live from london. this is bbc news. israel intensifies its aerial assault on lebanon — at least 18 people were killed in a strike near the country's largest hospital. 60 were injured, many of them children. the us secretary of state meets with israel's prime minister — it's anthony blinken�*s 11th trip to the region, since the gaza conflict began. world leaders gather in russia — for the brics summit — as moscow says, they are not isolated, despite western efforts. the former chief executive of the fashion giant — abercrombie & fitch — and his british partner, have been arrested on sex trafficking charges. and king charles reviews the national fleet on the final day of his royal visit to australia.

let's start in lebanon where an israeli airstrike near a hospital is now said to have killed 18 people, including a child. the overnight strike, appeared to hit buildings opposite the rafik hariri university hospital — the country's biggest government—run hospital. lebanon's health ministry says another 60 people were injured, most of them children. israel said it was targeting hezbollah facilities. ina rare press conference in the last few hours, hezbollah claimed responsibility for last week's drone attack on the israeli prime minister's holiday home, and there have been reports of more israeli strikes in the south of beirut while that press conference was going on. our correspondent in beirut, emir nader, gave details on the israeli attack on beirut last night. there were a series of air strikes last night, the majority targeting the southern neighbourhood, which has been the focus of the air strikes in the past days.

however, the air strike that caused the most significant human cost and damage and death was this one particular air strike that targeted the neighbourhood of the rafik hariri hospital, which is this main government hospital here in beirut. we have just heard there has been a rise in the tally of those casualties just now. we now understand around 18 people died in the strikes, targeted just outside the hospital and the local authorities are saying around four children were amongst those 18 who died, and why the strike was significant isthere was no warning given in advance to the residents of that area, in a very residential neighbourhood. that there was an air strike imminently about to happen. tell me more about any sort of talks of ceasefires, because anthony blinken

is in the region and looking at what is happening in gaza, but also lebanon. what is being said where you are about any prospect of that? there were lots of talks when the us envoy visited lebanon to hold a series of discussions with senior lebanese political leaders about the prospects of a ceasefire involving hezbollah, and that focused around the deal, an old deal, but one that is still on the table about hezbollah to withdraw from the south of lebanon. the voice in parliament said they are down to submit to the terms of this un resolution from 2006, but what the us envoy was saying is there needs to be some serious mechanisms by which it can be enforced

and monitored, that there is withdrawal of hezbollah from the southern border and an increase in the role of the un peacekeeping troops there, and the lebanese armed forces who have mostly been on the sidelines of the conflict. while it sounds like there is a basis for discussion, i think the severity and the pure sense of escalating kinetic energy in the war here, with strikes in beirut and around the country, which have claimed a number of lives, and the hezbollah rockets going into the north of israel suggest both parties are still very far from being able to agree on the terms of what a ceasefire might look like. the us secretary of state anthony blinken is in israel — — where he has been meeting with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, in a bid to reinstate the diplomatic process for a ceasefire between israel and hamas. mr blinken has released five priorities to try to end the conflict in the region — they include reviewing humanitarian assistance to gaza and aiming to de—escalate the war in lebanon.

our state department correspondent tom bateman was on the runway as blinken touched down in israel. this trip was hastily rushed together in the hours after the israelis killed the hamas leader, the americans felt they could prise open a moment of opportunity, of diplomatic opportunity, of diplomatic opportunity, to revive the ceasefire and hostage release talks over gaza, and also try to de—escalate the widening and expanding middle east war, and so antony blinken is here for a series of meetings today with the israeli leadership, but i have to say, there is a feeling already that things might have been done in quite a lot of haste, because what the americans are saying now is that the process of trying to

get the gaza ceasefire talks up and running again, faces obstacles, and they blame hamas, four weeks ago, they say walking away from the talks. they said they abandoned the process and they couldn't get any engagement via the mediators qatar. the other issue has been benjamin netanyahu, his critics have said he is been having the conditions for the talks on moving obstacles. it fell apart two weeks ago, the americans are trying to revive it, but i think they also understand they simply do not have a negotiating partner, because there is no one to negotiate with any hamas at the moment, as they do not have a leader, a cleared decision—maker in place at the moment, and if one emerges, that person may be kept secret. i think what is

going to happen here is the americans are filling the space with a number of other priorities that they are talking about over the next few daysin talking about over the next few days in israel, and visiting arab countries. they are talking about refining the day after plan, if and when there is an end to the war in gaza, and also working to try and de—escalate the war in lebanon. it feels like they have their work cut out, my sense is this trip starts with much lower ambitions than even many of the others, that i failed to make any diplomatic progress. the israeli military has ordered palestinians in the city of beit lahia, in northern gaza, to evacuate. northern gaza has been under continuous israeli bombardment in recent weeks, with the israeli army saying hamas fighters had regrouped there. an estimated 400,000 people live in northern gaza and the un has described the conditions there as "hell." and the un development programme says in a new report

that the war in gaza is "setting the region back to the 1950s." let's speak to juliette touma, director of communications for unrwa. welcome to the programme. your boss has tweeted multiple times through the course of today, talking about hospitals being hit in northern gaza, the injured left without care, shelter is overcrowded, so people living in toilets. the smell of death everywhere. it sounds apocalyptic. doesn't it? we have spoken several times over the past year, and if anything, the situation continues to get worse, and we received overnight, a call for help from our team members in northern gaza, who reported that life in northern gaza has become hell. they said

themselves, they were waiting for their own deaths. that sounds incredibly desperate in terms of the sorts of communications, he was also saying in his tweets that israel continues to prevent humanitarian missions from reaching northern— reaching northern gaza, providing _ reaching northern gaza, providing food - reaching northern gaza, providing food and - reaching northern gaza, - providing food and medicines, is that what you are seeing and hearing, that all of those efforts have been directly blocked by the israelis? that area of the — blocked by the israelis? that area of the gaza _ blocked by the israelis? that area of the gaza strip - blocked by the israelis? twat area of the gaza strip which is northern gaza, and includes gaza city, has been under a tight siege for the past two and a half weeks with very little, like 12 tracks of flower that went into that area, and people are not able to get out and reach safety, this is precisely why the commissioner general this morning asked for a truce, even for a few hours, for people to

reach safer places, and he also called for access, both for us to bring in much—needed humanitarian supplies, fuels for hospitals is another example is, but also for rescue missions, to be able to look under the rubble and see if anyone can be rescued, and to clear bodies. the smell of death is everywhere. in terms of what you — death is everywhere. in terms of what you said _ death is everywhere. in terms of what you said about - death is everywhere. in terms of what you said about a - death is everywhere. in terms| of what you said about a truce, there is considerable worry and reports that people trying to flee have ended up being killed, is that what you are hearing as well?— killed, is that what you are hearing as well? this is what our teams — hearing as well? this is what our teams have _ hearing as well? this is what our teams have reported, i hearing as well? this is whatl our teams have reported, and this is precisely why the cold for a truce and a passage that will allow people who wish to leave to safer places to do that safely.— leave to safer places to do that safely. leave to safer places to do that safel . , . , ~ that safely. only last week we were watching _ that safely. only last week we were watching the _ that safely. only last week we were watching the un - that safely. only last week we | were watching the un security council and we saw a us ambassador talk really openly

about what international law states, talking about the evacuation orders that were being given to so many people in the north of gaza, and saint those who didn't move could not be treated as competence. —— saying those who didn't move. 90% has come under these evacuation orders, which in technical terms is forced displacement orders, and people were forced to flee many times and in some cases, we met people who told us they fled in the past one year ten times, 1a times, and they flee very quickly, they use everything suddenly and they need everything. the issue is we are not allowed to do ourjob to reach people and give them the basics, food and medicine and medical treatment. a final thought, you talked about

talking to the bbc throughout the course of the 12 months, of a school or hospital who the course of the 12 months, of a school or hospital— a school or hospital who would make multiple _ a school or hospital who would make multiple headlines, - a school or hospital who would| make multiple headlines, huge international response, now it is a frequent occurrence. how frustrating is it for your organisations, seeing what is happening on the ground and repeating your calls, but repeatedly being ignored? we will repeatedly being ignored? - will never give up and we will continue to speak on behalf of the people impacted by this brutal war, and also the violation of international humanitarian law. those attacks and violations must never become the new norm, and there should be much more pressure to be put, to have a ceasefire right away and to release the hostages and bring in a standard flow of humanitarian supplies. the rules of war, including in gaza, must apply.

thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. thank you. mr blinken�*s visit to the middle east comes after the fbi says it is investigating an alleged 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. around the world and across the uk, you are watching bbc news.

here in the uk, reporting restrictions have lifted in the case of chris kaba, an unarmed black man who was shot dead by police in london two years ago. yesterday, a police officer was cleared of murdering him. it can now be revealed that kaba was suspected of being involved in a nightclub shooting, days before he was killed, and had a history

of criminal convictions. days before he was shot he was named as the gunman in a neck of shooting. are you key? it has this update. —— our uk correspondent has this update. up until today the media has been prevented of reporting details about chris kaba's criminal past until the jury reached its verdict in the trial involving martyn blake and yesterday he was cleared of murdering chris kaba. what we can tell you today is chris kaba had a history of criminal convictions dating back to his early teens. he had been convicted of possession of a firearm, possession of a knife and possession of an imitation firearm. he was also a member of a notorious south london gang, and the week before he was killed he was accused of attempted murder. three men have been sentenced for their involvements in that attack, and are currently serving jail sentences.

the man who was attacked at a nightclub in east london in hackney did survive the attack, but was shot in both legs. it is important to say that the jury did not know any of these details before they had reached their verdicts. they were only told the car chris kaba was driving had been linked to a shooting the previous day in brixton. within the last hour the former commissioner of the met police — lord bernard hogan—howe — has been addressing the chris kaba case and the attitudes towards armed police officers. police officers are very few who carry firearms. there are 67 million people in this country, but only around 3000 who on our behalf are volunteers who go forward to face someone who is armed or otherwise so dangerous. they are paid no more for taking that awful responsibility. they do not go to work each day to kill anyone.

and yet it does seem as though the system doesn't give them the benefit of doubt that was given by the jury in this case. and i do wonder if the minister, in his reply, perhaps today, or perhaps it may be necessary tomorrow, i do understand, will consider how the legal system can give the benefit of the doubt to these brave men and women who, on our behalf, in a matter of a fraction of a second, have to make the most awful decision they will make perhaps never in a career, but usually only once. hear, hear! the noble lord will know that it is for the crown prosecution service to determine what charges are processed, and in this case, under current regulations, they've determined to make those charges at this time. it is also for the jury to consider the evidence put before them, which they did in this case, and reached a verdict of acquittal within a short space of time. and it is also for the home office to ensure that we support our police officers in doing a dangerous job, upholding the law and protecting our society.

all of those aspects, and the outcome of this trial will be assessed by my right hon friend the home secretary, and as i've indicated to this house and to the noble lord, i will report back when we make the statements as a home office in both the house of commons and in due course, this noble house also. comments in the last little while from the house of lords. president putin has met xi jinping at the brics summit, calling the chinese leader a �*dearfriend'. president putin has been welcoming delegations from more than 30 countries — as russia hosts the summit of emerging economies. but on china, vladimir putin said the two countries should work together to create what he called a just world order. mr xi told putin, "the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is chaotic and intertwined." president putin has

already met india's prime minister narendra modi. but lets examine in more detail what the brics group is about... it stands for brazil, russia, india, china and south africa and is often referred to as a counterweight to the western—led world, it has expanded to include egypt, ethiopia, iran and the united arab emirates. saudi arabia too, has been invited tojoin. the brics nations, as a group, account for 45% of the global population. and their economic weight is significant — their economies are worth more than 28.5 trillion dollars. that corresponds to 28% of the global economy, which has led its members to claim — that brics represents the �*global majority'. chris weafer is the ceo of media—advisory, a strategic consulting firm which focuses on trends in eurasia. he says that by simply hosting the large brics summit is a win for the kremlin. it's very much a statement saying, look, i'm still standing, we're still here. we're still relevant. so, you know, putin certainly

sees this summit primarily as something he can show to a domestic audience to, you know, the russian elites, the russian people. that russia has not been isolated. it has not been, you know, pushed aside in the global community. it's still relevant. and secondly, of course, on a more practical sense, he wants to use this summit to progress this objective of creating an alternative global trade system beyond the use of the dollar and swift so that it can be more sanctions proofed, as it were. and is that idea likely to get traction, do you think or not? no, it is because it is something that has been discussed by other countries. china certainly has been very keen on it. there is no kind of decision as to exactly what this would look like. it is not a brics currency. so you're not looking at a new dollar or a new euro or anything like that.

itjust is a system where a cross—border trade between two brics countries can be settled bilaterally without using the global system. so china is already testing its version of this, called the enbridge. they have, for example, made several transactions with united arab emirates, an other brics country. russia has got some proposals of enhancing this using digital currencies. but in general, yes, all the member countries say they favour creating this kind of alternative settlement system in order to boost trade between the countries. a final twin thought then, how much do you think it represents a threat to the g20? and also what else, apart from what you've mentioned about currency, does moscow want in practical terms from a summit like this? and what do you think those other bric nations want from it? no, i think the g20 days are numbered. if brics does develop and it adds more members, then i don't. i don't see the relevance

of g20 in the future the way moscow and beijing, of course, have been presenting the brics to members and to potential member countries is that it can properly represent their interests in the world. in other words, against the dominance of the g7 as they see it. and they dismissed the g20 because they see it as already been gazumped by the g7. so very much in the narrative of this can represent the interests of everybody else. and that's what they're looking to do from. but russia and china, they've been very careful to avoid any kind of overtly political narrative. it's not been critical of the us — that would make a lot of countries very uncomfortable. it's not talking about shunning the dollar or in any way kind of shunning trade with the west. again, that would make countries like india and others very uncomfortable. moscow wants to increase the membership of this group in order to create a much bigger base of countries that are not part of the g7,

and for which then it can have more credibility in the world and expand its trade without having to look over its shoulder at the dollar or sanctions. crowds have lined the streets outside the sydney opera house trying to catch a glimpse of the king and queen, on the final day of their tour of australia. it's king charles' biggest overseas trip, since he began cancer treatment in february. the royal couple will now travel on to samoa. 0ur senior royal correspondent daniela relph sent this report from sydney. it was a picturesque final engagement in the late afternoon sun against the iconic backdrop of the sydney opera house. thousands came out to see the king and queen on their final day in australia. he shook my hand and i wasjust... like, i was just silent. and then he goes, "i hope i didn't keep you waiting long." and i go, "oh, i would wait forever for you, my majesty." there was a lot of people joined in the singing of god save the king, which was lovely. everyone was very happy to see them. so it was... it was wonderful to be here. this is the king and queen's

big goodbye to australia. this tour has had its challenges, from whether it would happen at all because of the king's cancer treatment to yesterday's protest. but it draws to a close today in front of huge, supportive crowds. the king's day had begun at sydney's indigenous centre of excellence. yesterday's protest in canberra was acknowledged by elders here, but there was warmth and pride that the king had visited their organisation. i'm just so happy that he came to the community because they choose to go wherever and he chose to come here, and we have to be respectful of that and i'm happy to have him here. no visit to australia would really be complete without a barbecue, and the king and queen got the full barbie experience in a sydney suburb. this trip has been the most we've seen of the king in recent months. his cancer treatment had limited his schedule.

there will be relief at buckingham palace that he's navigated this tour successfully. next stop, samoa, for the commonwealth heads of government meeting. daniela relph, bbc news, sydney. let me bring you the latest from the middle east, that meeting between antony blinken and benjamin netanyahu. the us secretary of state saying they underscored the need to capitalise on israel's action to secure a hostage releases and end the conflict guts and emphasising the need for israel to take additional steps to increase and sustain the flow of humanitarian aid into gaza. there is a line from the un secretary—general saying he is appalled at the deadly strike near the beirut hospital and the lebanese government saying 63 people have been killed by

israeli strikes in the last 2a hours. headlines are next. hello there. the next few days are looking pretty decent. we've got high pressure building in, that's going to lift temperatures. we should see more sunshine around, but we will have some issues with that dense fog during the morning periods, particularly on wednesday. today, though, is one of mostly dry with sunny spells, but there will be some showers around courtesy of this weather front. moving from west to east. stays quite windy across the northern half of scotland. the isobars a bit tighter here, some blustery with a few showers. any showers across southern and eastern areas will tend to fade away through the afternoon, and many areas will be dry for a good deal of sunshine. not a bad looking afternoon, i think for many of us, those temperatures reaching the mid—teens in the north, we could be to the mid to high teens across the south east. not bad after quite a chilly start to the day. as we head through tonight it stays breezy across scotland, northern ireland, some cloud here, but england and wales will see lighter winds again, temperatures dipping down

into low single digits in rural spots and that will allow some dense fog patches to develop, particularly through central and eastern areas, which could cause some issues through the morning. it will tend to lift into low cloud and it will stay mostly dry with some sunny spells into the afternoon, but it does stay a bit cloudy and breezy for western scotland and northern ireland, but those temperatures could be up to 17 degrees or so across the southeast. generally the mid—teens for many of us. now as we head into thursday, we start to see a weather front encroaching into western areas. but high pressure holds on again for one more day, i think for thursday. stronger southerly breezes. so that means we shouldn't see too many issues with fog through the morning. again, most of the country dry with some sunny spells, feeling quite warm in the sunshine — 17 or 18 celsius, but it will be cloudy and windy out west with outbreaks of rain. as we move through thursday night into friday, that area of low pressure eventually slips across the uk. it will bring us a much more unsettled day, with showers or longer spells of rain

and turning windier, particularly so across this southwest quadrant. there will be some sunshine in between the showers and the rain. it's not going to be a wash—out, but it will feel a little bit cooler for most of us because we'll have more cloud around generally. so the mid—teens. still, we could be up to 17 degrees and some sunshine in the south, but the upcoming weekend does look more unsettled with low pressure always close by. it will feel cooler too.

the imf forecasts faster growth for the uk economy and says the battle to curb inflation is almost over. and switching off down under — we take a look at how australia's new �*right to disconnect�* law has been impacting workplace culture. welcome to business today, i'm ben thompson. we begin in washington dc where the imf has published it's global economic outlook. it's been fairly downbeat, although the uk has recieved a boost — uk growth in 2024 is expected to be 1.1%, up from a projection of 0.7% injuly. so a signficant upgrade there. also a postive outlook about global inflation.