donald trump's presidential campaign accuses the uk's labour party of foreign interference in the us election. the us secretary of state says now is the time for israel to end the war in gaza — to capitalise on its success against hamas. fresh airstrikes overnight in beirut. we'll bring you the latest from our correspondent in the region. the uk is to sign a new defence agreement with germany — as it seeks to strengthen post—brexit ties with europe. and after their trip to australia, king charles and queen camilla arrive in samoa for a commonwealth summit.

hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. we start in the us, where donald trump's presidential campaign has made a legal complaint against the labour party here, for what it claims is illegal foreign contributions and interference in the us election. a statement from the trump—vance campaign says, "the far—left labour party has inspired kamala's dangerous liberal policies and rhetoric. in recent weeks, they have recruited and sent party members to campaign for kamala in critical battleground states, attempting to influence our election." a now—deleted social media post from a senior labour official said there were ten spots available to travel to the us and that the party would �*sort housing for volunteers�*. but labour officials say activists who've been campaigning for kamala harris are doing so in a personal capacity and are not organised orfunded by the party. for some context, a foreign national can participate in campaign activities as long as they are not being paid for it, according to the federal

election commission. this is not the first time that either labour or conservative party staff have campaigned in the us election. our north america correspondent, peter bowes reports. donald j trump! us election interference by the labour party — the claim being made by donald trump's campaign that britain's ruling party and kamala harris�* campaign have broken the law. in a six—page letter to the us election watchdog — the federal election commission — a lawyer for the trump campaign cites media reports about contact between labour and the harris campaign, and requests an immediate investigation into blatant foreign interference with apparent illegal foreign national contributions made by the labour party. the row revolves around efforts by labour to send volunteers to the states to help kamala harris. the letter cites this now deleted post on the networking site linkedin, apparently from a senior labour

official saying ten spots were available to travel to the us and the party would "sort" housing for volunteers. the trump campaign says that suggests labour is financially supporting volunteers. it is not illegal for foreign nationals to campaign in us elections, but they cannot be paid for it. in a statement, the trump campaign said kamala harris and her running mate tim walz were seeking foreign influence to boost what it called their radical message. donald trump's former ambassador to germany, richard grenell, who is tipped to be part of the former president's new administration, if he wins the election, told newsnight it was a slippery slope for labour. i think it is a really dangerous precedent to have the ruling party of an ally somehow playing politics, getting involved in the actual campaigning with such a short notice.

i mean, it is the last month of our campaign. sir keir starmer has played down the significance of the trump campaign's allegations, pointing out labour had volunteers who had gone to america pretty much every election, doing it in their spare time and staying with other volunteers. the prime minister added that he and donald trump had established a good relationship when they met in new york last month. peter bowes, bbc news. our political editor chris mason is travelling with the prime minister in samoa for the commonwealth heads of government meeting, where the trump row threatens to overshadow the trip. hello from winnipeg in the canadian province of manitoba. we're on our way to the south pacific, to samoa for a gathering of commonwealth heads of government. to put it gently, it's a long way. we've still got a long, long way to go.

quite the row, though, bubbling whilst we've been on the first leg of this flight — between donald trump and the uk labour party. you know, it's only a couple of weeks ago that keir starmer was having dinner with donald trump in new york, meeting him for the first time. now there's this row that centres on a post on linkedin, the cv and jobs website, from a labour party staffer ahead of operations, suggesting that people might want to go out to campaign for kamala harris, the big rival of donald trump. kamala harris of the democrats, the current vice president, with a suggestion that their housing would be sorted. now, that has caused real anger from the trump campaign because they reckon that it amounts to illegal electoral interference, particularly the idea that somehow money might have changed hands. labour say that is absolutely not the case. these are volunteers. this happens at every election and it's been blown out of all proportion. perhaps some injudicious language in a now deleted social media post at the heart of it.

but quite the thing when we are just a couple of weeks away from the us presidential election. that's our political editor chris mason. it is up to private citizens how they use their time and money, and it is not unusual for supporters of a party in one country to go and campaign for a sister party in another. it happens both ways round and across many, many countries. but none of this was organised and funded by the labour party itself. this is individual people making their own choices

as they are free to do. i think his complaint, though, goes to the fact that there was a post on linkedin on social media from a labour party manager, which has now been deleted, but which was offering some kind of help for labour party members who went to america to help kamala harris�*s campaign. and that is what donald trump says is described as "reasonable inference" that the labour party was making, what he says, amount to illegalforeign national contributions to the american election. what do you say to that? well, none of this was organised directly by the labour party. as i say, what people choose to do in their free time and whether she's a part of a group linked to the democrats is entirely up to her and it's up to individuals if they want to use their holiday to go and campaign for a sister party in another country. people are free to do that. it's not against the law here, it's not against the law in the united states. but it certainly wasn't organised by the labour party itself. our chief political correspondent told me the row could cause friction between the uk and us governments should donald trump win the us presidential election.

it is clearly not good. i don't think there is precedent, certainly not that i'm aware of, for a presidential campaign to be making a legal complaint about a political party that is in government in one of their closest allies. this is a very big deal. it is very unusual. perhaps it is yet another symptom of what an unusual politician and what an unusual campaigner donald trump is but then again the labour party and labour government may find themselves within just a couple of weeks having to deal with a very unusual formal president—elect who might be returning to the white house. i think the big question here is there is no denying this is seriously awkward and embarrassing for the labour party. the question is whether it is merely awkward and embarrassing but will pass within a couple of days, or whether actually this does show a level of anger from the tramp campaign that would carry over if he wins the presidential election, into his relationship with keir starmer as the uk prime minister. if that is the case,

then that elevates this from an awkward and surprising row to something much more serious indeed. cbs correspondent jared hill told us how this story is being received in the us. this is a story that has not really gotten a tonne of traction in the states, at least not yet. again, what we know is the tramp campaign filed this lawsuitjust earlier this week on monday, and so this is starting to trickle out here. the allegation, as you are mentioning, is that the labour party, they say, were sending members and staffers to the united states to campaign on behalf of vice president kamala harris. what we're hearing from the labour party is these are people who are doing this on their free time and they are in their individual capacity, in their spare time. that's what they say they have done in previous elections on both

sides of the political spectrum. here the question is going to be if this has any sort of political repercussions in the states for former president trump or vice president harris. it will be interesting to see how this develops over the next couple of hours or days. jarred hill. new polls are arriving every day, each one with its slightly different take on the figures. if you look at the overall trend is rather than individual points, you can see harris retains a small lead over trump in the national polling averages. 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 polling averages. now we have some breaking news. when new alzheimer's drug has been rejected for widespread use in the health service in england after the health spending watchdog says it doesn't currently demonstrate value for the nhs. it comes as the uk's medicines regulator

said the drug could be licensed for use in the uk. it is the second disease modifying alzheimer's drug to be rejected by the national institute of health and care excellence, also known as nice, in a matter of months. we will have much more on that story here on bbc news. let's turn to the middle east where there have been more strikes overnight in lebanon. this is the skyline in beirut this morning after strikes were reported in baabda which is a southern — suburb of beirut. which is a southern suburb of beirut. it comes as america's top diplomat, antony blinken, continues his visit in the region. he was in israel on tuesday, he'll now be visiting saudi arabia, qatar and the uae. in israel, he urged prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, to capitalise on the recent killing of the hamas leader yahya sinwar by securing the release of all hostages and ending the conflict in gaza.

yolande knell, our middle east correspondent explained how the fighting in northern gaza has led to a dire humanitarian situation and has hampered the urgently needed un polio vaccination programme. it is a message coming out from the different un agencies that are involved in this mass vaccination campaign really made necessary after the first traces of polio were found, first of all in sewage water in central gaza in the middle of this year and then they had the first case of a baby, an unvaccinated baby with polio in close to two decades. it was really sort of underlined by the different un agencies involved in this mass vaccination that it was really important to have this two—state programme rolled out across all areas of the gaza strip.

the first stage was completed successfully a month or so ago and now they have carried out the second stage in the centre of the gaza strip and in the south. but it seems they are unable to get the humanitarian pauses in fighting that are necessary in order for this to work in the north of the gaza strip, where israel has been conducting a new military offensive against what it says are regrouping hamas elements there. but we have had these forced displacement orders in the past couple of weeks. we have had people, especially in jabalia, which has been a big focus of the israeli ground campaign, saying that they are unsafe, they can't get out, hospitals are being evacuated, people complaining that the people complaining about the complete lack of food, so it has really led to a dire humanitarian situation. we have had mr blinken who just left talking about the importance of getting aid into gaza and the north of gaza in particular, saying that the us was tracking

this every single day. but maybe the state department is also aware that this is was a likely announcement to follow as he was leaving the country. yolande knell in jerusalem yolande knell injerusalem affair. —— there. the uk will later sign a new defence agreement with germany, as the government seeks to strengthen its post—brexit ties with europe. our defence correspondent jonathan beale has the details. germany and the uk already train and work together as nato allies. but the government says this new defence pact will take the relationship to another level, with more cooperation between their militaries and defence industries — all part of the government's push to reset relations with key european allies post—brexit. this is an historic agreement. it brings our uk and german militaries closer together, our industries closer together, both to strengthen our security and europe's security, but also

to boost our industries. german and uk defence firms are alreadyjointly making new armoured vehicles for the british army at this factory in telford. under the new agreement, germany would open a new factory in britain to produce the barrels for artillery guns. the government says it will sustain 400 jobs. they'll also jointly develop a new long—range missile. and german maritime surveillance aircraft will also periodically fly from raf lossiemouth in scotland to join patrols of the north atlantic, tracking russian submarines. the overall goal is to boost nato�*s defences. jonathan beale, bbc news. i asked justin crump a military analyst and former british army officer — why this pact is needed.

we absolutely have been cooperating for a very long time under nato. i think there is a difference in the sort of cooperation we have had as nato allies in the last 20 or 30 years where a lot of it is very high level, strategic interoperability and things like that we talk about. there is total difference in working together with troops on the ground next to each other and that is where you discover lots of lessons about how your radios can talk to each other, these much more operational things that really matter if it comes to a war. i've worked alongside the germans at a high level for much of my career, very rarely have i been on exercise with them working alongside german soldiers with my soldiers pulling together. so there is no substitute for joint exercises. those have taken place but given how long the british army was based in germany it is amazing how we never really worked alongside our german colleagues, so it's interesting to see that more crunchy engagement taking place. it seems this pact comes with a big investment from germany into the uk economy. talk us through the main points of this agreement. i think this is a direction of travel that has long

been established, asjonathan mentioned, the british army's major equipment programmes at the moment, particularly boxer, that's a consortium that germany is in, challenger 3, so the upgrade of our tanks to a new standard is largely being done with german help, all located in the uk. so it's all been a joint effort. and artillery barrels as we heard there, that's a weakness in what we have been able to produce as an army, and of course when guns fire they eventually wear down the barrels and you need new barrels. if you can't get new barrels, as russia and ukraine have found, you cannot use your artillery anymore, so it is nice to see them investing in helping us rebuild that capability.

that was military analyst justin crump. around the world and across the uk, is bbc news. a bbc investigation has

found that russia has expanded its recruitment of prisoners to fight in the war in ukraine, including those merely accused of a crime. work undertaken alongside the independent russian website, mediazona, to compare thousands of dog tags from russian prison recruits with leaked records, found a shift from the most serious offenders to those convicted of, or still awaiting trialfor, much lower level crimes. 0lga ivshina reports. this is andrey perlov�*s olympic medal. his daughter alina is showing it to us because he is in a pre—trial detention facility — facing ten years in prison. he stands accused of embezzling around three million roubles, almost £24,000, from the football club where he was managing director. but the 62—year—old has been offered a way out. he can avoid a trial altogether if he signs a contract to join the army and fight in ukraine.

translation: my father refused to sign the contract. _ for him, it would be tantamount to admitting his guilt. he's not going to do that. a new law means that investigators and even defence lawyers are now obliged to offer an opportunity to go to the front line to almost anyone accused of a crime in russia. but it hasn't always been that way. these are the faces of some of the violent criminals who fought and died for russia in ukraine. like this man, who burned two people alive, and this man, who brutally stabbed his own mother and left her to die. however, now it's no longer just dangerous offenders being recruited into the army. we have analysed almost 20,000 dog tags from convicts who went to the front line against detailed data that was leaked to us. in the beginning, prisoner recruitment was handled by wagner and its late leader yevgeny prigozhin,

who specifically targeted high security institutions. translation: multiple convictions for murder l or robbery, great. if you screwed up with prison officials or have bitten officials or have beaten the cops, it's even better. we need your criminal talents. they want the sort of hardest criminals or the worst of the worst, because they're going to be using them in assault units. but our research shows that as russian losses increased, recruitment has spread to any kind of prison, including pre—trial detention centres. and some people do sign up. yaroslav lipavsky chose to go to the front line as soon as he turned 18. he was accused of intentionally causing harm to another person, alongside others. he was dead within a month. but the effort to get people into the army is increasing. the bbc has received a leaked recording of an investigator explaining how they pressure

the men to sign up under this new law. it has been revoiced to protect the source. translation: listen, - your husband has already got three years for theft. he can get six more for this other crime. do you need this? i offered him a chance to sign a contract. if his request is approved, he will go to war and close the case. that's it. do russians care about convicts or those who are in prison? i suspect that they don't. and i suspect that's another reason why the russian government turned to them. but andrey perlov maintains his innocence, so he continues to refuse the contracts he is being offered. we asked the russian authorities about perlov�*s case and whether they are unfairly pressuring detainees tojoin the army. they did not respond. translation: he tries | to keep himself cheerful, but if this goes on, they will break him. it cannot go on indefinitely. after a career chasing medals, andrey perlov continues his fight for a fair trial and not

a dog tag around his neck. 0lga ivshina, bbc news. king charles and queen camilla have arrived in the island nation of samoa for a summit of the 56—nation commonwealth. the couple has just completed a six—day tour of australia — the first time they have visited the country since the king became its head of state. 0ur correspondent katy watson was in samoa as the king and queen arrived. she said climate change will be high on the agenda during the visit. this is the first commonwealth heads of government meeting that king charles is attending since becoming monarch. it's also a first for a pacific nation for hosting the summit. so it's a really big deal for samoa, a small country. there are 4,000 delegates expected to come here. they've had to bring on a cruise ship to accommodate the visitors here this week.

now, top of the agenda will be climate change. pacific islands are especially vulnerable when it comes to rising sea levels. but climate change, of course, is something that's very close to the king's heart. he'll be visiting a mangrove project, talking about how to preserve the ocean, also going to the national park and speaking to samoans about how to make this part of the world much less vulnerable. there'll be a lot of pressure, of course, on bigger members of the commonwealth to try and cut their fossil fuel emissions and try and help smaller nations like samoa in terms of climate finance and protecting countries from the climate crisis. the other big topic that's likely to come up is reparations. the uk has said that they won't be apologising, there won't be a formal apology and there won't be any talk of reparations. of course, the king can't say anything unless he's been allowed to by the government. so although that's not been tabled, no doubt that's a conversation, especially from smaller nations, that will come up. but, certainly, climate change is going to be top

of the agenda for the next few days here in samoa. katy watson there. in basketball, lebronjames — and his son bronny — have become the first ever father and son to play in a competitive nba game together. history tonight, the first father— son duo to play together in an nba game. the highly anticipated moment came with a few minutes left in the first half of their opening home game of the season against the minnesota timberwolves. both players came into the game with the lakers holding a commanding i6—point advantage. the lakers eventually won by 110—103. lebron — who is 39 — is the top scorer in the league's history, while his 20—year—old son joined the lakers this season. an incredible story. you're watching bbc news. stay with us.

hello again. it's been a really foggy start to the day across some parts of england and wales — not all, of course, and it will take its time to clear. should lift by late morning. you can see there's not much in the way of isobars. no wind really to move it along, but it is pretty breezy across the far northwest of scotland and here, we will see a few showers. some showers also coming in across southern england, remnants of yesterday's weather front. they shouldn't move too much further north now, but a lot of dry weather, some bright spells and some sunny intervals, with temperatures today, 13 to 16 degrees north to south. as we head through the evening and overnight, we shouldn't have any issues tonight as we had this morning with the fog. there's more of a breeze and stronger winds out towards the west, with more cloud around irish sea coasts, western scotland and the southwestern approaches producing some dank conditions. but a mild night in prospect, 10 to 12 being our overnight lows. tomorrow, we'll hang on to the strong winds,

particularly in the west, but it will be a breezy day wherever you are. again, we've got all this low cloud, mistand murk along western coasts. rain arriving later, push further east, something drier and brighter with some sunny intervals and top temperatures up to 16 degrees. then as we move into friday, this area of low pressure comes our way with its various weather fronts. so the first one's going to be pushing east, taking its rain with it and you can also see the curl around that area of low pressure bringing in further rain or showers. now the position of this could still change, but it looks like it will be pretty windy on its southern edge. but through the day, more dry conditions developing with some sunshine or, again, bright spells. temperatures 12 to about 18 degrees. into saturday, well, our low pressure tends to fill and move away. but we do have another weather front coming

into the west that is also going to bring in some rain. showers along the south coast. brighter conditions in between, temperatures 12 to 15 degrees. so down just a little bit on what we're looking at in the next couple of days. then as we head on into sunday, well, the weather front will push across us, bringing in some rain. unsettled for some on monday, but it looks like next week it will brighten up, particularly early on in the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: donald trump's presidential campaign accuses the uk's labour party of foreign interference in the us election. the us secretary of state says now is the time for israel to end the war in gaza — to capitalise on its success against hamas. a new alzheimer's drug is rejected for widespread use in england because of how much it costs. and — mine's a pint — the group of friends who've met at the pub every week for more than half—a—century. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. a new alzheimer's drug has been rejected for widespread use in the health service in england, after the health spending watchdog said that it "doesn't currently demonstrate value for the nhs". it comes as the uk's medicines regulator said that donanemab

could be licenced for use in the uk.