laura blumenfeld, a former - and a better day for all. laura blumenfeld, a former senior. middle east at the us state department, now a senior fellow at the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. always great to have your take. thank you. protests against the war in gaza are ongoing on university campuses across the us. you can see pictures here of protests on campuses in washington dc, texas, wisconsin and new york all continuing on monday. more than 350 people were arrested at campuses across the country over the weekend. and in new york, columbia university officials have reportedly begun suspending students involved in protests after they defied a 2pm deadline to disperse. 0ur north america correspondent nomia iqbal has more. the atmosphere here on campus is pretty calm. people are in an upbeat mood. earlier today, there was this deadline. students were told by the president of the university to voluntarily start moving. and there was an implication, therefore, that police might come in. we did see police outside, but that's not happened. students are

laura blumenfeld _ victory for that. laura blumenfeld and i victory for that. day of the year. temperatures reached 21.5 degrees celsius in greater london at both northolt and also at st james's park. but that figure didn't last very long. it was beaten on saturday. we've got temperatures up to 21.8 degrees celsius at rydell in essex. that now is the highest temperature recorded so far this year. we've got a big drop in temperatures on the way, though, across england and wales. and in some places those temperatures will be dropping by around seven degrees celsius. you will notice the change as cooler air that we have had across scotland and northern ireland works southwards. now over the next few hours we've got a few showers around. they tend to become confined to northern and western areas of scotland. otherwise, the skies are clearing. it's going to be a cold start to sunday morning with temperatures for quite a few places down at around four degrees celsius. might be chilly, but there will be plenty of early morning sunshine, clear, blue, sunny skies in man

i spoke about the ceasefire talks with laura blumenfeld, a former senior advisor on the middle east atrtment, now a senior fellow at the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. welcome to you, laura. very good to have you with us once again. we're starting to get some idea of the potential contours of what this deal might look like. some potential concessions on the israeli side in terms of the number of hostages, then on the hamas side in terms of the length of that ceasefire. it is potential at the moment but what do you make of the shape of that deal? secretary antony blinken has his foot on diplomatic gas — the question is is he in neutral or drive? we've been here before. i'm optimistic today for several reasons. first of all, as your reporter indicated, hamas is being offered a better deal, an improved deal, and they acknowledge that. for the first time in seven—months, israel is softening their position. i'd say the second reason is — hamas, by releasing those two hostage tapes last week of the american hostages that they're holding, they're clearly playing their

lots of moving pieces. - laura bloom and held, thank you very much. —— blumenfeld.ours has rocked a baghdad military base used by the iranian—backed popular mobilisation force. the pmf said in a statement the explosion "caused material losses and injuries". two security sources told reuters it is not known who was responsible. three fighters were wounded, according to a local government official. the us military said they have not conducted activity in iraq. we'll continue to bring you the latest updates as we get them. here in washington, all eyes are on capitol hill as a foreign aid package for ukraine is finally set to make it onto the house floor. lawmakers are expected to vote saturday on that bill, along with several others, including humanitarian assistance for israel and taiwan. republican speaker of the house, mikejohnson, had blocked ukrainian aid for months, and while it still faces resistance from some members of his own party, the bill is expected to pass. congress will be voting in the wake of more deadly attacks on ukrainian civilians. on friday, russ

earlier i spoke to laura blumenfeld, middle east analyst and former senior policy advisor on the states israeli—palestinian negotiating team. she gave me her take on last night's strikes. i would the scales of rough justice are back in balance. the tangibles on both sides from the iranian strike and the israeli counterstrike, tangibles are zero dead and minimum damage but i think what is fascinating other intangibles. who would've thought world war iii would be averted through a compelling storytelling. that is how we are avoiding further escalation. they are saying what strike? and the israelis are making it sound like a scene from the godfather where the man wakes up with the horse head in his bed and he is terrified because he knows the long arm of israeli justice can reach you at any time. we have hardly heard confirmation from either side about what is happening, israel has not confirmed it has carried out a strike, iran seems to be downplaying it, is it designed to de—escalate the situation? it was an immaculate attack with no real engagement and an american official said to me t

joining me now is laura blumenfeld senior fellow, philip merrill centre for strategic studies atjohnskins school for advanced international studies and former state dept senior policy adviser on irseali—palestinian negotiating team. how high do you think the risk is, the israel gaza conflict of now spreading into the region? i think it is a fascinating _ spreading into the region? i think it is a fascinating report _ spreading into the region? i think it is a fascinating report by - spreading into the region? i think it is a fascinating report by her. it is a fascinating report by her diplomatic correspondent, what you are watching our middle east maths and it goes back to an eye for an eye in the bible. what does the calibration of revenge and how much revenge is enough. i think with the united states is saying certainly to israel, if you respond to tehran a's response, make sure it is proportionate. the persons are very precise. i've travelled to the shi'ite centre for learning in iran and i sat down with some ayatollahs and i sat down with some ayatollahs and talk to them about rev