skies from attack. welcome to newsday, i'm steve lai. we start with the latest on the conflict in the middle east. the biden administration has given its most stark warning yet to israel over its conduct in gaza — threatening to withdraw some military assistance — unless israel allows more humanitarian aid into the enclave. us defense secretary lloyd austin and secretary of state antony blinken sent a letter to israel's military, which was then leaked to the media. it says israel must, within 30 days, act on a series of �*concrete measures�* to boost aid. israel says it's reviewing the letter, and will address the concerns raised. it comes amid further israeli strikes on gaza on tuesday. 50 palestinians were killed, according to the hamas—run health ministry. in northern gaza, an air strike killed 17 people near al—falouja, gaza's largest refugee camp. israel says it is targeting hamas militants. with more, here's our state department correspondent tom bateman.

northern gaza is under renewed israeli assault. loud blast its offensive, it says, is to clear out hamas. but aid groups say the area is encircled and civilians who don't obey orders to leave might not survive, with nearly all aid blocked for a fortnight now. the us secretaries of state and defence have now written to the israeli government demanding it stops blocking convoys. the letter was sent to the israeli government on sunday. it says the us has deep concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in gaza, warning that 1.7 million civilians are at high risk of lethal contagion, having been forced into a narrow coastal area by israel's evacuation orders. the letter demands urgent and sustained actions this month to reverse this

trajectory, saying israel must, starting now and within 30 days, act to boost aid supplies. it warns that failure may have implications for us policy, and it quotes american law, which prohibits military assistance to countries that impede the delivery of aid. critics have long accused the us of failing to leverage its weapons supply to israel to get what it wants on the protection of civilians in gaza. it's always rejected that, but now it is issuing its starkest warning yet to the israelis to do more to get aid in and to do it now. at the state department, officials say the letter is a matter of us law. good afternoon, everyone. there will be those who say you've had a year to write this letter to issue such a stark warning to the israelis. why has it taken so long? you shouldn't assume that the letter is our first intervention with

the government of israel. about the situation, just over the past few months, we have been making it clear to them that we needed to see results, and we haven't seen the results. president biden�*s pressure on its government is increasing near the end of his term, but the war in gaza may yet last a lot longer. tom bateman, bbc news, washington. in lebanon, the deputy leader of hezbollah, has suggested the only solution to the conflict with israel, is a ceasefire. but naim qassem also warned that his iranian backed militia group, was prepared to continue to inflict "pain" on israel and keep fighting. it comes after the un's human rights office, called for an investigation into an israeli airstrike which killed at least 22 people in the christian village of aitawah, many of them women and children. israel says it's targeting hezbollah, which hides among civilians. here's orla guerin. death tolls don't tell life stories.

this is shana qasim, a young mother. she fled israel's attacks in the south, only to be killed with her baby in an airstrike in the north. they died with relatives and neighbours from a shia border village. all had sought refuge in a christian district. typically, these areas are not targeted. "0h, mother mary," says this man, seeing the destruction that came without warning. israel says it struck a hezbollah target and is investigating the claim that civilians were killed. it's more than a claim, here and elsewhere. in recent weeks, we have travelled around lebanon, reporting on half a dozen airstrikes that killed

only civilians — 53 in total. that's according to relatives, rescue workers and neighbours, and in some cases, officials. this was september 27th in the sunni border village of shaba. an israeli airstrike killed nine civilians, including four children, all members of an extended family. nasri hamdan can now kiss his son yusuf only on the screen. the 15—year—old was here at his grandparents�* house helping with livestock. "it�*s a massacre," he says. "if it�*s a war, they should hit military areas. "these are civilian areas. "may god rest his soul. "hopefully, he�*s in heaven." nearby, relatives mourn for one

of the dead — a pregnant woman. this is her husband, mohammed. his unborn child was found in the rubble, ripped from his wife�*s womb. orla guerin, bbc news, beirut. we canjoin our we can join our middle we canjoin our middle east expert in singapore. thanks for speaking to us and i want to get your thoughts on the 30 day ultimatum the us has placed on israel. so what do you think has pushed them to set the deadline?— has pushed them to set the deadfine? , ,, .. deadline? this is significant. first of all — deadline? this is significant. first of all it _ deadline? this is significant. first of all it is _ deadline? this is significant. first of all it is the _ deadline? this is significant. first of all it is the first - first of all it is the first time except for a minor suspension of balms —— of arm several months ago this is the first time the us has come out

clearly over a difference in its long—standing difference between the us and the israelis, the access of humanitarian aid into gaza which israel has been blocking. the deadline is significant in the sense it is after the us election, in other words, that�*s the period between the election and the inauguration of the new president onjanuary the 20th next year where in many ways the administration will have the ability to do things it might not have been willing to do during an election period.- willing to do during an election period. that all depends _ election period. that all depends on _ election period. that all depends on who - election period. that all depends on who wins, l election period. that all - depends on who wins, doesn't depends on who wins, doesn�*t it? the fact the timeline happens after the election lets say if donald trump wins the election, he might choose a completely different course of action. , ., ., , ., action. there is no doubt that he would- _ action. there is no doubt that he would. the _ action. there is no doubt that he would. the issue - action. there is no doubt that he would. the issue here - action. there is no doubt that he would. the issue here is l action. there is no doubt that he would. the issue here is itj he would. the issue here is it is the period between the 5th of november when the election takes place and january the 20th next year when the next

president, whether that is donald trump or kamala harris is inaugurated. in other words the biden administration remains in place in those two months. �* ., . months. and how much room then does israel — months. and how much room then does israel have _ months. and how much room then does israel have to _ months. and how much room then does israel have to ignore - does israel have to ignore washington and the deadline set? , , ., ., ., set? this is going to have im act set? this is going to have impact on _ set? this is going to have impact on israel. - set? this is going to have impact on israel. even - set? this is going to have - impact on israel. even though benjamin netanyahu has rebuffed the united states repeatedly over the last year in terms of gaza and lebanon, the fact of the matter is that support for israel by the united states has been a pillar of us policy. 0ne also has to keep in mind that this letter comes at a moment of broaderfaeces in israel�*s international network. you saw the brits sanctioned settlers and you are getting voices out of the golf who are starting to

question whether israel is the ally against iran they want or are questioning whether israel�*s war tactics are tactics that serve their interests. in other words, there is a broader official ring of israel�*s international network that could cost it significantly. it network that could cost it significantly.— significantly. it relates to gaza. significantly. it relates to gaza- and _ significantly. it relates to gaza. and it _ significantly. it relates to gaza. and it is _ significantly. it relates to gaza. and it is this - significantly. it relates to i gaza. and it is this anything that could be done between israel and hezbollah. you have seen they _ israel and hezbollah. you have seen they have _ israel and hezbollah. you have seen they have refrained - israel and hezbollah. you have seen they have refrained from | seen they have refrained from bombing in the southern suburbs of beirut until roughly a week ago and that was because the united states had requested they tone down the attacks on the lebanese capital and at the same time you�*ve got has apollo been very clear that it wants a ceasefire but it wants a

ceasefire but it wants a ceasefire in gaza and lebanon —— and jezbollah has been very clear. even though they want to see the issue is disconnected, they want a ceasefire in both. pakistan�*s capital, islamabad, is in lockdown as a majorsummit, bringing together the leaders of china, russia, india and iran culminates today. the shanghai cooperation 0rganisation is taking place against a backdrop of rising insurgent violence in pakistan. the threat alert has been high, especially after the killing of two chinese engineers and shooting deaths of 21 miners last week. i wasjoined by husain haqqani ? former ambassador of pakistan to the united states , and director of the south & central asia, of the hudson institute. the organisation was established in 2001 by russia and china

to advance their interest in central asia and then it was joined by india, pakistan and iran and the grouping is primarily about political and economic cooperation as well as security cooperation on counterterrorism. for pakistan, the summit is significant because it is the first big international meeting in islamabad after two years of political turmoil and of course the city is in lockdown primarily because of security threats from myriad terrorist groups, as well as from the political supporters of the former prime minister imran khan who have threatened to protest against their government in the presence of foreign visitors in islamabad. and how crucial is pakistan to china�*s larger plans? pakistan is china�*s most important partner in south asia. china has invested heavily in pakistan and is pakistan�*s major military supplirt,

and is china�*s guarantee major military supplier, and is china�*s guarantee with india. as long as there are half a million pakistani troops on indian�*s border it keeps india busy in south asia rather than being able to look towards china, so china considers pakistan very important and, of course, pakistan considers china a very significant guarantor of pakistan�*s security and economic survival. china normally has a hands—off approach when it comes to intervening in foreign countries. will that continue to hold with regards to pakistan? definitely. china has no intention, i think, of intervening in pakistan domestic politics and right now it seems no—one is. the former prime minister imran khan was not particularly liked by any of the pakistan foreign partners. he has a strong support base in parts of the country and his supporters are very enthusiastic in their support for him, but, at the same time, pakistan�*s military no longer

trusts him and the pakistan business community doesn�*t trust him and nobody wants to intervene on his behalf which, of course, the downside is that human rights violations and any draconian measures against mr khan and his supporters are not addressed. but on the other hand it enables the pakistan government to move forward with its plans for the economy as well as restoring security. just one last quick question. you mentioned russia being part of this grouping from the beginning. what does it want to get out of its participation in this sco? on this particular occasion i think russia wants to make sure the central asian republics — iran, pakistan and india — continue to remain neutral in its conflict with ukraine. all of these countries have essentially abstained in un votes and cannot support or do not want to support russia but they do not want to be seen as supporting ukraine either and from russia�*s point of view, that is a positive thing.

we must understand the shanghai organisation accounts 24% of the world�*s land area and 42% of population and for russia that is significant. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

to asia — and north korea has blown up several interconnecting roads and railways on its side of the border with south korea. footage released by south korea shows the moment north korea blew up roads connecting the two countries. north korea set sail with player price for the incursion while south korea slammed beyond young for what it called abnormal provocation. let�*s go

to sail and speak with the director of the careerist group. we heard earlierfrom a concerned former us officials say the developments were significant and you are sitting and seoul. what you make of what has happened? like most --eole what has happened? like most peeple here. — what has happened? like most peeple here. i _ what has happened? like most people here, i don't _ what has happened? like most people here, i don't care - what has happened? like most| people here, i don't care much. people here, i don�*t care much. because it�*s the sort of paradox that when the entire world is talking about a new wave of tension between two states, the vast majority of south koreans don�*t bother. they see something like that every year, or may be every second year. and right now i think we face a minor risk, but let�*s not overestimate it. so let's not overestimate it. so ou are let's not overestimate it. so you are saying this is business as usual between north and south? , ~ ., as usual between north and south? , . ., ., south? yes. with one important footnote. most _

south? yes. with one important footnote. most people - south? yes. with one important footnote. most people assume. footnote. most people assume this is important. and it never ever resumed after 75 years. these links were built largely for symbolic purposes during a spring in the relations between the north and south, but they have never been used for anything but some kind of symbolic, training for symbolic purposes across the border. with dignitaries, ministers, cabinet ministers and top officials around, so north koreans are looking at railways that have not been used for nearly a century of the which are unlikely to be used in the foreseeable future.

you must acknowledge that blowing them up is also a symbolic gesture. absolutely. your symbolism, _ symbolic gesture. absolutely. your symbolism, as _ symbolic gesture. absolutely. your symbolism, as often. . symbolic gesture. absolutely. i your symbolism, as often. with very little practical means. talking about drains is more complicated because the south korean right wing conservative groups connected to the churches and migrant communities and the community of the north korean migrants, they used to send leaflets to north korea by balloons, and now obviously they get more advanced technology and north koreans are not liking it and are not going to like because north korea cares about information and they want to keep their people as ignorant about the outside world is possible. and the drains, that makes any drone capable of dropping leaflets in the target areas, unlike balloons, so it�*s

areas, unlike balloons, so it�*s a new technological advance and they don�*t like it and they have threatened some kind of kinetic action which might help. it is a real escalation from balloons to drones and north koreans were sending these rubbish balloons dropping all this kind of waste on south korea and basically they are afraid to lose face and they probably feel like they should do something and it might mean sharing a south korean island or something like that. if there is a raise of tension and panicking headlines in the foreign media, but it is unlikely to erupt. andrei, thank you _ unlikely to erupt. andrei, thank you and _ unlikely to erupt. andrei, thank you and we - unlikely to erupt. andrei, i thank you and we appreciate your perspective.

ukraine says it shot down 12 attack drones launched by russia overnight. but that�*s an almost nightly occurrence 1,000 days into russia�*s full—scale invasion. across the country, ukraine�*s military relies on volunteers to help protect the skies — and with so many men being called up to the frontline, more women are stepping in. 0ur eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford joined one patrol, who call themselves the witches of bucha. drones buzz. the buzz of danger over kyiv. russia�*s attack drones arrive here almost nightly now, forcing ukraine�*s air defences into this deadly game of search and destroy. so, outside the city, they�*re supported by volunteer teams. we followed one in a recent air raid, as they rushed to help protect the skies. they call themselves the witches of bucha because, apart from him, they�*re women — stepping in as ever more men

are sent to the front line. a vet and a manicurist helping assemble a machine gun that�*s more than eight decades old. it�*s ancient, but effective. the team say it�*s downed three drones so far. valentina is saying that the drones could see the light and could respond to that, they don�*t know how the drones are going to behave. so they�*re saying we need to work in the dark, essentially. on her tablet, yulia spots two drones in the air. but not close yet. translation: of course, it'sl nervous work because we need to be focussed, to react to the slightest sound. this is how the bucha witches

now spend their weekends. lesson one, on storming a building. not perfected yet, but these skills are empowering for women who lived through the russian takeover of their region and were terrified. translation: i remember how we were under occupation. - i remember all that horror. i remember the screams of my own child. i remember the dead people when we were fleeing. that�*s where i find the strength to go on. they combine doing all this with their dayjobs. a maths teacher and an office manager tired of feeling helpless. translation: ukrainians suffer for the people - who are no longer here, those taken by the stupid war.

then they were recruiting women here and i tried it and didn't fall apart. this full—scale war will soon be 1,000 days old and valentina�*s life has been transformed. but the women here refuse to give up believing in victory and in their role trying to bring that about. sarah rainsford, bbc news, near bucha. anthony albanese he is facing a backlash after buying a multi—million dollar beach property in the midst of a national housing crisis. he defended his purchase of the 4.3 defended his purchase of the 11.3 million australian dollar property by saying he bought the four—bedroom house to be closer to his fianc e�*s family. the purchase sparked anger across the political divide with the country�*s housing crisis likely to be a major issue in the upcoming election.

thomas tuchel has agreed to become the next manager of england�*s national football team. the bbc has been told by two different sources that tuchel, who is german, will become the third non—british permanent manager of the england men�*s team after sven—goran eriksson and fabio capello. england have been without a permanent manager since gareth southgate resigned, following the sides euro 2024 final defeat against spain. lee carsley, who was put in charge on an interim basis, will remain in place for england�*s final two nations league matches in november. tuchel, a former chelsea and paris st germain boss, is set to formally take over after that. two giant pandas have taken up residence at the smithsonian�*s

national zoo in washington, dc. here they are landing in virginia on tuesday morning after a long flight from china. their names are bao li and qing bao and they�*re three years old. after nearly a year without pandas due to a diplomatic rift between china and the us, "panda diplomacy" prevailed. we�*ll be back shortly. see you soon. hello there. tuesday was a cloudy day, but it was also mild. temperatures reached 19 degrees in cornwall before the rain arrived, and all this mild weather is pushing up from france towards the uk and it�*ll stay mild through the rest of the week and into the weekend as well. we�*ve got southerly winds, though, at the moment. that�*s bringing in the mild air, of course, but it�*s also bringing in some rain, and again, it�*s all moving up from the south across western parts of europe. heavy rain, too, but at least it�*s keeping it mild overnight. no frost this time in scotland.

a really mild start to wednesday, but a wet one in many places, too. and that rain will continue across scotland, heavy at times. northern ireland may become a bit drierfor a while, but across western parts of england and wales, this is where we�*ll see further rain. to the east, it may well become dry. bit of sunshine for east anglia, the south—east and lincolnshire, and temperatures could be 21, even 22 degrees. through the midlands, around 18 or 19. and where we�*ve got that wet weather further north and west, still 16 or 17 celsius. there is more rain, though, to come on wednesday evening and overnight, and this rain marches its way eastwards across all areas before pulling away out into the north sea. and again it could be quite heavy rain, possibly even thundery. but wednesday night into thursday morning will again be very mild. cloudy start, though, for scotland. still some rain to clear away from the north. then the cloud breaks up. most places will have a dry day with sunny spells,

but a few showers will come into some of these western areas. they may prove to be rather hit—and—miss, mind you. we�*ve got a south—westerly breeze. it�*s still mild — 16, 17 degrees typically — but where it�*s dry with the sunshine in the east, temperatures of 18 or 19 celsius. heading towards the end of the week and the winds are strengthening again, and we�*re piling in more rain and some stronger winds from off the atlantic, around that low pressure area. in western areas, this is where we�*ll see the worst of the weather — strong to gale force winds picking up, and with some spring tides, there could be some coastal flooding. and then we see the rain developing more widely here. 0ut towards the east, it should be dry. there�*ll be some sunshine, not quite as mild, but still mild for the time of year. and it�*s going to stay that way into the weekend as well, but still very unsettled. yes, there�*ll be some sunshine at times, but we will see some spells of rain and it could be particularly wet and windy on sunday.

hong kong�*s leaderjohn lee is about to deliver a policy speech with the economy front and centre. plus the boss of chinese ev maker xpeng tells the bbc he is committed to expansion in europe despite the tariff threat. welcome to business today. let�*s start in hong kong, where the city�*s chief executivejohn

lee is delivering his annual policy address. he started speaking about 30 minutes ago. earlier in his speech, he announced the government would reduce waiting times for public housing in a bid to revive the property sector. let�*s speak with the city�*s largest think tank, 0ur hong kong foundation. i know you have been following the speech, quite a bit of ground to cover, i understand it�*s a long speech but what have you heard so far? he was talking about housing. has i talking about housing. as i mentioned _ talking about housing. as i mentioned earlier, - talking about housing. sis i mentioned earlier, housing talking about housing. as i mentioned earlier, housing is one of the most important social issues over the past few years. i�*m happy to hear him put housing in his policy address, especially reducing the waiting time, which had been quite long. in recent years, it went up to an average of between five and seven years

to get housing. as i