efforts intensify to stop israel's offensive into rafah. uk ministers insist health is a priority after tory mp daniel poulter defects to labour because of concerns over how the nhs is managed. the boss of tesla, elon musk, meets government officials in beijing. they're discussing the future of us—china relations over electric vehicles. and thousands turn out to celebrate italy's new football champions — inter milan. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. 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 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. 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 has left for 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 the appeal from palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, to the us, urging it convince israel to reconsider any offensive in rafah. translation: and i say here - what's happening now in gaza, | and what will happen in the coming few days, and what israel will do by invading the city of rafah, all the palestinians from gaza are gathered in rafah and it's 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 on 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. our correspondents sameer hashmi, in riyadh, and wyre davies, injerusalem, are covering the latest antony blinken visit. i asked wyre about the sort of impact this visit is likely to have. well, mr blinken�*s clearly here to try and help those peace talks get going once again. israel has, along with other countries, urged israel not to undertake this big military offensive in rafah, principally because of the humanitarian consequences — more than a million and a half people trapped in rafah with very little protection, very little shelter. thus far, those american words,

that american persuasion hasn't had much impact, certainly on the opinions of benjamin netanyahu. wyre, thank you very much for that. as you can see, our correspondent, sameer hashmi, standing by for us in riyadh. good to see you. just talk us through what the latest is where you are. well, today is the first day of the world economic forum, the special meeting that's happening in riyadh. and it's focused a lot on what's happening in gaza. we had the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, who gave a speech earlier in the morning, and in his address he reached out and appealed to the united states and president biden to stop israel from carrying out the invasion in rafah. he said it was important the united states exerts that pressure on israel and prevents that. so that was one of the first things, and then there will be a lot of action tomorrow, a lot of diplomacy around gaza because us secretary of state antony blinken will be arriving here, he will be meeting a lot of leaders from the region, including the foreign ministers of the gulf region, he'll be meeting arab leaders, then in the evening there will be a meeting between the five countries

from the eu along with the arab countries to find a resolution to this issue, to take stock of where the situation is and how to take this process forward. so tomorrow is going to be a pretty busy day as far as gaza goes. here in the uk, senior conservatives have defended the prime minister after the tory mp, dan poulter, defected to labour. dr poulter — who also works for the nhs — accused the tories of no longer valuing public services. home office minister chris philp rejected the claim and said the government was spending more money than ever on the health service. our political correspondent georgia roberts reports. defections to other parties are fairly rare in uk politics but dan poulter says the conservatives are no longer the party he knew. 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 i feel that the nhs deserves better than it has at the moment in terms of how its

run and governed. a damaging blowjust days away from local elections. the government insisted the conservatives�* record on the nhs is a good one. 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're now spending £165 billion a year on the nhs, that's more than ever at any point in history. the move is a gift to labour. he's 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. the nhs will, for many voters, be among the key issues of the upcoming general election campaign. despite their continued slump in the polls, an optimistic tone from the government.

we've seen inflation falling dramatically down to 3%, wages rising at 6%, so for, i think, nine months now, wages are rising faster than inflation, those nhs waiting lists are coming down. clearly at the moment people do feel grumpy with the government but as we get closer to an election, it's not so much a referendum on grumpiness, it becomes actually a choice. who do you want to run the country? elsewhere, speaking to sky news, rishi sunak wouldn't be drawn on the possibility of a july poll, which would be earlier than many had assumed. we've talked about it. you're not going to rule outjuly? you're going to try and draw whatever conclusion you want from what i say, i am going to always say the same thing. you should just listen to what i have said, the same thing i have said all year. but there are some in the party who feel that the threat of a summer poll is just a tactic to ward off any kind of revolt against rishi sunak if the conservatives face a bloodbath next week. whenever the general election is, here's one man who says it should happen as soon as possible. georgia roberts, bbc news.

the scottish liberal democrats have rejected an offer of talks with the first minister, humza yousaf, whose politicalfuture hangs in the balance. he's facing two no confidence votes, after ejecting the scottish greens from his government. mr yousaf is due to meet the only alba party msp, ash regan, this week, despite ruling out an electoral pact between alba and the snp. alexandra mackenzie reports. humza yousaf is fighting for his political future as he faces a vote of no confidence as first minister in a minority government. after he decided to end a power—sharing deal, the bute house agreement, with the scottish greens. one senior snp mp made an appeal to the scottish green party. i apologise for what has happened this week, it could have happened in a different way but we are where we are. but the choice every member of the scottish parliament has this week is are we going to support that government under humza yousaf to make sure that we deliver the legislation that we all agree on?

but the greens insist they will not back mr yousaf in the coming days. the scottish green group have said we will vote in support _ of a vote of no confidence - against humza yousaf and i cannot imagine anything at this point that could change that position. - this was a spectacular breach . of trust, from going on tuesday to saying the bute house agreement was worth its weight in gold, - to stopping it unilaterally . on thursday, that's broken. the snp leader has written to the opposition leaders at holyrood, inviting them to discuss their concerns and priorities. ash regan of the alba party could be kingmaker. her support alone might be enough for mr yousaf to survive. alba's leader set out the political price for that support, prioritising a re—emphasis on independence. ash regan, who leads alba in the scottish parliament, is obviously 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 which hopefully, if the first minister accepts them, will help him to get out of a very tight political corner. the main opposition parties say the first minister has run out of road, but the snp leader struggles on in a bid to secure enough support to keep hisjob. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news. ukrainian military intelligence has released a video it says is of a drone strike on an advanced — and rare — $5 million russian radar station. the radar is reported to be able to detect targets up to 300km away.

elsewhere, russia claims its forces have taken control of a village near avdiivka in the eastern donetsk region. officials in kenya have warned about even heavier rainfall as downpours batter parts of east africa. a government spokesman said the flooding killed at least 76 people and displaced more than 130,000. there are also fears that five key dams on the tana river — kenya's longest — could overflow in the coming days, with people in affected areas advised to move to higher ground. the extreme weather has also wreaked havoc across neighbouring tanzania, burundi and uganda. our correspondent anita nkonge is in nairobi and gave us this update. we continue to see heavy rainfall this weekend. just last night, we saw such heavy rainfall here in kenya that it caused flights to be disrupted, some delayed, some having to be diverted to other

parts of the country. like you said, in burundi, 100,000 people have been displaced, 200,000 to have been displaced with 51,000 households affected by the floods, and 155 people dead in tanzania. in kenya, over 20,000 households have been affected, roughly 131,150 people affected by the floods as well and 90 dead. part of what we have been seeing its houses being flooded, people being stranded with the roads being cut off, trains having to be delayed. so it's definitely a very devastating time right now. and do we know what is coming up? well, the kenya meteorological department say that we should be expecting more heavy rainfall even tonight. and those who have been living in places where there are dams have been asked to go to higher ground, those in the main city have been asked to stay indoors or go to higher ground. especially areas that could be

affected by flooding. and the government has been launching a multi—agency response unit to those places where they may predict flooding. the red cross even created centres in parts of informal settlements where we have seen a lot of flooding in anticipation of houses and people being affected by flooding tonight. thanks to anita for that. the boss of tesla, elon musk, has met government officials in beijing. chinese state media is reporting the tech boss is there by invitation, for the promotion of international trade. they have apparently discussed data and technology relating to electric vehicles. state media reports premier li qiang describing the meeting as a "successful example of sino—us economic and trade co—operation". 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. duncan wrigley is chief china economist at pantheon macroeconomics — a research company. he told me more about the significance of mr musk�*s visit to china. tesla is struggling a bit

too compete with other car—makers globally. in many markets, electric car sales have slowed down a little bit recently. even in china, which is the biggest electric car market in the world, the growth rate is still growing, it has slowed down a bit. tesla is facing ferocious competition from a bunch of very price competitive electric brands. and what about the optics of all this and the politics, rather than just the economics? right, well, china coming out of the covid, reopening since last year has faced a bunch of economic challenges. one of them is bringing back foreign investment. chinese leaders like premier li have been rolling out the red carpet to try to encourage foreign companies to come to china, invest more, and i think that also

helps to smooth the way a little bit towards more geopolitics. obviously sino—us relations are quite fraught at the moment, us election coming up. i think china is trying to do what it can to smooth relations. i see. elon musk is a free speech advocate. he owns the platform x and constantly champions that. china — not known so much for its free speech. how wide do you think the discussions will be? well, x is not accessible in china. u nless unless you use a vpn. i do not think elon musk will be bringing that part of his business to china. when it comes to free speech, china has a different legal system, a different set of rules. i mean, what elon says outside china, as long as it's not directly infringing on china's interests,

i think china willjust let him get on with it. let's go live to italy because one set of football fans pretty happy this afternoon. these are the inter—fans out on the streets. they have just clinched the serie a title by some margins. they are well ahead of their city rivals, who are in second place in the league at the moment. we have been keeping across these live pictures. very happy fans out on the streets there, an open top bus expected a little later. let's get the rest of the day's sport now. now it's time for a look at today's sport with hugh. inter milan winning the serie a title after a win over ac milan. for points now behind the leaders,

arsenal, but with two games in hand. they were 3—0 up before half time and withstood a second half fightback to hold on for a win that puts the pressure on manchester city. bournemouth are up to 10th in the table after a 3—0 win over brighton which also gives them a record points haul in the premier league. marcos senesi, enes unal and justin kluivert on the scoresheet against brighton, who now haven't won in the league since mid—march. 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 in 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 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. they lead their best of seven series against miami heat 2—1 after a comprehensive win. orlando beat cleveland to level the series at 2—2. 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. among them — 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. he will now battle for a spot on the bills�* regular season roster. world numberfour elena rybakina eased to a straight sets victory over mayar sherif to reach the last 16 of the madrid open. the kazakh player, who has a tour—leading three titles this season, broke twice in the first set to move 5—0 ahead. sherif battled harder in the second set, surviving four match points to hold for 5—4 down. rybakina proved too good taking the victory on her serve. she'll face teenager sara bejlek in the next round. pakistan have appointed former australia pace bowler jason gillespie as coach of their test side. gillespie has had success in englnad's county championship with yorkshire.

he signed a two year contract. while the former south africa batter gary kirsten will take charge of pakistan's 0di and t20 teams. ronnie o'sullivan has taken a 5—3 lead from the first session of his second round match at the world snooker championship in sheffield. o'sullivan is looking to win a record—breaking eighth title at the crucible. he 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 o'sullivan won three of the next four. first to 13 will reach the quarterfinals. elsewhere, stephen maguire beat shaun murphy. life football, live football, all on our website. 30 years after south africa's first democratic votes were cast, the country is facing a new reckoning, with pivotal elections taking place next month. some polls suggest the governing african national congress, which came to power in 1994, could receive less than 50% of the vote for the first time, as the country experiences high unemployment and crime, persistent economic inequalities, frequent power cuts

and corruption allegations. nomsa maseko reports from south africa. singing drumming in celebration of 30 years of democracy. south africa's transition to democracy was the culmination of decades of resistance and armed struggle against nearly 50 years of racial and violent white minority rule. chanting 0n the 27th of april in 1994, i came to this polling station with my mother. we started queueing from 6am, filled with both hope and anxiety. thousands of black people lined up with their fists in the air chanting "sikhululekile" — we are free. and i understood that now i was, too. the anc liberation movement turned political party won by a landslide and the early years were promising. a constitution enshrined

the rights of all citizens. thabo mbeki replaced nelson mandela as president in further democratic elections. civil society flourished — as did a free press. but 30 years later, south africa remains deeply unequal. unemployment has reached nearly 35%. it's very much clear that people do not feel like we fundamentally changed the architecture of our country. we still have amongst black populations high levels of inequality in terms of access to economic opportunities, jobs. in soweto, i meet young mothers struggling to get by.

0n the 29th of may, the country will go to the polls. for people here, it feels very much like a pivotal moment. injohannesburg, the constitution hill memorial celebrates our democratic transition and its firmest foundation, our institutions. ourjudiciary remains the most robust on the continent. our media is strong, it's been independent, been pushing back. and civil society as well. that triumvirate is important. but it's a commitment from that triumvirate to institutional integrity of the state, building institutions that are accountable. i think that's the lesson for africa. across the world's fastest growing continent, nearly a third of nations are heading to the polls this year. for south africa, it is likely to be the closest fought vote in its democratic history. nomsa maseko, bbc news, south africa.

and nomsa told me what we can expect from this election. well, we are looking at the fact that south africa is currently going through, you know, blackouts. and the fact that we have not had blackouts in the last 32 days is proof that this is a manmade problem that can easily be fixed. south africans are also looking at unemployment. they are looking at slow economic growth, and they are also looking at young people in terms of making sure that they are getting involved in elections, because it's the usual old, elderly, you know, men that are in charge and no women and no young people. so south africa wants to change all of that. and when it comes to looking ahead towards any kind of outcome, what is the split of the voting?

could the former president, jacob zuma's party, take votes from the anc? well, jacob zuma is the monster that the anc itself created. and during the nine years in which he was in power, there was impunity. he got away with a lot of things that the anc were happy to protect him from. but right now he's giving the anc a huge headache and his party is likely going to be a wild card in this year's election that will possibly eat into the anc support, particularly in the former president's heartland. and nomsa, just outline the timetable for us. when will people be heading to the polls? well, in exactly a month's time, south africa is going to the polls and this going to be the first time that there are going to be three ballot papers, because for the first time, independent candidates are also

going to be featured because there was an amendment in electoral rules in south africa. so, by the end of may and beginning ofjune, south africa will know if the anc is still going to be in power, even though analysts are predicting that the anc is losing support and possibly looking at about 40% of its support base is what is likely to happen in this election. let's ta ke let's take you back to italy. fans out on the street in milan celebrating finishing at the top of the league. this is one half of milan pretty happy. inter—at the top of the league. second, ac milan. fans have been on the streets for the last couple of hours waiting to see their team. plenty more coming up. i am see their team. plenty more coming up. iam lewis see their team. plenty more coming up. i am lewis vaughanjones. see their team. plenty more coming up. iam lewis vaughanjones. this is bbc news.

hello. it was a chilly start with a touch of light frost in the far north—west but that is certainly where we have seen the lion's share of sunshine. look how beautiful stirling was earlier on this morning. it was not a morning for playing golf in st albans, heavy overnight rain left a lot of large puddles around. and that rain is continuing to drift steadily northwards. that means that much of eastern england and eastern scotland staying cloudy, wet and often windy at times, making it feel quite cool. further west, we'll hold onto that sunshine with a few scattered light showers as well. here, highs of 13 degrees. factor in the wind and the rain — only seven perhaps in parts of eastern scotland. as we move through the night, the low pressure pulls away, the isobars stay with us, it stays quite breezy with another front pushing in from the west. that will bring outbreaks of rain into northern ireland, scotland and western fringes of england and

wales, but ahead of it — some lovely sunshine. and with a southerly breeze, some warmth. anywhere from east yorkshire down towards dorset, south and east of that is a much better day — sunny and pleasantly warm. low pressure is going to sit out to the west for a couple of days, but the wind direction continues to change to a southerly and we are going to continue to tap in to this continue to tap in to this warm air coming off the near continent. a change to the feel of the weather, and the irony is tuesday is the final day of april and we are going to see above average temperatures quite widely across the country. there will be some showery outbreaks of rain out to the west but very much of central and eastern england and scotland, dry, settled, pleasantly warm. temperatures peaking in the high teens. wednesday could be a little bit of a messy day. we might drag in a little bit more cloud of the north sea and pick up some drizzle. by the end of the day, we'll keep an eye on a few sharp showers moving up from the near continent, but again,

it is still pleasantly warm out there, 16—18 widely across the country. low pressure will pull away, and as we head towards the all—important bank holiday weekend, here'sjust an early heads up for you. high pressure building in and looks likely to quieten things down. so there will still be a few showers, maybe some longer spells of rain arriving on monday, but on the whole it looks quite promising.

this is bbc news. the headlines... us secretary of state antony blinken

is on his way to saudi arabia where he will meet other key international figures. meetings on the sidelines of the world economic forum summit are expected to discuss the war in gaza and possible ways forward. this week could be a pivotal one in scottish politics, as confidence votes are planned on both the first minister, humza yousaf, and his government. he has written to opposition leaders in an attempt to find common ground. the un security council expresses deep concern over an imminent attack on the sudanese city of al—fashir, by the paramilitary rapid support forces. in a statement, the un says attacks will have "devastating consequences" for the civilians. and thousands turn out for a massive street party after inter milan are crowned the footballing champions of italy. now it's time for today's sunday

episode of newscast, newscast.