live from london. this is bbc news israel intensifies its aerial assault on lebanon — at least 13 people are killed in a strike next to the country's biggest hospital. the us secretary of state arrives in israel as antony blinken tries once again to revive hopes of a ceasefire. here, thejustice secretary admits the government will run of prison places again — as more than 1,000 inmates are released early to try and ease overcrowding. world leaders arrive in kazan for the brics summit of emerging economies which the kremlin says highlights the failure of the west to isolate russia. and king charles ends his tour of australia with a visit to sydney harbour to view the country's fleet.

hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. in the lebanese capital beirut, an israeli air strike near a hospital is now said to have killed 13 people, including a child. the strike appeared to hit the car park of the rafik hariri university hospital — the country's biggest government—run hospital. lebanon's health ministry says another 57 people were injured. these are live pictures of the capital. the idf says it indends to strike the finances of hezbollah, as the terror group continues to fire rockets into northern israel. the israeli military says it has identified a bunker concealed under another beirut hospital that it says holds hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cash and gold. theirspokesman, rearadmiral daniel hagari, said the money was being used to finance hezbollah�*s attacks on israel and provided these reconstructions — saying the bunker is located directly under the hospital in the heart of beirut.

no further evidence was provided, and the hospital's administration has denied the claims. israel said it was monitoring the compound but would not strike the hospital itself. here are some pictures from israeli strikes overnight. this is baabda, a suburb of beirut. israel says it's hitting targets that are linked to hezbollah. 0ur middle east correspondent lina sinjab is in beirut. she told me more about the damage from the latest strikes. but that location near the rafik hariri hospital was not among those listed on the israel defense forces warning. there was a parallel street close to the hospital which was listed, so we are not sure what was the target and why this area was hit. it is densely populated with civilians, it is

it is one of the biggest hospitals operating in beirut. there was severe damage caused to the hospital. as you mentioned, over 50 people were injured, mostly children, and 13 dead. so this attack left lebanese and especially here in beirut in shock and total fear because there were no warnings, no reason for the attack and this is certainly not a hezbollah stronghold or hezbollah area. the israeli government saying it is trying to degrade hezbollah militarily and financially too. how is that plan working? we have seen their operation in targeting several hezbollah members and also the officials of hezbollah but also yesterday they had started a new tactic which is attacking hezbollah�*s finance, economic help, attacking the hezbollah

0ur chief international correspondent, 0rla guerin, has been?taken on a tour of al sahel hospital in beirut where israel claims millions of dollars in cash and gold are are kept in a hidden in a bunker. well, we are on level minus two in the al sahel hospital. the area just behind me is where medical waste is stored. even that was opened up for us to have a look at, the morgue was opened up, all of the drawers were opened to show us there was nothing inside. doctors have been opening piles of surgical scrubs, boxes of equipment, very, very keen to show us everything there is to see and to prove that there is nothing here. well, i'm just coming now from the basement on minus two up to minus one. we've been brought around the hospital by doctors. we've also been allowed

to move around on our own. doors have been opened for us in every area, cupboards, we've been allowed to see what there is to see. now, the hospital staff are adamant that there is no hidden bunker here containing millions of dollars of cash or gold, as he israelis have claimed. they say this is just a hospital where patients were being treated last night and where they had to be evacuated from the emergency area at great speed because doctors were worried for the lives of the patients and also worried for the staff. all the gear and reporting from the hospital where israel claims millions of dollars in cash and gold have been cut by hezbollah. —— 0rla guerin reporting from the hospital. as concern about the humanitarian crisis in northern

gaza grows, the us secretary of state antony blinken has arrived in israel, where he's due to meeting prime minister netanyahu. mr blinken has released five priorities to try to end the conflict. firstly, to talk to israel and others about how to end the war in gaza — which includes bringing home all the israeli hostages. he will also discuss with israel a post—conflict "day after" plan. he wants to review humanitarian asissstance to gaza — this after the us gave israel 30 days to take steps or risk some military assistance being cut off. mr blinken wants to try to discuss ways to get a resolution to the war with hezbollah. and he'll also discuss israel's expected retaliation against iran. bbc news correspondent jonah fisher has the latest from jerusalem. this is the 11th time antony blinken has come to the middle east since this war started just over one year ago, and to be quite frank expectation is pretty low about what he can achieve on this trip. this diplomatic initiative came about following the killing of hamas leader yahya sinwar

last week in gaza. i think there was a feeling than amongst western countries in particular that that might provide possibly a window of opportunity to push again for negotiations to restart about a ceasefire, a possible exchange of hostages. in the days that have followed since then it has become pretty clear from the israeli side that they have military objectives that they still want to achieve both in gaza, where clashes have continued overnight, and in lebanon where, as you just heard, there has been continued strikes on beirut. what will they talk about when prime minister blinken meets benjamin netanyahu in a couple of hours? i think one topic could well be what will be the situation in gaza after any agreement, who will govern it after there has been some sort of ceasefire put in place? israel has made it

pretty clear they do not want hamas to be in charge of gaza but have not really put forward much of a vision as to what or whom might be there instead. one thing which could perhaps be deliverable, something which was realistic for mr blinken to aim for, is to try to improve humanitarian access into gaza as we have reported for the past few weeks, the situation in northern gaza in particular is particularly bleak and violence is still continuing in terms of strikes but also very difficult for the amount of aid needed to get in, united nations officials warning things are pretty atrocious so that might be something which antony blinken might push forward today. mr blinken�*s visit to the middle east comes after the white house said it is "deeply concerned" about the leak of a pair of highly classified intelligence documents describing israel's preparations for a retaliatory strike on iran. the documents appeared on telegram at the weekend, including satellite images

and classified analysis. to the united states, and lots been happening on presidential campaign trail. vice president kamala harris spent the day alongside former republican congresswoman liz cheney. once a big name in the gop, she's been a vocal critic of donald trump. they began the day in pennsylvania, where ms harris spoke about america's influence in the world — saying that world leaders have expressed concern to her about donald trump. former president trump has focused his efforts in north carolina, surveying the damage from hurricane helene. donald trump has used a campaign stop in north carolina to again accuse the biden administration of diverting hurricane relief funds to assist migrants, without providing evidence. jarred hill from cbs spoke to us about the latest from the capaign trail. this is really an effort that we are seing by the vice president to try

and cement what we call the blue wall, these states along the northern part of the united states that have typically gone democratic, but again at this point are really these swing states, these battleground, and she is trying to amass a support system of republicans, actually, republican women, largely moderates, who are not too keen on former president trump for a number of reasons, trying to essentially persuade them that it's ok to vote for her, and in fact we saw the former republican congresswoman liz cheney yesterday saying, "you don't have to tell anyone who you vote for," just make this decision which they say is the right one for the country and then kind of push forward with that. at the same time, we are seeing the harris campaign making an effort to try and distinguish itself from the republican support that it's seeking here, saying things like they are not going to take some of the foreign policy decisions and interests and proposals from their republican counterparts, that they see these republican

surrogates as just a way to tell voters that it's ok to vote for them, but not necessarily that they are going to adopt all the policies, so it's an interesting balance we are seeing. and what has donald trump been up to? former president trump has been spending a lot of in north carolina. it's a state that's interesting though because it has not gone for the democrats since 2008 when former president 0bama ran the first time. former president trump won in north carolina twice before but as you mentioned here, the polls in these battleground states at the moment are so tight that we're seeing him spending a lot of time, effort and money in north carolina to try and cement that southern states. because we know that vice president harris has fewer, at least looking at some of the polling numbers, fewer routes to the white house, especially if she loses states like pennsylvania and potentially north carolina. and we looked at the polls earlier, so everything is showing that it is a pretty tight race just weeks away from voting day?

that's right. i would almost hate to live in some of these battleground states because they are being berated with the campaign ads from these two camps, because this is so tight here. and that's why at this point we are seeing both of these camps trying not only to sway some voters in their direction but make sure that any supporters they have actually do show up to the polls because it is believed this is going to be an election that really is based upon turnout, making sure that these two camps can get anyone who supports them out to the polls by election day. that was jarred hill from our us partners, cbs. so let's get more on the latest presidential campaign polling. new polls are arriving every day, each one with its slightly different take on the figures. ?if you look at the overall trends, rather than the individual points, you see harris retains a small lead over trump in the national polling averages. ?and if we turn to the battleground states, as you can see right now

the polls are very tight in the seven states considered battlegrounds in this election, with neither candidate having a decisive lead in any of them according to the polling averages. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

president putin is welcoming delegations from 36 countries as russia hosts the brics summit of emerging economies. these are recent pictures of china's president xi jinping arriving in the southwestern city, kazan. the kremlin says the un secretary—general will also attend, though a spokesman for antonio guterres would not confirm this. moscow says the gathering is evidence that western efforts to isolate russia over its invasion of ukraine have failed.

we can get more now on that so much. apologies, your namejust was not there on our screens, neil melvin, thank you for joining us on bbc news. there is an issue with my autocue at the moment. of course president putin wants to reject a strong stance to the world, do you think other leaders will back him? you have key players like china and india. figs him? you have key players like china and india.— china and india. as you say, this will be _ china and india. as you say, this will be very _ china and india. as you say, this will be very much - china and india. as you say, this will be very much the i this will be very much the president putin show, he wants to demonstrate that three years into the war in ukraine and at the tremendous efforts by the west to isolate russia that russia is part of an emerging group of states, some of the biggest economies in the world, nearly 50% of the well�*s population link to the brics group and president putin will be at the centre of this, receiving president xi, prime minister modi of india, but there are divisions within the brics, the brics is expanding,

the first expansion simmered since last year in south africa with new countries coming in but the more countries in the brics the more there are different tensions and trends and particularly the two main groups, the china, russia and iran grew to see the brics had something to counter the west, but then another group of state see the brics as an alternative platform, they are unhappy with the existing world order but would like to see changes rather than it being overthrown. that is really led by india and brazil. this overthrown. that is really led by india and brazil.— by india and brazil. this is a summit. — by india and brazil. this is a summit, but _ by india and brazil. this is a summit, but what _ by india and brazil. this is a summit, but what comes i by india and brazil. this is al summit, but what comes out by india and brazil. this is a - summit, but what comes out of it? do we often get any concrete steps or announcements from these brics summits? the brics has often _ from these brics summits? tue: brics has often been from these brics summits? tte: brics has often been criticised as a talking shop and the larger the more it will be like that. for russia, that is not necessarily bad, they want to show they are the centre of the world and can't be marginalised, all of these senior officials from around the world are coming together

in kazan and president putin will be leading back. but there is also a set of very practical measures they are trying to push, led by russia and china, and i think at the centre of this is called de—dollarisation, both russia, china but also iran would like to escape western sanctions, which are essentially based on the fact that the dollar is a global currency so there is an idea to set up a brics system of global trading based on brics currencies, that is likely to be one of the main deliverables from the summit. as we mentioned, president putin is trying to project a strong stance, he will be holding bilateral meetings. what were jay wynne for him look like, is the fact the summit is happening in russia enough of a win? —— what would a win look like for him? the fact it is _ a win look like for him? the fact it is in _ a win look like for him? the fact it is in russia _ a win look like for him? the fact it is in russia is - a win look like for him? tte: fact it is in russia is really critical. the war in ukraine is going on and as that has

continued, relations with china, iran and india had deepened as a result so this plays into the russian narrative, president putin's narrative, president putin's narrative, that we are seeing a multipolar world order emerging to replace the us world order and russia is a key pole at the heart of that, it is linked to what the russians call the global majority which is unlike the minority of countries in the minority of countries in the g7, so every step to expand this is being used by president putin to argue the world is changing and russia is at the heart of that.— heart of that. neil melvin, director of _ heart of that. neil melvin, director of international i director of international security at the royal united services institute, thank you forjoining us. let's turn to the us now and the world s richest man, elon musk, has been getting a lot of attention after he announced that he would be giving away1 million dollars every day until the us election to people in swing states who sign his petition and register to vote. he has been on the campaign

trailfor donald trump and invested a lot of time, money and resources in a bid to get the former president elected. from pennsylvania, nada tawfik reports it's not often that the world's richest man travels to small—town pennsylvania. in the final sprint of the election, elon musk has doubled down on his commitment to get donald trump elected, with town halls and giveaways in this swing state — a must—win for both candidates. it's inevitably led to two questions — will it work and why is he doing it? zander mundy went to elon musk�*s event at a school in folsom. the 21—year—old wasn't even planning on voting, but left the event now considering donald trump. someone like that tells you this is the election that's going to decide our future, this is going to decide not only who's president for the next four years, but what our world is going to be like, what the western world is going to be like. and i think that's pretty huge, you know, that matters. are you at all sceptical, though, about elon

musk�*s motivations? yeah, i'm absolutely sceptical. i think everyone should be at least a little sceptical about everyone. he is a multi—billionaire. he is a part of this, like, upper 1% echelon of people. and, again, i don't agree with all of his views, but, at the same time, a lot of what he was saying did seem like it came from a place of care. if donald trump wins, elon musk will have his ear and potentially a strong influence on decision—making in the administration. in town halls here in pennsylvania, musk said he will lead a department of government efficiency, while targeting government regulation could benefit musk�*s businesses. he wants to be sort of a on—the—frontier, wild and woolly entrepreneur who can break new paths and not be bogged down by regulation. and, you know, regulation and all governments tends to fall, you know, five, ten, 20 years behind the advances in technology. you know, musk wants it to go the other way. he wants to go to mars.

the disruptor ceo has achieved extraordinary feats, from rocket science to ev technology. his mutually beneficial relationship with the us government will continue no matter who is president. but what future contracts and regulations will look like could very well be determined by who wins this election. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. seven new sexual abuse lawsuits have been filed against the rapper sean �*diddy�* combs. four men and three women accuse the hip—hop mogul of sexually assaulting them at various parties in los angeles, new york and las vegas. the youngest plaintiff was 13 years old at the time of the alleged incident. mr combs remains in custody in brooklyn as he awaits trial. here's more from our los angeles correspondent, emma vardy. sean combs is now facing more than 20 civil lawsuits against him. in those, victims are claiming they suffered rape, sexual assault, violence, accusing him of drugging his alleged victims.

particularly significant in the latest set of new civil lawsuits that have just been filed are accusations that other celebrities were present. and in one of these civil lawsuits, there is someone who says she was a 13—year—old girl at the time of the offences. she says that she was sexually assaulted by sean combs at an event he was hosting as an after show party. and all of the latest accusations surround sean combs' parties, that he was allegedly hosting at the time. and particularly in this lawsuit, she alleges that there were two other unnamed celebrities who were present at the time of the offences. now, those names haven't been made public in these lawsuits. clearly, they are known behind the scenes to alleged victims and the lawyers that are handling this, so we can expect more on that to be revealed in the weeks to come, because there are these mounting allegations now. and in particular, one law firm who's representing alleged victims says that there's more than 100 accusers and that they're going to be

filing more lawsuits week after week in this whilst they kind of verify all the claims behind the scenes. now, alongside this process, of course, sean combs is also facing the criminal courts because he has been charged with criminal offences, including sex trafficking and a litany of offences that he is expected to stand trial for next year. he's awaiting trial in brooklyn prison at the moment, but these series of allegations, the civil lawsuits that are now being filed, are really mounting, turning into a real avalanche of accusations against him which look like they're going to continue to build and build. king charles and queen camilla are in sydney for the final day of their visit to australia. earlier the king visited the national centre of indigenous excellence, where he took part in a smoking ceremony and met aboriginal and torres strait islander community representatives. the visit came after the king was accused on monday of genocide against australia's first nations by senator lidia thorpe who told him, "you are not my king".

daniela relph is following the visit from sydney. maybe a little bit, but i have to be honest, it is not the conversation that has dominated events in sydney today. we have seen the final engagement of the king and queen in sydney harbour and the sydney opera house, new south wales police say more than 6000 people turned out to see them for their final engagements, there was a short meet the public moment for the king and a huge amount of support on the final day of their visit to sydney. yes, there have been blips, of course the protest yesterday in parliament in canberra and one arrest today as you have mentioned, but against the backdrop of a huge amount of public support for the king and queen that has been something that has given them a lot of joy, a lot of warmth but that has been the final and lasting impression for the last day of the tour. how has the king managed this trip? of course, his health

has been a big issue in the run—up to this visit? i think buckingham palace will be really relieved they got to australia in the first place and things have largely run very smoothly for them out here. nine months ago it was hard to imagine the king would be here in australia. we heard he had this cancer diagnosis and was starting treatment and it just did not seem possible that he would be well enough at the age of 75 to travel this far and cope with the rigours of a royal tour, but adjustments were made on doctor's orders, new zealand was removed from the itinerary, the dates of engagements in australia were a little bit shorter so the king could manage and cope and was able to make it here for this particular trip. all in all, i think buckingham palace and the royal aides will be very relieved they have got to the end of this leg of the tour and the king

and queen have got through it successfully. all eyes are turning to samoa and the commonwealth summit? that's right, tonight, the final night in sydney, the king and queen will be staying at the home of the governor general in sydney and tomorrow they fly to samoa, the pacific island, for a commonwealth heads of government meeting and it is the first time the king will be there as the head of the commonwealth. we'll leave you with these pictures from kazan, where president vladimir putin is meeting the head of the brics bank, the former president of brazil, dilma rousseff. hello again. we've got a band of cloud and showery rain pushing south eastwards across england and wales this morning. this is the weather front responsible for it. as it bumps into the high pressure, it will continue to fizzle. you can see two still quite gusty winds across the far north of scotland. so this afternoon, as the weather front arrives in the south—east, it won't be bringing you much more than a band of cloud and the odd shower.

the showers easing across the north, and then it's a largely dry day for the bulk of the country, with some sunny intervals and temperatures ranging from 10 to about 17 degrees. now, as we head through the evening and overnight, eventually the weather front pulls away, we'll see some thick fog develop across england and wales, particularly the southern half of the country. and then we're looking at more cloud coming in across northern ireland and scotland with some rain and that is pushing northwards. temperatures falling away between 6 and 11. so we start with the dense fog in the morning. it will be slow to clear the south—east, could linger right the way through the course of the morning, then a lot of dry weather, but still more cloud coming in across scotland and northern ireland, tending to break up as we go through the course of the afternoon. temperatures 13 to 17 degrees north to south. as we head through the week, wednesday into thursday, you can see a weather front trying to come in. it's coming up against the area of high pressure. but look at those

isobars once again. so we start off on thursday with a fair bit of dry weather. the cloud building in from the west could produce a few showers. the winds are going to strengthen ahead of the weather front coming in, in the west, and then we will see some rain. temperatures 12 to about 17 degrees. that rain will continue to journey eastwards as we go through thursday night. here's the weather front bearing it, this cold front, but look how it all curls around, back in through parts of scotland, northern ireland, northern england and wales. so here's our first weather front pushing into the north sea. here's that curl i was talking about, bringing in some rain. but in between, there'll be some brighter skies, even some glimpses of sunshine. temperatures, 11 to about 15 or 16 degrees. and then as we head on into the weekend, well, it is looking like it's going to be unsettled with some wintry showers in the hills of scotland.

this is bbc news. the headlines: israel intensifies its aerial assault on lebanon — at least 13 people are killed in a strike next to the country's biggest hospital. the us secretary of state arrives in israel as anthony blinken tries once again to revive hopes of a ceasefire. a man has died after two trains collide in wales —