in the east of the country. police in california say they detained a man with guns near one of donald trump's rallies. the us secret service says the former president was not in danger. and a three—armed robot has made its debut as an orchestral conductor in germany. hello and welcome to the programme. i'm sally bundock. we have developing news for you here coming to you from taiwan. it has condemned large—scale military drills by china that are surrounding the island, calling them "irrational and provocative". beijing, which considers taiwan part of its own territory, said the exercises were a warning against separatist acts.

the army, navy and air force are taking part. the drills are thought to be a reaction to a strident speech by the taiwanese president, lai ching—te, who said his government would not accept chinese control. this is a military airfield in taiwan where we moments ago saw planes taking off. the military has warned, the taiwanese military has worn, the population to be vigilant over any misinformation by china. a review has been ordered of the strength while the military intelligence units are closely monitoring any movement of chinese missiles. live now to beijing and our correspondent, stephen mcdonell. what more can you tell us? what this appears to be from the people's liberation army is something of a dress rehearsal

for a blockade. something of a dress rehearsal fora blockade. if something of a dress rehearsal for a blockade. if they wanted to genuinely surround taiwan, stop ships coming in and out and potentially bring the country, the government there to its knees, as a means of forcing taiwan to rejoin mainland china, that is potentially how you would do it and according to the official statements of the pla, these exercises were involved in co—ordinating the army, air force, rocket force, the navy to take out keep ports, important areas on the landmass of taiwan as well as see targets and this is what is being practised right now. it is hard for us to see from a distance the scale of this, but it looks to be quite significant and if you look at the areas, the maps released by the areas, the maps released by the pla, it is all around taiwan, so north, south, east, west, areas where this is being

carried out and the taiwanese government says this is quite a provocative act and so they are saying they have scrambled their own jets, saying they have scrambled their ownjets, have saying they have scrambled their own jets, have their own military preparing to be on alertjust in case something happens. the fear is that in one of these exercises one of these days, the two sides could shout —— start shooting at one another and imagine how easy could be for planes or ships to come too close to one another and the drills could turn into real clashes. we and the drills could turn into real clashes.— real clashes. we also have a statement — real clashes. we also have a statement from _ real clashes. we also have a statement from the - real clashes. we also have a statement from the us, - real clashes. we also have a| statement from the us, from matthew miller of the state department, who said washington is seriously concerned by the people's liberation army's joint military drills in the taiwan strait and the us has condemned these exercises. it and in regional stability. washington keeping a close eye on developments.—

on developments. yes. you can imagine. _ on developments. yes. you can imagine. as _ on developments. yes. you can imagine, as with _ on developments. yes. you can imagine, as with other - imagine, as with other countries of the region, japan, the philippines, anyone in that sphere would be keeping a close eye on things. i should add to this is not the first time the pla has done this. they are now routinely practising, encircling taiwan, and obviously it is also designed to intimidate, to try to force the population there and the government into some sort of movement towards... i guess we have no choice to unify with mainland china. of course, all the surveys and election results would indicate people have no intention whatsoever of unifying with mainland china and, hence, we have these ongoing tensions. i and, hence, we have these ongoing tensions.- and, hence, we have these ongoing tensions. i am looking at the maps- — ongoing tensions. i am looking at the maps. like _ ongoing tensions. i am looking at the maps. like you - ongoing tensions. i am looking at the maps. like you have - ongoing tensions. i am looking i at the maps. like you have been looking at them. you can see how taiwan is completely

encircled, extremely threatening and the taiwanese president coming back with very strong statements saying the government would continue to defend their constitutional system of democracy and freedom. it is very provocative on the part of china, isn't it? yes. if you talk to military experts, they say it does not appear mainland china is about to eminently try to take taiwan by thongs —— force or anything like that, these are exercises, but showing how you could do it is a step towards doing it. also, short of an actual invasion to grab taiwan, obviously a blockade is another option whereby you would stop all shipping coming in, option whereby you would stop allshipping coming in, try option whereby you would stop all shipping coming in, try and essentially stars are out the country and ultimately, make taiwan give up in that way. but like i say, we should stress

this is not... like i say, we should stress this is not. . ._ like i say, we should stress this is not... we lost our line with stephen _ this is not... we lost our line with stephen mcdonald, - this is not... we lost our line with stephen mcdonald, live| with stephen mcdonald, live from beijing to give us the latest on what is happening with regard to taiwan, on military... on high alert as china encircles the island. we have a live page on bbc online but also on the bbc news at. that particular map that shows you the island encircled. if you the island encircled. if you see further down there is another one with a close—up of the island, which is an even more graphic image you can see there. you can imagine how provocative and threatening that is. we are keeping a close eye on development, our live page dating, the latest on what washington is saying about this, so there is more on our website. israel says a hezbollah drone attack on a military base in the north of the country has killed four soldiers

and severely wounded another seven military personnel. the iranian—backed group said said it launched a swarm of attack drones at an israeli military training camp in binyamina, just south of haifa. the israeli ambulance service said that, overall, 61 people had been injured in the attack, including three critically. it's unclear how the drone managed to evade israel's sophisticated aerial defence systems. hezbollah�*s media office said the strike was in response to israeli attacks in southern lebanon and beirut on thursday. lebanon's health ministry says more than 50 people were killed by israeli strikes on saturday alone. with me is said shehata from bbc arabic. good morning. tell us more about what happened. it good morning. tell us more about what happened. it was a drone attack _ about what happened. it was a drone attack by _

about what happened. it was a drone attack by hezbollah - about what happened. it was a drone attack by hezbollah at i about what happened. it was a drone attack by hezbollah at a | drone attack by hezbollah at a training camp, at a drone attack by hezbollah at a training camp, ata military army base near a town about 20 miles away from the south of haifa. it was reported it was the heaviest human loss inside of israel since the eighth of october last year when the confrontation started after the seventh of october and it is worrying, concerning for israel because how come it's advanced drone infiltrated and evaded all these advanced defence systems of israel and israel showed some locations of military bases, so intelligence and information, so it is worrying for israel after hezbollah is not finished yet. still despite the assassination

of nasrallah, it is not over yet. it is a worrying thing and it shows hezbollah is not finished yet, so it can pressure israel to rethink, where the war is the only way to achieve the objectives of the israelis to the north or think about the seven resolution to settle the dispute and conflict with hezbollah. in dispute and conflict with hezbollah. ., hezbollah. in the meantime, the un sa 5 hezbollah. in the meantime, the un says israeli _ hezbollah. in the meantime, the un says israeli tanks _ hezbollah. in the meantime, the un says israeli tanks forced - un says israeli tanks forced entry into a base in south lebanon. talk us through that situation. it lebanon. talk us through that situation. , situation. it is unifil in lebanon. _ situation. it is unifil in lebanon, established i situation. it is unifil in| lebanon, established in situation. it is unifil in - lebanon, established in 1978 and its main mandate is to monitor the ceasefire according to the 1701 security council resolution after the war of 2006, so the un said israeli tanks went through the

positions. the un secretary general antonio guterres said this might talens any attack on the peacekeepers, and it accused them of war crimes and international law. —— inaudible. there is debate between them but benjamin netanyahu called on the forces to withdraw because it is considered hezbollah hostages, but the un is insisting no withdrawal because it is inaudible a mandate so a stand—off between the united nations and mr netanyahu. thanks again for your update. let's get some of the day's other news now. the uk's foreign secretary will head to luxembourg later, where he'll become the first foreign secretary since brexit to attend a meeting of the european union's foreign ministers. david lammy is expected to discuss the wars in ukraine and the middle east,

as well as efforts to reset uk relations with europe. iceland's government has collapsed after disagreements among coalition partners. the prime minister, bjarni benediktsson, said tensions had grown overforeign policy, asylum seekers and energy. he said he would seek the dissolution of iceland's parliament on monday, to be followed by new elections. thousands of residents of barcelona have protested against the america's cup sailing competition being held there on a day of anger about rising rents in spain. the demonstrators demanded more affordable housing and chanted slogans urging tourists to leave the city. the city has been at the forefront of the over—tourism debate. kenya's ruth chepngetich has broken the world record to win the chicago marathon. the 30—year—old clocked a time of two hours, nine minutes and 57 seconds to surpass the previous record by nearly two minutes. she said she knew her time would be fast while she was running.

police in california have arrested a man with guns outside a donald trump rally. he's been released on bail after being detained at a security checkpoint in coachella on saturday. the us secret service said mr trump was not in danger, and the federal authorities are investigating. our north america correspondent peter bowes has more details. donald trump had not even arrived at the venue in the desert to the east of los angeles for this rally when this incident took place. the police were checking vehicles, carrying donald trump's supporters into the area, two checkpoints, one at the outer perimeter and one closer to the venue and it is there that this man was questioned by officers at the scene. he apparently told them he had a vip ticket told them he had a vip ticket to attend, but the officers were suspicious, his car was dishevelled inside, they

searched it, found a shotgun, loaded handgun along with passports and driving licences under different names. so he was arrested, taken into custody. he has since been released on bail and will appear in court at a later date on weapons charges. the local sheriff, who was in charge of the operation there, at least from a local perspective, has been talking to reporters and some political context here, senator chad bianco is in an elected position, has in the past expressed support for donald trump but he said he believed another assassination attempt against the former president has it been thwarted, although federal officials have said there is no indication of that and the investigation is continuing. what this incident highlights is the lengths the authorities, local and federal, are going to to keep donald trump safe with nowjust over

three weeks to go until polling day. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

president zelensky has accused north korea of sending personnel to work alongside russian troops in occupied ukraine. mr zelensky said russia's strengthening alliances with regimes like that of north korea were notjust about transferring weapons. he urged western partners to take greater steps to support ukraine, and he visited european allies last week, including the chancellor of germany olaf scholz. but the kremlin has called reports of pyongyang sending troops "fa ke news". on the ground in ukraine's eastern donetsk region, russia has advanced swiftly in the last few months. fighting is intense there with the ukrainian military reporting nearly 150 battles every day as it tries to stall russia's momentum.

just two months ago, pokrovsk was considered a relatively safe place. about 1a,000 civilians are still there, war weary and desperate for the conflict to end. from the front line, the bbc�*s yogita limaye reports with imogen anderson and sanjay ganguly. and a warning — you may find some of the images in this report distressing. just before dawn, we are taken to what's being called the hottest front line in ukraine. the darkness, a bit of cover from being spotted by russian drones. ukraine is throwing its might into defending pokrovsk. if it falls, russia would gain a gateway to central ukraine. in a bunker nearby, vadym tells us he knows what's at stake.

translation: the russians are constantly attacking us. | they have more manpower and weapons. yes, we are tired, but we have to fight. otherwise, it will be catastrophic. and just a few miles behind the front line, this is where the toll of battle is most clearly visible — the first point of treatment for injured soldiers. serhii has shrapnel in his eyes, nose, skulland brain. "my friend, i'm going to take off your bandage. "let me know if it hurts," the doctor says. he's in a serious condition. they work quickly to stop the bleeding. they are receiving dozens of injured every day. early this morning, two were brought in dead. under a barrage of fire, ivan and taras are unclear of whether they were hit

by mortars or grenades dropped from drones. all of the soldiers brought here, they were injured about eight to ten hours ago. but it's only now, about two hours after dusk, that it's become safe enough to evacuate them till this point, and that's because of the constant threat of being attacked by russian drones. the delay in getting treated could have grave consequences. taras has no sensation in his arm and it might have to be amputated, his doctor tells us. this is now the third year of a grinding war. driving through pokrovsk, it's evident that most of its residents have left. "this is one of the most dangerous districts "of the city," says serhii.

a volunteer finding his way through an empty neighbourhood to evacuate some of those still here. 80—year—old nadia is disabled. she's been living alone in the dark in this room. "i'm falling," she screams. serhii reassures her. "this damn war! "i'm going to die," she cries. another evacuee, viktoria, tells us she can't believe the front line moved so quickly to pokrovsk. translation: the neighbouring towns have been wiped out - and drones buzz near our windows all the time. theyjust stop and look inside. i have constant panic attacks.

i'm afraid of the nights. we should negotiate. there's nothing left standing in the areas russia has ta ken anyway. over the past few months, ukraine has lost territory in the donetsk region at an unexpected pace. many blame this on faltering military aid from foreign allies. after the loss of avdiivka earlier this year, russia's military has advanced very quickly towards pokrovsk. if ukraine's invasion of kursk in russia was meant to distract the russian military from here, that has not happened. even until a couple of months ago, this city was considered a relatively safe spot, where soldiers would retreat to for a bit of rest, where people from further east were brought to so that they could be evacuated from the train station. among most of the people we speak to, we find eroded morale. translation: we have to negotiate. _ so many of our boys have

been dying, so many have become disabled. they are sacrificing themselves, and it's going on and on. a sentiment that might have once been unthinkable for ukrainians, now being voiced by many — at least here, near the front—line. yogita limaye, bbc news, pokrovsk. let's go live to ukraine and speak to maria avdeeva, a security expert in kharkiv. good morning to you. the report there clearly illustrating just how tough things are at the moment. can you shed any light or give us any thoughts on this line from president zelensky that he is seeing north korea are sending personnel troops to work inside ukraine alongside russian troops?— work inside ukraine alongside russian troops? your thoughts? usher is doing — russian troops? your thoughts? usher is doing everything - russian troops? your thoughts? usher is