i m sally bundock. a very warm welcome to the programme. we start in hong kong where the high profile trial of the former media tycoon and pro democracy campaigner jimmy lai has, in the last few hours, got under way. the 76 year old was originally arrested in 2020, accused of undermining the territory s national security through articles published in his apple daily newspaper and on social media. mr lai has been held in solitary confinement for the past three years since his writing was deemed to be illegal under new legislation imposed by beijing. security was tight around the court for the start of his trial. mr lai who is also a british citizen has pleaded not guilty to all charges. the united states and britain have condemned the trial and have urged the authorities in hong kong to release businessman. we ll be live outside the court in hong kong shortly. first, this report from our diplomatic correspondent james landale. jimmy lai used to be a powerful media boss in
earlier this week, the hacking group, shinyhunters, said it had hacked the personal details of more than half a billion ticketmaster customers. with me is our business reporter simon browning. iamjust i am just staggered, it is 500 million ticketmaster customers. you sate perfectly- million ticketmaster customers. 7m. sate perfectly. this million ticketmaster customers. 7m, sate perfectly. this is a massive attack. a significant, significant and a huge hike. firstly, ticketmaster, a company we know all around the world if like festivals, concerts, comedians, it is likely you have used ticketmaster s platforms to book tickets to go to those events. millions of customers, millions have signed up, millions have given over their data. it was first reported on thursday when hackers said they had hacked ticketmaster but there was no confirmation of that but this morning in a filing in the us in the security and exchange commission, the owners of ticketmaster indicated there had b
would begin with a six week ceasefire in which the israeli forces would withdrawn from populated areas of gaza. there would also be a surge of humanitarian aid as well as an exchange of some hostages for palestinian prisoners. the president said it was time for this war to end . hamas issued a statement saying it was ready to deal a statement saying positively with any proposal offering a permanent ceasefire and a complete israeli withdrawal. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the plan was in line with israel s demands that the war would not end until its hostages were released and hamas no longer ruled gaza or posed a military threat. our first report this hour is from vincent mcaviney. after almost eight months of israeli response to the 7th october attacks by hamas, gaza lays largely in ruins, with the lives of palestinians who call it home turned upside down. more than 36,000 have been killed across the region, according to the hamas run health ministry.
diane abbott, is free to stand for election in her north london constituency. it follows days of wrangling over her future, following suspension from the party, over comments she made about how jewish, irish and traveller people, experience racism. she was re admitted to labour on wednesday. ms abbott has yet to say, if she ll stand. here s our political correspondent, helen catt. the story that s been rumbling on for most of this week has now come to a sort of conclusion after sir keir starmer said that diane abbott, a very long serving labour mp, she was the first black woman elected to parliament, is free to stand as a labour mp at this election. she had claimed she was being blocked by the party. so what we re waiting to hear from in the next few days is to hear from diane abbott herself. she hasn t commented publicly since sir keir starmer said this yesterday, so we re waiting to hear from her to confirm if she will indeed do so. the crucial thing, though, is that it is