from new york, the bbc s michelle fleury reports. major western brands have found themselves hit by a grassroots often unplanned boycotts because of their stance on the israel palestine conflict. this includes mcdonald s. the burger chain came a target became a target after videos online showing them giving away thousands of free meals to the members of the israeli military. this resulted in boycotts of the brand. owners and muslim majority countries such as kuwait and pakistan put out statements distancing themselves. in a message on linkedin, mcdonald s ceo wrote that the burger chain is experiencing a meaningful business impacted due to the war and associated misinformation. all of this in the middle east and beyond because of the war in gaza. he added, this is disheartening and ill founded, pointing that many of the restaurants are operated by local owners. he didn t elaborate on the scale of the impact, but mcdonald s has around 2,000 restaurants in the region. it isn
welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we start with the us secretary of state, antony blinken, who is headed to the middle east to visit israel, the west bank, and seven countries over the next week. the us state department says during mr blinken s trip, he will seek immediate increase in aid to gaza as the strip continues to deal with a humaniatarian crisis. the trip comes as the uk foreign secretary, david cameron, warns israel must allow more aid into gaza in order to avoid starvation and large outbreaks of disease. and there are reports of dozens more deaths from air strikes in southern gaza, as israel continues its military operation there. and in lebanon, people gathered for the funeral of deputy hamas leader saleh al arouri. he was killed earlier this week in an explosion. hezbollah a powerful iranian backed group in lebanon has blamed that attack on what it says was flagrant israeli aggression . israel has not commented, but
in beirut on tuesday. hezbollah a powerful paramilitary and political group in lebanon has blamed that attack on what it says was flagra nt israeli aggression. israel has not commented. both hamas and hezbollah proscribed terrorists organisations in many countries have close ties to iran which itself is holding a day of mourning, after 84 people were killed by explosions near an event to mark the anniversary of the death of the iranian general qasem soleimani. alongside this several nations have issued a warning to the houthi militants in yemen who are also close to iran to stop the attacks on shipping in the key lanes in the red sea. and of course the fighting in israel and gaza which has played a role in sparking all this there are reports of dozens more deaths from air strikes in southern gaza as israel continues its military operation. live now to our middle east correspondent hugo bachega in beirut. explain who this man, the leader of hamas was, t
in beirut on tuesday. hezbollah, a powerful paramilitary and political group in lebanon, has blamed that attack on what it says was flagra nt israeli aggression . israel has not commented. both hamas and hezbollah, banned terrorist organisations in many countries, have close ties to iran, which itself is holding a day of mourning after 84 people were killed by explosions near an event to mark the anniversary of the death of the iranian general qasem soleimani. the islamic state group has now said it carried out that attack in the southern city of kerman. alongside this, several nations have issued a warning to the houthi militants in yemen, who are also close to iran, to stop the attacks on shipping in the key lanes in the red sea. and, of course, the fighting in israel and gaza which has played a role in sparking all this there are reports of dozens more deaths from air strikes in southern gaza as israel continues its military operation. let s start with the funeral of th
also on the programme. the latest developments in the middle east. including the funeral of a hamas deputy leader in lebanon. thousands of people were there. prince andrew and bill clinton are named in files relating to sex offenderjeffrey epstein. we ll look at what we ve learnt. and ai terrorism, stethescopes and keyboard keys. all in our weekly look at artificial intelligence ai. decoded is coming up. plenty of elections around the world this year. now know a bit more about what could be happening here in the uk. rishi sunak says the general election is likely to happen in the second half of this year . he didn t rule out it happening earlier but says his working assumption is later this year. opposition labour party leader keir starmer says sunak is squatting in downing street for months on end . here s our political editor chris mason reports. can i welcome to you this morning, rishi sunak, the prime minister? mansfield in nottinghamshire a town the conservatives