Hello, i'm carl nasman. We start in the middle east, where there have been more overnight israeli strikes in the lebanese capital, beirut. These pictures show a large explosion following one of those strikes. Earlier on saturday, the israeli military had issued orders to residents of specific buildings in southern beirut to evacuate. We don't yet know what was hit in the strikes — but israeli forces have bombed areas reported to be hezbollah strongholds. They have also clashed with hezbollah fighters in lebanon's southern border region. The israeli military says it has killed 440 hezbollah fighters since the start of the ground invasion. Meanwhile the border region remains tense — hezbollah has fired rockets into northern israel, with reports that residential buildings were hit. Also on saturday, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu addressed iran's missile attack on his country earlier this week, saying, israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks — and we will do so. Shortly after that large blast took place in beirut, i spoke to our correspondent there, anna foster. We have seen and heard that really particularly powerful explosion from an israeli air strike. Now, the reason we know it was an israeli air strike is because the idf, particularly at night, tend to issue warnings — they do not do it for every air strike, but around about midnight at local time, we do often see on social media platforms, they have maps of certain areas, the southern suburbs where hezbollah are based and ask people in those areas to evacuate to an area of about 500 metres clear. That is what happened again this evening, which is why we believe these were idf strikes full of those warnings. What is different is really, as you can see, the visual impact of this particular explosion, this huge orange ball of flame rising into the sky. Here, people are trying to work out now what could have been hit to produce that sort of effect. In the lebanese media, there were early suggestions it might have hit a petrol station, because there is one there in that area. Whether or not that was the target, we don't know — it may be that a building nearby was the target and then the petrol station may have ignited. That is one thing that is being discussed here. But there have also been some secondary flashes here, what looked like secondary explosions, so again, people saying perhaps it means some sort of weapons storage area that's been hit. Hezbollah said a few days ago that they said they were not storing weapons in those areas. We know that actually, strikes over the last week or two weeks including the one that killed hassan nasrallah, the leader of hezbollah, have been focused on that area because that is where the top hezbollah leadership are. So at the moment it is too early to say what it was, what was hit, what the specific target was, but what we do know and what you can see is how powerful that explosion was that was heard and seen from all over the city. A look at those live images coming out of beirut. You can see what we believe to be a second strike. The plume of smoke rising into the sky, you can see flames and made that cluster of buildings. In terms of where this strike is, if you look beyond that cluster of lights, we believe that is the airport area in beirut, so obviously a very populated area, we believe the airport is still functioning at this hour, but this is about five in the morning, you can see there, israeli strikes hitting several different targets in the lebanese capital. Fighting is also continuing in gaza. Israeli warplanes are reported to have struck a mosque in deir—al—balah in central gaza, killing several people. Palestinian doctors said at least 20 others were wounded in the attack on the facility, which was housing displaced people. Israel says it struck a hamas command centre there. For more analysis on where the conflict goes from here, i wasjoined by merissa khurma, director of the middle east programme at the wilson center think tank. This was really a explosion, wasn't it? yes, this was a massive explosion and unfortunately, the capital city of lebanon has been witnessing many of these explosions over the last week plus. People are terrified, you know, over the course of the last 11 months, they have watched what happened in gaza after the horrific hamas attacks of october 7th, they have seen the destruction and the killing of more than 40,000 people. So they are very worried that this is exactly the fate of their capital city. We don't know what exactly the israelis were bombing at this time, but of course, they are always after the top commanders, as your correspondent mentioned, they have already eliminated many of them including hassan nasrallah, but of course, there's also a risk as this war continues and deepens further into lebanon, that this develops into idf mission creep, which may result in the idf re—occupying certain parts of southern lebanon. We have seen intense fighting at the border, so it does not look like this is ending any time soon. I mean, we heard from the idf warning residents about one hour before the suspected strikes to place to move to safer areas but we do know of course this is a densely populated civilian area, also a hezbollah stronghold. Just walk us through the humanitarian situation right now in lebanon — many, many people currently displaced from their homes. The humanitarian situation is deteriorating very, very rapidly. This is also happening in a country that is almost a failed state, with a very dire economic situation, over 70% of the population are basically under the poverty line. High unemployment, shortages in food and fuel before even the war started. We hosted the lebanese foreign minister this past week at the wilson center and he said there are very few shelters. We have seen footage and photos of people sleeping on the street, children and families sleeping in parking lots, and of course those who are displaced, there are over one million, 1. 2 million as your correspondent mentioned, but there is rapidly also a food shortage, even coming through humanitarian aid agencies, and a lot of pressure on the health system, so they need a lot of medical supplies. So it's a truly horrific situation and increasingly becoming more and more difficult to control. It also seems as though the international pressure might be growing now in israel. We heard the french president, emmanuel macron, call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire lebanon, he also said that countries should stop shipping weapons to israel. Prime minister netanyahu called those comments hypocritical, but what do you make of forceful comments from the french president? these are very forceful comments, unprecedented particularly that now we see all of this happening and unfolding in lebanon with high casualties, civilian casualties in particular. But i think what's important to note here is that yes, he called for a halt of deliveries of weapons, but then french tv also confirmed that missile defence aid or systems will not be halted. It is expected for the international community to reach this point and put more pressure, but at the end of the day, the one country that continues to support israel is the united states, and as netanyahu said, they will win with or without you, because of the unwavering support that they receive from the united states. Briefly, where do you see the united states right now in lebanon, in trying to mediate some sort of potential ceasefire there but also in terms of potential response by israel for iran's recent missile attacks? with regards to lebanon, there was a 21 day ceasefire proposal that this administration was working on, but there were also mixed messages with senior administration officials saying that they also gave the nod to israel to go ahead and go after hezbollah. So these are mixed messages and it becomes very difficult for the united states to lead negotiations or any ceasefire talks with these types of reports coming out. I think the window for a ceasefire is very, very narrow. But with regards to an israeli response to the iranian missile attack, well, centre com chief general corolla is in israel, i assume meeting with senior military officials in israel, advising them on the response, but we are yet to see where this is going to happen and when. One thing for sure, which is what the idf spokesperson highlighted today, is that it will be a significant attack. Donald trump has finished a rally in butler, pennsylvania — the site where he survived an assassination attempt injuly. This was the moment mr tump walked on stage — as some of his supporters held signs that read fight fight fight — a call—back to the moment when the former president stood up and pumped his fist after being injured by bullets fired by a gunman on a rooftop. 0ne rally—goer was killed and two others injured in the attack. The former president reflected on that moment at the start of his remarks, calling his would—be assassin a vicious monster. Exactly 12 weeks ago this evening on this very ground, a cold—blooded assassin aimed to silence me and to silence the greatest movement, maga, in the history of our country. Maga. We love maga. For 16 harrowing seconds during the gunfire, time stopped as this vicious monster unleashed pure evil from his sniper�*s perch, not so far away. But by the hand of providence and the grace of god, that villain did not succeed in his goal. Did not come close. I spoke about the symbolism of the event with eric cortellessa — time magazine's national political correspondent. Eric, we heard the opening remarks from the president saying, where was i? picking up kind of some unfinished business, it seems. Well, yes. He certainly pitched it as a defiant speech, an attempt to come back to where he survived an assassination attempt and present himself as someone who will not buckle to a collection of forces trying to stop his ascent back to the white house, so i think what you're seeing is donald trump trying to reignite some of the momentum he had gained after the shooting. We go back to that day, and in the days after he survived that attempt on his life, he was in a better position to win the white house than at any other point since. A lot has changed since given the entry of kamala harris and the way in which she has been raising a lot of money, more than he has been, and he went back to pennsylvania, where right now they are neck and neck in the polls. I guess, just sticking with politics for a second, do we have a sense right now, it's been a couple of months, what kind of effect that event had, whether or not this really did reshape the race, or whether that has already kind of flowed away? i think it goes to showjust how erratic an election cycle is in the current era. In the week after the shooting, donald trump was projected to win by pretty much every major pollster, every forecast model had him up, joe biden was still competitive at the time but within a week, joe biden dropped out of the race, just a week later, then the following sunday after that weekend, joe biden announced he would not seek to run for re—election and kamala harris consolidated the democratic support very quickly. And it'sjust an entirely new race. I think basically, all the momentum and goodwill that he engendered after surviving an assassination attempt is really the mark of a previous chapter in this campaign cycle. A lot of the beginning of this rally was almost like a memorialfor the people injured, the man killed at that original rally back injuly, but this was a bigger rally, there were many people there including elon musk, the tech billionaire, owner of the platform x, what kind of effect do you think that kind of endorsement might have in terms of giving trump a bit of a boost? well, elon musk did endorse trump right after the assassination attempt, so it had a kind of symbolic significance as well. Elon musk obviously is a powerful and influential person, he's a billionaire, the owner of one of the most, if not the most powerful communications platform in the world. I don't think elon musk necessarily gets a trump any more votes than he already has. He is someone who is very popular and kind of the fraternity—like podcast circuit, has a specific following that is already pretty aligned with maga and other influencers who are already in the trump camp. I don't think elon musk necessarily helps trump gain new voters but at best he can help to excite a certain segment of the trump base. Security is a lot tighter, donald trump was speaking from behind bullet—proof glass that was there to protect him. Do you have a sense right now how much confidence there is in the secret service to keep donald trump and also kamala harris safe as this campaign continues? i know the donald trump's close aides and confidants had worried about his security detail before the shooting which was one of the reasons why it generated a lot of anxiety and a strong response, and the fact that there was another incident months later at his golf course of course — that incident, one of the members of his security detail, the secret service, identified the shooter before trump got within range and was able to neutralise the threat. I think that the secret service is under siege since these two events took place and they have ramped up their security ever since. So i'm sure there are still concerns, but there has also been ramped up details since especially the original incident in butler. Meanwhile, vice president kamala harris on saturday visited north carolina, which is reeling from damage caused by the deadly hurricane helene. The us department of transportation has released $100 million to north carolina to rebuild its roads and bridges damaged by the storm. North carolina is one of the states most severely affected by helene. Our partner cbs news reports that about half of the 229 deaths attributed to helene have been recorded there. A two—year—old child is among four people who have died trying to cross the channel from france to england. French authorities say it's likely he was trampled to death in a boat whose engine failed. The bodies of a woman and two men were found in the bottom of another vessel. Aru na iyengar reports. Dozens of migrants off the coast of dover today, as news came from france of four more fatalities, including a two—year—old boy. French officials said the toddler, born in germany, had been separated from his somali mother by the smugglers when boarding the boat and was trampled to death. Translation: to secure their profits, _ the unscrupulous smugglers did not hesitate to separate young children from their parents. The parents were not allowed access to the boat, while the child alone had already been forced into the boat. Rescuers off the coast of calais found the bodies of two men and a woman in the bottom of another boat. 2024 is now the deadliest on record for migrants crossing the channel — 51 lives lost so far this year. Recent good weather has seen a spike in numbers — 395 arrived in the uk on friday alone. Over 25,000 have come sincejanuary — around the same as this time last year. Home secretary yvette cooper says she will meet with her french counterpart next week to discuss how to tackle the problem. Aruna iyengar, bbc news. The democratic republic of congo has launched its first vaccination campaign against the deadly mpox virus. A hospital in the eastern city of goma kicked off the campaign, which will target high—risk groups such as children and pregnant women. Nearly 1,000 people have been killed by mpox in the drc this year — 70% of whom were children under five. Joining me live is dr anne rimoin — professor of epidemiology at the university of california, los angeles. She is also a member of the mpox emergency committee under the who. It's great to talk to you about this, vaccination is finally under way in the drc, how effective do you think there will be a stopping this outbreak?— will be a stopping this outbreak? ~. �* , outbreak? well, what we've seen in the 2022 _ outbreak? well, what we've seen in the 2022 outbreak _ outbreak? well, what we've seen in the 2022 outbreak is _ outbreak? well, what we've seen in the 2022 outbreak is that in the 2022 outbreak is that these vaccines played a very important role in being able to stop the spread of the virus. It's not the only thing that will make a difference, you need to be able to do risk to munication, you need to be able to get out and give people opportunity to protect themselves, to understand risk. Thatin themselves, to understand risk. That in concert with vaccination will make a big difference. Then you have to work on being able to treat cases of mpox and being able to give these hospitals and health facilities opportunity to be able to do so and for health workers to understand it so there's a lot of work to be done, but these vaccines are going to be very important in terms of being able to stem this outbreak, to slow in town and to make a big dent. H0??? and to make a big dent. How challenging _ and to make a big dent. How challenging do _ and to make a big dent. How challenging do you _ and to make a big dent. How challenging do you think this pull—out could be? this is a big country, about 100 million people, it's a big thing to get those vaccines there but could this maybe be a difficult roll—out? this maybe be a difficult rollout?— this maybe be a difficult rollout? absolutely. We learned _ rollout? absolutely. We learned this _ rollout? absolutely. We learned this with rollout? absolutely. We learned this with covid, l rollout? absolutely. We l learned this with covid, it's notjust learned this with covid, it's not just about getting learned this with covid, it's notjust about getting vaccines someplace, it is getting vaccines into arms, and in the drc it is a problem that is compounded by logistics, by infrastructure in terms of roads, being able to keep vaccines at the appropriate temperature, there are so many different pieces of this that will be complicated. Plus we also have to think about vaccine acceptance and how the population that is quite a bit of the vaccine will be able to accept getting vaccinated. These are all big questions the need to be addressed. Need to be addressed. Many eole need to be addressed. Many people across _ need to be addressed. Many people across the _ need to be addressed. Many people across the continent | people across the continent might be asking, what took so long? this is an outbreak now that has killed nearly people already this year, 70% as we heard, are under the age of five. What was really the hold—up? five. What was really the holdup?— five. What was really the holdup? five. What was really the holdu? ~ , holdup? well, mpox has been something _ holdup? well, mpox has been something that _ holdup? well, mpox has been something that has _ holdup? well, mpox has been something that has been holdup? well, mpox has been i something that has been endemic in drc for decades. It is not a new virus. But seeing this rapid increase was something that was unprecedented. We needed to get an emergency declaration, we needed to be able to get resources out there, but also a reminder that there, but also a reminder that there is always disparity in terms of how the world views these outbreaks. We have known it's been a problem for a while. When it was in high resource settings, the world acted a lot more quickly. Unfortunately, we continued to see africa and other low resource settings suffer from response that is just not as rapid and not as robust. Dr anne rimoin, always good to have you, a member of the mpox emergency committee under the drc, thinking. —— thank you. It started withjust 13 runners in a london park — well now, two decades later, millions of people take part in parkrun, a free 5km race that takes place each week in more than 20 countries. Charlotte gallagher has the story. It's a weekend ritual for thousands of people across the uk and beyond. And this is where it all started — bushy park in london. Back in 2004, there were just 13 runners taking part. Just look at the crowd now. Everybody who was at the very first parkrun, 20 years ago, was given one of these gold barcodes on the tenth anniversary, so we're called the parkrun pioneers. It'sjust a social thing, and i think that's missing in the world so much these days. So, yeah, walk, run, volunteer, just come and have a coffee, that's the best thing. It gets the heart rate going. It's just good to get out, and it's a good start to the weekend as well. I'm going to count you down from 20. 20, go! and runners in great yarmouth get the picturesque sea views. There have been millions of miles covered, lifelong friendships made, and even some parkrun romances, like lucy and terry. Brought us together. Yeah. Got her down here on a winter's day and summer's day and all the rest of it, and, yeah. Brilliant, it's been fantastic, changed our lives, hasn't it? it has, it has. And we started talking over covid, _ didn't we, to start with? yeah. And then sort of, i think because i had covid, _ so i had a costa delivered, and that's how it _ started, really! and this is the man behind it all — paul sinton—hewitt. It's a wonderful story. It's, everybody is in this together. We are all invited. Inclusive for everybody. And yes, you're right, there are many, many people whose lives have been changed because of parkrun. The average time people take to finish the course is slowing down, but for paul, that's good news. That shows that more and more average, regular people are involved in parkrun. It's not about athletics, it's not about competition. We invite you to be the best you possibly can be. Well done, everyone. Parkrun is now in 23 countries and even held in some prisons. The event, which started with just a handful of people, is set to run and run. Charlotte gallagher, bbc news, bushy park. Several bbc colleagues are out on that park run so keep your eyes out. One more story to bring you — music legend dolly parton has announced she will make a personal donation — of $1 million towards disaster recovery efforts in the wake of hurricane helene which tore through the south—east us last week. In addition to a personal donation of $1 million the dollywood foundation will also donate 1 million for relief. These are live images coming from beirut, you see the aftermath of what we believe to be another israeli air strike, this all taking place overnight, several strikes targeting what israel says our hezbollah targets, this is always a very densely populated part of the city. We will continue to follow that story for you here on bbc news. Hello. A weather front is approaching us, and that does mean a lot of cloud for many of us on sunday. Quite a few showers too, some of them will be heavy, but i think early in the morning, if you're closer to the north sea coast, there'll be some sunshine. Let's have a look at the satellite picture. Here's the jet stream pushing the weather front towards us, and that weather front brought a spell of very wet weather saturday evening for cornwall and devon. But i want to talk about the next few days and highlight this feature here. This dartboard low coming out of the tropics — that's actually a hurricane which will transition into an extratropical weather system or a mid—latitude weather system. And look at it. If you eyeball it, it's ominously heading in our direction — or is it? well, actually, there's a lot of uncertainty. It could go to the south of us, taking its very strong winds and rain. It could just about clip us. And it looks as though midweek we could see some potentially bad weather across the south of the uk. But it's still some days away and there's really a lot of uncertainty with this weather system. So keep track of the weather forecast. Now, here's the here and now, or sunday morning, temperatures hovering around 10 degrees, so it's not too cold first thing. And rather a lot of cloud with this weather front sweeping off the atlantic, remember, pushed by that jet stream. A lot of showers through the morning and lunchtime across western areas, around the irish sea, into northern ireland. Again, the further east you are, so closer to that north sea coast, the drier it will be. There might be some sunshine around. But i want to show you what's going to happen later on sunday afternoon and evening. The showers in the south really could be quite heavy, downpours moving through parts of wales, into the midlands and also through the peak district and into northern england, but clearing up towards the southwest later. Now, monday, ithink the gaps between the showers will be bigger, but there'll still be plenty of showers around, so you'll need your brolly at some point or another, but at least we'll have the sunny spells. How about the temperatures on monday? at best, 17 in the sunshine. Most of us around about 15 or 16 degrees. So, that's monday. How about the week ahead? well, we talked about that potentially bad weather coming to the south, but look at this. By the end of the week, we'll see colder northerly winds developing across the uk. And look at that temperature drop — in london from 18 down to 12, cardiff from 17 to 11 degrees. So there's a real chill in the air coming in about a week's time. Bye— bye. This is bbc news. We'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. It's all very combustible, isn't it? huge violence in the middle east and an american election about to happen. Two questions, then. Does the election affect the conflict in the middle east? and does the conflict affect the election in america? those two questions of course hugely important, both hugely complex, and the answer to each of them can be yes or no. So, they do not necessarily cancel each other out. But there is no question at all that what is happening in the middle east matters in america, and what happens in america matters in the middle east. Welcome to americast.