live from london — this is bbc news. gisele pelicot, the french woman whose then—husband is on trial for drugging and raping her — and inviting dozens of other men to rape her — takes stand for the first time. a mass polio vaccination campaign across most of northern gaza is halted due to the bombardment. israel bombs the centre of the historic lebanese city of tyre. civil defence workers say the israelis are turning it into a �*kill zone�*. the uk's labour party denies any wrongdoing after donald trump's presidential campaign accuses it of interfering in the us election. hello, i'm lucy hockings, welcome to bbc news now. we start with the mass rape

trial in the france which has shocked and horrified the country and lots of questions are being asked about male violence and how the country deals with male violence as a result. gisele pelicot — the french woman whose former husband is on trial for drugging her and inviting more than 50 men to rape her — has taken the stand for the first time. the 72—year—old arrived at court earlier on wednesday to give evidence against him and the other men on trial. she said, "i want all women who have been raped to say, �*madame pelicot did it, i can too.”' i don't want them to be ashamed any longer." madame pelicot�*s former husband is charged with recruiting men online to attack his wife while she was under the effect of heavy sedatives and sleeping pills that he administered to her in secret for a decade. all deny the accusations. addressing her former husband as mr pelicot, and saying she could no longer bear to use his first name, she said, "i am trying to understand how this man, who to me was perfect, could have done this. how can he have betrayed me at this point? how could you let these strangers into my bedroom?

live to paris and our correspondent, hugh schofield. and this is a case which has shocked and horrified people and dominated news coverage for and dominated news coverage for a long time and led to so many discussions in france but lead us through exactly what happened in court today. hat happened in court today. not “ust in happened in court today. not just in france _ happened in court today. not just in france but— happened in court today. iirrt just in france but around the world. it is a case which seems to concentrate so many modern—day issues, with this extraordinary tale of a woman whose husband betrayed her in this way, a man with whom she was apparently happily married for so long, unbeknownst that for so long, unbeknownst that for years he was drugging and sedating her and inviting into their room unknown men from the neighbourhood, peoplei you might come across in the street

in the daytime and they were sexually abusing her. an extraordinary case. the loss of moral compass brought upon by pornography, all these issues are there. and focused on this woman, gisele pelicot, who has waived her right to have a behind closed doors trial, because she wants to make a case for shame changing, that it should no longer be felt by the victim but by those who perpetrated these monstrosities. it is not the first time she has spoken on the court, back in the beginning of september she spoke for a long period and told her story. we know what she has to say. we know she is going to say it again with great dignity and presence and what she did as direct herself to her husband who she couldn't

look in the face because she said there was too much of an emotional charge but to say once again, how could you have done this? i can never comprehend the depth and the extent of your betrayal. we were happily married for 50 years, we thought. we had three children, seven grandchildren. i thought i was going to end my days with you and yet you betrayed me to this point of inviting into the intimacy of our bedroom these men who abused me. she has shown immense courage throughout this trial and the plaudits and prays have come from around the world, and she emphasised again why she is doing vets, why she is making this stand and says my life has been destroyed and i am trying to rebuild, it has been very hard, but i do have the courage and determination to see this through. why?

because in the quote you gave, because i wanted future rape trials for women to be able to say gisele pelicot did this, she took the stand, i can do this too. she took the stand, i can do this toe-— this too. thank you for updating _ this too. thank you for updating us _ this too. thank you for updating us from - this too. thank you for| updating us from paris. we start in gaza where the world health organisation says it's been forced to postpone a planned mass polio vaccination campaign across the north of the territory. it's blamed escalating violence and a lack of assured humanitarian pauses. dozens of teams were ready with thousands of doses of the vaccine — reaching children for the crucial second round of immunisation. the polio virus was found in waste water in gaza earlier this year, and at least once child became paralysed after being infected. the who fears that, given the collapse of health, water and sanitation across gaza, the disease could spread rapidly. this our correspondent in jerusalem, yolande knell says health officials now fear the disease could spread outside gaza. this is an announcement that has come in a joint statement from the un agencies that were working with local partners on the ground in gaza.

they say that because of bombardments, because of mass displacement orders and the lack of assured humanitarian pauses, they have had to postpone this rollout for nearly 120,000 children living in the northern one third of the gaza strip. now, from the start, we were told by medical experts that any delays in the rollout for children in gaza could ultimately jeopardise the entire programme and allow this disease, which is a deadly disease, potentially, of course, highly contagious, that could allow it to spread. and also, you know, not just within gaza. i was also told by a polio expert that there was a high chance, if this took hold in gaza, of its spreading to the wider region, and it all comes after, you know, because of the wartime conditions, because many children missed out on their routine immunisations, we started to see polio traces appearing first in the sewage water and then very quickly

in this case of a child who's displaced, living in a tent camp in deir al—balah in the centre of the strip, left partly paralysed. he was the first confirmed case of polio in gaza in some 25 years. and yolande, i see there's also concern about the health workers who have to deliver these vaccines as well. aid workers at the moment so crucial, of course. how vulnerable are they? well, i mean, this was part of the statement really saying that not only was it not safe for parents and families to bring children along to immunisation, but also not safe for the health workers to be able to reach them. and we have seen during the course of the day the number of people killed in gaza rising again, about 20 killed, according to local medics, most of those

in the north of the gaza strip, and also one person, an unwra worker in deir al—balah in the centre that un agency has confirmed killed there in a marked vehicle. now, all of this, you know, just adds to the international concern that there is particularly about conditions in the north of the gaza strip, where we've been hearing about hospitals being forced to evacuate israeli forces, surrounding some shelters, ordering people to move to the south, really quite desperate scenes. and as much as we've had, you know, the us secretary of state, antony blinken, just here talking about how this is an opportunity now for israel, given the fact that it killed yahya sinwar, the hamas leader, a mastermind of the 7th of october attacks last week, to move on from its military achievements in gaza to looking now at sort of diplomatic achievements at ending

the war, working towards a ceasefire that will also bring home israel's hostages. actually, what we've seen in the past few days has been an intensification of the military campaign, particularly in jabalia in the north of the gaza strip. and to update you on what is happening in lebanon. israel airstrikes have hit the centre of the historic southern port city of tyre. these are the latest pictures. civil defence workers said the entire population was on the move. they've accused israel of turning lebanon's fourth largest city into a kill zone. 0ur correspondent in beirut, jonathan head — has the latest on those strikes in tyre. he says israel is now concentrating its attacks across of the southern city. this is the first time the actual historic city centre has been targeted. we have had quite a number of on outlying suburbs in previous days, and the area that israelis designated wasn't, it tends to be a few buildings, it was an entire neighbourhood right next to

the unesco world heritage site. this is one of the most illustrious and ancient cities of the classical world. we won't know until people are able to go back in there, to see how much damage has been done. but it is multiple air strikes in tyre. 0ne assumes that israel believes it has legitimate targets there, they haven't spelt out why they are attacking it. we all have to keep tabs on how many explosions there were. what they were trying to hit, how accurate they were. it has evolved, an awful lot of panic they're given the size of the population. the normal population of tyre is around 200,000, but that has been swollen because almost the entire area south of tyre is a battleground. it has been with the most intense air strikes have gone on for the past four weeks. israel is trying to destroy hezbollah's infrastructure, so many of the other towns have been battered for weeks now and their populations have moved into bigger cities like tyre. so we will have, yet again, this is a familiar pattern now,

another wave of displacement. another wave of fear in one of the big cities that may now become a regular target for israeli bomb strikes. when you see a city like tyre, the fourth biggest in lebanon emptied out, jonathan. all those people on the move. just how much pressure does it put on bases like beirut where all of the government shelters are already full? well, they are full and they only record a relatively small proportion of the number of displaced. the generalfigure given for displaced people is something over 1.2 million. that is well over a fifth of the population. the number recorded in government shelters is around 200,000, those registered. everyone else is either squatting out in the public parks or sharing apartments with families. or they move into empty buildings. there are lots of problems. lebanon's neighbourhoods

are traditionally defined on sectarian grounds. you have sunni and shia neighbourhoods, some are mixed. but generally they have quite defined characters. you have huge numbers of people moving in, the shia coming into non—set neighbourhoods, there is unease about that but there's also unease about they are bringing israeli air strikes on to those neighbourhoods. we saw quite violent clashes with the police a few days ago where one landlord try to evict a number of shia families who moved into an empty building not farfrom here. they resisted, they have now been given 48 they are being targeted because they are shia. people in the neighbourhood say if they come in like this, it will completely change the neighbourhood and we will end up getting bombed as well. and then you have the fact that resources get stretched. pharmacies don't have enough for everyone, public services are overstretched. this is happening right across the country, the country is absolutely stretched. the fabric of it, to its limits by the enormous

impact of this bombing. it is worrying, we have had all this diplomacy, we had secretary of state blinken here, the us special envoy here. but there is no sign that israel is ready to stop or its list of targets exhausted. life pictures coming to us from beirut at the moment. we know israel has carried out strikes this morning on beirut�*s southern suburbs out near the airport so you can see the smoke in the air as a result of those strikes. all the developments from the middle east, we will continue to keep you up—to—date here on bbc news.

welcome back, good to have you letters on bbc news. we have some news to bring you from in the uk, a breaking news line

coming from birmingham airport in the uk. they have suspended airport operations. police are dealing with an incident on the site. that is the only news we have coming to us right now from birmingham but flights have been suspended and west midlands police are dealing with an incident on the site and passengers have been asked by social media not to come to the airport and to check with the airport and to check with the airline and the airport website for updates. as soon as website for updates. as soon as we have more we will bring it straight to you. so let's get more on the latest presidential campaign polling in the us. 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. sir keir starmer has

insisted his relationship with donald trump isn't in jeopardy after his presidential campaign team filed a legal complaint against the labour party — accusing it of �*blatantly interfering' in the american election. his team pointed to a now—deleted social media post, that offered accommodation to some labour members travelling to the us to campaign for mr trump's rival kamala harris. the prime minister says that labour activists were volunteering in their own time. 0ur political correspondent tom symonds has the latest. wanted — labour activists to head to america to campaign for kamala. it was posted by labour's head of operations on linkedin, a professional social network. it has since been deleted. donald j trump! his team is furious the british are coming to support his rival. his lawyers have now sent this legal letter to the us federal election commission demanding an immediate investigation. where the linkedin post says there are ten spots to offer. the letter says that suggests labour's paying something making illegal

foreign national contributions. this trump supporter agrees. the advertisement didn't say you'll be going in your own free time. didn't say you'll have to pay your own airfare, which, by the way, at the moment are very, very expensive. said you're going to have free accommodation. if you look at the wording of that advert, there is little doubt that that is against american electoral law. but labour says there have always been foreign volunteers in us elections and this one is no different. the defence minister, john healey, signing a new agreement with his german counterpart, took time out to say the party organiser looking for recruits, wasn't doing it officially. any individual labour supporters that are over in the us, being part of the democratic election campaign are there as individuals. they're there in their own time, they're there at their own expense, and if they've got accommodation out there, that will be also provided

by volunteers. anyone who loves politics might want to be part of this knife—edge us election. a lot of activists do it simply because they love politics, l and they love particularly american politics. - and just being close - to a campaign, being part of the campaign is fun. it can be good fun. the us election regulator hasn't yet responded to trump's complaint, and this is a story playing much bigger here than america. as for the prime minister, no, he's told reporters, this won't make it harder to handle a new president trump. "we had dinner last month," he said. "we established a good relationship." let's speak to our correspondent helena humphry who's in milton in the key battleground state of georgia.

wonderful pumpkins behind you, quite the scene. what are elite voters telling you? can quite the scene. what are elite voters telling you?— voters telling you? can you believe that _ voters telling you? can you believe that we _ voters telling you? can you believe that we have - voters telling you? can you believe that we have got i voters telling you? can you believe that we have got to voters telling you? can you - believe that we have got to the point just 13 believe that we have got to the pointjust 13 days out from the us presidential election. plenty of pumpkins behind me because we are in suburban georgia and as you pointed out that these battleground states are so key in this election because it is in the margins that this presidential race will be lost and won. it will come down tojust will be lost and won. it will come down to just what could be a few thousand votes, we don't know at this stage. let me tell you about georgia because of this state flipped blue in 2020, going to president biden byjust 12,000 2020, going to president biden byjust12,000 votes. kamala by just 12,000 votes. kamala harris byjust12,000 votes. kamala harris hoping to do the same here again. it is in places like the suburbs of atlanta where you have seen these demographic shifts, people

moving on from more metropolitan urban areas, liberal areas in recent years, and this has been changing the kind of voting we are seeing here and we will be speaking to voters over the course of the day but i have been speaking to a lot of people out and about yesterday and that they were telling me they are excited about this election, some say they are nervous and scared. the trends we are seeing in terms of the issues reflect what we are seeing nationally, the economy being the number one issue. i was speaking to one issue. i was speaking to one woman who owns a diner which has been up and running since 1956. pancakes and politics on the menu. she was telling me for her things felt a lot better under a trump administration in terms of the cost of living, she says things like the biden inflation reduction act didn't really make a difference to her in terms of bacon and eggs, trying to make sure customers keep coming and so on, and she will be voting for donald trump. i was also in another suburb

speaking to a lot of young women and remembered a six week abortion ban is on the books here and they said, it generations the is not going to stand for this. kamala harris has been driving her reproductive rights bus right through this state, recently two women have passed away due to complications from medical abortions. both of those deaths have been ruled as preventable. some saying they are just not keen on either choice. lam i am disappointed these are the two choices we have and we couldn't _ two choices we have and we couldn't come up with the better_ couldn't come up with the better candidates.- couldn't come up with the better candidates. what are some of the _ better candidates. what are some of the issues - better candidates. what are some of the issues or - better candidates. what are i some of the issues or worries you have right now? things you are thinking about when you went to vote? it are thinking about when you went to vote ?— are thinking about when you went to vote? it is a shame but i was went to vote? it is a shame but i was thinking _ went to vote? it is a shame but i was thinking about _ went to vote? it is a shame but i was thinking about who - went to vote? it is a shame but i was thinking about who would i i was thinking about who would do the — i was thinking about who would do the least harm when i voted. i do the least harm when i voted. iwas _ do the least harm when i voted. iwas a — do the least harm when i voted. i was a lifelong republican but i was a lifelong republican but i actually voted democratic for the president, voted a

republican ticket up to that point — republican ticket up to that point i_ republican ticket up to that point. i think trump has a lot of issues _ point. i think trump has a lot of issues with all of the stuff that— of issues with all of the stuff that he — of issues with all of the stuff that he does and unfortunately ithink— that he does and unfortunately i think he — that he does and unfortunately i think he isjust not a good person _ i think he isjust not a good person i_ i think he isjust not a good person. i don't think she is person. idon't think she is very— person. i don't think she is very competent but i think she will do — very competent but i think she will do the least damage of any one of— will do the least damage of any one of them and quite frankly what — one of them and quite frankly what i — one of them and quite frankly what i hope is that we stay in gridlock— what i hope is that we stay in gridlock with her as president and then— gridlock with her as president and then can move forward and come _ and then can move forward and come up — and then can move forward and come up with some younger folks that have — come up with some younger folks that have better ability than both — that have better ability than both of— that have better ability than both of them do. certainly voters in this state seem very enthused in early voting. we have seen across the country some 21 million people already coming out to country some 21