efforts intensify to stop israel's move into rafah. 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 meets government officials in beijing. they're discussing the future of us—china relations over electric vehicles. and as australia demands an end to violence against women, prime minister anthony albanese says the country's culture must change. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. we start in the middle east — where the palestinian president says only the us can prevent an israeli attack on rafah, where more

than a million people have fled. efforts are under way to negotiate a truce between israel and hamas. the us secretary of state is meeting arab leaders to discuss the situation. israel's foreign minister says this is possible if hamas agrees to free its hostages. but there's no sign of that happening at this point. a video showing two hostages, including an american, was released on saturday by hamas. in other diplomatic moves, the us secretary of state antony blinken is due in saudi arabia for talks with regional leaders. he and other key players are expected to meet on the sidelines of the world economic forum. and it's reported a hamas delegation will visit cairo on monday for gaza ceasefire talks. this is palestinian president, mahmoud abbas's appeal for the us to urge israel against any offensive in rafah. translation: and i say here, what is

ha - enin: translation: and i say here, what is happening now— translation: and i say here, what is happening now in _ translation: and i say here, what is happening now in gaza, _ translation: and i say here, what is happening now in gaza, and _ translation: and i say here, what is happening now in gaza, and what - translation: and i say here, what is happening now in gaza, and what willl happening now in gaza, and what will happening now in gaza, and what will happen in the coming few days, and what israel will do by invading the city of rafah, or the palestinians from gaza are gathered in rafah and it is only one small strike that would force them to flee the gaza strip. and here, the biggest catastrophe would happen. we hope israel will not attack. we call in the united states of america to ask israel to not carry out the rafah attack because america is the only country able to prevent israel from committing this crime. so how likely is it that hamas will release hostages? i've been speaking to ahron bregman from the department of war studies at king's college london about those hostage videos. well, first of all, very good news for the families because they can see that their loved ones are still alive.

and the message of hamas is basically "here, "you have the hostages, and you, the israeli government, "should compromise." it is also a message to the american administration because one of the hostages has got american nationality. so hamas pressure on israel, on the americans and on the israeli public, so the israeli public put pressure on the israeli government to compromise. and do you think that will work? will the pressure be enough to get the israeli government to compromise? well, you know, the main bone of contention is the hamas demand that israel stop the war and allow palestinian refugees to move from the southern part of the gaza strip to the north. if israel stops now, it's not going to achieve its aims. so it is tough for the israeli government politically to accept the hamas demands. and we've also been hearing in the last couple of days of a visit by egyptian mediators to israel.

there seems to be some kind of optimism that there might be a deal reached between israel and hamas. what's your reading on that? the egyptians are important because they have an interest that israel stop its military operation and not go into rafah, because rafah is very close to egypt. and if israel operates in rafah, there is the danger that many palestinian refugees willjust move into the sinai, which is egyptian territory. and we also heard from the israeli foreign minister, israel katz, saying that israel wouldn't stage an invasion of rafah if hostages were released. do you think the israeli government ever planned on invading rafah? the israelis did move forces — a division — closer to rafah. this, i believe, is in order to put pressure on hamas to compromise. "you, if you don't compromise with us, hamas, "we will move into rafah." but they are not there yet.

in rafah, there are 1.2 million palestinian refugees. if the israelis want to operate in rafah, they have to evacuate the refugees first. it would take them between four and six weeks to do that. so the tanks are ready, but i don't think that they are going to start their engines and move into rafah anytime soon. you talk about evacuating over a million people who are now in rafah. just how possible is that going to be? well, it's going to be a big operation, and the first sign for it will probably be if the israelis drop leaflets over rafah telling them to move to khan younis or to another area which is close to the sea. it's a big operation. it's going to be very messy. and just what are the conversations within the israeli government, if we're hearing of any of these conversations, or within israel itself about the impact of such an operation on the people there?

many of them have been displaced several times over the past seven months and now the prospect that they would have to move again. again, i believe that there is a low probability that the israelis will operate in rafah. there is strong american pressure on the israelis not to operate there, including hints that we, the americans, will not provide you with the weapons necessary to operate there. so in my view, it's not going to happen, at least not now. it is just a way that israel is trying to put pressure on hamas to compromise. police have moved in on a pro—palestinian protest at northeastern university in boston. officials said about 100 people were taken away from the site and detained. those with student identification won't face any legal action.

it's the latest stand—off in a wave of pro—palestinian sit—ins, at campuses around the united states — including this demonstration, which has been ongoing at columbia university in new york for one week now. here in the uk, ministers have criticised a conservative mp who's defected to the opposition labour party. dan poulter — who combines his political career with practising medicine as an nhs — hospital doctor, said labour would help the health service recover. but the tory minister chris philp said the government was spending more on the nhs than at any point in its history. here's dan poulter explaining his defection to the bbc�*s laura kuenssberg. i found 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 ifeel that the nhs deserves better than it has at the moment, in terms of how it is run and governed. the party i was elected into valued public services. it valued...

it had a compassionate view about supporting the more disadvantaged in society. i think the conservative party today is in a very different place. its focus is not on delivering or supporting high—quality public services. our political correspondent georgia roberts has more on the reaction to dan poulter�*s defection. yes, a big headache for rishi sunak this weekend, overshadowing the final weekend of campaigning ahead of the local elections which many polls suggest are set to be very rocky for the conservatives. defections aren't common — they often signal bad feelings or something wrong in political parties and as well as dan poulter�*s criticisms on the nhs, he also talked about the conservatives becoming a nationalist party of the right. this is also the second conservative to labour defection under keir starmer�*s leadership, so let's have a listen to the home office minister,

chris philp, speaking to laura kuenssberg about dan poulter�*s decision. well, i don't accept what dan is saying at all. he talked about the nhs as a priority. well, of course, the nhs was one of only two departments that was protected during those years of necessary spending restraint after the last labour government bankrupted the country. as we heard earlier, we are now spending £165 billion on the nhs. that's more than ever at any point in history. it's a 13% increase above inflation just over the last four orfive years alone. injust the last year, the nhs has hired an extra 68,000 people, of whom 7,000 are doctors — that's a net increase — and there are 21,000 more nurses today than there were a year ago. that isn't a sign of a party deprioritising the nhs — that is the sign of a political party, the conservatives, investing heavily in our nhs because it is a priority. in his defence of the conservatives' record, chris philp was backed up by his colleague, the former immigration minister robertjenrick, who was speaking on the panel with laura kuenssberg,

and said that dan poulter�*s comments were clearly wrong but that defection clearly a big boon for the labour party ahead of local elections next week, so let's now listen to labour's shadow health secretary, wes streeting. he has abandoned the conservative party to save the nhs. and i think there are millions of conservative voters across the country who are feeling politically homeless, who can see the chaos and the failure to deliver of now five conservative prime ministers, who are now looking for an alternative. and i hope they will trust the doctor, who has seen the conservative party up close in parliament, and also the changed labour party up close in parliament, and i hope they will give change a chance at the next general election by following dan poulter backing labour. and speaking elsewhere this morning, the prime minister very much on the attack, saying that labour has no plan, no vision. he talks about the announcement on defence spending this week, too, saying that that a big success.

and he has also been talking about the fact that his plans to send some asylum seekers to rwanda are finally into law and talks about that being a big deterrent. so trying to keep the focus, this morning, away from this news, these words from dan poulter. nonetheless, a very damaging blow to rishi sunak, a blow from a former colleague. and dan poulter, his words this morning, also ahead, of course, as we have been talking about, of local elections where the nhs as an issue will be front and centre. it will also, of course, be front and centre of the upcoming general election campaign, whenever that is. that's the bbc�*s georgia roberts. scotland's first minister hamza yousaf is fighting for his political future after he pulled out of a coalition with the scottish greens.

bbc news has been told the first minister is ruling out an electoral pact with fellow nationalists, the alaba party. a source close to mr yousaf said the snp leader would not agree to such a deal at westminster or holyrood. the un security council has expressed deep concern over an imminent attack on the sudanese city of al—fashir, by the paramilitary rapid support forces. al—fashir is the last major city in the darfur region, where sudan's army is still holding out against the rsf, which is accused of carrying out a wave of violence against non—arab ethnic groups. people in al—fashir are said to be too scared to leave the city. civilians are trapped in the city, the only one in darfur still in the hands of the saf, afraid of being killed should they attempt to flee. this dire situation is compounded by a severe shortage of essential supplies, as deliveries of commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been heavily constrained by the fighting. the commissioner calls for an immediate de—escalation of this catastrophic situation, an end to the conflict that has

ravished the country for more than a year now, and an investigation of all aleged violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law. i spoke to our east africa correspondent kalkidan yibeltal from addis ababa about why there is concern about possible attacks or clashes in al fashir. al fashir is the biggest city in dafur that has so far been not under the control of the rsf. because of that it has been a sanctuary for many people that have been fleeing their villages and their towns and arriving there, they are seeking a semblance of safety. over the past year there have been accusations and reports alleging that the rsf and allied arab militias have been targeting non—arabs living in darfur. some rights groups say these attacks could amount to ethnic cleansing. darfur is a fairly inaccessible area for independentjournalists

and internationaljournalists. we have a reasonable idea what it's been like there in the past year, mostly from the people who have fled it. there are hundreds of thousands of people in chad and they have been describing the horrors of what happened whilst the rsf arrived. they say that sexual violence against women and young girls has been rampant, including rape, and young men and boys have been summarily executed on the streets. these have been compounded with a severe food shortage. the concern is now being raised in the past few days by the un, by the us, and other humanitarian agencies that all this could be replicated in al fashir but to a much larger degree if rsf managed to control it. the rsf denies these accusations but people in al fashir itself have

been rather concerned that what they have fled from in the last few months might be following them there as well. over the past few days we have seen images of rsf forces encircling al fashir. what are we hearing about, what is happening in the city and the nature of the conflicts there? i have been speaking with a person who is residing in al fashir and they have described the situation as calm in the city but tense. they have said that surrounding the city there has been fighting and because of that many people have been arriving into the city in the past few days as well, particularly the west of al fashir. because of that there is a displaced population which has been growing even in the past few days.

the city itself is home to 800,000 people the city itself is home to 800,000 people, the displaced people is much higher, for example in one of the camps the number of people displaced is triple that of the number of people it had before the war began. now there is concern that there is a possibility that the rsf might arrive there and with that, all the fears that they have been fleeing from. kalkidan yibeltal in addis ababa. now it's time for a look at today's sport. hello from the bbc sport centre. we start with what could prove to be another significant day in the english premier league title race. after liverpool dropped points again the top two both play on sunday. the champions manchester city are at nottingham forest but before that leaders arsenal, just a point above them in the table, having played a game more, are at rivals tottenham. spurs are a chasing a top four finish meaning there's a lot riding on the north london derby for both managers. we have to look at ourselves and try to perform the best possible way, win our matches, and wait to see what happens.

what i can tell you is that the boys are going to be fully ready on sunday to go, to play against a great opponent. everything is very difficult for us, we are going to have to be very good to beat them. we understand the importance of the game and we understand the importance of, you know, particularly at home in these kinds of games, to not let our biggest rival, the biggest star before us, get on top of us. we understand the consequences of that. here's a check on sunday's matches then. that crucial north london derby one of two early kick offs along with bournemouth v brighton. and then later city travel to nottingham forest who are just a point above the relegation zone. inter miami are top of the eastern conference in mls and no surprise about who was chiefly behind their 4—1 win over new england revolution — lionel messi. miami actually went behind in front of a record crowd of over 65,000 in massachusetts before messi

weaved his magic — equalising before half time and after the break it was all miami — messi scored again to give his side the lead. and later he came up with an assist as his side cantered to a win. that's nine goals injust seven games for messi next to the nba where lebronjames has helped the los angeles lakers avoid elimination in the first round of the western conference playoffs — for now at least. they beat the visiting denver nuggets 119—108 in game 4. lebron in fine form with 30 points as the nuggets fell to the lakers for the first time since december 2022. the teams head back to denver for game 5 on monday with the nuggets leading 3—1 in the series. here's a check on the other results. boston are the top seed in the east and they lead their best of seven series against miami heat 2—1 after a comprehensive win. 0rlando beat cleveland to reduce the cavs series lead to 2—1 and oklahoma city thunder will try to complete a sweep of their first—round series on monday in new orleans. they beat the pelicans for a third time.

the nfl draft is complete with all 257 picks made in detroit... and among them is a british prospect who's never played a game of american football before. travis clayton was selected in the seventh and final round by the buffalo bills. he's a former rugby player from basingstoke who took part in the league's international player pathway programme as an offensive lineman. he's six foot seven and weighs more than 300 pounds. and will now battle for a spot on the bills regular season roster. ronnie 0'sullivan has taken a 5—3 lead from the first session of his second round match at the world snooker championship in sheffield. 0'sullivan is looking to win a record breaking eighth title at the crucible and only lost one frame in his frst round match. he quickly won the first two against welshman ryan day who rallied back to 2—2 before 0'sullivan won three of the next four. first to 13 will reach the quarter finals... elsewhere stephen maguire beat shaun murphy.

follow all the live sport on our website or on the app. the tesla chief, elon musk, has met government officials in beijing. chinese state media is reporting the tech entrepreneur is there by invitation, for the promotion of international trade. they have discussed data and technology relating to electric vehicles. tesla has been facing a price war with chinese brands in the electric vehicle market. it has recently said it will lay—off 10% of its global workforce. let's speak to our business reprorter david waddell in the newsroom. why is elon musk in china is yellow his challenges, amongst other things that he is trying to sell more units of his tesla company. driving software. that is the software that allows its cars to operate autonomously with the driver behind the wheel but not operating at. that software is in _ the wheel but not operating at. that

software is in use _ the wheel but not operating at. that software is in use in _ the wheel but not operating at. twat software is in use in north america, in the us, in canada. it has also been demanded, requested rather, by chinese drivers, chinese customers. it is not available in those markets yet. elon musk is here in beijing a little earlier, meeting chinese officials. he wants to navigate that challenge of getting the self driving software operating there but to do that he needs access to tesla data which is currently held in shanghai and is unable to leave chinese borders because of chinese regulations. i chinese borders because of chinese regulations-— regulations. i imagine the chinese market is one _ regulations. i imagine the chinese market is one of _ regulations. i imagine the chinese market is one of the _ regulations. i imagine the chinese market is one of the biggest - regulations. i imagine the chinese i market is one of the biggest markets for electric vehicles. also tesla's biggest competitors are chinese brands and when the chinese government want to protect its industry? government want to protect its indust ? ~ , ~ ., industry? absolutely. among the eo - le industry? absolutely. among the people that _ industry? absolutely. among the people that mr — industry? absolutely. among the people that mr musk— industry? absolutely. among the people that mr musk has - industry? absolutely. among the people that mr musk has been i industry? absolutely. among the - people that mr musk has been meeting as the premier and he said that relationship between china and tesla is a successful example of sino us

economic trade cooperation. that is core to chinese state media short time ago. he also said, as far as he was concerned, foreign firms would also always be welcome in china. they are happy for tesla to compete in china but they also want chinese firms, among them be why d, china's biggest ev factory, to operate and compete, and internationally, along with another firms such as saic, and a company which is better known for smartphones. and this is a company that produces not only ev is but you see a flying vehicle. it is also producing its own form of full self driving software that is designed to compete with tesla.

after a recent spate of violence against women, the australian prime minister anthony albanese has told a rally that the country's culture — and male behaviour — must change. thousands of australians joined protests around the country this weekend to denounce gender—based violence. mr albanese told the crowd in canberra that the problem was a national crisis. shouting. we are here today to demand that governments of all levels must do better — including my own, including every state and territory government. cheering and applause. we need to change the culture, we need to change attitudes. we need to change the legal system. we need to change the approach by all governments. because it's not enough to support victims — we need to focus on the perpetrators and focus on prevention. but the prime minister's comments

were not celebrated by all sarah williams who organised the rally is saying his response for short of an actual commitment. he wasn't in support of women today. he was upset that it was called out that he didn't want to make change, and he decided to pretty much come up and ask to speak. and then when speaking, he lied to the country about us thinking he was asked... ..that he asked to speak and was denied, which never happened. you can watch the footage and you can see me start bawling my eyes out. it was pretty traumatising, and he continues to look at me and continues to speak in front of the whole country. definitely wanted him to probably stop speaking or take a moment. i'm annoyed at what he just... ..what his actions did. maybe even throughout his speech, acknowledge the distress he caused, not only to me, all the volunteers but also the rest of the people in the audience. everyone out there watching

was really distressed. the annual white house correspondent�*s association dinner is a staple of the washington political calendar. and last night, president biden delivered an election—year comedy roast in front ofjournalists, celebrities and politicians. he made fun of himself, and his rival donald trump. of course, the 2024 election is in full swing. and, yes, age is an issue. i'm a grown man! running against a six—year—old! joe biden there. you are watching bbc news with me, catherine byaruhanga. you can always go to the bbc website for more stories. stay with us. 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. 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 for 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 and 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.

this is bbc news, the headlines...

israel says a planned ground assault on the city of rafah could be suspended if a deal emerges to free the hostages still held by hamas. key international leaders are heading to saudi arabia, where they are expected to hold talks on the war in gaza. this week is expected to be a pivotal one in scottish politics. confidence votes are planned in both the first minister, humza yousaf, and his government. mr yousaf has written to opposition leaders in an attempt to find common ground. uk ministers insist health is a priority after the tory mp daniel poulter defects to labour because of concerns over how the nhs is managed. and a gold pocket watch worn by the wealthiest passenger on the titanic becomes the shipwreck�*s most expensive item ever bought at auction.