an abandoned gold mine in south africa to help thousands of illegal miners who've been trapped there for a month. �*no longer fit for purpose�* — scientists and former political leaders say the un climate talks are in need of an urgent overhaul. the uk economy grows just 0.1% between july and september. and the fourth and final supermoon of the year lights up the night sky in karachi. and the fourth and final supermoon of 2024 lights up the night sky in hanoi. hello, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. donald trump has made another controversial nomination for his top team when he enters the white house. he's chosen the prominent vaccine sceptic and conspiracy theorist, robert f kennedy junior, to lead the department of health — saying he'd make america healthy again�*. mr kennedy had been an independent candidate for the presidency, but ended his run to back

donald trump with a promise of a key role in his administration. our north america correspondent rowan bridge has more. america could soon have a vaccine sceptic, who repeated covid—19 conspiracy theories, running its health department. robert kenneder comes from democratic party royalty. his uncle was presidentjohn f kennedy and his father was attorney general. kennedy and his father mr kennedy made his own name as an environmental lawyer and activist, but that's been overshadowed by his controversial views on vaccines. do i want children to get measles? of course i don't. why do you spread this doubt? because... i'm asking you to be responsible and ask the question. the questions have been asked. the vaccines are safe. the vaccines are safe from what? cause autoimmune disease. i'm in court right now arguing the case. there's no evidence they do. well, there's plenty of evidence that they do. you're just not looking at it. last year, he launched

an independent bid for the presidency, before dropping out and throwing his weight behind donald trump. behind donald trump. he was one of the speakers he was one of the speakers at mr trump's new york rally, at mr trump's new york rally, where he condemned the party where he condemned the party his family had dedicated his family had dedicated their lives to. their lives to. today's democratic party today's democratic party is the party of war. is the party of war. it's the party of the cia. it's the party of the cia. you have kamala harris giving you have kamala harris giving a speech at the democratic a speech at the democratic convention that was written convention that was written by neocons. by neocons. his loyalty to the trump cause his loyalty to the trump cause has now been rewarded. has now been rewarded. in a speech at his mar—a—lago in a speech at his mar—a—lago resort, the president—elect resort, the president—elect praised mr kennedy. praised mr kennedy. news, washington. we want you to come up we want you to come up with things and ideas with things and ideas and what you've been talking and what you've been talking about for a long time, about for a long time, and i think you're going to do and i think you're going to do some unbelievable things. some unbelievable things. nobody's going to be nobody's going to be able to do it like you. and, boy, does he feel it in his heart! so, congratulations also to your family. during his campaign, donald trump said he would let robert kennedy go wild when it comes to the nation's health. mr trump vowed to shake up the establishment — able to do it like you. this latest pick shows he plans

to do just that. rowan bridge, bbc

we do believe that we will get through this. america will continue to be a leader in regards to our democratic values and what's important for the alliance with europe, but it is a major concern as to how he will conduct his policies, and some of his early picks for his cabinet raise really serious concerns. well, but, you know, he was elected. he's a known disrupter, isn't he? and i guess some of these appointments, you would say rfkjr, especially a vaccine sceptic, as i was mentioning, that is disruptive politics. isn't that what the american people voted for? i don't know, i think they voted because they were upset with our border policies or they were thought that our economy should be doing better than it's doing. and they want a change, which we see a lot. and it's all here in uk. you see it throughout a lot of elections throughout the world, so i don't know if they want the type of disruption that donald trump is bringing. we'll see.

i mean, robert kenneder to head the health department, uh, you call him a sceptic. i think he's a denier on vaccines and public health. uh, it'll be a challenge if he got if he gets confirmed. and many of his other appointments are people who really don't believe in the agency in which they're being asked to lead. so that's going to present some challenges. you were talking about why people voted for change in the united states, but, i mean, part of it was the democratic party's failure, wasn't it? it was kamala harris' failure to hit home with american voters, but the party's failure. what do you think went wrong? why did the american people reject the democrats? i'm not so sure it was a failure. you take a look at the biden administration's accomplishments in the four years that he's been president, major bills passed to deal with the covid recovery, to to deal with our infrastructure. and we're seeing that throughout our nation the deal with the inflation reduction act, bringing down

the cost of prescription drugs and dealing with the climate agenda in our nation. the safer communities act, dealing with health care in our schools and gun safety. the list goes on and on and on of accomplishments, the chips and science bill to make us more competitive. so why didn't the american people then vote for his vice president, kamala harris? we couldn't connect the dots. people are upset. they're just upset. where do the democrats go from here then? i mean, because let's face it, you know, your party is in some disarray. you've lost the white house. you've lost both chambers of congress. where do you, how do you rebuild? because there could be, you know, the donald trump presidency. then who knows? there could be a jd vance. vance presidency. after that. our traditional base. we lost a lot of our traditional base. we got a i think we got to retool. i think we got to... i don't think we changed our values. change what we're trying to accomplish and opportunities for all americans to be a world leader protecting democratic institutions. i don't think we changed

our mission, but we certainly have to change the way that we communicate with the american people because we've lost a good part of our base. you talked about biden�*s achievements, but what about his failures? like, for example, immigration? i mean, rightly or wrongly, the american people seem to think that too many immigrants are coming into the united states. they're coming in illegally. and they supported donald trump when he said, we're going to deport illegal immigrants. we'll see exactly what happens in our country. clearly, our immigration system is broken. we know that. we had a strong bipartisan bill that president trump stopped from being passed because he wanted this election issue. there's a lot of disinformation about immigration, immigrants in our country. and the voters believed a lot of what they heard, even though some of it was not true. but our system is broken and needs to be fixed, not by deporting everyone who's undocumented, but by fixing the way people come to our country. people say donald trump is a populist. could the democratic party be well advised, perhaps to be a little bit

more populist in some ways, do you think? well, i think we have to connect with the voters. there's no question about it. but i think leaders have to lead. they have to be honest with the public. they have to tell it as it is and be visionary to recognise that it's not just about short term gains, but what do we stand for as a nation? what type of world we want to live in? we want to protect democratic values. human rights. those are the issues that i think we have to be able to be more visionary as leaders. do you think joe biden made a mistake by hanging on for as long as he did? if he'd gone earlier, it would have given kamala harris more time, or would have given the party more time to maybe pick somebody else. i'm not sure it would have made a difference, but clearly i think he made the right decision not to seek re—election. i would have preferred it to go through a normal nomination process for our candidate, so i would have preferred that to be the course. i don't know if that would have changed the results or not, but i respect joe biden greatly. i think he's he'll go down as a very accomplished president

of the united states and a world leader. i think history will be kind to him. that was the chair of the us foreign relations committee. talking a little bit earlier. air strikes have hit the southern suburbs of beirut in the past few hours — sending plumes of smoke into the sky. this was the moment an israeli strike hit and levelled a building in the tayouneh area of the lebanese capital. it's not know if anyone was injured in the attack. in the more recent strikes in southern beirut, israeli drones fired two missiles at the beirut suburb of ghobeiry before the air force carried out what was described as a "very heavy" strike that levelled a building near municipal offices. it followed a warning of imminent strikes issued by the israeli military on x. on that, our correspondent in beirut, hugo bachega. so this attack hit a building

that was being used by the civil defence agency, an agency that is linked to the lebanese government, it is not affiliated with hezbollah. the lebanese health ministry reacted to the attack, calling it a barbaric attack by the israeli military. again, there has not been any reaction from the israeli authorities. one of the victims in that attack was the head of the civil defence agency in the region of baalbek, who had become well known here in the country. we here at the bbc interviewed him a number of times during this war. what the lebanese authorities are saying is that these attacks have killed more than 180 emergency and medical workers across the country in recent weeks ss this conflict between israel and hezbollah escalated. we have seen in recent days the israeli military has intensified its air strikes across the country. this morning new attacks here in beirut, the fourth consecutive day of attacks hitting this city.

this is happening amid new efforts to try to reach a ceasefire here in this conflict. yesterday, american officials delivered a letter with a proposalfor a ceasefire to the lebanese authorities. we have seen some indications from hezbollah the group is interested in reaching a ceasefire here in this conflict, but what hezbollah has been saying and what lebanese authorities have been saying is they will only agree to a deal that is based on the terms of the united nations resolution 1701, which is the resolution that ended the 2006 conflict between israel and hezbollah. it requires hezbollah to remove its fighters from areas near the border with israel. but one sticking point in these talks is that israel wants the right to act inside lebanon should any deal be violated, something that the authorities here consider unacceptable. so this seems to be the first step in what is likely to be a very difficult and long process for a ceasefire.

meanwhile, israel's attorney general has said prime minister benjamin netanyahu should reconsider the position of the country's far—right security minister — alleging that he has politicised the police force for his own ends. in a letter gali baharav—miara said itamar ben—gvir has politicised the police force — and "allegedly influences and intervenes in a blatant, improper, and repeated manner". our correspondentjoe inwood told me more about ben—gvir�*s profile. he leads one of the far right political parties who helped put benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister, in power and have supported his coalition ever since. and as a reward for that, he was given the powerful national security ministry. and, as you say, deeply controversial. and there's been suggestions for a long time that he's been politicising the police, promoting officers

who follow his agenda, people who crack down very hard on anti—government protesters and demoting or removing officers who don't fit in. those have been the suggestions, and those allegations were made very forcefully in this letter a from the attorney general, writing to benjamin netanyahu, she alleged that he has politicised the police force. he's intervened, he's interfered, and that it really risks undermining the sense of impartiality that a police force should have. it's worth pointing out that mr ben—gvir came out in a typicalfashion. he said, that the prime minister should look at getting rid of the attorney general, something that would not be easy to do at all. and he accused the attorney general of attempting to carry out a coup. and so, in terms of israeli politics, you know, we see lots of divisions within the government, lots of criticism of the government while the war in gaza and in lebanon continue. yeah, it is a very, very divided society.

the thing is that benjamin netanyahu has a coalition. he's got the numbers in his coalition to stay in power, and that is because of people like itamar ben—gvir and another far right leader called bezalel smotrich, who's a finance minister. and as long as he has their support, he can stay in power. they can't do anything to get rid of him. and that support really is dependent upon the continuation of the war. those two in particular have essentially said that any sort of compromise, any sort of ceasefire, and they would risk bringing down the government. and that's why many people here say benjamin netanyahu has a vested interest in continuing the war, continuing the conflict in gaza and in lebanon. reporting from jerusalem. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

the uk chancellor rachel reeves says she's �*not satisfied' with the latest figures on the uk's economic growth.

there was a small rise between july and september but it was just 0.1%, lower than many industry analysts were expecting. driving growth in the economy was a key part of labour's election promise, and underpins much of its financial strategy for the next few years. our chief economics correspondent, dharshini david, reports. summer isa summer is a game of two halves, the only part seemed quite quiet, the backend was quite fruitful. footfall was up and we finished the summer is quite strong. fist we finished the summer is quite stronu. �* , , ., ., we finished the summer is quite stron.�* , , ., ., ., strong. at this pizza and pasta chain in manchester, - strong. at this pizza and pasta chain in manchester, they - strong. at this pizza and pasta| chain in manchester, they have enjoyed a taste of improved fortunes. higherwages enjoyed a taste of improved fortunes. higher wages spelt a brighter summerfor many brighter summer for many businesses across the brighter summerfor many businesses across the high street. but here they noticed that appetite to spend may have taken a knock among warnings of

a painful autumn budget ahead. we did see a slight downturn in footfall, and the only thing we can put that down to was it felt like there was a nervousness prior to the budget coming out of what does it mean to me? what does it mean to the general public? it almost felt like people were holding back. it is difficult to know how much of an effect that may have had across the economy. the economy bounced back quite strongly in the first half of the year after the recession of 2023, that bit in red but the recovery tailed off in recent months. look at september and gdp actually contracted amid reports that businesses and consumers were nervous about what the budget might contain. if you take into account population growth, gdp was actually lower by the end of the summer than it was at the

beginning. 0n own visit to didcot, the chancellor wouldn't be drawn on the budget�*s impact but admitted the figures weren't what she hoped for. growth is the number—one mission _ growth is the number—one mission of this government and turn _ mission of this government and turn around the poor performance of the last decade or so — performance of the last decade or so i— performance of the last decade or so. i satisfied with the numbers? of course not. iwant growth — numbers? of course not. iwant growth to— numbers? of course not. iwant growth to be stronger, to come sooner— growth to be stronger, to come sooner and also to be felt by families_ sooner and also to be felt by families right across the country. families right across the country-— families right across the count .�* , ,, country. at this spain spring business in _ country. at this spain spring business in birmingham, - country. at this spain spring | business in birmingham, they are wary of the impact of the forthcoming tax rises intended to fund the plans for growth. we employ people here so that money— we employ people here so that money will_ we employ people here so that money will go _ we employ people here so that money will go straight - we employ people here so that money will go straight to - we employ people here so that money will go straight to the l money will go straight to the government, _ money will go straight to the government, it _ money will go straight to the government, it doesn't - money will go straight to the government, it doesn't helpl money will go straight to the . government, it doesn't help or encourage _ government, it doesn't help or encourage us _ government, it doesn't help or encourage us to _ government, it doesn't help or encourage us to employ- government, it doesn't help or encourage us to employ morel encourage us to employ more people — encourage us to employ more people it _ encourage us to employ more people. it is— encourage us to employ more people. it is a _ encourage us to employ more people. it is a tax _ encourage us to employ more people. it is a tax on - encourage us to employ more. people. it is a tax on employed people. — people. it is a tax on employed people. attacks _ people. it is a tax on employed people, attacks on _ people. it is a tax on employed people, attacks on growth - people, attacks on growth rather _ people, attacks on growth rather than _ people, attacks on growth rather than trying - people, attacks on growth rather than trying to - people, attacks on growth - rather than trying to encourage

growth — his higher taxes are intended to fund better public services and help growth, but it may mean a more patchy output for the businesses and households we rely on to drive prosperity, which could be a challenge to the government's ambitions to get uk growth to shine. more on that on business today in about ten minutes' time. sri lanka's new president has won a landslide victory for his leftist coalition party after he called a snap parliamentary election. anura kumara dissanayake's left—wing national people's power has more than 60% of the votes. the result is a boost for mr dissanayake — who was elected president in september on a promise to combat corruption. earlier our south asia regional editor, anbarasan ethirajan, gave us the latest on the results. we have seen the traditionalist established political parties,

thatis established political parties, that is is the politics that has been ruling this country for 35 years. now you see a new look left—wing political party that only had three seats in the previous parliament. now we are talking about 159 which is are talking about 159 which is a two thirds majority. it is a unprecedented victory coming at a time when the country is going through a severe economic crisis. people chose him because of the crisis and people felt that traditional parties did not handle the economy well and we saw the huge queues outside gas stations where people were short of food and the prices escalated and led to big anti—government uprising in 2022. now, they have given another party a chance to see whether they can improve, implement reforms and continue with policies so they can get more aid from international community. scientists and former political leaders say the un climate talks are �*no longer fit for purpose' and need

urgent overhaul. the latest gathering, cop 29, is taking place now in azerbaijan. the country's role has already been criticised after its president said oil and gas were a �*gift of god'. 0ur climate editor justin rowlatt, who is in baku, explained more about hope hopeful delegates are at this stage in the summit. we are probably at the net here, the bottom of the expectations of this climate conference. it was all was going to be a big challenge, this is about finance, raising huge amounts of money from rich countries to pay poor countries to switch away from dirty technologies, fossil fuels to clean technologies and also to make their country is more resilient. we are talking about one of the breakthroughs, and a great estimate of how much finance, 1.3 trillion, not billion, trillion dollars. at a

time when there is inflation, a post—pandemic economy, many countries are in cost of living crisis. it will be how to raise that cash. the uk did not give anything additional, there has been a huge issue with the host country. there was the comment about oil and gas being a gift from god, what a way to start a climate conference. there was a story that the bbc did revealing footage that appeared to show the chief executive of the cop29 team attempting to discuss oil and gas deals, something the cop 2019 haven't dealt with yet which through that into question. we have had this letter from eminent people, a this letterfrom eminent people, a former this letter from eminent people, a former secretary general of the un, the woman who oversaw the un climate process during the paris conference, the former president of an island. all these really eminent people are

saying that it doesn't work. they published the letter yesterday and then they rolled back a bit today and said we are committed to the multilateral process but they are seeing big changes are needed. cop needs to be smaller, more effective and focused, countries need to be held to account. the host country should be committed to getting rid of fossilfuels which sounds like a good idea when you hear it on the list but when you stop and think what this process is about, it doesn't really work. this process is about drawing all the countries of the world into a discussion about climate change regardless of what their attitude is. we have this big global challenge and we have to get everyone talking about it. the idea to draw the men and persuade them to do more. this is the biggest multilateral process that exists in the world and is reckoned to be quite successful when you look at it there are problems but there is a feeling that despite there is a feeling that despite the fact that the signatories have said they are committed to

the multinational process this is a frying consensus on how these processes should work. {iii these processes should work. of course, we have a new president taking over in the united states who is a climate change sceptic. how much of that is a shadow over this cop29 summit? there definitely is a big orange shadow over this process. donald trump has said he wants to pull out, the appointments we are seeing suggest he is serious. we saw an indication of what that might mean, the argentinian delegation was ordered to leave the conference, we understand they struggle to fly out to the may still be in the country but the president of argentina is saying he is considering pulling out of the process. saying he is considering pulling out of the process. there is a fear that other there is a fear that other countries might follow suit. countries might follow suit. there are big problems for there are big problems for argentina because there is argentina because there is

money associated with being money associated with being part of this, substantial cash, part of this, substantial cash, so there is an incentive, so there is an incentive, gravity pulling you in. but all gravity pulling you in. but all of this makes for an of this makes for an uncomfortable conference at the uncomfortable conference at the moment and that letter has not moment and that letter has not landed well with delegates landed well with delegates here. . ., ., ,, here. . ., ., ,, here. our climate editor. stay with us, you're _ here. our climate editor. stay with us, you're _ here. our climate editor. stay with us, you're watching - here. our climate editor. stay with us, you're watching bbcl with us, you're watching bbc here. our climate editor. stay with us, you're watching - here. our climate editor. stay with us, you're watching bbcl with us, you're watching bbc news. news. breaking into our main news breaking into our main news coverage to bring you breaking coverage to bring you breaking news from bristol crown court. news from bristol crown court. it is this news that for it is this news that for teenagers, a 45—year—old man teenagers, a 45—year—old man have been convicted at bristol have been convicted at bristol crown court of murdering a crown court of murdering a 15—year—old boy and max dixon 15—year—old boy and max dixon who was aged 16. they were who was aged 16. they were attacked in bristol injanuary attacked in bristol injanuary

in a still be in the country but in a case of mistaken identity. the two teenagers died from stab wounds on the 27th of january this year. the two had just left their homes to get some food when a group of teenagersjumped out of some food when a group of teenagers jumped out of a car and they were attacked with knives and machetes. both boys suffered fatal injuries. police at the time said they suffered on survivable injuries. a reminder that for teenagers and a 45—year—old man have been convicted at bristol crown court of murdering mason wrist who was aged 15 and max dixon who was aged 15 and max dixon who was aged 16. they were attacked in january this year. the case went into the fatal stabbing is of the boys in what

appears to be a case

stabbing is of the boys in what appears t( he a case stabbing is of the boys in what appears t( i wish :ase stabbing is of the boys in what appears t( i wish:as hadn't stayed in. i wish he hadn't gone out. stayed in. i wish he hadn't gone out-— stayed in. i wish he hadn't one out. , ., gone out. the boys head off down the — gone out. the boys head off down the street _ gone out. the boys head off down the street but - gone out. the boys head off down the street but within l down the street but within seconds are set upon by a group who got out of a passing car armed with knives, machetes and armed with knives, machetes and a sword. the attack was brutal and all caught by the security cameras on mason's family home. tyre we have cctv of the attack which is horrific. the attack lasted a short period, the injuries were on survivable because of the size and magnitude of the weapons. the boys run for their lives, they must have been absolutely petrified. there is no positive consequence of using that weapon, it is a horrific weapon. in all my years as a police officer, that was horrific. the shocking events were rooted in decades of rivalry between two different

bristol postcodes and triggered an hour earlier by bricks being thrown through the window of this house. in response, for other teenagers were convinced it has been people from the other area and jumped into a car armed to the teeth, intent on revenge. the car was driven by 45—year—old man and the teenagers were 18—year—old riley tolliver and three other boys aged between 15 and 16 who are too young to be named. so much what we do know is they stopped off in mcdonald's after attacking these boys. these boys lost their lives and they went to mcdonald's from early morning breakfast. max and mason had nothing to do with the earlier attack on the house but the group just didn't care. the schoolboys were simply in the wrong place at the wrong

time. they make they should still be here and i think if they had gone out five minutes later or they had gone out five minutes late ., ., ., �* later or earlier it wouldn't have happened. - later or earlier it wouldn't have happened. two - later or earlier it wouldn't have happened. two kids| have happened. two kids innocentjust going out have happened. two kids innocent just going out to get pizza — innocent 'ust going out to get izza. ., ., ., ., pizza. today, more than nine months on. _ pizza. today, more than nine months on, max _ pizza. today, more than nine months on, max and - pizza. today, more than nine months on, max and masonl pizza. today, more than nine i months on, max and mason has met families to have some answers about who was responsible for their deaths. but it is little consolation. there are no winners in this. there are no winners in this. there are no winners in this. there are countless families damaged for life that can ever recover from this. they carl my thoughts are with the families and the children will go to prison for a long time for their actions. prison for a long time for theiractions. i prison for a long time for their actions.— prison for a long time for their actions. i feel guilty as

a sister that _ their actions. i feel guilty as a sister that i _ their actions. i feel guilty as a sister that i should - their actions. i feel guilty as a sister that i should have . a sister that i should have been _ a sister that i should have been there... even