after israeli forces took control of the gaza side of the border with egypt. hamas has warned that the israeli incursion there aims to undermine efforts to secure a ceasefire. on monday night, hamas announced it had accepted proposals drawn up by international mediators, but the deal was rejected by israel as inadequate. paul adams reports from jerusalem. a deal may now be tantalizingly close. but in rafah, israel's military pressure is relentless. today, severing gaza's last link with the outside world, the crossing point into egypt. and raising theirflag, sending an unmistakable message to hamas. the noose is tightening. the sounds of approaching war echo among the displaced.

hundreds of thousands of palestinians living in the sand against the egyptian border. or next to the sea. "i don't know where to stay," ahmed says. "people are fleeing from rafah "and i have my children with me." gazans have been on the move since yesterday morning, heeding israel's latest warnings, not knowing if the coming days will bring relief or despair. translation: after what we've witnessed, they've said - multiple times that there will be a ceasefire. but we're frustrated and we have no hope. there's no big hope. only a small one. for aid agencies already struggling to cope, the prospect of a full—scale israeli operation in rafah is alarming. as the operation will progress, we will lose progressively more

areas to the fighting. and i'm afraid that this will also affect our warehouses, health facilities, hospitals. and there are very, very few sites where we have the ability to give medical support. for the families of israeli hostages, these are also moments of acute anxiety. john and rachel's son, hirsch, was abducted and badly injured on 7 october. no sign of life until this hamas video two weeks ago. his parents nowjust daring to hope. when we heard the news that maybe there's a deal, we were cautiously optimistic and we remain cautiously optimistic. it's scary to have - military actions going on. they're innocent civilians, including our son. - we just, we just i

need this to come to an end and we need the mediators- on all sides and the two main parties tojust sit in the room and hammer this out and don't come - out of the room without a deal. away from the quiet dignity of the hostage families, friends and supporters are determined to make as much noise as possible, demanding the government do more to rescue hirsch and all the others. these israelis protesting in the heart ofjerusalem tonight feel that a deal to end this terrible war has never been closer. and so, as they protest close to the prime minister's official residence, their demands are becoming more and more urgent. israel's defence minister says the rafah operation won't stop until hamas is eliminated, or the hostages start to return. talks are continuing, a successful outcome still far from guaranteed.

israel's closure of two crossings in southern gaza is alarmingly humanitarian community. for more, i spoke to save the children's rachael cummings who's just left rafah and is now in the central gaza town of deir al balah. the situation is unbelievable. it's extraordinary what's happening to people in rougher remembering they've been displaced already many times. yesterday evacuation orders were issued by the israelis to the population in rafah enforcing the movement of children and their families and last night the bombardments in rafah were extraordinary. something we haven't experienced before, the intensity and proximity of the bombs dropping. we could hear the firing from the tanks as they came into rafah. this

morning we activated our relocation plan. we had planned for this scenario as save the children to ensure some degree of safety for our 58 palestinian colleagues and i2 palestinian colleagues and 12 international staff to allow us to continue operations in deir al balah but population has displaced and wherever possible to continue programme operations for the people in rafah but of course that is extraordinarily difficult and extremely dangerous for all people in rafah. figs extremely dangerous for all people in rafah.— people in rafah. as aid workers. _ people in rafah. as aid workers, you _ people in rafah. as aid workers, you had - people in rafah. as aid workers, you had a - people in rafah. as aid i workers, you had a plan, people in rafah. as aid - workers, you had a plan, a way to get your local staff out. but what is the situation like for those who don't have that option he remained behind in rafah now?— rafah now? exactly. the situation _ rafah now? exactly. the situation is _ rafah now? exactly. the situation is desperate i rafah now? exactly. the. situation is desperate and rafah now? exactly. the - situation is desperate and our own staff have remained, there is little space of people and some people just cannot leave rafah because they are elderly,

they have children with disabilities, and they are unable to pick up and move. it is very, very challenging and this morning we saw trucks, donkeys, people carrying what they could on the road, trying to move out of the zones that are being issued with the evacuation orders, but again, there is no safe place for people to move in gaza so these choices that people are facing are impossible.— are impossible. israel says it has a humanitarian - are impossible. israel says it has a humanitarian zone - are impossible. israel says it has a humanitarian zone in i are impossible. israel says it i has a humanitarian zone in the area where you are. did you see that, what does it look like? no, i have not seen that and again there is nowhere safe in gaza after children and their families. but people being displaced into deir al balah and al mawasi and khan younis, these areas are not adequately supplied to support people in terms of essential life—saving services likely and water,

adequate sanitation, food and healthcare services. and of course only learning and education services for children, we drove through open sewers in deir al balah with children with no shoes walking through the streets. women carrying things on their backs. with no adequate protection. there is no humanity in gaza are currently. it is a desperate situation. save the children's rachael cummings. here in washington tuesday, us presidentjoe biden warned against the increasing threat of anti—semitism in a speech honouring the six millionjews killed by nazi germany. in an event at the capitol hosted by the us holocaust memorial museum, mr biden said the hatred ofjews continued to lie deep in the hearts of too many people around the world. he condemned anti—semitic elements of pro—palestinian protests on us college campuses, and spoke about the nearly 1,200 people killed and 250 taken hostage

by hamas on 7 october — among them, descendents of holocaust survivors. now here we are. not 75 years later, butjust 7.5 months later. people are already forgetting. already forgetting. that hamas unleashed this terror. it was hamas that brutalised israelis. it was hamas that took and continues to hold hostages. i have not forgotten, nor have you. and we will not forget.— 132 of those kidnapped on 7 october are still missing. they remain at the heart of the negotiations between israel and hamas. let's bring in dani gilbert, an academic at northwestern university specialising in hostage diplomacy.

thanks forjoining us. looking at how the details of this deal is being reported, israel wants 33 hostages in the first stage of the deal and hamas wants to release them in stages, three on the third day, 37 days later and so on. how serious a sticking point are those sorts of considerations when it comes to hostage release talks? the? to hostage release talks? they are fairly significant. _ to hostage release talks? they are fairly significant. both - are fairly significant. both sides at this moment understand that they are in a conversation about some sort of ceasefire, some sort of hostage release and some sort of prisoner release as well. the details of how that happens become major sticking points between the two sides. at the moment reporting suggests that there are three major sticking points between the two sides, the intermediaries are trying to work through, and that's how permanent a ceasefire will actually be, how many hostages

will be released, and when, also many of the hostages are actually no longer living. it is about releasing hostages' remains which came as a surprise to the israeli government. as well as the israeli government's ability to decide which palestinian prisoners they will be able to release from israeli presence in exchange for the hostages coming home. 50 in exchange for the hostages coming home.— in exchange for the hostages cominu home. , ., ., coming home. so prolonging the release of hostages _ coming home. so prolonging the release of hostages in _ coming home. so prolonging the release of hostages in many - release of hostages in many ways gives hamas the other hand,is ways gives hamas the other hand, is that what you are saying? hand, is that what you are sa in: ? , hand, is that what you are sa inc? , ., hand, is that what you are sa in? , ., saying? yes, so in a way both sides have — saying? yes, so in a way both sides have different _ saying? yes, so in a way both sides have different sorts - saying? yes, so in a way both sides have different sorts of l sides have different sorts of leveraged that they are looking at and they think about making this deal. for hamas then average comes with continuing to hold onto hostages and say that they will only release a few of them once a week as a ceasefire extends. whereas israel continues to threaten the invasion of rafah with 1.5 million palestinians still

living there, and under horrible, horrible conditions as we just heard. so both sides want to hold onto that leveraged as much as possible to make sure that they are not taken advantage of with the agreement of a deal.- taken advantage of with the agreement of a deal. there is been much — agreement of a deal. there is been much domestic- agreement of a deal. there is been much domestic criticism and israel of prime mr netanyahu who says that getting hostages back are a priority of his but the families would say it has taken such a long time. are his actions matching the sentiment of that agency that he talks about?— sentiment of that agency that he talks about? that's a great auestion he talks about? that's a great question and _ he talks about? that's a great question and i _ he talks about? that's a great question and i think _ he talks about? that's a great question and i think that's - he talks about? that's a great question and i think that's a i question and i think that's a very fair criticism. from where i stand it's been very clear that throughout the past seven months prime minister netanyahu has said that there are two main aims of this war and the first one is about eliminating hamas and the second one was about bringing hostages home. it is very clear from research, from past cases, that the best way to bring hostages home is to make concessions, and it is

in the power of the israeli government to make concessions to bring those hostages home. so if i were representing both families in israel, i would be livid as well. fix, families in israel, i would be livid as well.— livid as well. a final line, briefly. _ livid as well. a final line, briefly, those _ livid as well. a final line, briefly, those individualsj livid as well. a final line, - briefly, those individuals have been held against their will for seven months now in very poor conditions. how critical it is time at this point for them? , ., ., ~ , it is time at this point for them? ., .,~ , ., , them? hostagetaking is largely about time- _ them? hostagetaking is largely about time. we _ them? hostagetaking is largely about time. we know _ them? hostagetaking is largely about time. we know that - them? hostagetaking is largely| about time. we know that many of the hostages are having a very difficult time in captivity and are still uncertain. we don't even know how many of the hostages are still alive. how many of the hostages are stillalive. reports how many of the hostages are still alive. reports are coming out every day about the hostages that are injured, that are seriously ill, and the israeli government is rightly worried that if they allow for a continued delay of the hostage release, that many of those hostages might not make it. dani gilbert, an academic at northwestern university specialising in hostage diplomacy.

thanks forjoining us on bbc news. thanks for “oining us on bbc news. ., around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. there have been reports of long delays at airports in the uk due to an outage affecting passport e—gates at the border. a spokesperson for heathrow airport said they were aware of an issue with uk border systems across the country. manchester airport also confirmed they had been affected. john swinney will become scotland's seventh first minister after being nominated by parliament. the snp leader succeeds humza yousaf, who resigned from office earlier today. his appointment will be rubber—stamped by the king before he is officially sworn in at the court of session on wednesday. mr swinney was backed by 64 msps, guaranteeing him the required majority. and rail passengers face more travel chaos on wednesday because of continuing strikes by train drivers in a long—running pay dispute. members of aslef will walk out at services running across england and into wales and scotland. services will be crippled for the day, with stations closed and few trains running.

those that do run will start later and finish earlier than usual. the dispute is now the longest ever in the rail industry. you're live with bbc news. stormy daniels — the adult film star at the centre of donald trump's criminal hush money trial — has taken the stand to testify against the former us president in a new york courtroom. in her testimony, ms daniels discussed the $130,000 payment mr trump's lawyer michael cohen made to her. prosecutors say that payment, made just before the 2016 election, was used to conceal a 2006 sexual encounter between miss daniels and the former president. mr trump, the first us president to be put on criminal trial, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up that hush money payment. he denies those allegations and denies having any sexual encounter with ms daniels. mr trump's defence argued that some of the details ms daniels discussed were irrelevant

to the case, and asked for a mistrial, which thejudge ruled against. mr trump says the trial has hampered his 2024 presidential campaign. it isa it is a disgrace. in the meantime i am stuck. i am here, is that of being in georgia, instead of being in new hampshire, instead of being in wisconsin, and all the different states that we wanted to be in. we are not able to be there because we are stuck in this trial which everyone knows there's a hoax. thank you very much. live now to shayna jacobs, federal courts and law enforcement reporter for the washington post who is in new york covering this trial. thanks for being with us on bbc news. how would you characterise today's proceedings? is it the most dramatic data date? it is fair to sa it dramatic data date? it is fair to say it has _ dramatic data date? it is fair to say it has been _ dramatic data date? it is fair to say it has been the - dramatic data date? it is fair to say it has been the mostl to say it has been the most dramatic day. the testimony was certainly the most dramatic. this is sort of the core of the

prosecution's case against donald trump because it speaks to the underlying allegations, the affair that he was allegedly trying to cover up by falsifying records that were capped at his company, his personal company, and records that were compiled in 2016 as he was running for his first term. so while much of this information has been out there and while much of what stormy daniels has had to say has been publicly known, this is also helping the da build the structure of its case against trump. structure of its case against trum. ,, ., , structure of its case against trum. ,,., , , ., trump. stormy daniels took to the stand and _ trump. stormy daniels took to the stand and gave _ trump. stormy daniels took to the stand and gave plenty - trump. stormy daniels took to the stand and gave plenty of l the stand and gave plenty of details, graphic details at times, and as you say much of it within the public domain already, but what information did we learn today? it already, but what information did we learn today?— did we learn today? it was all new to the — did we learn today? it was all new to the jury _ did we learn today? it was all new to the jury which - did we learn today? it was all new to the jury which i - did we learn today? it was all new to the jury which i think | new to the jury which i think is the key point here. the jury

heard in relatively specific detail how the sexual encounter between the two of them transpired and what her reaction was to that encounter. she sort of described herself without saying she was a sexual assault victim, she used language that is frequently used by sexual assault accusers. so it sort of merited testimony that you would see in that kind of case, but she was unequivocal that she did not and she was the victim, and that said, her testimony really does set up the broader scheme against donald trump by showing thejury against donald trump by showing the jury that something transpired, that the president would find it damaging to his campaign in 2016. to the extent that thejury finds campaign in 2016. to the extent that the jury finds her credible for that, for her

story about the encounter, they may see this as proof that donald trump had something he wanted to cover up and would have tried to cover up. donald trump at _ have tried to cover up. donald trump at times _ have tried to cover up. donald trump at times appeared - have tried to cover up. donald trump at times appeared to l have tried to cover up. donald | trump at times appeared to be quite unhappy with the evidence she was giving. his legal team objected multiple times and the judge in fact objected as well on their behalf are not happy at times with donald trump's commentary. tell us about those interactions. commentary. tell us about those internctions-_ interactions. right, they did ob'ect interactions. right, they did object throughout _ interactions. right, they did object throughout the - interactions. right, they did object throughout the da's i object throughout the da's testimony and like i was just saying, it was extensive, the detail about what happened and the detail about what she was feeling at the time and what her reaction was. she described that her hands were so shaky that her hands were so shaky that she couldn't get dressed or she was having trouble getting dressed. so she is creating this scenario that paints the former president as

a sexual abuser, so while she is saying it is conceptual, she is saying it is conceptual, she is paid him as an abuser and according to his team that is just too prejudicial, for her to be able to say these things and say it that way she set out, she is creating this appearance that she was assaulted, when that is not in fact what happened, and that's not what she is even alleging underneath it all, so the defence has said the prosecution went way too far and they were allowed to go way too far. there was a limiting instruction earlier before she even took the stand wherejudge juan merchan had said to the prosecution you can let her discuss, she can tell us about the event but she can't get into specific detail. and what the defence said this afternoon was this was totally in violation of your own order, so

therefore we need a mistrial and judgejuan merchan are and judge juan merchan are decided and judgejuan merchan are decided one was not a salary. stormy daniels will continue her evidence at that trial on thursday. shayna jacobs, federal courts and law enforcement reporter for the washington post. thanks forjoining us. thank thanks for “oining us. thank ou. separetely, donald trump's trial in florida — where he's accused of mishandling classified documents — has been indefinitely postponed. us districtjudge aileen cannon, who was appointed by the former president, said that setting a trial date before resolving questions over evidence would be "imprudent". mr trump is accused of keeping top—secret documents after leaving office. the trial — initially set for 20 may — is now unlikely to begin before the presidential election on 5 november. new details emerged on tuesday about an american soldier who was arrested in russia last week while travelling to the country's far east. the us army said staff sergeant gordon black did not receive military clearance for his trip to the far east from a us garrison in south korea. it added that he's being held in pre—trial detention on theft charges.

russia's interior ministry said a woman whom mr black had planned to visit in russia, accused the american of stealing money. the white house on tuesday repeated its guidance of urging all americans to leave russia immediately. chinese president xijinping has arrived in serbia — the second stop on his tour of europe. the leader's first trip to the continent in five yea rs. he was greeted by the serbian president aleksandar vucic. the two will hold meetings on wednesday in belgrade, which has rolled out the red carpet, with the capital city's streets decorated with chinese flags. serbia is expected to offer a warmer welcome than xi's first stop, france, where president emmanuel macron pressed beijing not to support russia's war efforts and to resolve international trade disputes. china has invested heavily in serbia. and it's also where, 25 years ago, its embassy was bombed by nato forces. our correspondent, guy de launey, explains. this is the brand—new china

cultural centre in belgrade, that in 1999 was the site of china's embassy in serbia's capital, and 25 years ago to the day it was hit by a nato air strike. there is a memorial over there to the three people who were killed. nato has always insisted that targeting the embassy was accidental, but ahead of his visit president xi jinping has made it clear that feelings are still running high over the incident. he wrote an editorial for a serbian newspaper in which he said that "we will never forget, chinese people cherish peace we will never allow such "a thing to happen ever again." now that's the kind of rhetoric which goes down very well in serbia where the majority of people, the vast majority, are strongly opposed to nato membership. there are other reasons for people in serbia to feel good about president

xijinping's arrival. china has been an increasingly active investor in serbia in recent years, involved in everything from infrastructure like roads and railways, through to domestic appliances like the hisense factory. it is an opportunity for serbia to say in brussels, with the eu accession process that is taking a terminally long time, "look, we have other options, you know." south african emergency services are racing to rescue dozens of construction workers who are still trapped after an apartment building collapsed on monday. at least seven people are known to have died at the site in the coastal city of george. the cause of the collapse, which happened while the five—storey building was under construction, is being investigated. our correspondent shingai nyoka has more. it's now more than 2a hours since the five story apartment building which was a construction site collapsed on itself, trapping dozens of construction workers beneath the rubble. authorities say

that 75 people were on site when the building collapsed on monday afternoon. the majority of them are yet to be found. emergency services are working around the clock. heavy machinery has been brought in. cranes, excavators, to lift some of the blocks, the fortified concrete that is trapping many of the people beneath the debris. the local authority say that they have beenin authority say that they have been in contact with some of those that are still trapped underneath the rubble with mobile phones and so they are hopeful that as this search—and—rescue operation sea rch—and—rescue operation continues, that search—and—rescue operation continues, that they will find more people alive. while the families and the people here are really focused on trying to do that, the local authorities are concerned. they won't understand exactly what happened. a building collapsing is very rare in south africa in the country's president cyril ramaphosa said the investigation must not only

bring closure to the families but also ensure that a disaster like this never happens again. that's it for the moment. check out more news at bbc.com/news. thanks for watching. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. the weather has been gradually drying up over the past 2a hours or so, and we've got some more dry, settled weather on the cards through much of the week ahead, really. high pressure is going to be in charge over the next few days. but for the rest of the week, we will at times see weather fronts just trying to topple across the north of that high pressure. could bring a little bit of rain at times across parts of scotland in particular, perhaps the north of northern ireland. but it'll be warming up here. mostly dry elsewhere, though, with some spells of sunshine on the cards. so we are in for a relatively quiet few days of weather. we're likely to start wednesday morning with quite a bit of mist and fog around,

especially so for parts of eastern england, also perhaps wales and the southwest of england. could be some misty patches elsewhere. for most, they'll tend to lift and clear, so it'll brighten up. some sunny spells, particularly for england and wales. just the odd isolated shower. more rain moving into the north west of scotland later on in the afternoon. so temperatures in the north—west, under the cloud, about 13 there for stornoway, but up to around about 21 for the likes of birmingham and london too. so there's that wet weather through wednesday evening. northern ireland, northern and western scotland seeing some outbreaks of rain. furthersouth, most places staying dry, but there should be some mist and some fog that's going to be forming again into the early hours of thursday morning, but certainly mild — many places staying in double figures overnight. so more of the same on thursday, high pressure still in charge. so a lot of dry weather, mist clearing away gradually. lots of sunshine, i think, for england and wales by this stage. there just could be the odd isolated shower. again, a little bit more cloud across the north of scotland. temperatures in lerwick only around 11 degrees, but for the bulk of the uk, we're looking at around about 18 to 22 degrees. and that warming trend will continue as we head into friday, too.

so, high pressure still very much in charge. i think by friday, we'll have less in the way of rain and cloud across the north of scotland, and quite widely across the uk. in those spells of sunshine, temperatures will be above 20 degrees. we could see 23 or even 2a down towards the southeast. again, a little bit cooler, especially across the north of scotland and the northern isles in particular. now, heading into the weekend, it looks like high pressure will be sitting out towards the east there. this weather front will just try and nudge in from the west by the time we get to sunday. but saturday, certainly looking dry, fine, pretty warm for all of us. just that chance of a few showers moving into the west as we head through sunday. bye for now.

tiktok swipes back — the social media giant files a lawsuit to stop a ban in the united states. hello and a warm welcome to the first day of our new show, business today. i'm steve lai, coming to you live from singapore, where it would probably be descibed where it would probably be described as "same—same but different." and no better way to get you familiar them to get on with the start

without top story. dec says it has billions of dollars more than it needs to cover what customers are lost during its collapse. —— ftx. we go to our business reporter. what can you tell us?- go to our business reporter. what can you tell us? when ftx colla sed what can you tell us? when ftx collapsed in _ what can you tell us? when ftx collapsed in november- what can you tell us? when ftx collapsed in november 2022 - collapsed in november 2022 around 2 million customers were left with no access to their funding and also they continue to lose interest on the money they had on the exchange because it stopped trading. now, ftx has filed for bankruptcy and its founder has been convicted of fraud but during those bankruptcy proceedings it has been found that the crypto exchange actually has more access than previously thought. it is in the process of selling off a

lot of his