sunday's drone strike by hezbollah on a military training base in which at least four soldiers were killed. dawn sturgess was poisoned by a nerve agent in wiltshire six years ago. today the public inquiry into her death begins. we will be speaking to marina litvinenko, the widow of the former russian agent who died in london from radioactive polonium. taiwan has condemned large—scale military exercises by china, taking place on all sides of the island. the uk government says the issue should be settled peacefully through constructive dialogue. and the latest search for life in the solar system — nasa prepares to launch a mission to europa, one ofjupiter�*s moons.

hello, i'm ben brown. the un human rights office is appalled by israel's continued bombing on parts of northern gaza. it says there has been eight consecutive days there of heavy strikes in the is the israeli military appears to have set up roadblocks to cut off northern gaza from the rest off northern gaza from the rest of the territory. human rights office says, the forcible transfer of the population of north gaza would amount to a war crime, adding they have been attacks on schools which are being used as shelters, in the jabalia area, and an almost daily basis —— and on. lebanese officials say at least nine people have been killed in an israeli strike in aitou in northern lebanon — the lebanese red cross

says 18 were killed. this would be the first time israel has targeted a christian—majority region in a year of hostilities. israel is yet to comment. hezbollah has said that violent clashes are continuing with israeli troops in the south of lebanon. these live pictures are of tyre, southern lebanon. israel is investigating how its air defence systems failed to stop a hezbollah drone, which killed four soldiers and injured dozens more at an army base near haifa last night. earlier i spoke to our correspondents — wyre davies injerusalem and jonathan head in beirut. i began by asking jonathan for his reaction to this attack on a christian village in lebanon. we don't know what the target was here. this is a very small village. fewer than only about 800 residents. it has had an influx

of some displaced people from the south, and that may be the link to the possible target that israel was after. there was no warning. local residents have said they didn't hear anything like a missile. there was just this massive explosion. the videos that they posted on social media afterwards revealed a really appalling scene of destruction. you know, smashed up cars, great grey smoke and ash everywhere and bodies lying all over the village, injured people as well, and really dreadful damage. and its left to the lebanese to wonder why this village, this very small, notably christian village, it's quite an historic village up in the mountains there. but this is a campaign that israel is still waging to destroy all of hezbollah�*s capacity to fight back. and that attack on binyamina yesterday that killed those israeli conscripts will only have have have steeled israel's resolve to keep on attacking hezbollah targets.

it won't let up. and it's a reminder to the lebanese people that they can come anywhere. and we've had, for the first time in three days, we've had an israeli drone going over us most of this afternoon, making people here in beirut wonder whether there might be targets here in the capital again. jonathan, thank you. over to the latest for us from jerusalem, where we were just hearing from jonathan about that drone attack that killed israeli soldiers, what has been the reaction to that in israel? because israelis are used to reading about their military successes against hezbollah. but hezbollah, asjonathan was saying, fighting back with that drone attack. yeah, you're right. this is the single biggest attack against an israeli installation since the 7th of october.

a drone somehow, a slow, low flying, relatively slow moving drone was able to breach israeli air defence systems and take that military base in the north of israel, not far from haifa, completely by surprise. those people killed and injured appeared to have been in a dining room at the time. scenes on television last night showed ambulances and helicopters ferrying the wounded to various hospitals around northern israel. today, there's been a series of high profile visits by the minister of defence and so forth to the site saying that israel and the the israeli military has a lot to learn from what happened. talking about missile defence systems. one notable development today is that the americans have said that tomorrow, tuesday, their much vaunted high altitude missile defence system will arrive in israel. now, what's significant about that is that it's manned and operated by american soldiers. now, you remember a few months ago, the americans were very keen that no american military boots should be on the ground in this conflict. when there was that pier being built off gaza, no american boots were allowed, even on the beach. and here are the americans now, having to send 100 military personnel to help with israel's defence system.

that is in anticipation, of course, of an escalating conflict with iran. but no, i think israel has militarily a lot to learn from what happened. and asjonathan hasjust said, it continues to strike targets deep inside lebanon. let's speak to humanitarian affairs advisor at the international committee of the red cross in lebanon — dr shawky amine eddine. thanks forjoining us. thanks for joining us. just give thanks forjoining us. just give your picture as you see it of the situation on the ground in lebanon at the moment? let me start by _ in lebanon at the moment? let me start by describing the situation in lebanon. over the past couple of weeks we have seen an unprecedented increase in internal displacement in lebanon with people coming from the south of lebanon, even from the south of lebanon, even from the southern suburb of beirut, we are talking at 1.2 million people, who are displaced and

who are facing tremendous challenges, requiring access to basic needs like food, water, emergency health care and also shelters. if you have a drive through one area, you can see it has changed completely, you see where people are trying to sleep under the sky is because they do not have access to shelters. out of 2 million people, only 180,000 are accommodated in emergency shelters and the rest are accommodated with friends, family or having to find places themselves.— family or having to find places themselves. what are you and our themselves. what are you and your colleagues _ themselves. what are you and your colleagues trying - themselves. what are you and your colleagues trying to - themselves. what are you and your colleagues trying to do i themselves. what are you and your colleagues trying to do to help ameliorate the situation and to help those people who are in need because of the enduring conflict? the international - enduring conflict? the l international committee enduring conflict? tue international committee of enduring conflict? tte international committee of the red cross which has been present in lebanon since the 19605 present in lebanon since the 1960s has been at the forefront

of responding to the escalation, they started in october 2023 as a result of the escalation in the south where we scaled up our emergency preparedness, preparing closely with our partners like the lebanese red cross, and now we are focusing on making sure there is access to emergency health care and we are sent to be mcgree setting up two trauma centres —— we are setting up. we also making sure we are advocating for the protection of the civilian population given our role as an international intermediary. and three, we are working on providing assistance to those who have been affected by the conflict, whether those who have stayed in the areas affected by conflict or those who have been displaced elsewhere.— who have been displaced elsewhere. , ., ., elsewhere. israel would say that the only _ elsewhere. israel would say that the only reason - elsewhere. israel would say| that the only reason civilians are being caught up in the conflict in lebanon is because

hezbollah are hiding out in civilian areas. can i get your response to that question? what is there would say to the claims about civilian casualties in lebanon, that hezbollah has been hiding out and using as a base civilian areas of beirut and southern lebanon, so what would you say to that? , ., , to that? let me state this clearly. — to that? let me state this clearly. i _ to that? let me state this clearly, i understand - to that? let me state this clearly, i understand the l clearly, i understand the concerns you are voicing but international humanitarian law is very clear, when it comes to the protection of civilians, the protection of civilians, the rules that are set by the international humanitarian law are very clear, they should avoid de—targeting of civilians, and the international community of the red cross is working through

the modus operandi and through dialogue with all parties to the conflict to push them to make sure of faithful and proper implementation of humanitarian international law because at the end of the day, the civilians are not part of the civilians are not part of the fight, but at the same time as they are the ones who pay the highest price in any conflict that takes place. thanks forjoining us. that is the humanitarian affairs adviser at the international committee of the red cross. i have also spoken to a who representative for the occupied palestinian territory and he joined me earlierfrom gaza where the second round of an emergency polio vaccination campaign has started today. tn campaign has started today. t�*t the last couple of weeks we have had problems in the north, and i want to mention that when there were evacuation orders

for the three hospitals in the north, who was requested by the ministry of health and hospital directors to with what we call the critical patients from those hospitals, and to bring in urgently needed fuel and essential medicine and emergency medical teams, and we needed nine attempts in the last week because every attempt and mission was delayed, sometimes denied, impeded, so only the day before yesterday we managed to do that. we still get the assurances that the campaign in the north is on, and the campaign in the north, i already mentioned there are

20,000 children who need to be vaccinated, roughly 75,000 around gaza city, and around 50,000 more up north. we get assurances this is going to happen so we planned for that and we will make it happen when we get the area specific humanitarian pause. that was a cuest humanitarian pause. that was a guest earlier — humanitarian pause. that was a guest earlier from _ humanitarian pause. that was a guest earlier from the - humanitarian pause. that was a guest earlier from the who. . humanitarian pause. that was a guest earlier from the who. do stay with us.

a major business conference is under way and the government is facing sing a balancing act ahead of the budget in two weeks' time.

earlier, the prime minister, sir keir starmer, promised to get rid of red tape that holds back investment. first, opportunity, we have an opportunity to use our mandate and to end the chop and change and to end the chop and change and the sticking plaster politics that makes it so hard for investors to assess the value of any proposition. you may think every government says that but the stability that comes with a large majority, thatis comes with a large majority, that is a unique advantage. and we have the determination and a focus on clear long—term ends, a mission led mindset that thinks in years, not the days or hours, needed to unlock the potential, and do not doubt that. second, strategy. we are building a more strategic architecture for growth. wait

for investors to have a much steadier hand on the till. —— a way. that is why we have announced a new national wealth fund and switched on gb energy which will accelerate investment in clean power and future technologies. carbon capture and storage, for example, which we backed alongside bp, ecuador and others, and which shows the hard—headed approach we will take to industrial policy, a partnership, sharing the risk with the private sector, ambition, absolutely, but also unsentimental, guided by the market, focused at all times on the real potential for comparative advantage in this country. this is the point i would always make about our modern industrial strategy, in this country there has been a

long rather arcane political debate about picking winners. well, we are not in the business of picking individual winners, but we are in the business of building on our strengths, growing the grass on the pitch and making sure the changing rooms are comfortable and the training ground is good, so that when our businesses compete, they are match fit. to put it simply, we give the businesses of this country the best conditions to succeed. i don't know why that is sometimes controversial in this country. industrial policy seems fairly commonplace elsewhere in the world. but it is fundamental to the way we see ourjob on growth. and our relationship with the room here. third, ukglobalstanding.

here. third, ukglobal standing. we here. third, ukglobalstanding. we are determined to improve it. determined to repair the british brand is an open outward —looking, confident, trading nation, and i see this as diplomatic necessity and i think it is clear how much priority i have given this in the first 100 days of government.- the first 100 days of government. the first 100 days of covernment. ~ . , . government. we are expecting the chancellor _ government. we are expecting the chancellor rachel- government. we are expecting the chancellor rachel reeves i government. we are expecting. the chancellor rachel reeves to speak shortly. jurors will begin hearing evidence in the trial of three people accused of killing ten year old sara sharif today. herfather, stepmother and uncle all deny murder — as well as causing or allowing the death of a child. helena wilkinson reports. sara's body was discovered at her home in surrey in august last year. she was found alone. herfather, stepmother and her uncle are charged with her murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

urfan sharif, beinash batool and faisal malik lived with the ten year old before her death. the day before sara's body was found, they travelled to islamabad in pakistan. last week at the old bailey, a jury was sworn in ahead of their trial, and today the prosecution is expected to lay out the case against the three defendants. mr sharif, miss batool and mr malik were arrested when they returned to the uk in september last year. two days later they were charged. a postmortem examination found sara had sustained multiple and extensive injuries before her death. the trial is expected to last up to nine weeks. helena wilkinson, bbc news. a public inquiry into the salisbury novichok poisonings has opened this morning. it's heard that dawn sturgess — the 44—year—old mother who died

after coming into contact with the nerve agent — appears to have been an innocent victim caught in the crossfire of a quote "illegal and outrageous assasination attempt". the inquiry heard the bottle contained enough poison to kill thousands. the inquiry is expected to last several weeks. our correspondent duncan kennedy reports. this was dawn sturgess just a week before she died. the tragic conclusion to months of events concerning spies, nerve agents and perfume bottles. dawn was 44 and the mother of three children. the story had begun four months earlier here in a quiet cul de sac in salisbury. it was the home not of dawn sturgess, but of a russian man. he was sergei skripal, who's believed to have worked for british intelligence, and he became the target of an assassination attempt by moscow. he and his daughter yulia, who was visiting him, came to be poisoned with a nerve agent called novichok. the front door of mr skripal�*s house had been smeared with the agent. what happened here will be

just one of the points of investigation for the new public inquiry. sergei skripal never did return to his home here and after months of decontamination work, it was later sold. thejudge in the inquiry says neither mr skripal nor his daughter yulia will give live evidence because, he said, they still face a significant risk to their safety. central to the public inquiry will be the role these three men played. they're all believed to have worked for russian military intelligence. two of them were filmed in and around salisbury at the time sergei and yulia

skripal were poisoned. russia has always denied any involvement. it's believed that two men delivered the novichok in this perfume—like bottle that was discovered by the partner of dawn sturgess. charlie rowley took the bottle home to dawn and three days later she fell ill. their flat in amesbury was sealed off. dawn never recovered and died a few days later. in the years that followed, their home was demolished, leaving just a patch of grass and trees, as well as questions about how it had all happened. at the opening of today's hearings, counsel for the inquiry said there was enough poison in the perfume bottle to kill thousands of people, including dawn sturgess. we now have the chancellor rachel reeves.— we now have the chancellor rachel reeves. thank you for the warm _ rachel reeves. thank you for the warm reception. - rachel reeves. thank you for the warm reception. it - rachel reeves. thank you for the warm reception. it is - rachel reeves. thank you for| the warm reception. it is great to be here at the guildhall and fantastic to be here with all of you after such a brilliant day. after the announcements we have heard today, my optimism for the uk burns brighter than ever, and over £60 billion of shovel ready investments ever, and over £60 billion o