And children. Hezbollah has confirmed that its senior military commander, Ibrahim Aqil, was among those killed the israeli envoy at the Un Danny Danon has not mentioned the attacks in lebanon but said his country would do whatever it took to defend itself. These are the latest pictures from beirut. As Rescue Workers continue to search through the rubble of the suburban building destroyed by israel. Its military says it was targeting hezbollah� s radwan forces. It was israels third attack on the lebanese capital this year. We spoke to our correspondents in the region, daniel de simone whos Injerusalem And Hugo bachego whos in lebanon. Hugo began by giving us the latest from beirut. Emergency teams are still searching for people who are believed to be missing and could be under the rubble of this building that collapsed into here, which is the suburb here in beirut. That is hezbollah� s stronghold. And again, this was a major attack. Hezbollah now saying that at least 13 senior members of the group were killed, including two top commanders, Ibrahim Aqil and ahmed wahbi. These were top leaders in the groups elite radwan unit. So again, another major blow for hezbollah. This happens just days after those explosions targeting pagers, Walkie Talkies used by the group in a major Security Breach for hezbollah. And this is obviously humiliating for this group. Hezbollah wants to be seen as a powerful, sophisticated enemy by israel. So, i think here in lebanon, people are obviously waiting to see how hezbollah is going to respond. This is a major escalation in this conflict with israel. But, i think hezbollah doesnt have many options to give a strong response after these attacks, because it has given repeated indications that it is not interested in a major war with israel. Hezbollah is supported by iran. It is important for iran to have a very strong hezbollah here in lebanon, right next to israel. So iran doesnt seem to be interested in a major confrontation either. But i think this is a group that is under pressure. It needs to be seen to be giving a response after this, after this wave of humiliating attacks and major setbacks after these israeli attacks. And daniel, when it comes to the israeli attacks, a major setback for israel itself, because youve got the un especially describing this, the attacks with the Walkie Talkies, the pagers as a violation of what he says, humanitarian law. Thats right. I dont think israel, the israeli government, will see that as a setback. Theres been a lot of criticism by the un of israel, and theres quite a contentious relationship between the un and israel. I think its fair to say. The Israeli Military has spoken, been speaking since yesterday about these strikes in beirut. Theyre seeing this as a major blow against hezbollah, killing senior commanders from the group and other figures. Theyre saying that when they carried out the strike, those people were meeting in a basement in the building, in a residential building in beirut to plot attacks against israelis. And the context for this is really a week of escalation by israel. At the beginning of the week, israel formally set out a War Goal relating to the north. That was the first time theres four War Goals, and until this week there were three. They all related to gaza and hamas. The new one this week relates to 60,000 israelis who have been displaced in the north of the country due to Rocket Fire from hezbollah. And the israeli government has said that they are going to return those people home. What they havent said is how theyre going to do that. But after setting that goal, weve seen a wave of attacks against hezbollah, and that includes the Walkie Talkie and pager explosions. But notjust that. Also very intensive airstrikes on thursday, the airstrike in beirut yesterday, we saw a change in language from the israeli leadership talking about a new phase in the war about the centre of gravity of this war. Moving north, we saw a division of the israeli army moved north from the south. But i think despite all that, its sort of unclear exactly how israel will achieve this goal. Yesterday, hezbollah fired around 200 rockets into northern israel. And so unless, you know, thats why i think theres still quite a lot of speculation here in israel and elsewhere about what else might happen, what else the Israeli Military might do. Theres speculation about whether there might be a Ground Incursion into Southern Lebanon to create a so called buffer zone. That would be the goal of which would be to protect israeli citizens in the north. So as were heading into the weekend, theres a real feeling of what next . What might happen this weekend and what might happen in the coming days . So, as we mentioned, escalating tension there, hugo, just back to you in beirut, in lebanon. Just remind us of the context of this. Of course, you know the region extremely well when it comes to those attacks, those Rocket Launchers and those attacks from israel into lebanon, lebanon, back into israel. The higher percentage actually does come from israel into lebanon. Is that right . Exactly. And weve seen that israel has been responding hard to those rockets that have been fired by hezbollah. Hezbollah says that it is supporting palestinians in gaza with this campaign of targeting, uh, mainly military positions in northern israel, and has been saying that these attacks are going to continue unless there is a ceasefire in gaza. We know that all the efforts so far to try to reach a deal for a ceasefire in gaza have failed. So there was the main hope to try to de escalate tensions here along the border. But hezbollah has always been seen as a much more powerful enemy than hamas. It has tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, including Precision Guided Missiles that can strike deep inside israel. And Hezbollah Hasnt used those more sophisticated missiles in this conflict yet. So there is obviously the possibility that if we see a major escalation in this conflict, a war between Hezbollah And Israel that places deep inside israeli territory could be targeted by those missiles. I think its going to be very interesting to see what hassan nasrallah, the powerful hezbollah leader, will have to say after these latest airstrikes. Again, a major setback for hezbollah, and see how the group is going to respond. Lebanon 5 Minister Of Public Health Dr Firass abiad says the Health Care System is struggling to cope with the number of casualties from this Weeks Pager explosions and air strikes. I think it is a bit overwhelming, in the sense that lebanon has been suffering from multiple crises, as you know, and weve had a portion of our Health Care workers who have left the country as a consequence of the financial crisis. And thats why, you know, preparing for this conflict and these attacks that are ongoing has become pretty much challenging. Now we have, you know, activated our Disaster Management plans, anticipating a large number of casualties. And indeed on, you know, tuesday, we received almost 3000 casualties in a matter of a few hours. Uh, one of the things that is making it more difficult is that really we are seeing, also a lot of civilians that are being injured. I mean, these indiscriminate attacks, unfortunately, are also resulting in a lot of these civilians. And the geographical location is so wide because these pagers were used, you know, by many people in their daily lives. And that meant that almost 90 hospitals had to be involved in the response to that attack. As we were saying a little bit earlier, the united nations high commissionerfor human rights, kurt volker, was saying that this is a violation of international law. The use of these civilian devices, such as pagers and Walkie Talkies. I assume that you would be in accord in agreement with that. I think its a very clear violation, as i said. I mean, the international humanitarian law is, uh, you know, very clear that there is an onus on, even during conflict for the civilians to be isolated or not to be targeted. But unfortunately, what we are seeing within the recent conflicts is that, you know, the parties involved are making no effort to differentiate or, you know, the civilians. And unfortunately, that means its making it much more difficult for Health Care Systems such as ours to prepare for, you know, the results of of these attacks. Israel argues that it has to target hezbollah members because of the continuous firing into and the attacks on its border with lebanon. Whats your response . I think that irrespective of how you want to justify the conflict, but the fact that the international humanitarian law is very clear in the way that it organises conflict, in the sense that during conflict, civilians have to be not targeted, and whoever is doing the targeting, whether it is Israel Or Anybody else, this is a violation of the international humanitarian law that should be stopped. The only problem with israel is that they have a bigger weapon, so to speak, and therefore the tallies of what they are doing is much, much higher and more difficult to deal with. Doctor abiad, help us for our international audience just to understand, in terms of the population of lebanon, how many people are hezbollah members . I dont think anybody knows. I mean, hezbollah is a non state actor. And as you know, we dont have anybody have a good idea how many members there are. But the fact is, those children and those Women Who are killed were not members of hezbollah. Those were civilians that happened to be nearby. And when those explosive devices or, you know, communication devices exploded, they exploded in hospitals, they exploded in markets, they exploded on the streets and therefore, unfortunately, involved everyone else. And we have a live Page Online with the very latest Reaction And Analyis from our correspondents across the region. You will find that on the Bbc News Website and app. A former manager of fulhams womens Football Team has told the bbc precautions were put in place to protect female players from Mohamed Al fayed when he owned the club. Mr Al Fayed, who died last year, has been accused of Sexual Assault by dozens of Women Who worked for harrods, which he sold in 2010. The Department Store says its utterly appalled by the allegations. Simonjones has the latest and a warning, his report contains descriptions of sexual violence. How widespread was Mohamed Al fayeds alleged offending . Dozens of women have come forward to say they were sexually assaulted by him when they worked at harrods. Lawyers say they are also representing women employed by Al Fayed at The Ritz in paris. And now there are questions about the late billionaire� s 16 years in charge of fulham football club. A former manager of fulhams Womens Team says extra precautions were put in place to protect female players from Mohamed Al fayed. Gaute haugenes, who managed the side between 2001 and 2003, said members of staff became aware that he liked young, blonde girls. As a result, players were not allowed to be left alone with him. The club said it was deeply troubled by the disturbing reports relating to harrods, adding lawyers representing Al Fayeds accusers told a News Conference more and more alleged victims were coming forward. We dont at this stage represent any Women Who, for instance, sustained attacks at fulham football club, but our investigations are obviously ongoing. It is highly unlikely that there are not victims out there from these other places of work, wherever he went. There will be victims. One former Harrods Employee Spoke of what happened to her. Mohamed Al Fayed, my boss, the person i worked for, pushed himself onto me. I fell to the floor with him still on top of me but i managed to kick free. He just laughed at me. He then composed himself and he told me in no uncertain terms that i was never to breathe a word of this to anyone. Harrods said the Department Store today is a very different organisation from the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010. It has reached financial settlements with the majority of people who have approached it since 2023. The Ritz Paris says it strongly condemns any form of behaviour that does not align with the values of the establishment. A man now branded a monster the legal team representing many of his accusers says it has not ruled out Launching Proceedings against Al Fayeds estate. Simon jones, bbc news. We do of course have much more on that story on our website and also advice on where to get advice if you have been affected. Now its time for a look at todays sport. Anthonyjoshua has a chance this saturday night, tojoin a elite group of legends, the likes of mohammed ali, if he can become a 3 time world heavyweight champion. Hes taking on londoner daniel dubois, the champion, in this all british heavyweight title, fight. The two boxers, then had their traditional face off. This was in trafalgar square. Joshua weighed in at 18 stone, with dubois, a few pounds less at 17. 10 thats still the heaviest hes been. A Post War Record crowd, of 96,000 fans, are expected to pack out Wembley Stadium later. The london roars, went up forjoshua, and he had a message for his fans, ahead of the fight. Its a blessing to be back again, to be able to perform, prove to myself, prove to my team that i have listened to a Go Home and make a player for after a much more positive 2024 and hoping to return to the worlds top 50 theres now, another Injury Blow for emma radacanu. Its been a disappointing morning for her, on the other side of the world, as she was forced to retirejust half an hour, into her korea open, quarter final against daria kasatkina, Herfirst Tournament since her opening round elimination, at the Us Open. The 2021 Us Open champion, was trailing 4 1 in the opening set, when she had a medical time out, because of a problem with her left ankle. Radacanu, whos still only 21 was given what appeared to be pain killers, but she lasted just two more games, losing the set 6 1, before retiring from the match. Two great rivals have clashed in Rugby Union this Morning And Australias 22 year wait, to win the bledisloe cup, goes on, after they were beaten again by holders New Zealand in sydney. The All Blacks looked on course to surpass the record winning margin of 37 points in a bledisloe fixture, when they raced into a 21 Nil Lead inside 15 minutes Caleb Clark scoring the third try. But australia fought back, in impressive fashion from that point, salvaging some pride, and running in 4 tries, but it wasnt enough losing 31 28. The Return Fixture takes place next week in wellington. Now in the Premier League this saturday, the early game is a london derby, between West Ham and Chelsea Whove both had mixed starts to the season. Chelsea sit in seventh after four games, having finished in sixth last season, and their new manager Enzo Maresca says hes under no pressure to get into the top four this season. Since i met the first time, the owners, they never. They mention the target was top four. Ifeel this is a good squad. To improve is not something automatic. You need progress. The Big Game of the weekend, is on sunday, when leaders manchester City Host second placed arsenal, so today theres a chance for newcastle to snatch top spot for a day at least if they can win at fulham, and liverpool could do with a big win At Home against bournemouth. Both everton away at leicester and southampton, At Home to ipswich, are still searching for their first point. For more on these and other sports stories, plenty of cricket going on today with australia right one going for their 14th one Day Win in a row it would be their seventh straight win over england in o. D eyes that is under way at Headingley In Leeds you can go to our website. Thats bbc. Com. Sport. Let 5 get some of the day 5 other news now. A new Zealand Pilot has been freed after more than 18 months in captivity in indonesias papua region. Phillip mehrtens was held by an armed faction of the West Papua national Liberation Army after he landed a small commercial plane in a remote, mountainous area. Hes now having medical check ups. The us state of South Carolina has carried out its first execution in thirteen years, just days after the key Witness For The Prosecution proclaimed that the Death Row Inmate was innocent. Freddie owens had been convicted of killing a Shop Worker during an Armed Robbery in 1997. On wednesday, his Co Defendant in the crime, steven golden, told the State Supreme Court that owens had not even been present when the robbery took place. But the court rejected a last Minute Motion for a stay of execution. Pope francis has criticised Police Action against protesters in his home country, argentina, where president Javier Milei has implemented an Austerity Plan to try to curb hyperinflation. In a video released by the vatican, the pope said he had seen video of police � repression� , as he put it, against workers and pensioners. Voting is under way in Sri Lanka to choose a new president who its hoped can repair the countrys finances after its catastrophic economic collapse two years ago which sparked mass protests and toppled the government. There are a record 38 candidates vying to be the next president , but none is a woman. Our south East Asia Correspondent Samira Hussein is in colombo. There has been a steady stream of people coming into this Polling Station to vote but of course live television and there is no one right this second but these elections are really important because they are the first president ial elections since those mass protests. You will remember these phenomenal photos of people storming the president ial palace. Well, that protest ended up toppling the government and i actually have a guest with me now. He was one of the protesters at that time. I want to know what do you think has changed since those protests so long ago . I think people have started to understand the power that they have as a citizen and how much influence they have on governance and how important it is to elect people. People have learnt how important it is to elect a responsible person and how much they need to give more attention as to what these people are, who they are and what theyre capable of. What are the biggest issues for you in this election . I think for me the economic crisis is something that affects everybody but for me personally the economic crisis and especially the accountability and the Justice Aspect when it comes from the part of the state. We have still not seen any sort of accountability taken by those who are responsible for the economic Crisis Orfor the ministers and the parliamentarians who are not simply accused but were found guilty or were found attached to some sort of a scam. So there is this constant getaway. Like, when you are in power you get to get away with it. But since the uprising, people are now calling for more Accountability And Justice and i think that is something that whoever comes into power will have to deliver. Just to be clear, a lot of the blame for that economic crisis is named at the feet of politicians after decades of mismanagement. Im wondering how hopeful you are for Sri Lankas future . The supreme court itself decided, gave a verdict on who is responsible for the economic crisis. I think that is a good place to start. The supreme court named those who are responsible for it. But were also seeing in the current state where there is a conflict between the judiciary and executive. So whoever comes into power, maybe this election will send a message as to how much the demands are of the people. So i think this will be a Turning Point for Sri Lanka. Excellent, thank you very much for your time. That is a political activist who participated in those protests two years ago. In terms of when we will get the results, it is going to take a little while because as you pointed out there are 38 candidates that are running in these elections, so we dont expect to get a clear sense of the winner until sometime tomorrow. Voting, the just the last few voting moments, as Sri Lanka votes for a new president. Results expected tomorrow. This weekend marks the 80th Anniversary of one of the major us and british operations against germany in the second world war. The objective of Operation Market Garden was to advance into german held territory in the netherlands with a bridgehead over the lower rhine. The aim of the operation was to strike a decisive blow against hitlers troops that could help shorten the war. But the largest airborne assault in history ultimately failed, due to a combination of strong german resistance and poor weather conditions, which led to huge casualties on both sides. To mark the Anniversary Hundreds of paratroopers are jumping from planes over the dutch city of arnhem in a Re Enaction of the operation. Hello again we had some pretty intense downpours. Storms will continue across mainly southern england, into the midlands and across wales those could be really quite intense. Lots of rainfall in a short space of time. Not everybody is going to see those heavy downpours. Theyll be very hit and miss their will be some sunny spells particularly towards central and eastern areas. Therell be some sunshine across north West England. The central and Eastern Scotland its going to remain fairly cloudy but cloud holding on temperatures on those North Sea coasts around 16 or 17. Those North Sea coasts around 16 or17. Thro those North Sea coasts around 16 or 17. Thro tonight well continue with the thundery downpours many affecting North Wales before another batch of storm start to move in during the early hours of sunday morning. You might get woken up by the rumble of thunder. Temperatures staying up, so quite a mild if not warm light. Those storms will continue during sunday, we could see some travel disruption, some flash flooding. Similarto today. Further north its looking likely dry with some sunshine across the north and the west. Staying fairly cloudy. Through late sunday, into the evening, though showers across the south. That continues into monday we got this area of low pressure. Very wet conditions from south went West England rain is going to stick around for most of the day. Forthe stick around for most of the day. For the north its going to get a little chillier. From mid week onward will see this arctic air. Temperatures will drop below the average. Quite unsettled but by thursday or friday. Even in the south feeling much more like autumn. This is bbc news, the headlines. Hezbollah confirms senior commanders are among the 31 people killed in an israeli strike on beirut. At least three children are also dead. Rescue workers are continuing to search through the rubble of a high Rise Building targeted in the attack. Fresh revelations about former Harrods Owner Mohamed Al fayed. A Fulham Football Manager tells the bbc extra precautions were put in place to protect female players. People in Sri Lanka are voting in the first election since the countrys economic meltdown two years ago. There are a record 38 candidates running for president. Hundreds of nato paratroopers are re enacting one of the major allied military operations of the second world war. Here the Labour Party is opening its first conference in government for 15 years. Members can expect celebrations and sobering messages
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