and with just over a week to go before the us presidential election, donald trump and kamala adresses voters in key battleground states. hello, i'm sally bundock. the united nations secretary general has warned israel that its decision to ban the un agency for palestinian refugees, unrwa, from operating in the country could have �*devastating consequences�* for gaza and the west bank. two laws were passed by a large majority in the israeli parliament, which will ban unrwa from carrying out any of its activities in israel, and also restricts its communication with the israeli government, which are seen as crucial in allowing aid to cross into gaza. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said unrwa workers must be held accountable for what he called their "terrorist activities" against his country.

the decision has been widely condemned. the us had warned israel not to take such a move, whilst the british foreign secretary, david lammy called the move �*totally wrong'. with the latest, here's vincent mcaviney. founded by the un general assembly in 1949 with the mission of supporting the relief and development of palestinian refugees, after the founding of israel, unwra now employs some 30,000 people and is crucial to palestinians across the region, providing food, shelter, health care and education. cooperation with the israeli military, which controls all crossings into gaza, is essential for unwra

to transfer aid into the war—torn territory. but the vote by the knesset, the israeli parliament, on monday to ban the organisation, is the culmination of growing hostility in the israeli government and among politicians against notjust the agency, but the un itself. they see both as deeply biased against israel, with some accusing unwra of complicity with hamas. israel alleges that some of its employees were involved in the october the seventh attacks. the un has held an investigation and fired nine of its staff members. in a voice note sent to the bbc, the agency's communications director expressed her outrage. it sets a dangerous precedent, and it opposes the un charter and violates the state of israel's obligation under international law. it's beyond a concern to all of us. it's a threat to our common humanity. many countries have expressed deep concern about the ban.

british foreign secretary david lammy has branded it totally wrong, whilst un secretary—general antonio gutierrez warned it will be detrimental to peace and security in the region. the new law, which will come into force after three months, will not only shut down unrwa's headquarters in eastjerusalem, but also forbid israeli state authorities from any contact. contact, because it's been designated a terror group, severely affecting its already greatly vincent mcaviney, bbc news. william deere, the director of unrwa's representative office in washington was asked how the region will be affected if humanitarian aid groups stop working there. we're not sure there is a plan b right now.

if this legislation is implemented, it is going to be up to the united nations general assembly to decide how we're going to go forward here. the truth is, and you just hit upon it, we're the backbone of the humanitarian response. we are the warehouses, we are the truck network, we are the staff who say for example, during the polio vaccine campaign in gaza recently, we're the staff who inoculated most of the children. the issue is this, the legislation says can't be contact between unrwa and israel. if that comes to pass, it ends what we call de—confliction. we won't be able to move in gaza without being subject to possible attack. international staff will be able to get visas any longer, we won't be able to get work permits for our

national staff. and as you can imagine, the supply chain is going to fall apart. lebanon's health ministry says at least 60 people have been killed in israeli attacks on the bekaa valley. the strikes hit five areas in the baalbek region, northeast of the capital beirut. the local governor called the attacks the most violent in the area since israel escalated the conflict against hezbollah last month. the eastern bekaa valley is a stronghold of the militant group. another seven people were killed in israeli strikes on the coastal city of tyre. with me is mohamed taha from bbc arabic. lets from bbc arabic. start with the situation with lets start with the situation with regard to unrwa and its operations in gaza. remind us all how significant this is, if they are curtailed in terms of what they are providing in gaza? �* , , what they are providing in gaza? h , , ., , gaza? it's extremely serious because unrwa _ gaza? it's extremely serious because unrwa is - gaza? it's extremely serious because unrwa is providing gaza? it's extremely serious - because unrwa is providing the refugees from the palestinian and many countries in the region for essential provisions

for a long time. not only in gaza, but the west bank and lebanon and in syria and jordan, millions of refugee palestinians and unrwa is providing them with schools, hospitals, provisions and food and asked the gentleman rightly said, it is the supply chain for them, said, it is the supply chain forthem, it said, it is the supply chain for them, it is the lifeline for them, it is the lifeline for them. for them, it is the lifeline forthem. israel would for them, it is the lifeline for them. israel would not give unrwa visas because their presence in gaza and the west bank could be unlawful, so was ill —— will israel provide these palestinians with schools and hospitals and food as israel is the biggest force on the ground at the moment? if they will not allow unrwa of they will not allow unrwa of the un to provide them with schools or provisions,, for israel it is for them to

provide for the palestinians. the israeli parliament have voted for this and have argued that unrwa workers, some of them are aligned with hamas are and involved in the october the 7th attacks. any evidence of that? , ., 7th attacks. any evidence of that? h, ,,,,_ 7th attacks. any evidence of that? h, , ,., that? israel probably provided evidence that _ that? israel probably provided evidence that there _ that? israel probably provided evidence that there were - that? israel probably provided l evidence that there were hamas members or hamas affiliations in the employees working for unrwa but the closest ally to israel, the us is saying these decisions are serious and what is the alternative to work there and in this dangerous situation in this devastated, war—torn areas, how the refugees would be getting provision. the approach should have been to make sure the

employees do not have affiliations to hamas but the decision of completely shutting down unrwa is really serious. you and i were talking at the fact it had been a quiet night 24 fact it had been a quiet night 2a hours ago and the hope things might be settling a little in the hope some hostages might be released but now we are talking about a very difficult night and there are many deaths in lebanon. we saw the massive _ many deaths in lebanon. we saw the massive strikes _ many deaths in lebanon. we saw the massive strikes and - many deaths in lebanon. we saw the massive strikes and there - the massive strikes and there are more than 60 people who have died and the significant thing is it's the first time in this warfor more thing is it's the first time in this war for more than a year we have seen the number of deaths in lebanon more than the numbers of deaths in gaza. 30 odd people died in northern gaza in different parts but the 60 or more with the strikes and it looks like israel would like to negotiate under fire, it looks like israel would like to negotiate underfire, so they tried to advance

militarily and these military targets and aims, go back to the negotiating table and we accept the israeli presence in southern lebanon but hamas and hezbollah same without a guarantee from the israeli forces that they would draw —— withdraw completely from lebanon and gaza and there will not be any ceasefire or exchange of hostages. thank you for bringing _ exchange of hostages. thank you for bringing us — exchange of hostages. thank you for bringing us up _ exchange of hostages. thank you for bringing us up to _ exchange of hostages. thank you for bringing us up to date - for bringing us up to date again. the uk government has announced some details of its pledge to increase the number of hospital appointments and procedures in england by 40,000 per week. the chancellor will deliver full details of her spending plans tomorrow, and whilst she is expected to pump billions of pounds into the health service, reeves says the budget�*s tax hikes and borrowing increases may not be enough to undo "14 years of damage" to the nhs. here's our health

editor, hugh pym. out on the wards with a story to tell. the chancellor and the health secretary meeting hospital staff to explain some of their spending plans for the nhs in england. the budget, they were told, would provide money to help get more patients treated, and reduce waiting lists. to deliver on the 40,000 additional appointments every single week in our health service, to reduce those waiting times and waiting lists. and alongside that, the biggest capital budget since 2010 in our national health service, to invest in the new scanners, the diagnostic equipment, the radiography equipment that our nhs desperately needs — alongside the reform to get better productivity and better outcomes for patients. so what are the details? the treasury says £1.8 billion of extra money has been provided to the nhs since the election for more operations and appointments. there'll be 1.57 billion allocated next year

for equipment including scanners and radiotherapy machines. the challenge is to bring down the total waiting list of 7.61; million. extra money announced by the westminster government generates more, as well, for scotland, wales, and northern ireland. these are some — but not all — of the government's spending plans for the nhs in england. to find out overall totals for this year and next year and how they compare with the previous trend, we'll have to wait for the budget speech itself. health experts welcome the new funding, but warn that there are many unanswered questions about future policy — with the government's ten—year nhs plan not published until next spring. if you think about the huge pressures on the national health service now, but also into the future with the ageing population, we're simply not going to manage carrying on the way we have with marginal improvements — or, indeed, significant improvements — there really has to be a massive step change

in the way that we do things in the national health service. and really the game—changer here is technology with different working practices, and that should be the focus of reform, and that's what we really need to see the look of — in addition to the money — and that really will only be begin to be forthcoming in the spring. some of the new investment will go into surgical hubs — specialist centres for carrying out planned operations. the aim is to get patients treated quickly and more efficiently. but getting back to the 18—week target for waiting times will be a big ask, and today's announcement is just the start. hugh pym, bbc news. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

turning to the race for the white house, where we are just over a week away from election day. there's no slowing down on the campaign — republican nominee donald trump has been speaking at a rally in the battleground state

of georgia where he told supporters that he's not a nazi. mr trump has been accused by the democrats of wanting to be an authoritarian leader. speaking in atlanta, mrtrump said the criticism was unfair. kamala is now doing something much worse than what she was talking about. the newest line from kamala and her campaign is that everyone who isn't voting for her is a nazi. we're nazis. he's hitler. and then they say he's a nazi. i'm not a nazi. i'm the opposite of a nazi. meanwhile, democratic nominee kamala harris has spent the day in another crucial state — michigan. she stopped by a computer chip factory, and spoke at ann arbor — where she was been joined by musician maggie rogers and her running mate tim walz. during her speech, she was interrupted by a group of students protesting

against the war in gaza. and listen. hey, on the subject of gaza. hey, guys, i hearyou. 0n the subject of gaza, we all want this war to end as soon as possible and get the hostages out. and i will do everything in my power to make it so. the main talking point in the election continues to be dominated by the widespread criticism over the comments a comedian made about puerto rico at a trump rally in new york on sunday. tony hinchcliffe was one of a list of speakers before donald trump at the new york event, when he said this. there's a lot going on. like, i don't know if you guys know this but there is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. yeah. i think it's called puerto rico. the archbishop of puerto rico has called on donald trump to personally apologise for the comedians' comments.

the trump campaign has tried to distance itself from the issue, saying the comments "do not reflect" the republican candidate's views. this was the reaction from running mate, jd vance. and my own view is, look, i haven't seen the joke. maybe it's a stupid racistjoke, as you said. maybe it's not. i haven't seen it. i won't comment on the specifics of thejoke. but i think we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the united states of america. i'm so over it. live to los angeles and our north america correspondent peter bowes. let's start with the comment from the comedian that did dominate for the last 2a hours. it certainly has and because the archbishop of puerto rico has got involved, it looks like theissue has got involved, it looks like the issue will continue at least for the next 2a hours when it is something that many republicans would have hoped it

would have disappeared after a lot of the debate that occurred on monday with many leaders of the trump campaign at pains to point out that they say the comedian's comment do not reflect the views of former president trump. donald trump himself has not addressed the comments at all but now he's being put under some pressure to address what the comedian said and disavow them, and we know that donald trump is less inclined to apologise for anything let alone the words of someone else. so it puts him at something of a dilemma and it is this that there are lots of puerto ricans in the us with the ability to vote and a lot of those people live in some of the swing states, like pennsylvania and with an election so tight they could be quite significant when it comes to counting the votes next week. , ., ~ ., .,

week. lets talk about how tight thin . s week. lets talk about how tight things are- _ week. lets talk about how tight things are. as _ week. lets talk about how tight things are. as we _ week. lets talk about how tight things are. as we get _ week. lets talk about how tight things are. as we get closer - week. lets talk about how tight things are. as we get closer to | things are. as we get closer to november the 5th it seems to be getting tighter. it is absolutely - getting tighter. it is absolutely neck - getting tighter. it is absolutely neck and getting tighter. it is - absolutely neck and neck. if you look at the polls in the last three weeks you would think it couldn't get closer that it has. there's not anything these two candidates in the crucial seven states, the swing states, the battleground states where the election will be won or lost in what we are likely to see in the next seven days are the two candidates crossing the country and spending, as they already have in the last 2a hours, a lot of time in the states trying to get their message across to the relatively few americans, but especially those living in those states who are still sitting on the fence and have not decided which way they are going to vote and we could be talking about a few thousand votes at the end of the night.

with a week to go until polling day in the united states — who s ahead? here's 0ur head of statistics, robert cuffe. seven days to go, and democrat kamala harris' lead in the national polls has been fading for a while. she's been ahead for much of the campaign — and still is, nationally — but only just. now, this isn'tjust a single national vote. the states get the final say. so let's go state by state — or at least through the main ones — because the states will have the final vote in december on who becomes the president, each one getting a certain number of what they call electoral college votes, depending roughly on their population. now, let's give them dark grey squares — one for each of the votes that they have — to show you who gets the biggest say. so that's loads for california or texas. not so many for, say, sparsely populated montana. now it's winner takes all.

in nearly every state, the electors vote for the presidential candidate who won the popular vote there, and there's 538 of all of these electoral college votes overall. so trump and harris need more than half of those — 270 — to win. and most states are pretty locked in for the republicans in red or the democrats in blue — but not enough to guarantee victory. you can see here that each party's wins in the safer states in 2020 weren't quite enough to get them over the line. now, the last seven states are much harder to predict. nevada and arizona out west, georgia and north carolina here in the southeast, and michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania up north. and both trump and harris do need to win them in order — or a good chunk of them — in order to become president. the polling in these swing states isn't quite so good for kamala harris. at the start of october, she was ahead in about four of the seven, with one more basically tied, but with a week to go, if anything, donald trump is edging ahead — here in red — in a few of them. now, there's one word of caution — polls can't be precise to one decimal place — normally the truth is a couple of points up or down. so with a week to go, these

polls can't pick you a winner. either candidate could still win any one or all of these states and romp home, so there's plenty to play for. here, the conservative leadership candidate, kemi badenoch has told the bbc that she thinks she may need to soften her approach. speaking to the bbc�*s newscast, ms badenoch said some of her advisers have told her she may have been heavy—handed with her comments from time to time. i don't think i'm being rude, i just think i'm saying something i wouldn't mind hearing back, so i treat people how i treat myself. i've had even some of myself. i've had even some of my advisers say, why did you say that? and i say, what do you mean? i have to be mindful

that i have a higher tolerance for things than others and part of being a leader is being able to calibrate so you can manage. you will have to do the softly softly — you will have to do the softly softly thing a bit more.- softly thing a bit more. yes. kemi badenoch _ softly thing a bit more. yes. kemi badenoch there - softly thing a bit more. yes. kemi badenoch there and i kemi badenoch there and everybody lobbies casting their votes, and it is scheduled to close on the 31st of october with the announcement on saturday. archaeologists have discovered a huge ancient city hidden underground in mexico which may give a better understand of the maya civilisation. known for their distinctive temples and cities which stood for centuries but due to factors such as war and disease, the mayans faded into obscurity around 300 years ago. however, thanks to modern technologies, including radar, archaeologists are able to uncover these civilisations in their native north and central american countries,

as georgina rannard reports. deep in the central american jungle, the trees are hiding treasures. radar fired from a plane peers through the canopy to search for ruins. this is in guatemala, but archaeologists have now discovered another huge city — this time in mexico. they're calling it valeriana. now, we don't have any pictures of valeriana — that's because no—one's been there for hundreds of years — so we thought we'd show you what it might have looked like, here in this virtual studio. this is a mayan pyramid temple, similar to the ones that would have been found in the city. people worshipped here, brought riches like jade masks, and even buried the dead. in total, the team found almost 7,000 buildings in an area of the jungle about the size of edinburgh. up to 50,000 people may have lived in this area at its peak in the ninth century. alongside houses, the archaeologists found evidence of amphitheatres,

plazas, and even a sports field for an ancient ballgame. it would have been a very colourful, very lush, and i think very striking environment to move through. things like palaces and temple pyramids — all of those would have been covered in lime plaster and then painted red, pink and yellow and black. there would have been clusters of buildings where people mostly spend their time making ceramics, or mostly spend their time shaping stone tools. this part of the world, there's some evidence for marketplaces. it took centuries, but war, climate change, and the spanish invasion caused the collapse of the mayans. but their descendants still live in campeche today, and at the new site — just 15 minutes from a busy road — their ancient relatives lie beneath their feet. georgina rannard, bbc news. the spain and manchester city midfielder rodri has won football's most prestigious

prize, the ballon d'or. the 28—year—old helped spain to victory at the european championships in the summer, and was played an important role in helping city win a fourth consecutive premier league title. it was the first time any one from the manchester club has won the award. it was a clean sweep for spain as barcelona's aitana bonmati won the women's prize for the second year running, as she helped the catalan club secure a historic quadruple. stay with us here on bbc news. hello, there. a big blocking area of high pressure is likely to bring us a very quiet spell of weather now for the rest of october and into the start of november. it's going to be mostly dry thanks to the high pressure system, and quite mild, with our air source coming in from the south—west. there will be a little bit of sunshine at times, but will often be cloudy. we could start the days a bit misty and foggy in places. so for tuesday, we're

losing the weather front. high pressure will be building in across the country, but we maintain this mild air mass which will continue to move up from the south. just the chance of a plunge of cold air, i think will just avoid us and dive into the near continent to the east of us. tuesday, though, will be a rather cloudy start for many. we'll see further spits and spots of rain across england and wales, particularly towards the south. but even here we'll see some holes appearing in the clouds for some sunny spells, with the best of the sunshine across eastern scotland and north—east england, and the cloud thick enough for some spots of rain for north—western scotland. temperature—wise again mild, mid to maybe high teens. now for tuesday night it stays dry. i think we lose the spots of light rain and drizzle across england and wales. a few clear spells, but there'll be a lot of cloud, some mist and fog. temperatures again mild, eight to 11 degrees. this area of high pressure builds in across the country, as you can see for wednesday. so winds will be very light.

so that'll be a perfect recipe for some mist and fog to greet us on wednesday morning, pretty much anywhere, but i think greatest chance through central and southern parts of the uk where winds will be lightest. some of that fog may lift into low cloud, so some areas staying grey all day, but other areas will see the sunshine poking through and that will lift temperatures up into the mid to high teens. where we hold on to the cloud and the fog, though, could be closer to the low teens. little change as we head into thursday with this area of high pressure dominating. maybe subtle changes taking place across the far north of scotland into the northern isles, the winds picking up here, some outbreaks of rain, but for much of the mainland it's dry. again, could be misty, foggy start for england and wales, where winds will be lightest. then into the afternoon, variable cloud, some sunny spells, mostly dry, temperature again mid—to—high teens. looking pretty good for halloween evening. dry for many, especially england and wales. there's a chance of wetter, windy weather for the north and the west of scotland, but the vast majority will stay dry. and for the end of the week into the weekend, it's much the same —

dry and settled.

profitsjump at hsbc as europe's biggest bank gets set for a major shake—up. talking tariffs — we take a look at the impact on business from trade barriers a week ahead of the us election. an historic moment —

a top employee representative says vw plans to shut three german factories and axe thousands of jobs. and corporate conundrum — reports starbucks is the latest big name to threaten to fire staff who won't come back to the office. live from london, this is business today — i'm sally bundock. good to have you with us. we start with europe's biggest bank — hsbc — which has seen its profitsjump by 10% from july to september. clocking in pre—tax profits of $8.5 billion across the quarter. the profits news comes hot on the heels of a major announcement last week of a major overhaul of the bank's structure — splitting geographically into eastern and western markets amid a backdrop of rising international tensions — particularly trade tensions between china and the us. this, all part of plans from the new boss — georges elhedery —

to simplify operations and cut costs at the 159—year—old bank.