have implications under international law and us law. and as donald trump and kamala harris embark on a media blitz with less than three weeks to polling day, we assess how china views this crucial us presidential election. welcome to newsday, i'm steve lai. we start with that developing news from argentina, that liam payne, the former one direction singer, was declared dead at the age of 31. local police say the british musician died after falling from the third floor of a buenos aires hotel. hailing from the uk, liam payne rose to global stardom with other band members harry styles, niall horan zayne malik and louis tomlinson. these pictures are from outside the hotel in bueno aires, where fans have gathered

to pay their respects and lay tributes to the musician. here is one of those fans speaking a short while ago. |translation: i was in my livingi room and my sister told me liam died, we couldn't believe it, we came here directly to confirm it was true. he was 30 years old, with a seven—year—old son. i saw him two weeks ago at a niall concert. he was there, i saw him, he was ok. for the latest on this, let's cross live to our london newsroom and join our reporter azadeh moshiri. as we just heard, fans as wejust heard, fans in disbelief about this news that has come through. are there any more details you can tell us? absolutely, and fans have been gathering in front of the hotel, some have lit candles. because of the fact liam payne, as well as the band he was a part of, one direction, have

had such a huge impact on the music industry, and have had a true global following. they have been cherished in the music industry and by the public. the police released a statement saying that they found his body in buenos aires, in the upmarket neighbourhood of palermo at a hotel. the body fell from the third floor of the hotel. we also know that emergency medical services said that once they arrived, the injuries were so serious that he wasn't able to be resuscitated, in their words. we also know that he was in argentina a fortnight ago to see the concert of one of his former bandmates niall horan. i want to read you the next part of this plea statement that came in shortly afterwards which said the police were dispatched to the hotel on an emergency call because they were informed of an aggressive man who may have been under the

effects of drugs and alcohol. —— this police statement. the officer in charge said he heard a loud sound in the inner courtyard of the hotel. we don't have many more details than that and more information is coming in. the uk foreign office are in contact with the local police to do with the death of a british man in buenos aires, but they haven't confirmed that person because my identity. so as you can see, given that this is a developing story and the news has only come out in the last few hours, information, news, details, they are still all trickling in. �* ., ., , ., , they are still all trickling in. ., ., , ., , ., in. a lot of questions remain and hepefully _ in. a lot of questions remain and hopefully feebly - in. a lot of questions remain and hopefully feebly we - in. a lot of questions remain and hopefully feebly we will| and hopefully feebly we will get some answers in the hours ahead. tell us more about liam payne himself, just 31 and part of one of the biggest boy bands

there ever was.— of one of the biggest boy bands there ever was. absolutely, and his start in _ there ever was. absolutely, and his start in the _ there ever was. absolutely, and his start in the music— there ever was. absolutely, and his start in the music industry i his start in the music industry was so young, he was 1a when he auditioned on the x factor talent show, that is really huge here in the uk, but also launched in the us as well. he didn't make it that time around, but he did come back two years later at 16 and became part of one direction, who had a mammoth impact, 17 million records sold, four number one albums, so many awards... it's difficult to overstate what impact they had. and the craze, the following they gathered as they toured they gathered as they toured the world was often compared to the world was often compared to the beatles because of these legions of young female fans. he really had a passion for songwriting. he took that with him when the band took an indefinite hiatus in 2016. he and some of the others pursued solo careers. he also talked about how difficult fame was for him. he previously talked

about the fact he had dealt with anxiety, the impact it had on his mental health. he has been very transparent with his fans about addiction, when it came to alcohol and prescription drugs. but he did say he felt this was what he was meant to be doing, that he was meant to be doing, that he was at the right place doing the right thing in the world right now. the right thing in the world right nova— the right thing in the world riaht now. . , . plenty of reaction continues to come in on this story. for more, lets cross live to los angeles and join stevenj horowitz, the senior music writer for variety. 2016 was when one direction broke up, but they still hold a place in their fans' broke up, but they still hold a place in theirfans' hearts. for sure. they raised a generation, so to speak. they grew up pretty much all together, sort of similar to how beatlemania locked the 60s

and peoplejust how beatlemania locked the 60s and people just sort of followed them throughout their career. we see that now with the respective members' solo careers. people line up outside hotels, it really hasn't dissipated in the time since they went on an indefinite hiatus. , ., , ., they went on an indefinite hiatus. , ., ., hiatus. eight years of that hiatus. eight years of that hiatus. n _ hiatus. eight years of that hiatus. it us _ hiatus. eight years of that hiatus. it us up _ hiatus. eight years of that hiatus. it us up to - hiatus. eight years of that hiatus. it us up to speed i hiatus. eight years of that . hiatus. it us up to speed with what liam has been doing in that time. he what liam has been doing in that time-— what liam has been doing in that time. ~ ., , that time. he embarked on his own solo career, _ that time. he embarked on his own solo career, put _ that time. he embarked on his own solo career, put out - that time. he embarked on his own solo career, put out a - own solo career, put out a string of singles and a pair of eaps. in 2019 he put out his debut solo album. in the time since, he has put out music. last night a pair of e ps. as well as raising his seven—year—old son bear who he shares with cheryl cole, who he met when he was a contestant on the x factor. he had his family and work—life balance in check and work—life balance in check and that is what he prioritised.- and that is what he prioritised. and that is what he rioritised. ~ ., , prioritised. we heard 'ust there about i prioritised. we heard 'ust

there about the i prioritised. we heard justj there about the struggles prioritised. we heard just i there about the struggles he had, both with alcoholism and mental health. what more can you tell us? he mental health. what more can you tell us?— you tell us? he has been open about his _ you tell us? he has been open about his struggles _ you tell us? he has been open about his struggles with - about his struggles with alcoholism, thoughts of suicide, and lastly he went on record in an interview, where he said he had been 100 days sober, so clearly he was trying to work on improving himself. obviously we don't know the exact circumstances of his death, but there are early reports that he may have been intoxicated. it seems it was something he was struggling with for quite some time. whether or not that was related to the tragedy that happened today, we are yet to know. we don't know. — today, we are yet to know. we don't know, we _ today, we are yet to know. we don't know, we are looking for more information on that, hopefully we will get updates soon. how do you think he will be remembered? i soon. how do you think he will be remembered?— soon. how do you think he will be remembered? i think he will be remembered? i think he will be remembered _ be remembered? i think he will be remembered as _ be remembered? i think he will be remembered as the - be remembered? i think he will be remembered as the big - be remembered as the big brother of one direction, people have such fond memories of him in that group. the

promise that he showed, looking after the other guys. that's going to be his legacy. he was reallyjust going to be his legacy. he was really just a cornerstone going to be his legacy. he was reallyjust a cornerstone of this huge cultural moment, and he gave it his all. shared himself with the world. i think that's going to be a big part of his legacy. that's going to be a big part of his legacy-— that's going to be a big part of his legacy. thanks so much for talking _ of his legacy. thanks so much for talking to _ of his legacy. thanks so much for talking to us. _ of his legacy. thanks so much for talking to us. if _ of his legacy. thanks so much for talking to us. if you - of his legacy. thanks so much for talking to us. if you would | for talking to us. if you would like more information and to read the tributes that have been pouring in for liam payne, go to our website, we have a live page up and running, a lot of tributes being placed there, a lot of context and background to this story. the us ambassador to the un says they are watching israel's actions in gaza to make sure they don't have a "policy of starvation" in the northern part of the strip. she made the remarks to the un security council. israel has denied previous accusations that its military is surrounding parts of the north and preventing food aid from getting through. it comes as trucks carrying

humanitarian aid enter the war—torn region for the third day in a row following a two—week period when the united nations said no aid had entered northern gaza. the deliveries follow a warning from the us it would cut military support to israel if it didn't boost aid efforts in the strip. wyre davies is following all of these developments from jerusalem. the last three days, there's been a significant but small increase in the amount of aid in northern gaza, perhaps as a response to the very strongly worded letter from the american secretary of state and the american defence secretary outlining the fact that israel's military offensive in gaza was having unacceptable humanitarian consequences. about 50 trucks have gone in through the erez crossing in northern gaza. to the jabalia area. it's still way short of the 500 trucks or so a day that are needed. but israel says it is sending in aid, it accuses hamas and other groups sometimes of stealing that aid, but clearly not

enough is getting in. the united nations has again said the situation in northern gaza is completely unlivable at the minute. we've heard more accusations and criticism from some of israel's closest allies. the americans have told israel they're keeping a very close eye on what israel is doing in northern gaza because of the humanitarian situation. i think israel is probably going to have to rethink its military objectives injabalia, in northern gaza. israel can't simply go in there now, almost flatten parts of the area in pursuit of the remaining hamas units. it has to think about the impact on the 300,000 or so people who are living there. israel says it is encouraging people to leave, but many agencies, like msf, have said it's impossible for people to leave. some people are being shot at when they try to leave by troops apparently, and even when people

get to so—called designated safe areas, they find themselves at threat. sadly, people have been killed in bombings and shellings in these so—called safe areas. perhaps a rethink for israel of its military objectives in northern gaza, although it does say that it is continuing to kill hamas fighters. apparently 50 hamas members were killed by israel in gaza in overnight activity. that is why israel is doing what it's doing. but clearly, given this criticism in writing and also on the floor of the un from the united states, from the british — israel defending itself, but it might have to rethink things in northern gaza. elsewhere in the region, cross—border fire between israel and hezbollah continues. 90 missiles were fired into israel in the last 2a hours according to its military. and in lebanon, 138 strikes were reported in the past day. the israeli army said its warplanes struck dozens of what they say are hezbollah targets in the southern city of nabatieh. the air strikes killed

the local mayor and 15 others. the lebanese government said this was a direct attack on civilians. rescuers have also been searching for survivors today in the village of oana, where the israeli military says it killed a hezbollah commander. javed ali is an international security expert at the university of michigan, and he told me more about the impact of continued israeli attacks on hezbollah in lebanon. based on what the israeli military says about their campaign against hezbollah, by those accounts, it seems israel has made a significant amount of progress in really hammering hezbollah in a way probably israel has never done in the decades—long struggle between israel and hezbollah since 1982. so if you look at the amount of senior leadership israel has acknowledged they have killed, it includes the secretary

general hassan nasrallah, pretty much the vanguard of hezbollah when it began as a small clandestine terrorist group in 1982, for the most part, that vanguard is dead now. and again, that's only happened in the past six weeks or so. significant attacks against leadership, the idf also said they have destroyed about 50% of hezbollah's rocket and missile inventory. and now they are hitting fortified positions in southern lebanon and trying to degrade the capability of hezbollah to fire missiles and rockets onto northern israel. israel thinks they have a lot of momentum and they have achieved a lot of tangible results. remind us how much support hezbollah actually have in lebanon. the lebanese government says civilians are notjust getting caught up but have been targets of these attacks from israel. well, hezbollah is obviously not the formal government of lebanon, but over these past

a0 years, it has transformed from that small clandestine terrorist group i described earlier, that was very violent against the us and other western countries in the �*80s and the early �*90s, and now it sort of retains parts of that, but it has a large military force that israel is still trying to fight against. it has over a dozen members of parliament. it provides a lot of social services to lebanese shia in southern and eastern lebanon, parts of beirut. it has become a much bigger political and social movement inside lebanon, outside just the threat it poses to israel itself. israel might feel it's making ground against hezbollah, but the us has now placed this ultimatum and linked it to aid getting into gaza, speaking up at the un. do you think israel

is going to have to acquiesce or back down? that's another fascinating development over the last couple of days, but i think it is decoupled from israel's campaign against hezbollah, which is proceeding now on its own timeline and its own set of objectives, at least from the israeli perspective. whether the pressure the us has now put on israel to wind down the campaign against hamas, to absolutely increase the flow of humanitarian aid into different parts of the gaza strip, where people need it the most... how that affects the calculus of hezbollah to remain fighting against israel, because the hezbollah deputy secretary has said, as long as israel is fighting hamas, hezbollah will continue to threaten israel. there are so many interlocking

variables, but i think from the military side, israel's campaign against hezbollah is separate from the one against hamas. staying in the middle east and we have some breaking news from yemen, and the pentagon has confirmed that us forces have conducted precision strikes against five underground weapons storage locations in houthi—controlled areas of the country. he said these storage compounds contained weapons that the houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region. us central command says assesments of the strikes are under way and there are no signs of any civilian casualties. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. let's turn to the us now, and kamala harris has sat down with fox news in herfirst—ever inteview with the network. she was pushed on immigration,

as well as her vow to be a candidate of change. and on that, she was asked by fox host brett baier about comments she made last week in which she said she wouldn't change a thing about the actions of the biden administration. my presidency will not be a continuation ofjoe biden�*s. like every new president that comes into office, i will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences and fresh and new ideas, i represent a new generation of leadership. for example, iam for example, i am someone who has not spent the majority of my career in washington, dc. by invite ideas, whether it's on the republicans supporting me, who were just the republicans supporting me, who werejust on the republicans supporting me, who were just on stage with me minutes ago, and the business sector, and others who can contribute to the decisions i make about for example my plan for increasing the supply of housing in america and bringing

down the cost of housing. addressing the issue of small businesses, which is about working with the private sector to bring more capital and access to capital to our small business leaders, including my plan for a $25,000 down payment assistance for first—time home buyers and small businesses extending the tax deduction from $5,000 to 50,000. on wednesday, fox news also aired an all—woman town hall with donald trump that was taped the previous day. he was asked about the strict abortion laws being imposed in several states, and the former president praised the us supreme court for ending a woman's right to an abortion in the us, when they overturned roe v wade in 2022. what we were able to do through the courage of six supreme courtjustices, we were able to do this after years and years of turmoil. now it's back in the states, the states are voting for it. with less than three weeks to go until the presidential election in the us, let's

take a moment to look at how china is viewing the race for the white house. on the campaign trail in the us, donald trump has frequently taken sharp aim at the country with talk of new tarrifs on chinese imports in a bid to boost us—made products. while kamala harris has pledged to take swift measures if china were to undermine the us in any way. the election also comes as tensions continue to grow over taiwan, with china holding the largest yet set of military drills around the island on monday. for more insight into beijing's view on the us presidential race, i have been speaking withjia qingguo, director of the institute for global cooperation and understanding at peking university. he's also a member of the standing committee of the chinese people's political consultative conference, a communist party group that advises the chinese government. i think the chinese government is very cautious not to comment on this, because it doesn't want to be accused of interfering in american domestic politics. among chinese, the views are divided.

some people prefer trump, some people prefer harris. personally, i think, because we had a term of trump and a term of biden, which harris is the vice president, the comparison, to me, is quite obvious. we know what we are dealing with, given the history of the two. in the view of beijing, is there a preferred option? personally, iwould prefer harris, because of the bad experience with trump. ok, could you elaborate? well, trump was quite emotional. he was also, you know... preferred a race to the bottom, when it comes to tactics. for example, coming up with

a lot of misinformation and bad information about china. during his time, he had this 19th—century view of trade, that is, if you sell me $100 of goods, you must buy $100 from me. that makes sense in the 19th century, but now goods are made by parts assembled by other countries, so it's like... to use this kind of standard to measure so—called reciprocity, it's quite dated. it was during his time that china and us relationship fell sharply through the floor. now we ended up in a state

of quite, you know, serious confrontation. so we don't want to repeat that experience again. is there an issue as well... china takes a long—term view when it comes to relationships and leadership. continuity is how they see harris representing the relationship with the us and china? we have problems with the biden administration too. they basically inherited a lot of tough measures, initiated by trump. for domestic politics and probably also for some kind of a conviction. but the policies are more stable, more predictable. and also, now we are re—engaging with each other, officials are meeting with each other and talking about issues.

that's stabilising. i think we need stability. stability with consultation, we will be able to co—operate on issues, where our countries have shared concerns and interests. a quick question, there have been claims of chinese interference in us elections. the former executive director of the cyber security agency said last week that china is more strategic than russia and iran in sowing discord and influencing local and state elections. your response? well... this is probably more coming from speculation than facts. i don't think china has any interest in influencing local elections in the us.

if you have an interest in following updates on the us election, we have a live page running from now all the way until the election itself. thanks forjoining me, goodbye for now. hello. wednesday brought some very heavy falls of rain across parts of wales and western areas of england too, caused some localised flooding for example, here in shropshire. and shropshire was one of the wettest areas, along with southern wales, parts of south—west england. we had up to 73mm of rain around the brecon beacons, 60mm into parts of shropshire, whereas further eastwards on wednesday some very warm weather for mid—october. we had temperatures peaking at 22.5 celsius in central london. the average at this time of the year is 15. now, over the next few hours, we've got this zone of heavy rain pushing eastwards and northwards, so heavy rain for northern england,

some heavy bursts in eastern scotland and some heavy rain for a time across the southeast of england. but all that lot will tend to clear out of the way. the hill fog patches will tend to lift. it'll be a mild start to the day on thursday with temperatures 11 to 15 degrees, and overall it's a better kind of day. we do start off with rain, though, across the far north of scotland. that will be slow to pull out of the way. sunshine follows for most of the uk, so it should be a lovely morning thursday morning. a bit of high cloud in the sky for east anglia and southeast england. and come the afternoon, we do have a trough running into northern ireland, western scotland, the northwest of both england and wales, so here through thursday afternoon, there is a risk of a few passing showers, but some of you will dodge them altogether. now, looking at friday's weather charts, another area of low pressure is on the way, this one with fairly tightly packed isobars on the cold front. so it's on and ahead of this main band of rain that we'll get some pretty strong gusts of wind, gusts of around 50 or 60 miles an hour, working into western scotland. eastern scotland, central and eastern england,

probably staying dry all day. temperatures still on the mild side, quite widely between 1a and 17 celsius. we do have that rain friday night and into saturday that will be affecting central and eastern parts of england, eastern scotland, slow to clear saturday morning. eventually, though, it will get out of the way and we'll see sunshine and some blustery showers working into western areas. our temperatures continue to run a few degrees above average for this stage of october, but then second half of the weekend, we've got another area of low pressure on the way, bringing wet and windy weather conditions, but the winds will be of some concern to the northwest of scotland, where we could get gusts of 70 or 80 miles an hour, making it the strongest area of low pressure we've seen so far this autumn. a risk of some disruption.

china outlines fresh measures to stabilise the property market. we'll have the details straight ahead. plus, the boss of accor tells the bbc that chinese travelers are still not spending big. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. china's minister for housing and urban rural development, ni hong, hasjust concluded his breifing in beijing, where he vowed to stabilise the country's property market. so far, he's said the government will add a million village urbanisation projects.

when it comes to support for young home—buyers, he said 11.5 million of them will have access to affordable housing by the end of the year. subsides for low income groups will also be extended. these latest measures come as china prepares to release third—quarter growth data friday. as we've been reporting, the government in beijing has been busy rolling out measures they hope will turbo—charge growth in the world's number two economy. for a summary, and to find out if they will work, here's our business reporter katie silver. how do you solve a problem like china's economy? how do you solve a problem like china's economy? after how do you solve a problem like china's economy? after of how do you solve a problem like china's economy? after of rapid expansion, china's growth has slowed and its recovery after the pandemic hasn't been what many would have hoped. businesses and local government are riddled with high debt, raising questions about stability. and there is the ongoing real estate crisis. all this means they have never been more reliant on exports or making

money by selling the goods abroad.