".

the rules of engagement and the extent to which they're trying to comply with international law and lebanon and in gaza. and he really underscores israel's international isolation and 40 countries, they are talking about an arms embargo and puts the us and very difficult position of being the one to defend israel against all of these kinds of allegations. in all these questions in the is to keep them out of southern lebanon in 1701 as very clear that they're not capable of doing that and i think everyone needs to take a good hard look at their mandate going forward. haifa good hard look at their mandate going forward-— going forward. how important is this peacekeeping _ going forward. how important is this peacekeeping mission - going forward. how important is this peacekeeping mission to . this peacekeeping mission to this peacekeeping mission to this? , ., , .,

this? there is a baseline to accomplish _ this? there is a baseline to accomplish this _ this? there is a baseline to accomplish this in - this? there is a baseline to accomplish this in 1701- this? there is a baseline to accomplish this in 1701 and| accomplish this in 1701 and hezbollah has more or less agreed to enforce 1701 going forward i think the question forward i think the question for israel is, what is the enforcement mechanism behind this and the united states and they have essentially been playing that role but they have been able to do that and engage militarily and so hezbollah has just ignored them in 1701 processes really fallen apart a nd processes really fallen apart and we need to take a good hard look at that going forward. a unifil spokesman has said he fears an escalation southern lebanon could spiral out of control with catastrophic impact for everyone". do you agree? meanwhile, israels offensive in northern gaza we are at a park where lebanon and gaza, it is the israeli response to the iranian attacks thatis response to the iranian attacks that is going to determine whether we escalate into a full—blown regional war or get to about de—escalation and it

is with the united states like to see, we have been very clear about that and understand the presidential election is on a razor thin margin right now and in the kind of external event could really tip the scales and if there is a regional war there that really no one in the united states wants a major energy crisis that raises gas prices, they could really have a negative impact. meanwhile, israels offensive in northern gaza is ramping back up once again. people are told to be on the move yet again.— move yet again. that is an impossible _ move yet again. that is an impossible situation - move yet again. that is an impossible situation for i move yet again. that is an l impossible situation for the civilians and heartbreaking and there are some legitimate concerns being raised now about what the intentions are there and in benjamin netanyahu's coalition talking mcrae got all of northern gaza and resettling it with israelis and that's the thing that will be totally unacceptable to the united states and everyone else. if you take a good hard look at what israel's in game is a

northern gaza. in a show of support for hezbollah, which iran arms and finances, the speaker of the iranian parliament, mohammad bagher ghalibaf, on saturday visited the site of an earlier deadly israeli strike. a very difficult situation, allow the proxies used to create a deterrent effect and in syria and iraq and in other places. that's really been called into question as they have destroyed much of lebanon's military capability and we have seen an external threat. i think iran is going around and trying to bolster the confidence of some of the militias saying hey, we are not abandoning you but iran does not want a war and certainly not want a war and certainly not of the united states in a be interesting to it and they will have that the decision whether to escalate or put this

on the path to de—escalation i'm sure united states is working to working to try to keep this under control. no one benefits from a global energy crisis along those lines. always good to have your perspective thank you very much. with less than a month to go to the us election, the democratic nominee, kamala harris, has released her detailed medical records. the summary from the vice president's physicians says she remains in "excellent health" since her last physical exam in april. ms harris is seeking to draw a contrast with republican opponent, donald trump, who has not released extensive records this campaign season. she's been speaking to reporters a short while ago. a further example of his lack of transparency and on top of his unwillingness to debate again, his unwillingness to do an interview with 60 minutes

which, again is a part of the norm of what anyone running for president of the united states does and i think it is obvious that his team, at least, does not want the american people to see everything about who he is. donald trump's most detailed records came more than 6 years ago, in 2018. his campaign released a statement saying "president trump has voluntarily released updates from his personal physician. all have concluded he is in perfect and excellent health to be commander in chief." there's been no word from trump himself yet, he's been attending a roundtable event with latino voters in las vegas. novemberfive, i november five, i believe novemberfive, i believe is going to go down as may be the most important day, i hope, right? mr congressman? i hope it will because it will show will be due but it will be the most important day in the history of the country. and i said that with 2016 and i meant it, but this blows it away

because 2016, we had problems but we have a problem of survival of our country. because we are run by a very stupid and probably evil people. with me is our news correspondent, rowan bridge. why did she release these records and why now? the level of detail in the degree of personal information that it does give out is largely a clean bill of health. it talks about her skin condition which can cause a rash, previously had issues with seasonal allergies but both of those are under control and none of them are causing an issue, also a family issue of colon cancer but she is up—to—date with our

preventative measures including colonoscopies and maintaining out the love style which is no mean feat in the campaign trail and she possess the physical and she possess the physical and this time to make mental resilience to be president. it is not the easiestjob in the road to be president but why did she release these records and white with so many days to go until election day? just and white with so many days to go until election day?— go until election day? just a few weeks _ go until election day? just a few weeks between - go until election day? just a few weeks between the - few weeks between the presidential vote and when these records have been released. i suspect for the harris campaign, they see it as a way to contrast with former president trump, both in terms of transparency and what they would say is there candidates vigour and health considering the age gap between harris and donald trump and she wants to portray herself as the young candidate. taste portray herself as the young candidate-— portray herself as the young candidate. we expect to see donald from's _ candidate. we expect to see donald from's medical- candidate. we expect to see l donald from's medical records before november five? donald from's medical records before novemberfive? taste donald from's medical records before november five? we have not seen his _

before november five? we have not seen his full— before november five? we have not seen his full medical - not seen his full medical records being released and i think we are unlikely to see them before election day. they have released updates from his personal physician and the physician who treated them after the assassination attempt but i was not as detailed as will be a scene from kamala harris and it is unlikely that we'll get into more details from him. we'll get into more details from him-— the parent company of p&0 ferries — which was feared to be on the verge of cancelling the announcement of a billion pound investment in the uk — will now attend a government summit next week. the investment appeared at risk after transport secretary louise haigh described p&0 as a rogue operator over the sacking of hundreds of workers in 2022. the prime minister said her comments did not reflect the governments view. it comes 100 days after labour won the general election. sir keir has been speaking to our political editor chris mason: when prime ministers want to talk up dynamism, jobs, economic growth — look where they so often come.

this is the london gateway port in thurrock in essex run by dp world. it wants to expand this place, bringing morejobs. the thing is dp world also owns p&0 ferries. two years ago, they sacked around 800 staff, replacing them with cheaper workers. speaking to itvjust the other day, the transport secretary louise haigh said: hello. how you doing? hearing this, the company went wobbly on whether it would turn up at a major uk investment summit happening on monday and on the bbc�*s newscast podcast last night, i asked the prime minister what he made of it. that doesn't seem to be the open welcome to those that might be bringing money and jobs into the uk. well, look, ithink we'll resolve that. the transport secretary said p&0 was a rogue operator and argued that consumers should boycott the company. was she right to say that?

that's not the view of the government. a blunt and public rebuke — dp world now seemingly assured though the investment likely to go ahead. to the bigger picture and the prime minister's first three and a bit months in office, he's been in thejob 100 days. when i look at what it was i wanted to achieve in the first 100 days and ask myself, "have we done what i wanted to do? what i planned for us to do?" the answer is yes. really? look, along the way there have been bumps and side winds which i prefer we hadn't bumped into and pushed by. such as? well, look, you know stuff on donations, staffing issues, that sort of thing. and three months in, keir starmer is finding keir starmer how is finding the job? much tougher than anything before, he said. but there are up sides having yourfamily living where you work. it's been very tough and friday

nights are almost always eaten up now with work. that is fine, that is understandable. but i do still carve out time when i can. when our children come back from school, about li—ish, they pop down to my office in downing street and if i'm around i can see them forfive or ten minutes. that would never have happened before, because they'd have gone back home to kentish town, i would be in westminster or wherever. the prime minister's desire to sit down with us on newscast is telling in itself. he's had no honeymoon in office and is trying to reset how he is seen and what he is trying to achieve. chris mason, bbc news. let's turn to some other news around the world. an indian opposition politician has been shot dead in mumbai. gunmen opened fire on baba siddiqui near the office of his son, who is also a politician. mr siddique was a prominent figure, including serving as a minister 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.

polish prime minister donald tusk has announced plans to temporarily suspend the right to asylum, as part of a new strategy to tackle migration. tusk told a party conference the right to asylum was being abused by people smugglers, as a part of what warsaw calls �*hybrid warfare' waged by belarus and russia. poland has seen a huge increase in illegal migration from belarus since 2021. the new strategy will be presented later this week. four people have died in a fuel station explosion in chechnya. emergency authorities in the russian region say two children were amongst those killed in grozny. they say a fuel tank exploded, causing a huge fire, with five more people injured. ukraine's president zelensky says his country's troops are facing very difficult conditions on the frontlines in donetsk and zaporizhzhia. he's also described attempts by moscow to push back ukrainian troops in areas they occupy in russia's kursk region.

and in new mexico, hot air balloons have dotted the morning skies across the city of albuquerque all week. the international balloon fiesta is said to be the largest in the world, organisers say more than 500 hot air balloons ascend to the skies. the festival concludes on sunday. concluding on sunday and those penguins and maybe some chickens, it will be floating over the skies of new mexico and more on bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. 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, iii 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.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello and welcome to political thinking, a conversation with rather

than a news interrogation of someone who shapes our political thinking about what has shaped theirs. this week, when israel has been remembering the victims of the massacres of october the 7th, and when the world is holding its breath to see if the middle east descends into all out war, tzipi hotovely has been the voice of her country. israel's ambassador to the uk was hand—picked by benjamin netanyahu when he saw her make her points in characteristically robust style on a tv talk show. he asked the self—proclaimed religious right winger to go first into politics, and then to abandon that and make the transition into diplomacy, becoming one of the country's leading diplomats. we recorded this interview on thursday before yom kippur, before the events that may even now be developing in the middle east. ambassador hotovely, thank you very much

indeed forjoining me on political thinking. hello.