ever since the war in gaza erupted just over a year ago following hamas 5 october 7th attack, hundreds of thousands of children have had little or any education. schools have been shut and many have been turned into shelters for displaced people. they include gaza s edward said conservatory for music. jon donnison who visited the conservatory when it was still standing before the war, reports on a new effort to teach music to young children. in gaza, amidst the mayhem, a moment of melody. for children, learning music is not easy at the best of times. and for mohammed, these are the worst. the 14—year—old lost part of his arm in

an israeli air strike. translation: it changes the atmosphere of the war. from what has happened to me and from what is happening. it changes the mood when i play the violin. he and his teacher samer have to improvise. translation: we work to help children escape the effects of the war and trauma due to the suffering they've experienced and the hardships they've seen, we use music to provide them with a temporary escape and a relief from their struggles. ten—year—old abdel rahman had to have part of his leg amputated. translation: we were living a life of bombing and shelling, and i was injured in my leg. when the teacher came, we started practising on

something new and we learned when we practise, we can express ourselves and feel relaxed in our hearts. his teacher is 15—year—old saleh. both saleh and samah were students at the internationally renowned edward said conservatory for music in gaza city, but it was bombed earlier in the war. over the last few months, they've been teaching in three schools, now turned into shelters for displaced children and their families. one of them is ii—year—old lina. translation: it's a beautiful feeling because when the teachers come, they help us escape this state of the war we are living in. after a year of war for these traumatised children, music offers a rare chance to let their hearts sing. jon donnison, bbc news, jerusalem.

two weeks out from the us election, polls are tight — and so called swing states will be key. if you look at the overall trends, you see harris retains a small lead over trump in the national polling averages. if we turn to the battleground states — as you can see — the polls are very tight in the seven states key swing states in this election with neither candidate having a decisive lead in any of them, according to the polling averages. one of those states is michigan — where former president barak obama was campaigning on behalf of kamala harris last night and michelle obama is also due to head there with the vice president on saturday. quinn kline—felter is senior news editor at detroit public radio. he told me more about the us presidential candidates on the campaign trail.

it is too find, i think. kamala harris has made a number of inroads into trying to make people feel their situation will be getting better, she has touted policies about ending price gouging, and former president donald trump has decried this and said that is not going to do much, and he will turn it into same,. and he will turn it into saying, oh, you're going to create a communist state by trying to control prices, etc. but that is something

that really does affect many, many people here. and it's something that has had people on the fence. when i talked to them, they'll say, we remember back in the trump days and things were so much better. they neglect the 2020 year when covid hit and when things just dropped, you know, through the floor. and then they will say at the same time that they're not feeling this rush of stuff that the data says should be happening. yes. so it's hard for them to really have that get votes out by taking that approach. quick final thought, because liz cheney did a fascinating town hall with kamala harris yesterday where she talked about the silent republicans, people whose conscience would conscience would make them perhaps tilt to kamala harris. but they could be quiet about it because of all of the crazy. do you get a sense that there are a section of the republican voters out there that will quietly vote for kamala harris? possibly, i think and there is this i wouldn't say antipathy, but people that are not as thrilled with donald trump. on the other hand, maga basically runs the republican party. and trump at this point is a standard bearer and runs maga. so if you don't have them behind you, you're going to be kind of sunk as a republican candidate. one of the things they really need to get out are suburban women

and black men, which is why the obamas have been here to try to appeal to both and get that turnout on behalf of kamala harris. and when i talk to some black men in particular, one of the issues that they have worried about is the gender issue, which came when hillary clinton ran, and whether or not a woman would be tough enough to take on the likes of putin and people like that. and that's something that the obamas are trying to stress should not be a factor, even though it still possibly is. over 1,000 more prisoners in england and wales are being released early today, as part of a government bid to ease overcrowding. around 1100 inmates who've served 40% of their sentences are being freed. freed early to make room in prisons across england and wales. jaz was one the 11,000 people being released today after serving 40% of their term, rather than 50%,

as was previously the case. and whilst the government says it will help free up space in prisons to keep the justice system moving, thejustice secretary says she knows it will only help in the short term. even with emergency release, even allowing for the number of recalls that have to take place, we are still going to run out of prison places. again, we've bought ourselves some time in order to think about some longer term solutions to this crisis. but make no mistake about it, whilst we have some more headroom in our prison system, the situation is still very difficult and that's why we have to come forward with more longer term proposals to try and get that situation back into balance.

in september, more than 1,700 prisoners were released early. the government said without these early releases there would have been a total breakdown of law and order, with courts unable to hold trials and police unable to make arrests. none of those set free today will have been convicted of murder, sex crimes or terrorism, but this time, they will include those serving five years 01’ more. and whilst those who work in prisons say more needs to be done to improve conditions and the types of sentences handed down, they also say the relief given by today's releases could be very short lived. i know because i speak to people on the front line who are dealing with this, our probation colleagues, and they're telling me that in some areas, the recall rate is as high as 50%. but on average, it's 40% recall rate, just as it was with the last wave. what you've got to understand is the reception prisons, the big inner—city victorian prisons that are feeling the pressure, they could be releasing 60 prisoners today

and by friday, they'll have 60 prisoners back because the courts will sentence people and some will get recalled. a major review of sentencing is being launched, which will explore measures like scrapping shortjailterms, improving rehabilitation and using technology to create a modern form of house arrest. it's hoped this could help to ease overcrowding in the longer term. alison freeman, bbc news. giovanni pernice has been speaking for the first time about the report into his behaviour on strictly come dancing, after his last celebrity partner amanda abbington said that he bullied her in the rehearsal room. the bbc investigation upheld parts of her complaint, and dismissed others. the professional dancer said he was known for being a tough teacher, and didn't regret that. our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba reports. # i'll bring you coffee in the morning...# tomorrow, it will be exactly one year since amanda abbington left the celebrity dancing show.

a report into her complaints to the bbc about the behaviour of her professional dance partner, giovanni pernice, concluded late last month. the bbc understands that her complaints about verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, but complaints about pernice being physically aggressive were not upheld. in his first tv interview since the report was completed, giovanni, speaking on itv�*s lorraine show, said he was pleased to be cleared of the more serious allegations. from my point of view, i am relieved, the fact that the most serious allegations were thrown out. six have been upheld but 11 have not which is, again, the most serious were not. when it comes to the ones upheld, there was some allegation of verbal bullying, as we say. pernice also responded

to allegations made by amanda abbington on newsnight earlier this month following the conclusion of the report. it was an ongoing litany of being verbally abused, sexual innuendo, sexual gestures. there was a 35—minute rant at me. there is so much that is not true in this. and again, the report is there. we both have the results. i think the most important thing is to accept the results and move on with our life. when asked whether, on reflection, he might look again at how he trains celebrity partners... i wouldn't change my teaching style because in my opinion it's a profession. dancing is a very difficult thing to do, it's a difficult discipline. and for me, teaching the way i teach is the successful

way to approach this. yes, you could change the approach. the controversy from last year's series meant that pernice is not competing on strictly this year, instead taking part in italy's version of the show. lizo mzimba, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather. later we are a news conference from the fbi, but now we have the weather. 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.

straight to breaking news because the former ceo of the fashion giant abercrombie and fitch, mikejeffries, and his british partner, matthew smith, r facing criminal charges for sex trafficking. this conference just started. let's put the microphones on. prepared to trade that helps for a bed in federal prison. the message of today it is clear — sexually exploiting vulnerable human beings is a crime and doing so by dangling dreams of a future in fashion or modelling or any other business is no different. my office and our law enforcement partners will always prioritise standing up for victims no

matter