a world first for spacex, as it achieves a successful fifth launch and return of its starship rocket booster. tributes have been paid to alex salmond, scotland's former first minister, who has died at the age of 69. hello, i'm lauren taylor. in the last few minutes, the united nations secretary—general has warned that any attacks against peacekeepers "may constitute a war crime", and he said they would be a breach of international law. it follows as series of incidents in lebanon over the last week in which peacekeeping troops were injured. antonio guterres said peacekeepers are in breach of international law, including international humanitarian law. "they may constitute a war crime," he said. a spokesman for the un peacekeeping agency has accused israel over a series

of incidents over the last week in which peacekeeping troops were injured. andrea tenenti said the incidents in lebanon, were very concerning and at least one of them appeared to be deliberate. israel's prime minister has called on the peacekeepers to withdraw. the events happened at bases in the area of southern lebanon above the so—called blue line, which separates israel from lebanon. the un blamed israeli forces for injuring four peacekeepers in two separate actions — a fifth was injured on friday, though it's not known who fired on that occasion. we'll have that interview with the un peacekeeping spokesperson injust a moment first, wyre davies reports from jerusalem. at least four un peacekeepers have been injured in recent days as a result of israeli fire against unifil positions along or near the blue line. ever since israeli troops crossed into lebanon tensions have been rising. there was international condemnation today, after two israeli tanks forced their way into a un base. israel later said it was because they came under hezbollah fire.

the un has this far rejected israeli calls to leave, saying it has a vital job to do. but binyamin netanyahu sees different, appealing directly to the un secretary—general he demanded the withdrawal of un blue helmets from the danger zone. mr secretary—general, get the unifil forces out of harm's way. it should be done right now, immediately. israel is fighting hezbollah inside lebanon on the ground and from the air. israeli warplanes hit a market place in nabatieh in the south yesterday, and today a ioo—year—old mosque in a village near the border was destroyed. israel is also hitting targets deeper into lebanon, sometimes away from hezbollah strongholds. at least 15 people were killed in strikes on three villages in the north and centre, said the lebanese authority. there were also deadly attacks to the east in the beqaa valley. israel is now fully

merged on two fronts. israel is now fully immersed on two fronts. dozens of people were reportedly killed in gaza as israeli troops lay siege to northern parts of the territory around a refugee camp. the israeli army has ordered tens of thousands of civilians to leave, but many of them forced to leave their homes several times in the last year say they have nowhere to go. "this is a process of attrition, a siege with artillery shelling", says this aid worker. "there are tanks and occupation forces outside the school walls. we need the world to intervene, to help the woulded and get medicines for the sick." aid agencies say there a worsening humanitarian crisis in parts of the north, there is a risks of starvation, says the world food programme and a vital polio vaccination programme is being jeopardised. as more israeli troops and tanks surround the area, whatever plan the israeli military has, it does not bode well for the hundreds of thousands of civilians still trapped here.

with the latest developments and mr netanyahu's extraordinary intervention, it is clear there will be no imminent breakthrough in either gaza or lebanon and with the spectre of an expected israeli response to iran's recent missile attack, the pentagon has tonight said it is sending is an advance missile defence system to israel, with american military personnel boots on the ground to operate it. wyre davies, bbc news, jerusalem. as we said, the spokesman for the un's peacekeeeping body has been talking to the bbc about the incidents in southern lebanon. andrea tenenti talked to our correspondent hugo bachega. how do you react to what happened today? well, it is very concerning what happened today, what happened the day before or what happened three days ago, what happened in the last several days, several attacks against our peacekeepers. today, we had israeli forces entering inside one of our position in the middle of the night. they stay there for 45 minutes, damaging the entrance,

and leaving shortly after, and then there was an explosion immediately one hour later outside a base, with smoke, and our peace keepers, 15, although they were wearing masks, they had irritation of the skin, gastrointestinal problems and they are now recovering. so the situation is serious, has been serious, as i said, since idf decided and informed us they would enter inside lebanese territory for this targeted incurions, and after that they asked the mission to leave some of the positions close to the blue line, and there was an unanimous decision to stay, because that is our role, we are here because the security council wanted us to be here, and we are still in all the positions. gina abercrombie—winstanley, former us ambassador and senior nonresident scholar at the atlantic council spoke about how the us might respond

to netanyahu's demands. we have heard from the president already, his concerns ash the safety an security of the united nations forces, you know, blue helmets are all round the world, the observation that one member state cannot determine what they do and where they are situated, when indeed they are the expression of the international community, is spot on. that is why the united states has expressed concern. if states has expressed concern. hindeed states has expressed concern. if indeed they are forced to move, without the decision of the united nations, a security council, this of course would undermine their standing and position anywhere in the world, and it is important that a rules—based organisation, the rules—based organisation, the rules—based society we are trying for internationally, be

“p trying for internationally, be up held, by every member state of the united nations. 50 up held, by every member state of the united nations.— of the united nations. 50 do ou of the united nations. 50 do you think — of the united nations. so do you think there _ of the united nations. so do you think there is _ of the united nations. so do you think there is going - of the united nations. so do you think there is going to l of the united nations. so do | you think there is going to be some push back from the us against israel, on this particular issue of what unifil does? ~ . ., , particular issue of what unifil does? ~ . . , ~ ., does? well, certainly we know that the president _ does? well, certainly we know that the president has - does? well, certainly we know that the president has already| that the president has already expressed his concern, he has said publicly that he is telling the israelis privately to protect the unifil force, telling the israelis privately to protect the unifilforce, to protect the blue helmets and to ensure they are not causing harm, this message has also come from the secretary of defence, i am sure it is certainly coming from the secretary of state as well. this is a unified position, one that should be expected for any member of the un to take. we have heard _ member of the un to take. we have heard today that the pentagon has said that theically send another missile defence, known as thad to israel, how significant a move is that, it involves some american troops i believe to operate it? it american troops i believe to operate it?—

operate it? it does, it does. well, that — operate it? it does, it does. well, that has _ operate it? it does, it does. well, that has been - operate it? it does, it does. well, that has been the - operate it? it does, it does. | well, that has been the ploy operate it? it does, it does. i well, that has been the ploy to israel before, it was deployed to the united arab emirates as well, it has had deployments round the world, it involves about 100 troops to ensure it functionings as designed. we are keeping in mind although it does add additional american forces to the region, it is not an offensive weapon, it is a weapon that he is purely defensive, it does not use missiles to be effective. it used kinetic energy to take down missiles and so i believe, certainly, that us leadership is thinking that as defensive, purely defensive weapon, it is not adding to the offensive capabilities for, you know, to israel, so, it should not be seen as an escalation as it were, of us forces in the region. it is defensive only. israel has said it will respond in some way to iran's missile

attack, the latest one, what are you expecting that response, what form are you expecting that response to take? ~ . ., , , take? well, increasingly, the messa . e take? well, increasingly, the message from _ take? well, increasingly, the message from the _ take? well, increasingly, the message from the israeli - message from the israeli government, from us leaders is that it government, from us leaders is thatitis government, from us leaders is that it is unlikely to be yet on the nuclear forces, that it is unlikely to be yet on the nuclearforces, it that it is unlikely to be yet on the nuclear forces, it is likely to be on military targets, which suggest not a major escalation. the challenge, of course, is that there are likely hoods of mistake, missteps, how the iranians react to whatever the israelis do is unknown, at this stage, and we are talking about israel, that is, fighting on multiple frontings and in spite of having the legitimate target oaf hamas, the legitimate target oaf hezbollah, the reality is that palestinians, in general, lebanese, in

general, are taking the brunt of israeli attacks and strikes on lebanon, and in the gaza strip, and we have to help them, i believe the united states wants to ensure they are not tagged as working predominantly outside of the international norms, as out this conflict with hamas and hezbollah. they don't want to be tagged as a rogue state. certainly the charges are violating international law, the law of armed conflict, the genocide charges are out there as well, people see the extraordinary loss of life, all of these thingses are weighing up, adding a up, and adding pressure on the state of israel, and its standing, in the international community. one other piece of breaking news from the middle east. hezbollah has said it attacked an israeli military camp in the northern israeli town of binyamina, with what it called a "swarm of drones" on sunday. israeli rescue teams say more than 60 people were hurt in the attack with several

in a critical condition. hezbollah has been regularly firing rockets and drones across the border into israel for more than a year, but has reached further since late september when the fighting escalated. 0yur correspondent anna foster has the latest. this appears to be a significant attack by hezbollah on a military installation inside northern israel. now, volunteer paramedics rescuers say round 65 people have been taken to hospital, some of them critically injured, some more lightly so. of course the question is how hezbollah managed to evade israel's sophisticated missile defence system with this drone attack, hezbollah are firing several hundred missiles and rockets still every day into northern israel, most of them were picked up, this one wasn't, so questions will be asked about how it has managed to get through, and here in lebanon today, as well, fierce fighting has continued. the lebanese health ministry say 51 is people have been killed today.

nearly 200 injured, as those fierce israeli air strikes continue in the south of lebanon. a man with guns was arrested on saturday outside donald trump's rally in coachella, california. let's speak to rowan bridge, our north america correspondent. bring us the details of this what looks like another attempt on former president trump? the details are _ on former president trump? the details are still— on former president trump? the details are still emerging on former president trump? tta: details are still emerging so it is not clear what the circumstances of what happened were, as you say donald trump was holding a rally in coachella in california yesterday, and this afternoon we mad a statement through from the riverside county sheriffs department saying they arrested a man in a black suv at a check point a quarter of a mile or so from the rally location, he has

been named as 49—year—old ven, millerfrom been named as 49—year—old ven, miller from last vegas, been named as 49—year—old ven, millerfrom last vegas, he been named as 49—year—old ven, miller from last vegas, he was found to be in possession of a shotgun, loaded handgun and high capacity magazine though the authorities are stressing there was no danger to president trump and the other attendees at the rally but worth noting this incident comes off the back of two very high profile assassination attempts on donald trump, one of which happened in pennsylvania and the second at his golf course in mar—a—lago in florida as welt well he his golf course in mar-a-lago in florida as welt well- in florida as welt well he has one in florida as welt well he has gone ahead _ in florida as welt well he has gone ahead with _ in florida as welt well he has gone ahead with another - in florida as welt well he has| gone ahead with another rally this afternoon?— this afternoon? yes, i mean i think donald _ this afternoon? yes, i mean i think donald trump _ this afternoon? yes, i mean i think donald trump is - this afternoon? yes, i mean i think donald trump is very i this afternoon? yes, i mean i. think donald trump is very much keen to kind of stress that this is business as usual, as far as he is concerned. what you will have seen since the assassination attempts is a high level of security around donald trump, we have seen that bullet—proof glass which is now around the podium whenever he speak, he made a return to but

her in pennsylvania, the site of one of those assassination attempts and there was a set of lorries round the venue to block eye line to make sure that there was no repeat of the circumstances where someone was able to fire off shots towards donald trump. but the rallies are continuing, but with much higher level of security these day e. higher level of security these da e. ., ., higher level of security these da e. . ~ higher level of security these da e. ., ~' , higher level of security these da e. .m , , day e. thank you very much indeed for _ day e. thank you very much indeed for that _ day e. thank you very much indeed for that update. - let's turn now to a big milestone for spacex. elon musk�*s company has succeeded in its ambition to catch the booster system which launches its starship rocket, safely landing the device as it dropped to earth after a test flight in texas. we'll explain why that's such an important achievement but first let's go to that spectacular moment. the feat means it will be easier to reuse the launch technology to make space flights more often — and more cheaply. there were cheers in the spacex control room in texas as the machine — known as the super heavy booster — successfully lowered

itself into mechanical claws known as chopsticks. elon musk wants his new rocket to revolutionise space flight and is hoping to develop a spaceship that can be used often like a plane, rather than a traditional rocket system which breaks up when it returns to earth. let us watch it settlingback backin let us watch it settlingback back in to the launch pad there in those so—called chap sticks. —— chopsticks. three, two, one! cheering. it's the most powerful rocket ever built and it's about to make history. we have lift off. a perfect take—off. .. stage separation. ..followed by a successful separation of the first and second stages. that is what normally happens

during rocket launches. but now, watch this. instead of crashing into the sea, the lower stage makes its way back to the launch pad. it's falling at supersonic speed but its engines fire to slow it down. then most of them are turned off so that it gently makes its way to the launch tower. then it is actually caught by two robotic arms. the process is called the "chopsticks manoeuvre". there were so many things that could have gone wrong but they succeeded first time of asking. the booster came back. we watched it come i down right behind us. watched it get caught and that

burnt my brain for a while. - let's have a closer look at starship. it is 120 metres tall, that is 400 feet and, as we saw, it has two main parts. the bottom is the super heavy booster which has 33 engines. on top, is the spacecraft which can carry cargo and eventually have room for up to 100 astronauts. the aim of the starship system is to be reusable and so bring down the of space travel. and really, that is the big gamechanger in terms of making spacecraft more reusable and having a faster turnaround to land them back on earth almost ready to go again. wow, what an incredible view. an hour after liftoff, the rocket�*s top section splashes down. we have a ship in the water! but there are concerns about the environmental impact of these tests. the more things such as satellites and rocket bodies that go up into space,

the more of that material comes back through the atmosphere, burns up, leaving soot and, again, lots of heavy elements in the upper atmosphere. the long—term environmental effects of which we don't yet know. we can see those chopsticks... the mid—air catch was an incredible achievement, paving the way for cheaper space travel which may bring with it its own problems. pallab ghosh, bbc news. ryan caton, journalist at nasa—spaceflight. com watched watch the launch live. i'll be honest, it was slightly unbelievable when it actually happened live on my screen in front of me. this is something that has been dreamt of since the end of 2020. the idea of this launch vehicle of starship, it's always planned to be rapidly, fully reusable, but this chopstick catching system is something that has never been done before by anybody. mass is the most valuable

thing you can have in a launch vehicle. so if you're launching... if your rocket is heavier, it means you can send less stuff into space. and if you want a rocket to be economical, you obviously want to be able to put as much payload inside the rocket as possible. so by taking landing legs off the vehicle, for example, you save that mass off the vehicle. and then if you put the catching system on the ground, it means you can have all of that mass on the ground, none of it on the rocket. it means you can throw more stuff into space. and this is, in my opinion, this is just so exciting. and it also looks really cool as well. like you can't you cannot deny this just looks epic. it does look pretty cool. and in terms of kind of aviation history, or how would you place it in the gamut of of achievements? so i personally would place this kind of, i think starship is going to be what the boeing nj was to aviation, right. the 747, the jumbo jet, it allowed the mass movement of people between population centres all over earth. starship plans to do the same thing, but for space.

it intends to be rapidly reusable. so the idea is that booster will come back and then a few hours later, they'll put another starship on top, launch it again. it's planned to be able to carry up to 100 people inside of starship at any given time. starship is really about sending a lot of stuff to space very quickly, and being able to build up that space economy, which is starting to flourish and will be flourishing even more in the future. and what are the next steps? i mean, clearly there are aims, you know, returning people to the moon and that sort of thing. what are the next steps after this particular success? so immediately, immediately up next, it looks like spacex plans to do a kind of a duplicate of this flight for the next flight. but coming up in the next couple of years, we're going to start seeing the human landing system, which is spacex's lunar lander for nasa, for their artemis missions. we're going to start seeing test flights of that, and spacex needs to demonstrate some key technologies, such as in—orbit refuelling with cryogenic propellant. so these propellants that are really cold, they've never been transferred in space before. and refuelling is a key

component of the starship infrastructure. if spacex can't refuel, then they can't send starship to the moon and beyond. so that's really, a really exciting step that's going to be coming up soon. and then in about three, four—ish years' time, we're going to see the first humans since the 70s land on the moon again with the artemis programme inside of a starship on artemis 3. and beyond that there i suppose there are aims towards mars, aren't there? yeah. mars has always been the kind of the end goal for elon musk, who founded spacex. and that is spacex's mission objective. they want to make humans a multi—planetary species, they want to send humans to mars. they want a martian colony to be self—sustaining. and that is spacex's end goal. and, you know, but i'm sure, we've seen renders. we've seen proposals. i'm sure starship can go much further than mars. but, you know, mars is kind of the brand thing spacex has always latched on to. more tributes have been paid to scotland's former first minister alex salmond, who died suddenly yesterday at the age of 69.

he was a formidable campaigner for independence and has been widely praised for his dedication to the country and its people. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports from glasgow. alex salmond believed in scottish independence. it was the dream that drove his decades in politics. today, remembered at the parliament where he was once the dominant force and in the area he used to represent. i've always thought he was really interested in the local community and what we were doing. so, yeah, we were sad to hear that he passed away. very sorry for his family and his friends. didn't agree with a lot of things that he did for scotland, but it is sad that he's passed so soon. it's a sad day for scottish politics. aye, he done well for scotland. as first minister, alex salmond led the snp into government at holyrood. he paved the way to an historic referendum. his opponents saw a formidable politician. his supporters, a leader that made a nation

believe in itself. as well as being a strong leader, he had an ability to reach out to people who disagreed with him. that's why he's got so many cross—party friendships. 0r had so many cross—party friendships. and also, when he was first minister, he didn'tjust surround himself with those who agreed with him on everything. he wasn't afraid to have people in his cabinet who had perhaps been his political adversaries within the party in the past. scotland's first minister, emotional as he recalled the snp's first win back in 2007, when mr salmond said the party's triumph had changed scotland forever. i rememberfeeling that, at that moment, all of the years of endeavour that we had all put in had suddenly reached their fulfilment, because we had the opportunity to shape the future of our country in the way that we had never had before. and that's an extraordinary privilege that we are able to build on today. alex salmond died while at a

conference in north macedonia. amongst his last public reflections, his belief that democracy and the will of voters be respected was as evident as ever. respect for legitimate democratic aspirations leads to good outcomes. disrespecting it, in one way or another, and often surprisingly, can lead to bad outcomes for everyone. thank you. applause lorna gordon reporting there. an array of hot air balloons have been dotting the skies across the city of albuquerque in new mexico. the international balloon fiesta is said to be the largest in the world according to organizers with more than 500 hot air balloons ascending to the skies. the festival concludes later on sunday. we have a dog chew toy, that is probably one of the more unique ones but we also have a very

top haar character in santa fe, we have vehicles, dog, we have a lot of different types of special shapes and they are from all over the world, we have 16 country represented in this event this year. stay with us here on bbc news. bye for now. we have had colder air withtying ring—fence frost, but over this week, things are going to be very different because that colder air is getting pushed away, the wind direction is changing and in the next few days we wi have a strengthening southerly wind, it will bring cloud and rain. we have got that around mainly

through the midlands and eastern england early on monday morning, that should tend to move away, leaving cloudy skies behind, a bit of dampness too. the far north of england much of scotland and northern ireland having a good day with some sunshine and temperatures widely reaching 12 or 13 in the scree afternoon, so a bit higher than what it was on sunday. now if we look out in the atlantic here it is all dominated by a big area of low pressure, with some cloud and some rain, that eventually going to head our way, notjust yet because ahead of that on tuesday we are seeing the southerly wind develop. that will bring cloud so there won't be much sunshine. later in the day there could be rain in the western area, particularly in the south—west, it is a risk here, but temperatures widely reaching 1a or 15 degrees, perhaps 16 or 17 in the south. those temperatures could get higher, as we head into wednesday. but at the same time, we have got these weather fronts and this area of rain

pushing in from the atlantic, combineed with a stronger wind, and that wind is pushing the rain northwards across scotland and gradually eastwards across england and wales, it will be a strong wind i think on wednesday, of course it is still a southerly wind, that is bridging in the mild air, so everyone where you have the rain it is mild, but ahead of the rain there could be a bit of sunshine for a while across lincolnshire, east anglia and perhaps the south—east, so temperatures could reach 20 or 21, depends how quickly the rain moves in and how widespread it is. we expect that rain to move eastwards, a bit of a clearance by thursday, but we are going to keep an eye on the rain in france, that could head northwards into southern areas during the afternoon, ratherthan southern areas during the afternoon, rather than the showers coming in from the atlantic. but ahead of that many place also be dry with sunshine for a while, and those temperatures in the south—westerly winds still very mild, 16 to 18 celsius.

goodbye.

this is bbc news, the headlines. the un secretary general antonio guterres has warned that any attacks against peacekeepers "may constitute a war crime". it comes after israeli tanks forced their way into a peacekeeping base in southern lebanon on sunday morning. us police have stopped a man

armed with guns and fake passes outside a donald trump rally on saturday. president biden has visited florida to see the relief effort after the state was hit by two hurricanes. he said more than 600 million dollars would be made available for affected communities. in a world first, spacex has successfully tested a rocket booster capable of taking off and landing intact back on the launch pad. the successful test brings elon musk�*s company closer to its goal of achieving the rapid reuse of rockets. now on bbc news — newscast. newscast. newscast from the bbc. hello, it's laura in the studio. paddy in the studio. and henry at home. with a terrifying plant. remind us, it's an othos or something. or a pothos or a pathos. about a year ago...