one of the most prolific online child abusers on record is sentenced to life in prison. and the us presidential hopefuls take their campaigns to texas, with a focus on border control and abortion rights. hello, i'm carl nasman. welcome to the programme. welcome top diplomats from the us and middle east have met in london, as efforts continue to find a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in the middle east. us secretary of state, antony blinken, met the lebanese prime minister and foreign ministers from jordan and the united arab emirates, for discussions on a post—conflict plan to rebuild gaza when the war ends. while there's been no

success yet in securing a lasting peace deal — mr blinken says it's crucial that diplomatic efforts continue. we've had very good and important conversations this week, including this morning, on ending the war in gaza, and charting a path for what comes next. and those conversations will continue, but i think this is a moment of importance and urgency that we are working to seize. lebanon has accused israel of deliberately targeting journalists, after three lebanese media workers were killed in an israeli air strike in the southeast of the country. footage shows collapsed buildings and cars marked "press" covered in dust and rubble. the israeli army says that strike is now "under review". the israeli military says that five of its soldiers were killed in clashes with hezbollah fighters in southern lebanon on thursday night. 2a others were injured. in gaza, the hamas—run health

ministry says at least 38 people were killed in israeli air raids in the south of the territory. rescue workers said nine children from one family were among those killed in the strikes on the outskirts of khan younis. the un human rights chief, volker turk, says the world has a duty to act to stop what he said was the bombing, siege and risk of starvation facing the entire population of gaza, calling the war its darkest moment. in northern gaza, israel is stepping up its offensive to stop hamas fighters from regrouping. israel denies it's aiming to force all palestinians out of northern gaza — around 400,000 people. it says it's targeting hamas fighters and insists it's complying with international law. our special correspondent fergal keane reports. at jabalia's kamal adwan hospital, an evacuation team arrives. so much need. "he's dying in my arms," this mother says. "what can i do? whom should i ask for help? why should he die in my arms?" many more evacuations are required.

today there is more than, it's close to 200 patients, close to 200 patients, we see multiple trauma patients from all over the north of gaza. and there is approximately 300 to 500 idps in and around the hospital, many, many women and children. since then, the un says the israeli army entered the hospital, arresting medics. it has now lost contact with kamal adwan, whose director sent this appeal at 1pm local time. we appeal to the world to intervene to preserve our hospitals. and we want international protections for our medical staff. because we are working under distress and under fear. the processions out of jabalia tell their own stories. behind them, bodies trapped under rubble. the men, stripped, hands bound, arrested by israel as it searches for hamas. now the un's most senior human

rights official has called on the international community to hold israel to account. the israeli government's policies and practices risk emptying the area of all palestinians. we are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes, including potentially extending to crimes against humanity. the un criticised hamas for operating from within the civilian population. i have repeatedly expressed alarm at the methods and means of warfare and the gravity of the violations committed by all sides. the chief of israel's military was in jabalia today, telling his troops they were beating hamas. translation: because we are better, we are more . justified, and also because we are stronger. another achievement, jabalia is falling. for those who escaped

the north, there is no secure refuge. childhood and the desperation and dust of khan younis. "get back," he shouts. there has been warning after warning, plea after plea from the international community, but still this hunger. translation: how will i feed my kids? j i have no flour, no bread, nothing at home. much happens away from the cameras, but there is a lot we are seeing, day after day. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. for more on these developments, i spoke earlierjaved ali, formerly with the us national security council and fbi national counterterrorism centre. he gave me his thoughts on how much of an impact mr blinken�*s latest trip is having.

it does sound like there's been some promising development on the diplomatic front with secretary blinken and his counterparts, and a number of different countries. i hate to be pessimistic, but we've also heard this story time and time again, and this is the 11th or 12th time secretary blinken in the past year has been on these types of tours, you know, trying to get all the parties involved to come to some kind of deal to stop the war in gaza, address the issue with the tremendous suffering of the palestinian people caught in the crossfire, now with lebanon — but every time we've heard that there's been momentum, then nothing materialises. and at this point, i'm not sure we are going to get to the deal that everyone wants in the coming days. it appears that part of those talks in london was discussing a post—conflict plan for how to rebuild gaza once the war ends.

why do you think the focus turned to a day—after plan when this war is still raging? the day—after plan is something a lot of commentators have talked about — there doesn't seem to have been much, at least publicly, discussion of what that day—after plan looks like. but i would have to imagine now that, a year—plus into this war, israel does not want to militarily occupy the gaza strip, nor do they want to occupy southern lebanon, which they did from 1982 to 2000. so, these are probably key features being addressed right now — and yet we still don't know the details of this plan, and the particulars either in southern lebanon or the gaza strip, who actually will be in control. and all the time and energy, and money it will take, certainly for the gaza strip to rebuild from the destruction that's happened over the past year. we're now less than 11 days until election day here in the us — do you see any kind of movement

diplomatically happening until we know those results? i do think there's a correlation between this latest round of us—led diplomacy and the timing of the election to deliver a result to president biden before he departs office, then depending on who wins, that'll be seen as a success for the united states and its diplomatic efforts. but between now and the election, there's so many things that could happen on the ground, both in lebanon and the gaza strip, and calculations by the israeli leadership too, that it remains to be seen whether something will happen between now and the elections here in a couple weeks. one of the world's most prolific online abusers, who drove one of his victims to take her own life, has been jailed for life by a court in northern ireland. alexander mccartney admitted 185 charges involving 70 children — although belfast crown court was told the number of victims is actually much higher. mccartney, who's 26, posed as a young girl, in order to befriend girls on messaging service snapchat, before going on to blackmail them.

the judge said mccartney had used social media on an industrial scale, to inflict catastrophic damage. this report from chris page contains distressing details. cimarron thomas lived thousands of miles away from the abuser who caused her death. why? "why" was the biggest question. why? this was the sunday we took her home before her passing. she has bright red lipstick on, getting into that stage of her life, to be a teenager. she almost was. alexander mccartney was blackmailing cimarron. he had initially pretended to be a teenage girl to trick cimarron into sending him explicit pictures of herself. he went through the same sickening routine with 3,500 victims, telling them he would post the photos publicly unless they carried out acts of abuse

for his sexual gratification. three minutes after mccartney's last message to cimarron, the emergency services received this call from her nine—year—old sister. 18 months later, cimarron�*s father ben took his own life without knowing what had led to his daughter's suicide. mccartney targeted victims across the world over five years. he ordered some girls to film themselves abusing other children. you had little girls, sort of an average age of 10—12 years old, many times being threatened in the most depraved way. when he got that first photograph from them, he actually had a preprepared threat saved in his phone, which he would cut and

paste into the chat. his offending was round—the—clock, you know, and it was difficult to know when he actually did anything else. prosecution lawyers described mccartney as remorseless, cold and compulsive. many of his victims have been left with mental health difficulties. 0ne father in new zealand said that his family had been devastated. it all happened for my daughter within minutes. you know, as soon as that first photo was sent, a sequence of events was in motion that, you know, could never be undone. and he'd obviously honed his craft over, you know, a significant period of time, and as soon as he had that power, she was playing by his rules. mccartney is now facing justice, with a life prison sentence. the judge said the full extent of mccartney's crimes put the case on a par with murder. he told the court he couldn't imagine a more

dangerous sex offender. the detective leading the inquiry said there'd never been an investigation like it. his offending was on an industrial scale. mccartney's actions have directly caused the death of a child. he may as well have pulled the trigger himself. mccartney must serve at least 20 years before he can apply for early release. the online killer is one of the most prolific child abusers ever to be convicted. chris page, bbc news, belfast. 0ur correspondent angus crawford has reported extensively on child safety online, and has more on what can social media companies do to stop cases like this. this is a truly horrific case, but it is important to remember that alexander mccartney committed his offences between 2013 and 2019. those really were the wild west days of social media — there were few guardrails. today the digital landscape is different.

first, there's the 0nline safety act — a year old today — becoming fully enforceable in 2025. it requires platforms to crack down on illegal content, demands better age verification of users setting up accounts, and it gives the regulator powers to impose fines of up to £18 million. so what about the social media companies? well, in just the last eight weeks snapchat and instagram have rolled out new safety features, making teen accounts private by default, hiding friend lists from potential bad actors, and identifying and blocking suspicious accounts. but there are still huge problems with sexual exploitation on social media. the figures are really disturbing — 311,000 recorded crimes of online grooming in six years. snapchat accounted for a quarter of those. meta platforms, including instagram, almost half. 25% of cases involved children under the age of 12 and where the data on gender is available, over 80%

of victims are girls. horrific as this case is, perhaps it's also a moment for a national conversation between parents, carers, guardians and young people about the fact that not everyone is who they say they are online. and a vital message for teenagers — if someone is threatening you online like this, you have done nothing wrong — you are a victim. and finally that nothing is so embarrassing it's worth ending your life over. if you've been affected by any of the issues raised during this report, there's more support and information available around the world at befrienders.org. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the bbc understands that the chancellor, rachel reeves, is expected to raise national insurance contributions paid by employers by up to two percentage points to fund a boost

in the nhs budget. the chancellor is also expected to lower the earnings threshold at which employers start making national insurance contributions. the former head of the american clothing chain abercrombie & fitch, mikejeffries, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and prostitution charges in a new york court. it follows a bbc investigation intojeffries and his british partner, matthew smith — which uncovered multiple claims of abuse, in a highly organised operation that spanned several countries. jeffries is now under house arrest, after he was eleased on a $10 million bond. the far—right activist tommy robinson has been taken into custody ahead of a major demonstration by his supporters in london this weekend. kent police said that he had been charged with allegedly refusing to provide his phone's pin number to police officers — an offence under the terrorism act. separately, he is due in court on monday in connection with contempt of court allegations. you're live with bbc news. let's turn to the us — and get the latest from the presidential

election campaign trail. now, a lot of campaign attention in these final days has been on seven crucial battleground states. across the board, polls show the races are tight, and are within the margin of error. given that, it's perhaps slightly unusual that today we've seen both candidates we've seen both candidates in the southern state of texas. in the southern state of texas. unusual, as it's considered unusual, as it's considered a republican stronghold — a republican stronghold — texas hasn't voted for texas hasn't voted for a democratic presidential a democratic presidential candidate since 1976. candidate since 1976. republican presidential republican presidential nominee donald trump nominee donald trump made a stop in the city made a stop in the city of austin earlier today. of austin earlier today. there, he pre—taped there, he pre—taped an appearance on thejoe an appearance on thejoe rogan experience. rogan experience. it is the biggest podcast to import her army of migrant it is the biggest podcast in the us — and has in the us — and has a mostly male audience. a mostly male audience. speaking in austin, speaking in austin, the former president focused the former president focused on the issue of immigration — on the issue of immigration — again criticising the policies again criticising the policies of his democratic of his democratic opponent kamala harris. opponent kamala harris. but over the past four years, but over the past four years, this state has become - this state has become -

to kamala's staging ground i to kamala's staging ground i to import her army of migrant gangs and illegal alien - criminals into every state. every state is a border state, you've hard that, it's - paving a trail of suffering, death, bloodshed -

are just certain decisions government should not be making for indivuals and theirfamilies. so that's the latest from the campaign trail. i just want to bring you another interesting development we're following today. the washington post has broken with years of tradition — announcing it will not endorse a presidential candidate. the paper has backed a candidate in every presidential election since the 1980s, much like other major newspapers. but it says this will no longer be the case for november's election — and any future presidential elections. lots happening today — for his anaylsis, i spoke earlier to our north america correspondent anthony zurcher, who's in houston. anthony, born and raised in texas, so a bit of a homecoming for you — i think it's worth explaining a bit why these two candidates, with 11 days or so to go, are in a state that we are very much expecting to be in trump's

column come november 5th? i must say, i'm surprised to be back in my home state a week before the election. but you heard a bit of why kamala harris is here, from those remarks she made at a press gaggle earlier today — and that's because she really wants to elevate that abortion message and point to the stringent laws you mentioned here in texas that virtually ban abortion, allowing no exceptions for rape or incest. she'll be on the stage a few blocks from here, saying that that is the future that donald trump will bring nationwide if he's reelected to the presidency. there's also a close senate race here — ted cruz, who ran for president back in 2016, is running for reelection, and polls show he isjust a percentage point or two ahead of colin allred, a congressman from dallas. he'll be on the stage with kamala harris today — this event is to ramp up enthusiasm to support colin allred, and maybe pull a surprise

and deliver that texas senate seat to the democrats — which would really help, because it looks right now like the democrats will lose control of the senate if they don't pull off some sort of a surprise victory. and it seems as well that there's this interesting media strategy playing on both sides — you have the kamala harris campaign going for these big celebrities, the latest one, beyonce, giving a concert we believe tonight. and meanwhile, donald trump making these appearances on podcasts, and really, you might say, aiming for a very male demographic? donald trump will be holding a rally in new york city's madison square garden on sunday. new york, of course, is not a swing state either, it is comfortably democratic. so, i think what you're seeing here is both candidates trying to find ways to cut through and break through the noise to get to voters and connect with them, maybe even in unconventional ways, showing up in states they wouldn't normally be so they can get national press attention, appearing on podcasts that have big audiences that reach key demographics. kamala harris is doing the same thing, trying to find podcasts where she can

reach black male voters. charlemagne tha god, she was on that podcastjust last week. so it is a very close, unconventional campaign, very tight — polls show a dead heat — so these candidates are trying to find any angle they can to gain an advantage with just a week left, just over a week left. and anthony, the washington post opting not to endorse a candidate, the first time in 35 years — i know you've been following this story, what should we make of that? i mean, it is incredibly surprising, but you have to look at what the post is reporting itself — that is thatjeff bezos, the head of amazon, made the call for the washington post not to endorse for president. the publisher came on and explained this, saying they would let individual readers make up their mind and not tell them how to vote. but the timing of this, just a week before the election,

has journalists within the washington post and democrats saying that this wasjeff bezos bowing to his own corporate interests, being concerned that if donald trump is elected president, he'll step up regulation or oversight of amazon, or threaten the contracts amazon have. it's a dynamic we just saw play out last week in los angeles with the los angeles times also not endorsing a presidential candidate for the first time in ages. and the owner of los angeles times, also a billionaire, was behind that call as well. so it's interesting to see, and lots of shock to it — and honestly, a lot of people don't pay attention to newspaper editorials any more, but they might start paying attention to a non—editorial — and you know that donald trump will point to this and say, "see, even the washington post won't take a stand."

according to state media, again, that breaking news, reports of explosions coming from iran. early reports cannot get what caused those exclusions, but the region has been bracing for an israeli retaliation against iran for its own missile attack which took place a few weeks ago. we've reached out to the pentagon for comment, and we will bring you more on that breaking news as we get it. again, several loud explosions heard near the iranian capital of tehran, taking place in the last few minutes or so — that's according to iranian media, and we will get more updates on that story. presidentjoe biden has officially apologised for the us government's former policy of separating native american children from their families and placing them in government—run boarding schools. the policy of assimilation saw american indian, native alaskan and native hawaiian children forced to change their names,

punished for speaking native languages, and exposed to physical abuse — with the aim of forcing them to integrate into white american society. speaking at the gila river indian community in arizona — a state which is home to over 20 native tribes — the us president called the policy a "sin on our souls". lost generations, culture, and language, the lost trust — it's horribly, horribly wrong. it's a sin on our soul. the federal government has never, neverformally apologised for what happened — until today. i formally apologise, as president of the united states of america, for what we did. applause presidentjoe biden as being earlier. turning to that breaking news coming in — we are getting reports of several explosions taking place in iran, nearthe explosions taking place in iran, near the capital of

tehran and in garage city, which is close by — that's according to state media within iran. these are early reports, we are just getting this in, but of course that region has been bracing for a potential counter attack or retaliation after iran sent that massive ballistic missile attack to israel a couple weeks ago, hundred and 80 missiles sent in that attack, the largest israel has seen in its history. this could be — we don't know yet — but the expected retaliation which the region and many other partners of israel have been bracing for. we will bring you more information on that as we get it, explosions in tehran and the surrounding region. stay tuned for updates on that story on bbc news. hello. it is shaping up to be a rather mixed weekend of weather — and exactly what mix you get depends on exactly where you are.

across england and wales, it will often be dry, and there will be some spells of sunshine. scotland and northern ireland will bear the brunt of some outbreaks of rain and some rather brisk winds. this is saturday mornings weather chart — quite a complicated one, actually. this little area of low pressure to the southwest of us, just weakening and diving away southwards. but there is one weather front just bending its way in towards the southeast corner — that'll bring some cloud and some bits and pieces of rain northwards across the southeast of england and east anglia. elsewhere, good spells of sunshine, but for northern ireland and for the north and west of scotland, we will see these outbreaks of quite heavy rain pushing in, and the winds will be strengthening, as well — some pretty brisk winds up towards the northwest of scotland. temperatures north to south around 12—16 celsius. now, through saturday night, i think this cloud will tend to pull away from the southeast of england. this frontal system will push its way southwards and eastwards, and will weaken. many places will see some clear spells — and don't forget, through the early hours of sunday, the clocks go back an hour, so you do get

an extra hour in bed. it will also turn pretty chilly actually into the start of sunday morning, temperatures well down into single digits. i think there will be some places that get quite close to freezing, especially up towards the north of the uk. but that does mean most places will start sunday with some spells of sunshine. england and wales mostly holding on to that, but once again, northern ireland and scotland will see thickening cloud and some outbreaks of rain, and it will still be fairly windy here. temperatures down a little bit — nine celsius in lerwick, 1a in london and in plymouth. as we head on into monday, that weakening frontal system in the north pushes southwards and eastwards, so some bits and pieces of rain across england and wales. northern ireland and scotland largely dry, but there will be a lot of cloud, could be some misty, murky conditions in places and temperatures perhaps creeping upwards once again, around 13—16 celsius in most locations. as we head deeper into the coming week, well, high pressure really takes charge of the scene — and that is likely to lead

to a fairly long spell of dry weather for many places, but with some low clouds, some mist and fog. and then, there are signs that, by the end of the week, things will start to turn colder.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this

programme. i'll tell you what, uchka. this has got to be one of the most stunning road trips i think i've ever been on. i'm in mongolia, leaving the capital, ulaanbaatar, for the seemingly endless grassy plains of the steppe... ..accompanied by my translator, uchka. i already feel like i'm getting, like, a slight taste of nomadic life, just mainly because we are surrounded by nothing but wilderness. yeah. it's a world away from my home city, london. spread over one—and—a—half million square kilometres live just one million nomads... ..raising livestock and moving their camps from season to season. i've heard living in the steppes can be pretty tough, so this is going to be a true, true test

of my resilience. but i'm looking forward to finding out if i've