witnesses say the area is like a ring of fire. a uk diplomat has been reportedly expelled by moscow over espionage allegations. four people have been found alive and four bodies were recovered, after a tourist boat that sank off egypt's red sea coast. some are still missing. bill by getting more people into work. the uk government is promising to reduce the benefits bill by getting more people into work. hello, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. three hours of fast—moving the israeli military has launched a wave of simultaneous airstrikes across southern beirut. the idf says it's attacking hezbollah targets in the lebanese capital on a large scale. the strikes came shortly after israel told residents to leave 20 locations

in the city — its biggest evacuation order yet. at least one strike was reported in the centre of beirut. security officials there said there'd been no warning that area would be hit. the bombardment comes just hours before israel's security cabinet discusses a potential ceasefire with hezbollah. let's speak to our middle east correspondent hugo bachega, who is in beirut. just bring us up—to—date with what we know about the areas that have been struck. just after 4pm _ that have been struck. just after 4pm here _ that have been struck. just after 4pm here we - that have been struck. just after 4pm here we have seen this huge wave of attacks by the israeli military, about 45

minutes ago, hitting this area in beirut was not southern suburbs that is essentially controlled by hezbollah. as you said, this happened after evacuation warnings that have been given by the israeli military to 20 buildings in that part of the city. the israeli military confirmed it carried out a wave of air strikes are powerful we could hear the explosions here in central beirut. this does not happen often. that gives you an indication of the scale of the attacks that happened and also we are seeing these dramatic images showing multiple plumes of smoke rising from those locations hit. these attacks happened half an hour after here in central beirut, not far from our position here in the capital. this attack happened with no warning so this is an indication this could have been an attempted assassination.

this has been happening frequently across the country, especially here in beirut where the israeli military wants to target and assassinate senior hezbollah officials. we have not heard reaction from the israeli military but we have seen images from the site of this attack which show that building collapsed. this is a densely populated district here in central beirut and just moments ago the lebanese health ministry said at least three people were killed as a result of this attack. more than 20 others were injured and again another attack targeting central beirut and all of these attacks as you see happening just hours before the israeli security cabinet is expected to meet to discuss the ceasefire deal with hezbollah. figs meet to discuss the ceasefire deal with hezbollah.- meet to discuss the ceasefire deal with hezbollah. as we were discussin: deal with hezbollah. as we were discussing a _ deal with hezbollah. as we were discussing a short _ deal with hezbollah. as we were discussing a short while - deal with hezbollah. as we were discussing a short while ago - deal with hezbollah. as we were discussing a short while ago it i discussing a short while ago it does not seem like a coincidence all of these strikes are happening while that political meeting is taking place. what do you think

the aim is by israel carrying out this huge number of strikes on the same day as the talks? they are trying to destroy infrastructure, linked to hezbollah, just before the ceasefire comes into effect. we have the signs coming from israel, and the reaction from a politician is here in lebanon suggest we are very close to the announcement of a ceasefire. this is a proposal put forward by the americans, the biden administration heavily involved in trying to reach a ceasefire in this conflict that has been devastating for lebanon. to go through the terms of this proposal, this would see a 60 day ceasefire here in the

conflict and during the ceasefire we would see the withdrawal of s ceasefire we would see the withdrawal of 5 really troops from the south of lebanon and the removal of hezbollah fighters and weapons from that part of the country south of the river which is just part of the country south of the river which isjust 30 kilometres from the blue line, the unofficial border between lebanon and israel. i think there has been a lot of focus here on the implementation of this deal. 0ne here on the implementation of this deal. one of the key point here is that there will be international involvement in a monitoring committee to monitor the info mentation of this deal and also from what we're hearing from media reports in israel, there will be an american letter to israel guaranteeing israel the right to attack lebanon if hezbollah is seen to be violating this deal. this is unlikely to be announced today, this is not part of the deal that has been agreed with the lebanese authorities because obviously

this is a very controversial topic here in lebanon because this is seen as a violation of the country's sovereignty. here in lebanon there was a lot of optimism that those negotiations would finally reach a deal for the end negotiations would finally reach a dealfor the end of these hostilities here in the country. on your screens side by side the images of the skyline, smoke continuing to rise in the aftermath of those ten pretty much simultaneous israeli strikes on the suburbs of beirut. and the scene of what's going on in one of those locations, emergency vehicles and you can see a digger operating in the background presumably to try to clear some of the rubble of people using their hands to try to dig

through rubble in some of the locations hit in those strikes by israel which had issued an evacuation warning for 20 locations and then tensile multi may strikes and before that the israeli army said it had struck 30 other targets in southern lebanon. we will keep a close watch and of course looking ahead to any news from a special meeting of israel's security cabinet to decide whether it will approve this ceasefire, a 60 day cessation infighting with hezbollah. let's get more on that ceasefire.

wants to put as much pressure on hezbollah as possible. it wants to, you know, produce this as a scene of victory. and it's not the same as what's happened in gaza. israel really beat all of hamas's military, you know, units, not politically, but all the military. and that's not what's happening in lebanon. israel has beat a lot of hezbollah, but hezbollah is going to remain in control of lebanon. so how does israel present this to the public? it looks very good for israel to be hitting, you know, hezbollah in beirut to have its soldiers at the litani river. all of this is how prime minister benjamin netanyahu would like to present this narrative going forward. and let's dig into a little bit more why the israeli cabinet is looking like it's going to agree this deal now. we're told that benjamin netanyahu has agreed to it in principle. there may be some dissent within the cabinet, but it looks almost like it's a done deal. so why now? yeah, i think there is going to be a deal, and i think it's

going to be soon. again, it could even be today. and why now? because israel has done sort of what it can do, right? nobody in israel, certainly not netanyahu, wants to occupy all of lebanon. the goal of fighting hezbollah from the beginning was basically to clear its radwan special forces out of the southern lebanon area, up to the litani, so that they couldn't invade northern israel the way that hamas invaded southern israel. october 7 2023. to eliminate not all, but most of hezbollah's large rockets. hezbollah still has tens of thousands of small rockets that it can fire on the north. but to eliminate a lot of that, remove hassan nasrallah. he was the chief for over 30 years. people thought in israel that he would not agree to this kind of a ceasefire, which allows israel to continue the war in gaza. so all of those elements have been achieved. if you can't achieve more, then you call it a day, sign a deal and move on. do you think, though, in practice, this sort of buffer zone south of the litani river is going to hold, you know, what do you see

the lebanese military doing? what do you see the role of the international forces being? i'm going to be very frank. the lebanese military is much weaker than hezbollah. unifil, the international forces much weaker than hezbollah. they did try briefly in 2006 that was like the second lebanon war to enforce this idea that hezbollah can't be in southern lebanon. they're not capable of doing that. the difference this time is israel has more leverage. israel has defeated hezbollah much more seriously this time than it did in 2006. and so it has a side letter from the united states saying if hezbollah violates the resolution, you do not need to go to the international committee in certain circumstances. you can bomb them, attack them without going to the committee. the committee will be for if hezbollah is building some sort of tunnel or long—term manufacturing complex. but if you see hezbollah radwan crossing over the litani, i think israel will attack them without asking permission

because it has side permission already from the united states. so we're talking about these discussions around lebanon. meanwhile, give us the update on the discussions around the situation in gaza, much less progress there, clearly. look, there are no negotiations in gaza. there have been no negotiations basically since some time in the summer, certainly since yahya sinwar, the head of hamas, was killed in mid—october. there have been no negotiations. basically, israel hoped that when it killed sinwar, that the remaining hamas members, very few of its original leadership is left. but the remaining leadership would say, you know, they would like to live and they'll be expelled, and israel can do it at once you know, in gaza and establish a new government, whatever, with the palestinian authority or with, you know, the uae, egypt, whatever it is. hamas isn't saying that. and hamas has 50 live hostages, another 50, you know, hostages' bodies. and so israel is going to have to decide either to let those people die or to cut a deal,

which will lead eventually to a withdrawal from gaza. right now, netanyahu has not said he's calling it time. i think he wants to see if this deal will put more pressure on hamas. and maybe also if trump, coming into office in the united states will put more pressure on hamas. let's bring in our security correspond and who joins us live from jerusalem. tell is more about the response to these strikes. mil more about the response to these strikes.— more about the response to these strikes. all eyes are on these strikes. all eyes are on the likelihood _ these strikes. all eyes are on the likelihood of _ these strikes. all eyes are on the likelihood of the - the likelihood of the likelihood above the safety deal being endorsed by the security cabinet, it has not been put in front of the israeli cabinet, only voted on by a fairly narrow band of people headed by netanyahu. there are voices in favour of it mostly, some on the far right are against it, they say

hezbollah are on the back foot and israel should press forward its advantage. the more this war goes on, the less popular israel becomes around the world and the more they have to call up and the more they have to call up reserve lists. i think it will probably pass. the hard part is the implementation of this deal. we're back to where we were at the end 2006 lebanon war where it ended with a security council resolution, a un security resolution which stipulated hezbollah had to stay north of the litani river which runs east—west, approximately 30 kilometres north of the border. hezbollah was able to infiltrate south of that and use southern lebanon which is its basic home to fire rockets into northern israel. israel has made it one of the

strategic war aims to push hezbollah north of that river to make it safe enough for their residents to come back to their residents to come back to their homes in northern israel. i have listened to voices saying in northern israel saying in northern israel saying it's a bad deal. we should not go for it, don't come back to the north, still too dangerous, hezbollah have a lot of rockets. it is a controversial deal. lots of eo - le controversial deal. lots of peeple today _ controversial deal. lots of people today saying - controversial deal. lots of people today saying the l controversial deal. lots of. people today saying the big question, providing this is approved, the 60 day pause is approved, the 60 day pause is approved, how this will be implemented in practical terms, what will the logistics be? i want to get your thoughts on the timing of this huge wave of strikes by israel in beirut at the same time as on the day of these discussions? the darkest hour comes _ these discussions? the darkest hour comes before _ these discussions? the darkest hour comes before dawn. - these discussions? the darkest hour comes before dawn. this | these discussions? the darkestl hour comes before dawn. this is clearly positioning by israel

and particularly israel defense forces as they call themselves, the israeli military. to put so much pressure on hezbollah effectively agreed to the deal. it is between israel, the israeli government and the lebanese government. the lebanese government. the lebanese government. the lebanese government cannot sign up lebanese government cannot sign up to it unless it's acceptable to hezbollah and it largely is. hezbollah see it in their eyes are sunken victory. israel is taking this opportunity on the eve of this deal being probably passed to carry out maximum hits to complete what it sees as its military objectives. that is tougher beirut because you have seen these are big strikes on sunday there were 250 rockets fired across the border from 250 rockets fired across the borderfrom lebanon into border from lebanon into israel. borderfrom lebanon into israel. this the damage is nothing like what the damages on beirut. israel is the most powerful military in the middle

east and it is able to inflict if it wants as we have seen very serious damage on residential areas. they say they should a lot of evacuation orders telling people to get out because they were going to target these areas. when you drop ordnance this big, people nothing to do with the conflict often get killed or maimed. it has happened in lebanon and gaza. ~ ., has happened in lebanon and gaza. . . , has happened in lebanon and gaza. ~ ., , ., gaza. we are focusing on lebanon _ gaza. we are focusing on lebanon and _ gaza. we are focusing on lebanon and beirut, - gaza. we are focusing on lebanon and beirut, if. gaza. we are focusing on | lebanon and beirut, if this deal is agreed, there will continue to be a lot of focus, especially the early days, how is it being implemented, will it also mean the focus turns backin it also mean the focus turns back in a more intense way and what israel is doing in gaza? to some extent yes, and it seems to be, gaza seems to be a more intractable problem. one of the main differences between

these wars is that in gaza the israeli government has vowed to destroy hamas, defeated completely. in lebanon they say i'm sure they would love it if set hezbollah ceased to exist but they know that's not realistic. they don't want to destroy hezbollah, merely push north. where it can fire rockets into northern israel. in gaza, they have got themselves into a quagmire because having devastated large parts of gaza and displaced the majority of the population they are finding areas where they were supposed to have destroyed hamas or defeated them or remove them, they are popping up remove them, they are popping up and every... almost every family i'm sure every family in gaza has been touched in a bad way by this war. you have created a lot of people who would be willing recruits for a hamas to .0. so...—

would be willing recruits for a hamas to .0. so... does a deal in lebanon _ hamas to .0. so... does a deal in lebanon put _ hamas to .0. so... does a deal in lebanon put any _ hamas to .0. so... does a deal in lebanon put any additional i in lebanon put any additional pressure on hamas in gaza? hat pressure on hamas in gaza? not necessarily- — pressure on hamas in gaza? not necessarily- i — pressure on hamas in gaza? iirrt necessarily. i don't think they see it that way, qatar has been the mediators and all of this and they withdrew from mediating a few weeks ago, saying we are going to pull out of this mediating until you, namely hamas israel, agree you have common ground and are prepared to come together. at the moment they are not. this is particularly tragic for the families of the hostages. there are still around 100 hostages dead and alive being held in gaza. that is being used as a bargaining chip by hamas. we were so close to a deal, according to the us secretary of state antony blinken. i remember him coming to the foreign common development office in london saying we are 90% of the way they are, it is

just the last 10%. the deal did not happen. both sides are blaming each otherfor blaming each other for intransigence blaming each otherfor intransigence and again the issue seems to be about what the future status of gaza is going to be. the israeli government has not given a great deal of thought to how gaza will be ruled and governed and maintained. since 2005 — 2006, hamas have been the authority in that part of the middle east. they have been the police and organised whatever services are there largely backed by un agencies like a unrwa. with a mass mac destroyed you see a breakdown in law and order, the looting of convoys. whoever runs hamas is going to have to rebuild all of these administrative services. it is a massive job and you have got terrible humanitarian conditions,

particularly as the weather has turned, it is no longer bright and sunny in the middle east, it is cold and rainy and windy. the conditions are very tough there the people who have been displaced. there the people who have been dislaced. ., ~ there the people who have been dislaced. . ~ i. ~ there the people who have been dislaced. ., ~ ,, . ., displaced. thank you. we are kee - in: displaced. thank you. we are keeping a _ displaced. thank you. we are keeping a close _ displaced. thank you. we are keeping a close eye - displaced. thank you. we are keeping a close eye on - displaced. thank you. we are keeping a close eye on the i keeping a close eye on the situation in beirut and we are told that meeting of ezra's security cabinet should get under way in roughly one hour's time. as a pro you to that happening we have seen this big wave of strikes in the suburbs of beirut today. the biggest wave of strikes by israel on beirut. he remained about the life news website and you can get constant updates on the bbc news website. as well as the other main stories. around the world and across

the uk, this is bbc news.

russian media is reporting that moscow has expelled a british diplomat on grounds of espionage and acts of sabotage. the interfax news agency quotes the fsb security service as saying the diplomat replaced one of six other uk diplomats who were expelled in august, also for alleged spying. moscow has also reportedly summoned the british ambassador. there's been no word from london. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg explained why moscow has chosen to escalate tensions between it and the uk. so, from the statement that the fsb, russia's domestic security service, put out today, they claim that a british diplomat, the second secretary of the political department of the british embassy in moscow, has been expelled, claiming that he provided false information for his entry to russia and claiming that he was involved

in espionage. the british ambassador has been summoned to the russian foreign ministry. now this in itself is no huge surprise. i mean, relations between russia and the west have been going from bad to worse to even worse over the last few years, certainly over the last few months, and expulsions have happened. i remember earlier this year, i think it was in august that six russian, six british diplomats were expelled from moscow. so it's one more sign of the poor relationship, putting it lightly, between moscow and london. and, steve, do you think this is in direct retaliation the fact that britain removed restrictions on the use of these longer range weapons, the storm shadow missiles, so that ukraine could then fire these missiles at russian soil. that made the russians extremely angry. if we remember last week,

vladimir putin's response when he gave that national address, that tv address, he was furious about that and about the american atacms missiles being fired at russian territory. so a few days later, what do we see? we see a british diplomat being expelled. as i say, there's no official link made between the two things in the official russian statements, but i think it's a reflection of the general deterioration, to put it lightly, in uk russian relations. breaking news from egypt and the search for survivors from the tourist boat which capsized in the red sea early on monday morning. in the last few hours, four people have been found alive. two of them are belgian nationals, one is an egyptian, and the most recent to be rescued is swiss. however, the egyptian authorities say that they have also recovered four dead bodies. that means that eight people who were on board the ship are still unaccounted for, including two britons.

the boat, the sea story, had set off on a five—day diving tourfrom port herlib in egypt. it's understood there were 44 people on board, made up of 31 tourists and 1a egyptian crew members. the number of survivors is now 32. the world's oldest man has died at the age of 112. john tinniswood was born in liverpool on august 26 1912 and became the world's oldest living man in april. he died on monday at his care home in southport, merseyside, "surrounded by music and love", his family said in a statement. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. the weather's been behaving itself today, at least for most of us. quite pleasant out there with clear weather. just a few showers here and there. but on the satellite picture, another lump of cloud is heading our way. this is a developing area of low pressure,

and it will be responsible for a period of heavy rain tonight across southern parts of the uk, and the winds could become quite gusty in one or two areas as well. but this is what the rush hour looks like. largely clear, with just a few showers across the bulk of the uk, but that weather front rearing its head there in the southwest, initially quite heavy in southwestern england, southern parts of wales too. and then that rain will spread further towards the east through the course of the night and the showers becoming very heavy along that southern coast. so a relatively mild night here with the rain and the increasing winds to the north, a touch of frost around northern ireland, the lake district and also scotland. so here's that area of low pressure over us tomorrow, with the cloud and the rain curling into the centre of the low. so it's actually coming back again into parts of lincolnshire, the midlands. the peak district could even be a little bit of wintriness across the hills, but around coastal areas as that low pressure pulls away, winds up to near gale force for norfolk, suffolk and also around the essex and kent coast. i think the risk of very strong winds, which was there yesterday, has actually diminished for most of us. on wednesday the weather's looking pretty decent but chilly. look at that. clear skies for belfast

and five degrees about that for newcastle and also liverpool. now on thursday we've got an area of high pressure over us early in the morning. this is what's cold a transient high so it doesn't stick around for very long. it's between two areas of low pressure. and when we have this area of high pressure over us this transient high, we get we get light winds, a frost in the morning, a bit of fog here and there. so i think a calm start to the day for many of us on thursday with some sunshine. if you haven't got the fog but out towards the west, weather fronts are looming, making only very slow progress across ireland during the course of the day on thursday. and for many of us, it's actually quite a chilly day on thursday, only around four, maybe five degrees. now the outlook suggests cloud with some rain at times the further north you are, whereas further south i think high pressure will generally be the main influence with dry weather. now, the outlook suggests cloud

with some rain at times the further north you are, whereas further south i think high pressure will generally be the main influence with dry weather.

are barely changed as investors assess donal trump's latest tariff proposals. an extra 10% tax on chinese goods and tariffs on mexico and canada — the president—elect ramps up the pressure on america's three biggest trading partners. it's a crucial week for the retail sector, but can heavy discounts be enough to persuade reluctant consumers? one major us retailer has just cut its annual sales forecast on weakening demand. welcome to business today, live from new york, i'm michelle fleury. president—elect donald trump has pledged huge tariffs with three of america's big trading partners. trump said immediately after his inauguration on the 20th of january, he will sign an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all goods coming from mexico and canada. he added the tariffs will remain in place until the two countries clamp

down on drugs and migrants illegally crossing the border.