the crown divides critics. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we begin in gaza city, where israel says its soldiers have found a tunnel shaft and a vehicle containing a large number of weapons at al shifa hospital — as the military operation there continues. israel is under pressure to back up its allegation that al—shifa — gaza's biggest hospital has been used by hamas for military purposes. hamas — which is designated a terrorist organisation by many western governments denies locating a command centre in tunnels beneath the buildings. nearal—shifa, israeli soldiers also found the body of a 65—year—old woman, one of the 240 hostages who was kidnapped by hamas last month. we begin our coverage with this report from lucy williamson — who was taken into the hospital by israeli forces. we are inside the gaza strip with the israeli army. this with the israeli army. is what israel says hamas has this is what israel says hamas has been trying to hide. the entrance of an underground work of tunnels they say uncovered today in the hospital grounds. israel wants to show that hamas is using this as a military base to explain why israel is too. this vehicle full of weapons was also discovered they are today, the army said. israel's army has been keen to justify its military operation inside the sheep a hospital. last night they took us in. we are inside the gaza strip with the israeli army. they are taking us to gaza city and the al—shifa hospital which, over the last few days of intense fighting, has emerged as the epicentre of this conflict. tonight they are offering us a first glimpse of what they found inside. israel's intense bombardment of gaza has meant growing pressure over the humanitarian cost of their military operation. we are driving into gaza city now and it is clear what it took to take control of this area. whole neighbourhoods have been completely shattered. there are columns of tanks moving through the streets here. the area around shifa is still very tense. we are taken into the hospital in darkness using a light—sensitive camera to film. just clambering through a collapsed wall here in the perimeter of the hospital. we are told to keep all our lights off so it is quite hard to see. they have used armoured bulldozers to punch through here. we are still being told to keep our lights off. are we going this way? inside the hospital we are shepherded straight to the mri department by israeli special forces. we are not allowed to talk to any doctors here. they have described the situation as catastrophic. now in control of the hospital, israel is under pressure to prove hamas is there. they've been looking for evidence of this peanut hamas base. and they say that among the things they've uncovered are more than a dozen kalashnikovs, grenades, principal protection visited you, you can see some here hidden under the bags of medical supplies. the army also showed us laptops they say contained recent files on the hostages and evidence that hamas had been at the hospital within weeks or days. it seems as if at this point neither the hostages nor hamas are here. hamas aren't here because they understood and saw that we're coming and i think had we taken them completely by surprise we would've seen mountains of evidence of hamas use of the hospital. evidence of hamas use of the hosital. ., ., ., ., , hospital. tonight a hamas leader in _ hospital. tonight a hamas leader in lebanon - hospital. tonight a hamas leader in lebanon deniedl hospital. tonight a hamas i leader in lebanon denied the weapons belong to the group. israel came to fight hamas in a place where civilians are fighting for their lives. the battle for all shiva hospital is now the eye of the military offensive and causes humanitarian crisis. lucy williamson, bbc news, gaza. the un's world food programme says civilians in gaza are in a desperate situation. wfp's executive director says... "with winter fast approaching, unsafe and overcrowded shelters, and the lack of clean water, civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation". almost half of the population of gaza is under the age of 18. ricardo pires is unicef�*s communication manager — he told me about the dire conditions faced by children in gaza. it's been 41 days now of a relentless nightmare for hundreds of thousands of children in the gaza strip. starvation might be just yet another dark chapter in that in this narrative of horror that they've been living since since october seven. so we know children are still injured. some of them are under the rubble. actually, nearly 2000 children are missing and could be under the rubbles, including children who've been separated from their families. we know at least 4.6 thousand children have reportedly been killed since the beginning of the conflict. so in 41 days and 9000 more have been injured. so that's a very staggering average of over 400 children that day, either killed or injured since the conflict started. it's a it's a very dark place for children right now. there's no safe space and we need a humanitarian cease fire. otherwise, the situation tends to worsen a lot. your executive director was recently in gaza. can you give us a sense of exactly the type of things that the agency needs? well, again, we need that humanitarian cease fire. without that, we won't be able to get more life saving supplies to hundreds of thousands of children in need. it was mentioned before in the segment that fuel has become, again, a big issue or has been an issue for the last a0 days. without fuel, there's no electricity. without electricity, the water is compromised. the desalination plants are not functioning. hospitals are struggling to keep babies alive, premature babies or babies in ventilators because they don't have electricity to power the machines or the incubators. so the needs continue to increase and they have been more or less the same from the beginning. children right now need safe water. they need food, they need medical supplies. they need safe access to health facilities. and we doubt that the number of deaths will continue to increase. and as we see, this is a war on children. we had the un security council vote in favour of a ceasefire just a day earlier. what about the workers, the staff in gaza city? are they able to operate freely and do what they need to do? no, they're not able to operate freely at all. they're under extreme stress. they've seen family dying, loved ones, children. we have accounts from colleagues on the ground, a colleague in palestine whose two daughters are really struggling day after day because they don't have access to clean water. one of them is showing severe signs of stress and mental health issues that need to be addressed. but our colleague just says right now our priority is to keep them alive. so we can't even worry so much about tomorrow. it's really about today and them surviving the day. so our colleagues, when the lights go out and telecommunications are cut, they're in the dark. we don't have access to them any more. we're very concerned about their safety and they are enduring all this very bravely on the ground, but risking their lives every day in that of their loved ones. president biden says he made clear that the us does not seek conflict with china, during talks with president xijinping, despite calling him a "dictator". in their four—hour meeting, the two sides agreed to restore military to military communications, and engage over artificial intelligence. president xi said china was ready to be a partner and friend of the united states. mr biden told the apec summit on thursday that their discussions were candid and constructive. let me be clear. we're de—risking and diversifying our economic relationship with the prc. not decoupling, not decoupling. we'll be firm standing up for our values and our interest. and i was very straightforward as he was with me yesterday. at the same time, when critical global issues such as climate, ai, counter—narcotics where it makes sense to work together. we've committed to work together. we're going to continue our commitment to diplomacy to avoid surprises and prevent misunderstandings. stable relationship between the world's two largest economies is not merely good for the two economies, but for the world. my colleague sumi somaskanda is in san francisco. i asked her about reaction in the us to the apparent thaw in relations. it's been welcomed here. i can certainly say there is a sigh of relief after seeing that meeting go off yesterday. the fact that us and china were able to sit together, these two presidents were able to sit at a table to talk through some of these thorny issues and establish a line of communication. we heard president biden reiterate the fact that military to military communication will resume. he told delegates, ceos in the room that is particularly important if there's another spike in tentions that it doesn't spiral into conflict. that is something that ceos, delegates here at the apec summit have welcomed for that and generally democrats are welcome. he has been criticised by republicans who have said that this meeting hasn't produced anything substantive and he should not be sitting down with president xi jinping in the first place. mostly this has been a welcome sign. you should say it you mentioned that president biden after that meeting did call president xijinping a dictator again. that might�*ve had some in the white house shaking their heads after this carefully orchestrated meeting, a meeting that went fairly well. to be fair, we saw the chinese foreign ministry we haven't seen much coverage of that statement from president biden. all and all it seems that this meeting and the plant to bring meeting and the plan to bring the sides together to speak and make sure those lines of communication are open, that did go well. i was going to ask you about that dictator comment. the deals announced, military to military communication has been welcomed fentanyl deal, some criticism it was lacking in more detail on how they were going to stem the flow. this agreement is simply that china has agreed to crack down on some of the products that go into making fentanyl. it remains to be seen whether china will go forward and actually make that happen, implement that on china side. we should say from president biden perspective fence biden perspective fentanyl is a big deal, despite that criticism it has been a huge problem in cities like san francisco where we're. we have welcomed the deal and said the fact that it's on paper is a good sign, let see if is it implemented going forward. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. train drivers are set to stage a fresh round of strikes in their long—running dispute over pay. the aslef union has announced a "rolling programme" of walkouts between the 2nd and 8th of december, with different train companies affected on each day. drivers will also refuse to work any overtime from the 1st to 9th december. bbc analysis shows that two thirds of nhs maternity units in england don't consistently meet safety standards. the care quality commission says maternity has the worst safety ratings of all hospital services it inspects. more than 15% of units are now classed as inadequate. scotland's health secretary michael matheson has admitted that an 11,000 pound data roaming charge on his ipad was caused by his sons watching football during a trip to morocco last year. the expense was initially paid for by the scottish parliament, but he's since paid the money back and referred himself to parliament for further investigation. you're live with bbc news. it's one of the richest ecosystems on earth, but there are fears the mekong river is in crisis. the waterway sustains more than sixty million lives, as it travels through china and southeast asia. but it is facing an onslaught of dam building, intensifying the effects of climate change and sand dredging. downstream communities living on the region's largest lake, the tonle sap in cambodia, have reported a decline in fish stocks of more than 80% over the past twenty years. 0ur asia pacific correspondent, laura bicker, is in cambodia looking at whether the mighty mekong can be saved. mi lives in a world of water that was once renowned for an abundance of fish. but in recent years, he and thousands like him have been asking, where are they? translation: these past few years, there is less and less i water and fewer and fewer fish go home. now we have children and every morning i need around $5 to get them to school. and these days, i have no income. it has taken four or five days and that's all i get. i have no fish to sell. since the 1990s, some countries have eyed the mekong river as a potentially powerful energy resource. china has built 11 dams on the mainstream. laos has two. dozens more are planned. experts who monitor water levels in the dams are worried. rainfall that typically would fall during the wet season is much lower than normal. but at the same time, upstream dams are restricting water. during that wet season, climate impacts and dam restrictions are changing the way that the mekong flows, much for the worse. studies suggest river nutrients and fish are now struggling to make it downstream. and when they do, they're struggling to survive. elsewhere, the mekong has other gifts to give — sand. 60 million tons of sand is dredged from the mekong each year to help construct developing southeast asian cities. that's the equivalent of 950 olympic sized swimming pools. this 25—year—old was jailed for more than a year for organising protests to protect the river. translation: when i see this, it makes me worry i about the mekong state and its impact on the cambodian people as a whole. the cambodian government has long been accused of profiting from plundering the country's natural resources, which it denies. but cambodia is not alone in its insatiable desire for sand. it is the world's most mined mineral. the problem here is they are dredging at an already fragile ecosystem that scientists fear is on the edge of irreversible collapse. there's a call now for governments in this region to work together to monitor water levels and dam construction. the flow of the mighty mekong has not yet been stilled, but its fate now depends on the resilience of the people it supports and how far they're willing to go to defend it. laura bicker, bbc news, phnom penh. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the man who attacked the husband of the former us house speaker nancy pelosi has been found guilty of assault and attempted kidnapping. david depape broke into the couple's home in october last year and hit paul pelosi over the head with a hammer, fracturing his skull. us congressman george santos has announced he will not run for re—election in 2024, after the house ethics committee released a damning report on his conduct. the panel found the congressman "blatantly stole from his campaign" and exploited "every aspect of his house candidacy for his own personal financial profit". there have been scuffles between protesters and police in madrid as demonstrators denounced a deal between the ruling socialist party and catalan separatists which has kept prime minister pedro sanchez in power. the demonstrators called him criminal and a traitor, if the draught is approved in parliament it will be providing amnesty for catalan separatists behind a failed bid six years ago. the rapper and music mogul sean combs is being sued by an ex girlfriend for rape and physical abuse. the hip—hop artist — who's also known as puff daddy or diddy — has been accused by the singer cassie of more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs, and of raping her in 2018. the papers were filed in a court in new york. a lawyer for sean combs says he vehemently denies the allegations, describing the lawsuit as "riddled with baseless and outrageous lies". our north america correspondent, shingai nyoka, outlined the allegations being made. this is a civil suit so this is not a criminal case. she is seeking unspecified damages in her lawsuit which was filed at a cultural court in manhattan. a fairly successful r&b singer as well as model says that in 2005 when she began a relationship with puff daddy, at the time he was known as puff daddy, sean combs, that is when the physical abuse began. and in her suit she details a litany of accusations saying he physically beat her, he plied her with drugs and also that he forced her to have sex with multiple numbers of male prostitutes and videod that. she says that in 2018, which was shortly before they broke up that she alleges he raped her. these are very serious allegations that she is making against him. she says that at some point the parties had sat down before the suit was filed and that sean combs had offered her in eight figure salary but she rejected it and said she wanted to raise her voice and wanted other women to recognise that this is what women must do, they have to come forward rather than remain silent. any response from sean combs so far? his attorney has responded and i think you preface it there, he said that these allegations were offensive as well as outrages. he says for the past six months she has been trying to elicit 30 million us dollars from sean combs and he rejected that, essentially, they say that this is her last resort and her attempt at a pay day. effectively rejecting those accusations but these are serious accusations. sean combs is one of the biggest hit pop stars worth close to $1 billion. this really could damage his reputation depending on what happens next. a court in russia has sentenced an artist to seven years in prison for an anti— war protest, which involved swapping supermarket price tags for statements about casualties in ukraine — sasha skochilenko was arrested in st petersburg in april last year. today her supporters could be heard chanting "freedom" in protest against her sentencing. it's the moment fans of "the crown" have been waiting for. after a year—long wait, netflix has begun showing the first episodes of the final series of the royal drama. it depicts the events of the late 1990s, including princess diana's death. but critics aren't impressed. has the drama lost its gloss? charlotte gallagher reports. don't really understand how i ended up here... one of the most famous women in the world. ..and losing sight of myself in the process. one of the most defining moments in contemporary british history, the death of princess diana, and the cataclysmic effect on the royal family. what do people want from me? for you to be mother to the nation. this series of the crown recreates events many will remember. do you know anything about it? the intense tabloid frenzy and diana's relationship with dodi al fayed are the focus of the first episodes. he said to me, every survivor has a date, the day they stepped on the landmine. and i said, mine was the 29th ofjuly, 1981, my wedding. i couldn't have done it without khalid, who plays dodi. i think the two of us just held each other through that. some days coming to work was incredibly painful and sad, and you just have to keep in the front of your mind the responsibility you feel to tell the story. the crown is obviously a drama not a documentary. but historians say previous seasons have been critically acclaimed, it's lacking accuracy. what happened in private, we have no accounts for because they were very private moments. so they have to take liberties in terms of how did charles broke the news to william and harry. we don't know what the queen was like in those moments. we don't know what she said to prince philip. so they will take artistic license. this final series depicts the drama and emotion that consumed a country, a family, and left a legacy that's still felt today. this is going to be the biggest thing that any of us has ever seen. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. australia havejoined the hosts india in reaching the final of the cricket world cup. the five—time champions edged out south africa by three wickets in kolkata, to make their eighth world cup final. australia's mitchell starc says he expects sunday's final — at ahmedabad's 130—thousand capacity stadium will be "loud and a spectacle of cricket". that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello there. it's a very mixed picture of weather across the uk on thursday and the rain and the winds will return along with the milder feeling air over the weekend. but on friday it's looking largely dry. a few showers out towards the west, plenty of sunshine around. temperatures now close to the seasonal average. so we're between weather systems on friday. these fronts clear into the north sea. this is the weekend's weather, a deep area of low pressure approach. and from the southwest, we'll be seeing that by the time we get to the end of the day. but most of the day, it's certainly looking dry. the early cloud will clear away into the north sea a few showers across north west england, the isle of man down through wales and possibly the south west of england. and here it will cloud over also northern ireland as we head towards the end of the afternoon. but plenty of sunshine around temperatures close to the seasonal average, generally eight to 13 degrees. but still that cold air lingers across northeastern areas of scotland. as we head through friday night and into saturday morning, that wet, windy weather spreads in from the southwest, brisk southeasterly winds, spells of heavy rain, the temperatures rising unusually through the night. so this is how we're set to start off saturday morning, between 12 and 14 degrees celsius out towards the south of england. the rain gradually clears its way eastwards, so it will turn a lot drier across much of england and wales or eastern scotland as we head through the afternoon. some showers further west. temperatures certainly very mild rising to 15 or 16 degrees celsius in the south, ten to 13 degrees celsius further north. now, that deep area of low pressure is still spinning its way eastwards as we head through sunday. the focus of the rain on sunday will tend to be towards the north. so across northern england and much of north west scotland, also northern ireland seeing some hefty showers at times, a few showers out towards western wells, ——wales perhaps further south across much of england and wales is dry. but here we'll see some very blustery winds, gusts of 40 to 50 miles an hour. temperatures perhaps just that little bit lower. now, as we head through sunday night, the area of low pressure starts to clear away, but it does leave a legacy of showers. still, the milder air hangs on for part of monday, but you can see we draw down more of a northerly wind. so the temperatures are set to turn cooler as we head through it into the start of next week. a drop in temperature turning more settled, too, as we head into the middle of the week for most of us. bye for now. a sense of relief as a major conference for asia pacific leaders ends in san francisco. plus — the everything store goes the extra mile. us shoppers will soon be able to buy their next car on amazon and have it delivered to their homes. hello and welcome to asia business report. we begin in san francisco where leaders of asia pacific economies are breathing a sigh of relief after us presidentjoe biden and china's president, we are waiting on the us president to speak momentarily. we begin in san francisco where leaders of asia pacific economies are breathing a sigh of relief after us presidentjoe biden and china's president, xijinping met for the first time in a year. after roughly four hours of talks, mr biden and mr xi emerged saying the world's two largest economies are willing to restart cooperation on a number of issues.