the age of criminal responsibility in australia's northern territory is lowered to ten, sparking outrage from human rights groups and indigenous organisations. welcome to newsday, i'm steve lai. there has been a dramatic turn in the middle east conflict with israel announcing that it has killed the leader of hamas, yahya sinwar, the man widely believed to be behind the october 7th attacks. dna tests confirmed the 61 year old died along with two other hamas members during an israeli ground operation in the city of rafah on wednesday. sinwar has been one of israel's top targets. israeli officials hold him responsible for organising and directing the attack that killed about 1,200 people and where more than 250 were taken hostage. the family members of two israeli hostages held in gaza have told the bbc — sinwar�*s death is a "brief

window of opportunity" for benjamin netanyahu's government to negotiate the return of the hostages. there has been growing anger in israel over the government's inability to secure the release of the remaining hostages. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu spoke after the confirmation of sinwar�*s death. translation: this is a milestone in taking | down the evil rule of hamas. let me say again, . hamas will no longer rule over gaza. this is the beginning. of the day after hamas. this is opportunity- for you residents of gaza to finally liberate yourself from his tyranny. - to hamas terrorists let me say this — your leaders - are running away and they will be taken down. _ i call on anyone holding hostages, if you take i down your weapons and return our hostages, _ we will allow you to come out and live. _

but at the same time, - let me also say if you hurt our hostages, you will be taken down. - we will settle - the score with you. us presidentjoe biden says yahya sinwar�*s death marks a good day for israel, for the us and for the world. vice president kamala harris said us special operations and intelligence personnel had worked with their israeli counterparts to track down sinwar and other hamas leaders. israel has a right to defend itself and the threat hamas poses to israel must be eliminated. today, there is clear progress toward that goal. hamas is decimated and its leadership is eliminated. this moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in gaza. the death of sinwar is a serious blow to hamas and could mark a pivotal moment in the ongoing israel—gaza war. our international editor, jeremy bowen has the latest on this dramatic development. at the beach south of tel aviv, a lifeguard picked up his microphone. "attention, all bathers.

"it's not 100%, but there's a strong chance that the rat from the tunnels known as yayha sinwar is dead." and then it was confirmed. they knew sinwar�*s death was a big victory for israel and a big defeat for hamas. the israeli army released drone footage showing he was still fighting in his last moments. they said sinwar, on a chair at the back of the room, had thrown two grenades and obviously wounded, tried to fend the drone off with a stick before he was killed. it had been a chance encounter and at first they didn't realise who they'd killed, then soldiers saw the dead man resembled sinwar. yahya sinwar, born in 1962, grew up in a refugee camp in gaza. he spent 22 years in israeli jails for killing

four palestinians who'd collaborated with israel, so the security services had dental records and dna to identify his body. injail, he learned hebrew, studied his enemy and believed he'd worked out how to fight them. on the 7th of october last year, in a meticulously planned series of attacks, sinwar and his men inflicted israel's worst ever defeat. and a collective trauma that is still deeply felt. the killing of civilians, the hostage—taking and the celebrations of their enemies recalled for many israelis the nazi holocaust in the second world war. prime minister netanyahu said the war would go on. today he said, "we made clear once again what happens "to those who harm us. "we showed the world the victory of good over evil. "but the war is not over yet. "it is difficult and it

is costing us dearly." israel's response, a year of war, continued this morning. around 25 palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded in the latest big raid onjabalia camp in northern gaza. israel said it bombed a hamas commander centre. doctors said the casualties they saw were civilians. israel's response to the 7th of october attacks has killed at least 42,000 people in gaza. its war aims of destroying hamas and freeing its hostages have not been achieved, so killing yayha sinwar is its biggest victory yet. the hamas organisation that sinwar and others built before the 7th of october attacks is largely broken. left of sinwar is ishmail haniyeh, hamas political leader who was assassinated injuly. israel doesn't let us into gaza to report, but this reaction in khan younis was filmed for the bbc.

translation: this war is not dependent on sinwar - nor on any other leader or official. it is a war of extermination against the palestinian people as we all know and understand. the issue is much bigger than sinwar or anyone else. many leaders have beenl assassinated before him, like ishmail haniyeh, i but someone else will always step in and the j struggle will continue. back in israel, a few people stop to celebrate at the forensics lab where sinwar�*s body was taken. tonight israelis are relieved and happy that the enemy has been killed but hamas still has its hostages, is still fighting and will get a new leader. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. sinwar�*s death has once again raised the prospects of a pause in fighting in the year—long israel—gaza war. earlier i spoke with frank lowenstein — the former us special envoy for israeli palestinian negotiations — and asked him about the prospects of a ceasfire deal.

it's important to understand we are a long way israel and the world but it's not the end of hamas by any stretch of the imagination and if it even makes them more open to a ceasefire will depend on who is the successor to yahya sinwar, may be his deputy your brother, but we are a long way away from any breakthrough on that front. you say we are a long way away but does it move israel closer to the stated aims of wiping out hamas and getting hostages back? it's a bit closer to its stated aim of destroying hamas but whether it makes netanyahu any more able to negotiate a release of the hostages remains to be seen. he has very hardline members of his coalition opposed to any compromise, so we'll see if that fundamental dynamic changes on the israeli side and if you listen to what benjamin netanyahu said, they don't have any intention of ending the war right now.

if we look more broadly about the conflicts we have been seeing, where does it leave iran and its access —— axis of resistance now we have seen significant deaths in both hezbollah and hamas. it's been a hard few weeks for the iranians as they have been dealt some hard blows and it remains to be seen how they react. there is one scenario where they feel like they have to act aggressively against israel to show their proxies they are still in the fight and there's another scenario where they say they see they are losing and will withdraw but i'm not sure that we know either way at this point. soon after the october 7th attacks you said a ground invasion of gaza by israel could result in a humanitarian disaster and there really is no limit on casualties, you said, say what you make of the fact we are seeing more than 40,000 per day in gaza.

it's a tragedy and the us is finally taking some action with respect to limiting arma sales in israel if they don't start letting more humanitarian groups in and we are concerned they might have aspirations to clear out northern gaza and resettle it with israelis so there's been a change in the posture in respect of the war in the last couple of days. joe biden has said there is a 30 day limit before they see aid going into israel, so do you think these kind of actions need to be taken rather than words? it is clear at this point that they don't care what we say or do and because we have not been able to back up words with actions they have ignored us when it comes to gaza. and this will probably get their attention because it's all a political play by the biden administration who want to make overtures to the voters in michigan who are concerned about what is going on in gaza

without creating a fight, so by saying they have pushed it beyond the election and they hope we can see it both ways on that. what are you looking for next to tell us which way the conflict is going? who is the successor to yahya sinwar. if there is someone who can put a coalition together we could see a breakthrough, but if not, we are back where we started. moving away from the middle east and campaigning continues ahead of the us presidential election — with less than three weeks to go until the november 5 vote. early in—person voting is underway in north carolina, a critical swing state. voting kicks off there as recovery efforts are still underway in the aftermath of hurricane helene. another battleground state where voting has started is arizona. the state is located at the border with mexico, so immigration is one of the issues that's important to voters there. it's also one of three states currently leaning towards donald trump. my colleague caitriona perry has travelled there — and sent this report.

yeah, you want to grab that one sign? for lucy and erin, this election is about life. ..ask me about an abortion pill reversal... three days a week they come to stand outside one of the southern arizona's only two abortion clinics, trying to persuade women not to terminate their pregnancy. hey, i'm lucy with pro life tucson. got a gift bag for you. this year, in addition to voting for president, arizonans will also vote on whether to extend the right to an abortion from 15 weeks up to viability, around 2a weeks. donald trump was the most pro—life president we have ever had. we don't vote for personality. we vote for what that candidate is going to bring, and he going to protect us from evil. these are our last ultrasounds with her. for kristen and dave, it's a matter of health care. they got a tragic diagnosis when kristen was 18 weeks pregnant with their daughter. that was her heartbeat. the life expectancy and life quality the doctors described to us was really, really grim.

the doctors told them there was an option to end the pregnancy, but that they would have to leave the state for that care, and organise it themselves. i would have appreciated having been able to just mourn our loss privately. you know, enjoy those last few moments of carrying our baby girl. and instead, we were... all the logistics of travelling out of state... it was the most devastating thing i have ever been through. the choice is extremely simple for us. - yeah, harris and walz absolutely have our vote. there's just a clear winner. early in—person voting is already under way in this state. with polls showing a dead heat, it's all about turnout. outside the cities, 45% of arizona is made up of desert, and the border with mexico runs 370 miles, 600 kilometres. on the other side of this fence is mexico.

arizona is the only battleground state on the border, so issues of immigration and border control are of massive importance to the voters here. the people, let's take you back here, will come down this canyon. more will come down from this canyon over here to the house. tom lives on a ranch of several thousand acres that run alongside the border. he regularly sees migrants on his land. i'm 82 years old. about four years ago, it started going bad. i want to go back the way we were. i'm glad i'm really old is all i can say. if she becomes president, we are done, i think. the terrain is treacherous. in the migrant help centre in the nearest town, arivaca, residents have rescue packs ready. by far, kamala harris will be better. i will be voting for her because in many ways i think she is far superior to trump.

but on immigration, both parties have nothing new to say about immigration. there are more registered republicans than democrats here, but three in ten people consider themselves independent, and those are the voters harris and trump are fighting for. catriona perry, bbc news, arizona. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

to indonesia now where prabowo subianto will be inaugurated as the country's eighth president on sunday. prabowo is currently serving as defence minister, and is backed by current presidentjoko widodo. he swept to a landslide victory in february's direct presidential election on promises of policy continuity. he was once banned from the united states because of rights abuse allegations. now, as the incumbent

leader of the world s third largest democracy, the new president has ambitious plans for military expansion and defence deals — and a desire for more of a global influence for the country. well, he is going to start with some signature, populist policiesjust to brand himself as a pro—people president and to shore up his popularity, independent of his support. these will include policies such as providing free lunches and free milk to schoolchildren and raising the salaries of the civil service. what he's really interested in are a few interrelated things, and you mentioned the enhancement of the indonesia milk capacity and because the fact he comes from the military and has

a support base in the military and also would benefit from support of businesses that would be controlled by military interest. and i thinkje would also have an interest in pushing forward the fortunes of his own patronege and that has meant the use of institutes and resources for the accumulation of private capital, and this will be centred amongst the alliance of politicians, bureaucrats and big business that are behind him. and thirdly, i think he will be pushing for a high economic growth, saying he wants 8% economic growth and that is virtually impossible, and the only way it can be achieved in any semblance whatsoever,

is to actually push for indonesian deforestation and also the extracted resources industriess that override any environmental protocols. we have about a minute left so i want to get your thoughts on how he will deal with indonesia's relationship with big international plays like the us and china and given his background in the military and the fact he was banned in the us at one point. well, he is far more adept at the international stage than his predecessor. he speaks better english, he likes jostling around with powerful people on stage, on the political stage, but his main priority, i think would be to ensure that indonesia still maintains

america's favour and a lot of those arms will come from the west, but at the same time he wants to make sure that china continues to invest in indonesia, especially in big infrastructure projects that the west is not interested in. geopolotically he will be with the americans put economically he will move closer and closer to the people's republic of china. the members of one direction say they are "completely devastated" about the death of liam payne. the singer died after falling from a hotel balcony in argentina late on wednesday. payne rose to global stardom as as one of five members of one direction, which sold 70 millions records worldwide. in recent years, he became a solo artist when the band took a hiatus.

politicians in australia's northern territory have passed a law to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10. the government ? which rushed through the policy after winning an election with a tough on crime campaign — says the move will ultimately protect children — despite doctors, human rights organisations and indigenous groups disputing that logic. the bbc�*s katy watson has been in darwin and sent this report. pushing this through so early on was always the plan by the new government here who argued that crime is on the rise and it needs to come down. and one of the ways to do that, they say, is lower the age of criminal responsibility, effectively locking more children up. the un says 1a should be the absolute minimum age of criminal responsibility. doctors, lawyers here we have spoken to, human rights groups, indigenous organisations all warn this is a step back and will make the issue worse. children here are going into maximum security prisons

prisons, being held in isolation. many of those have mental health issues and disabilities. and add to that in this region about 30% of people are aboriginal but pretty much 100% of the children being locked up are indigenous. i've been speaking to the territories children's commissioner who has been pushing for the government to reconsider. having worked in the justice system for decades, i am aboriginal on my mother's side and i have seen structural racism in the application of laws and policies and aboriginal children are less likely to be cautioned or diverted and are more likely to be charged and formally proceeded against through the courts and more likely to be remanded than bailed. if we rely on the evidence and work to address the root causes of crime we will have less of the kids reoffending and less kids coming back. the northern territory has the highest incarceration rate in australia, five times the national average, among most states the age

of responsibility is also ten staying in australia and king charles and queen camilla are on their way to the country for their biggest overseas trip since the king began cancer treatment in february. the visit has attracted some controversy though, re—opening questions about the future of the monarchy in australia and the debate about whether the country should become a republic. the king and queen will be in australia until next wednesday when they head to samoa for the commonwealth heads of government meeting. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. ukraine's president zelensky has been in brussels, where he's urged leaders to accept his plan to strengthen kyiv�*s military position, to force russia into peace talks. speaking at a summit, he called for fast tracked nato membership and permission to use western long—range weapons. he said the additional support would pressure russia into accepting what he called �*a just peace'. senators in kenya have voted to remove the deputy president, rigathi gachagua, from office despite his failure to testify at his impeachment trial — after his lawyer said he had been taken to hospital. mr gachagua was accused

of corruption, inciting ethnic divisions and undermining the government after falling out with president william rutoh he had denied all the charges and described the impeachment proceedings as a political lynching. and us regulators have adopted a �*click to cancel�* rule — which aims to make it easierfor people to end subscriptions. the move by the federal trade commission will come into effect in around six months' time. the largest and brightest supermoon of the year has risen in the night's sky around the world. the hunter's moon — as it's called is the third of four supermoons to occur this year. these pictures show the moon over the skyline of hong kong overnight. nasa says it anticipates the moon will appear full for three days. the bbc�*s sam harrison has been watching as it light up the skies.

waiting behind the clouds, something spectacular. the full hunter moon, its proximity to earth making it seem 14% brighter and 30% bigger than normal moons. this photo showing the event in all its glory over the dorset coast. and this shot taken over london, where there were thousands of stargazers. i'm taking some pictures now, the moon is so much brighter than i've ever seen it before. i thought it looked really nice, it looks a lot bigger than usual and looks really bright and clear. usually you see part - of the moon and it's not as bright, but today, i took a picture and i when you zoom in, it looks like the sun. i around the world the lunar event has been captured. dazzling these stargazers in indonesia. meanwhile, in germany, tonight's commute home was lit up by the moon's glow. footage from around the world capturing a dazzling moment as the biggest full moon of the year came out on display. sam harrison, bbc news.

that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello there. plenty of clear skies across england and wales have given our weather watchers the chance to see the hunter's moon, the third supermoon of the year so far. this was darlington a little earlier on, but the clear skies are quite widespread across england and wales, and the supermoon can be seen as far south as hampshire as well. we have got more cloud the further north and west, with strengthening winds ahead of this weather front that's going to arrive during the morning rush hour, but with those clear skies, because it's been so wetjust recently, fog is forming and some of it will be quite dense in places for the early morning rush hour or the journey to school. so that fog will lift away during the morning, and central and eastern

england, along with eastern scotland, will keep some sunny spells throughout the afternoon. out to the west, some showery rain and strengthening winds with gusts close to a0 miles an hour. but with the sunshine, we still have some pleasant warmth with highs of 17 degrees. now, the rain could turn quite heavy through northern ireland, particularly on the back edge of that, and the same, too, for western scotland. some torrential bursts of rain not out of the question, accompanied by gusts of winds close to 70 miles an hour. perhaps eastern scotland will stay dry for most of the afternoon — top temperatures here of around 13 degrees. but that weather front will continue to push its way steadily eastwards during the early hours of saturday morning, and still quite windy with it as well, although the strongest of the winds slowly easing down. so we start off saturday morning with rain down through the spine of the country — fairly light and patchy as it continues to push its way slowly east, and it may take most of the day to clear away. but behind it, sunny spells and a few scattered showers

for most of us on saturday afternoon, and temperatures from 12—17 degrees, so still above the average really for this stage in october. as we move out of saturday, though, into sunday we could see more of a significant area of low pressure. plenty of isobars squeezing to the southern flank of that low. it could bring some gales or severe gales, and it may well become the first named storm of the season, so keep abreast of the forecast on sunday — some wet and significantly windy weather due to sweep its way north and east. and once it does so, well, for england and wales, we'll see some quieter weather into next week. it stays unsettled further north.

china's slowdown deepens, with the economy growing 4.6% in the third quarter. plus netflix's results come in strong as the streaming giant gains 5 million new customers in the third quarter. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. it's been a big day in china, with the release of its third quarter growth figures earlier. the world's number two economy expanded by 4.6% percent in thejuly

to september quarter. and that's weaker than the 4.7% growth in the second quarter of the year. for more on what this tells us about the state of the world's number two economy, let's bring in our business reporter katie silver. help us make sense of these numbers. what do they mean? figs numbers. what do they mean? as ou numbers. what do they mean? is you said, 4.6% from july to september on year when we compare it to the same time a year earlier. this was slightly worse than the previous quarter but was slightly better than many economists predicted and it all came, this measure is a period before the recent raft of stimulus measures we have had from baiting. economists say it puts into "serious jeopardy" this around 5% growth target we have been hearing from beijing since much earlier this year when they set their growth target for the year. almost half a percentage point from that, it seems it will be hard for them potentially to reach especially since predictions for the next quarter are not looking very strong but there are hopes that this recent stimulus package may help the economy seek some kind of boost before the end of the year. we are seeing,

though, some kind of positive bright