suspended if a deal emerges to free the hostages still held by hamas. the statement was made as hamas released a video of two hostages. us police in riot gear clash with students staging sit—ins at university campuses. it's the latest escalation in a wave of pro—palestinian protests around the country. the tesla boss elon musk lands in china where he's expected to meet chinese officials to talk about electric vehicles. tesla's facing stiff international competition from chinese rivals. and a gold pocket watch worn by the wealthiest passenger on the titanic becomes the shipwreck�*s most expensive item ever bought at auction. the timepiece sold for more than £1 million.

let's go back to that defection from the conservative party to the labour party by a conservative mp. dr dan poulter, who works part—time in the nhs, has been welcomed by his new leader, sir keir starmer, who said the former minister would help his party get the health service "back on its feet". well, mr poulter has been speaking about why he's done this on the laura kuennsberg programme. let's listen to the interview. well, i'd been thinking about it for a little while and it was alongside my work as an mp. i work — still work — as an nhs doctor and have done. the health service that i saw under huge strain is very different to the health service of maybe a decade ago, and the struggles and the challenges that patients have been experiencing in accessing timely good care were something that really resonated with me and stayed with me, and ifound it increasingly

difficult to look my nhs colleagues in the eye, my patients in the eye, and my constituents in the eye with good conscience. and i feel that the nhs deserves better than it has at the moment in terms of how its run and governed. but you pin that on, then, the government's handling of the health service. because of course the nhs has had lots of problems for a long time, its run by managers in all sorts of places, but you pin that on the conservatives�* handling of it. i think it comes from that. i think it comes from values, as well. very clearly, it's been the case in the last... ..eight, ten years or so, the nhs is not a priority to the conservative party and to the government, and if we want to do better for patients, we want to restore that service to where it was before, then i believe that we need to look to a party that has a track record when it was in government before under tony blair and gordon brown, that has a track record of delivering for patients, transforming services, getting on top of waiting lists, investing in community health care. and that's what keir starmer and the labour party i know will do, and they will be trusted, i'm sure, to do it by nhs staff, as well.

but when you have — as a conservative, you've previously said that labour had been profligate and inefficient at how it ran the nhs. you've attacked labour's record of running the nhs in wales. i mean, i think...certainly the nhs in all parts of the country — be it in scotland or wales or england — is under... ..is under pressure. but the service that i saw during those night shifts was unrecognisable from the service that i worked in routinely before i became an mp. frankly, patients deserve better. it shouldn't be the case that people — a third of patients are waiting more than 60 days for urgent cancer care. that shouldn't be the case in a civilised health system. how would you describe the broader change in the conservative party? we now have a tory party that resembles sometimes a little bit more a nationalist, national party rather than a party of the centre right. and i feel that, actually, the changes that the labour party

has made since 2019 under keir starmer — notjust on the health service but particularly on that offer on health, about tackling the determinants of poor health and housing, poverty and all those issues — are the sort of things that are really going to make a big difference. and i think that's why i believe that... why i've made the change i have and why i believe it will make a difference to the patients i look after. since 2010, though, constituents in your suffolk home have chosen you, sent you to westminster as a conservative. some of them might be angry that you have left the party that they chose. what do you say to them? well, i had two things i could have done. i could have carried on to the election and then stood down. or i could... i could have decided to potentially have — there could be a by—election and call a by—election. but we're at the point where there might be a general election called at any moment. and i think rishi sunak should call a general election tomorrow, or as soon as possible and let

the public choose, you know, and make a choice about who should be in government. and i thought about it and i thought, well, what's the best thing or the right thing to do? on balance, i thought — because there will be an election very, very soon — it didn't make sense to have a by—election. i thought, on balance, it was better to continue to work diligently for my constituents through until the end of this parliament — be that in a few weeks or potentially a few months. 0k. dan, thank you so much indeed for speaking to us today. thank you. staying with politics. scotland's first minister, humza yousaf, is facing a no confidence vote this week after ending a power—sharing deal with the scottish greens. mr yousaf has reached out to opposition leaders to find common ground. but a source close to him says the first minister would not agree to an electoral pact with the scottish nationalist and pro—independence alba party. 0ur scotland editor james cook reports.

wow, what a view! these are difficult days for humza yousaf, facing an uncertain outlook as he tries to shore up support for his minority government. that's because he decided to end a power—sharing deal with the scottish greens. it is in the best interest of the people of scotland to pursue a different arrangement. therefore, the scottish greens msps have decided that we will support a vote of no confidence in the first ministen _ the greens are still furious and insist they will not back mr yousaf in a confidence vote in the coming days. nonetheless, the snp leader has written to all the opposition leaders at holyrood, arguing people want to see political parties work together and inviting them to discuss their concerns and priorities. ash regan of the alba party could be the kingmaker, her support alone might be enough for mr yousaf to survive. alba party's leader, alex salmond, told the sunday times mr yousaf might win her over by striking an electoral pact in which snp

candidates stood aside in favour of alba in some seats in future elections. but a source close to mr yousaf called the idea "a fantasy and ridiculous". the main opposition say the first minister has run out of road. i think it's an act of desperation on the part of the current first minister. we've had plenty of opportunities to co—operate over the years, but to be frank with you, what i'm looking at is a very chaotic government that's frankly incompetent and embarrassing to the people of scotland. well, humza yousaf is one of the most divisive and incompetent first ministers scotland has ever seen, and it shows how desperate he is that he is humiliatingly having to write to his political opponents in order to save his political skin. it's quite clear that both scottish conservatives and the scottish people do need a letter from humza yousaf and that is his letter of resignation. even so, the snp leader still hopes to hold talks with his opponents

as he struggles to secure enough support to keep hisjob. james cook, bbc news. there have been suggestions that hamza yousaf could keep his government together by striking a deal with ash regan who defected from the snp to the alba party. here's what alex salmond,the leader of the alba party had to say about that. ash regan, who leads alber in the scottish alba in the scottish parliament, is in a highly influential position given the political arithmetic. she will be meeting with humza yousaf at his invitation, she will take with her some very reasonable positive proposals in which hopefully if the first minister accepts that will help him to get out of a very tight political corner. ian blackford, the former snp leader this morning, has told us pretty clearly it's not going to happen, there can't be a deal with your party. no, i think what the rejection

was was something about an electoral pact but given i never made the proposal in the first place, that was an overwrite on a sunday newspaper. we are not particularly bothered about that. what ash regan will be taking is measures how we can reemphasise independence as the priority of the scottish government. that's what both alba and the snp should be interested in. how we can move away from the identity agenda that's taken up so much bandwidth of the scottish government and also how you can return to what we call the people's agenda of education, health, housing and jobs and industry and ash regan has some proposals on how to do that, so these are very reasonable proposals and let's hope that humza yousaf gives it a receptive hearing. there are calls for more drug and alcohol support to be offered to people from black, asian and minority ethnic communities following concerns from charities that these groups are often underrepresented in treatment. anna crossley has been speaking to kim, a south asian woman who was addicted to heroin for 16

years and is now in recovery. i'm quite nervous. my stomach is churning. i feel quite sick, really, because this is where my addiction started. i had come away from a really unhappy, horrible marriage, and i thought i was going to start a new life here, but ended up spiralling into addiction. i didn't know. i didn't know that i was addicted to drugs. this is the first time you've been back here? it is, yeah. i think it was about time somebody spoke out. i don't know if i'm going to be appreciated for it or if it is going to go down well, but i felt after all these years it needed to be out in the open that

there's addictions that go on in south asian communities. i was told how to walk, told how to smile, told how to do everything. so i didn't have my own kind of thoughts. it was very much controlled by other people. and then when, you know, when somebody is rolling up a joint, a joint of whatever it was, and said, "here, have this, it will "make you feel better", i took it. and that was my first pull of a joint of heroin. i didn't know i was in addiction until i was probably about a year or two in because the heroine was provided for me every day, or two in because the heroin was provided for me every day, so i didn't have withdrawals. it was embarrassing. who could i tell? who could i go to? who would understand ? for me, it was more —

i'm notjust a drug user, i'm an asian girl, on drugs. i'm an indian girl, on drugs. who do i turn to? who will understand ? it is more risky or dangerous not to say anything than to educate our own people and be honest about what happens and what addiction does to people. god, this is awful, this, now, thinking about it, my little girl came home with a sponsorship form for school and i made loads of photocopies of it. and i walked around the whole of bradford, i think, with the sponsorship form, and cheated money out of people. absolutely shocking. when i lived in a housejust here, where the blue door is. this one here? yes. what was your lowest point? i took an overdose of tablets

because i could just... i would just... i didn't want to live any more. i didn't want to be here. ididn't... i couldn't look after my kids. i ended up back in that horrible spiral again. you know, ifailed my parents, ifailed my kids, ifailed me. you did turn it around, though. idid. i have. it took a long time. i was ready for change, and just in my head i knew that i didn't want this life and i was damaged. i was seriously damaged. i'd lost my children. and i was going to either die or i was, you know, i needed to change my focus was going.

where are we now? settled. we are in a happy relationship. andy is brilliant. we've been together for eight years. i'm happy to be here. and i have earned — i've earned my place here. i've earned my place on earth, i think. the word will get out that you can support other women — and men — that are in the same, similar situations the more i do this. there are growing calls for the introduction of graduated driving licences for young people, restricting their use of cars after passing their tests. it's something families who've lost loved ones to crashes involving young drivers have campaigned for, and has the backing of the aa and some driving instructors. 0ur reporter phillip norton has the story. your first wheels can be fun, but for young drivers, it can often end in serious

injury or death, if not for them, for passengers or others on the road. kevin dyas is a driving instructor and also the chair of grimsby instructors association. he wants to see tougher restrictions on new drivers to lower casualty numbers. i think we need to relook at what we do for younger drivers because they are younger. the bit of the brain that deals with risk is towards the front, our brains develop from the back. so it is the last part of the brain that actually begins — orfinishes developing. government figures show a fifth of all fatal or serious injury crashes involved a young driver, with those aged between 17 to 2a four times as likely to be killed or seriously injured as those over 25. kevin's had a personal experience with one of his students. there was a lad that i took for about five or six lessons. even at that time, could i recognise an underestimating of risk. he did go on to have a crash.

he survived it, he was left seriously injured for quite some time, but it killed his female passenger. one idea he embraces is a graduated driving licence for young drivers, which could see restrictions on things like passenger numbers and driving at night. for the night is a different beast. i think it's a good idea because they take their lessons, they pass their test, and they're driving nicely. and when they pass their test, well, they're young. you've got your test next week. how would you feel if you couldn't take passengers straight after it? for me personally, it wouldn't bother me that much. i'm commuting to and from work and maybe going to my mates�* here and there. so it wouldn't really bother me that much, but it differs from person to person. the government needs to take a hand on on this to take a hand on on this and think we need to do something different here. we need to look at these

graduated licenses. they work in lots of other countries. let's find a one find one that works for us and go forward with it and lead something here. the government currently says it has no plans to introduce a graduated license, but says it's researching support for young drivers... boys, chill out back there. ..and targeting them in road safety campaigns. phillip norton, bbc news. a gold pocket watch worn by the wealthiest passenger on the titanic, has sold for almost £1 million at auction. 0nce fees are added, it's the highest price ever paid at auction for a single item recovered from the scene of the 1912 disaster. a leather violin bag owned by the leader of the orchestra, which famously played on as the ship sank, fetched £290,000. duncan kennedy reports. 105,000. there's nothing like the titanic to evoke memories, passion and buyers. this auction included one of the items that titanic collectors desire most of all — it's the gold pocket watch belonging

to a passenger believed to be one of the richest people in the world, jothacob astor. he and 1,500 others died when the ship sank in april 1912 in the north atlantic. what jj astor's watch represents is something touchable from history, which is why people are still willing to pay so much money for it. the bidding for the watch started way beyond the estimate of £150,000 and kept climbing. at £900,000... applause. add on all the fees and the anonymous buyer will pay £1.17 million, a world record for an item from the titanic. at the end of the day, this price reflects not only the importance of the astor watch but also the enduring appeal of the titanic story. books, films and documentaries have kept the titanic story alive, but it is artefacts like these that make it tangible and desirable.

duncan kennedy, bbc news in wiltshire. an appeal has been launched by the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire to raise funds to restore one of its most striking installations. shot at dawn pays tribute to the 309 british and commonwealth soldiers who were executed during world war one for desertion and cowardice, but it's been severely damaged by flood water. 0ur reporter liz copper has the story. 0n the eastern edge of the arboretum at alrewas, this is the first memorial to be touched by the sun's rays at dawn. it has also been touched by the ravages of the elements when the nearby river tame overtops its banks. because this is built on a floodplain, we expect the water level to come up. but as of recent years, it has come up high and remained there. so though the posts look like they're in pretty good condition, but you will notice at the bottom they are rotting through and they don't last

that many years before they need replacing. there are 309 stakes, each dedicated to a soldier shot at dawn during the first world war. they faced a firing squad for desertion, cowardice, orsimply falling asleep at the post. the stakes are arranged in the form of a greek theatre to symbolise the tragedy of those events. they will all now be replaced with recycled material to withstand floodwater. people come here — it's an educational resource. children come and visit the memorial, and they see something like this. it is a dark point in british military history, but it is very relevant and a very important story to tell. so we need to provide preserve it. this is just one area here where the effects of the weather have been felt. here they welcome more than 300,000 visitors annually. the arboretum is open all year round. this is a living landscape. that is why staff are constantly working to adapt the site. we have areas of the site that we do know have always stayed wet

and despite putting in drainage in, they'll always stay wet. so we're selecting water—resistant species that don't mind having their feet wet for a long period of time. without a doubt, that strategy will change and be refined as climate change changes. back at the memorial, work will begin early next month. the hope is it will ensure these soldiers�* stories will never be swept away and never forgotten. a new entrance to a pre—historic flint mine will allow the public to explore an underground labyrinth of tunnels dug 11,500 years ago. grime�*s graves near thetford, norfolk, was used as a neolithic mine for hundreds of years. 0ur reporter edd smith has been to find out more. from the air, you can see how the 430 mines dug in the heart of thetford forest have transformed the landscape. each of the hollows that we're walking through and the hollow that we're coming to is the remains of a a,500—year—old mineshaft. each one about ten, 12 meters deep

and a huge undertaking. each one about ten, 12 metres deep and a huge undertaking. historians say that these pits were dug using picks made from the antlers of red deer. they're very simple tools, about this sort of size. and they would have had to mine down by hand. and that's hundreds of tons worth of material that they are having to to take out by hand. so they're probably only digging maybe one mine per year. so to get this whole entire mine field, we're talking about hundreds of years. as you climb down into the pit, it's hard to imagine digging this out without modern machinery. the flint they gathered from the mines was used by the neolithic people to make tools that were crucial for their survival. tunnels like this one connect the mineshafts. you canjust see how small the space is — it's only about a metre high.

i think we have so many incredible ancient sites across english heritage's portfolio, but this to me is like the absolute jewel, because you're seeing kind of marks made by man that long ago where they actually are. you can kind of see the people crawling through, you can picture them with their lamps, you can picture them holding those kind of pickaxes and kind of taking out this chalk and this flint. i think it reallyjust brings the entire space alive like no other site. the opening of this mineshaft lets us see how our ancestors worked here in the east, allowing us to get up close to archaeology. robbie west, bbc news. it is almost 70 years since donald campbell became the fastest man on water in his iconic hydroplane bluebird, smashing the 200 miles—per—hour barrier in front of crowds on the shores of ullswater in the lake district. now, previously unseen photos of the daredevil in action back in 1955 have been discovered, and the search is on for somewhere to display them permanently.

andy gill reports. that's the difference here, that people were allowed, which... just to come down on the shore. i mean, that must have been the whole village. at her home in southport on merseyside, gina campbell and andrew price look through photos of donald campbell and bluebird. they were taken at ullswater in cumbria in 1955, the place and year when donald campbell first broke the world water speed record. the photographer was andrew's dad, peter price, who died in 2020. it was very difficult for me to go through his archive, because i had worked with him for 30 years, and i started to go through things but it was, you know, tears rolling down my eyes, i was saying, "i didn't know you'd done this, dad, i didn't know you'd done that." but earlier this year andrew, who is also a photographer, did get to looking

through his dad's archive. there they were in a little brown envelope with handwritten notes saying "donald campbell, bluebird early attempts, " ullswater. " and i thought, "wow, i didn't know you had these." once you start on one of these world record attempt, - you're past the point of no return. donald campbell set world water and land speed records. he died in 1967 when bluebird crashed on coniston water. last month, the restored boat returned to coniston after being recovered in 2001. but campbell's first water speed records were achieved not on coniston, but on ullswater. this one here, he's obviouslyjust going out for a run. but he's not wearing a hard helmet. no, he's not. would he have had that in the cockpit, do you think? possibly. for gina, who was just six when the photos were taken, they reveal a new chapter of her father's life. myjaw dropped when i first saw them. what it tells me is how famous my father was,

looking at the crowds that were there. and me as a small child, with no idea that my father was famous. i didn't know my father was famous. gina and andrew both now want the photos to find a permanent home, a testament to a pioneering british enterprise in engineering and daring. it gets me in my heart, because it shows my dad, to me, what he was — but i didn't know. andy gill, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith—lucas. hello. we've seen some fairly heavy rain through the overnight period and this morning as well, pushing its way northwards across much of england. it's going to sit for eastern parts of england and eastern scotland through the course of the day, gradually easing. but there'll be some sunshine coming in towards the west. so certainly a day of mixed fortunes. this area of low pressure has been bringing us that rain. it's pushing northwards around

the east coast in particular, some blustery winds around that area of low pressure too. some sunshine out there for western scotland, northern ireland, wales and the south west of england. but there'll also be a scattering of showers that'll be fairly hit and miss. that rain slowly easing away from the south east of england and east anglia, but sitting across northeast england and eastern scotland for a good part of the afternoon. some blustery winds in and around that area of low pressure in the east. we could see gusts around 30 miles an hour or even a little bit stronger close to that east coast. and it's really going to feel quite chilly, just seven degrees in aberdeen. feeling cooler than that with the wind chill, but up to about 13 in the sunshine towards the west. into the evening hours, we'll eventually lose that wet weather from most places. it's going to linger longest up towards parts of northern scotland, the northern isles in particular, more rain moving in to northern ireland by dawn. for most of us, a frost—free night, but we still could see a touch of frost across rural parts of central and eastern scotland. now into monday, the next area of low pressure arrives from the west. this time, quite a few isobars ahead of it, showing us it's going to be a fairly breezy sort of day on monday,

but certainly an improved day for central, southern and eastern england. mostly dry here with some sunshine. there will be showery rain, though, pushing its way gradually into many central and western parts of the uk. so blustery, quite windy and still rather cool in the north—west. 12 or 13 degrees, but 18 down towards the south—east, so significantly warmer than we've seen over the past week or so. into tuesday, low pressure is out towards the west, higher pressure in the east and that combination means we'll be drawing the air in from more of a south—easterly direction. so the orange colours arriving again across the map, showing us it's going to be a little bit warmer at last. not completely dry, though, and still quite blustery, showery rather cool across western parts of the british isles. for instance, belfastjust 12 degrees, but norwich and london sitting at around 18 in the sunnier spells. and then for the week ahead then, we'll continue to see those temperatures rising for a time. could be close to 20 degrees at times towards the south, but low pressure not too far away, still some showers, perhaps something a little drier towards the bank holiday weekend.

live from london, this is bbc news. israel's foreign minister

says his country's military could suspend its planned incursion into rafah — if hostages are released. ministers insist health is a priority after the tory mp daniel poulter defects to labour because of concerns over how the nhs is managed. the tesla chief, elon musk, has landed in beijing — where he's expected to meet chinese officials to discuss electric vehicles. and a gold pocket—watch, worn by the wealthiest passenger on the titanic, sells for six times the asking price. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. we start in the middle east — where efforts are being made to try to bring about a ceasefire in southern gaza. israel's foreign minister has said a planned ground assault on the southern gaza city of rafah, could be suspended —