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
welcome to the programme. we start in the middle east. iran s supreme leader says there ll be a harsh response, after at least 95 people were killed, by two explosions in the southeastern city of kerman. the blasts were near the saheb al zaman mosque, where thousands of people had gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of a senior general, who was killed in a us drone strike in 2020. caroline hawley reports. the roads leading to the cemetery were packed with people who had gone to qasem soleimani. officials say the bombs had been planted in bags and were apparently set off by remote control. whoever did this was clearly aiming to cause mass casualties. the iranian red crescent said their efforts to evacuate the injured were complicated by the size of the crowds. and a first bomb was followed swiftly by a second, more deadly explosion. it comes four years to the day since qasem soleimani was killed himself in an american drone attack while on a visit to iraq. general so
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
against the company for faciliating financierjefrey epstein s sex trafficking ring. a woman listed anonoymously as jane doe in court papers filed the suit last year on behalf of herself and other accusers. she alleged deutsche bank did business with epstein for five years while knowing he was using money in his bank accounts to further his sex trafficking activity. the lawsuit alleged the bank ignored red flags including payments to numerous young women. epstein took his own life in a federaljail in new york in 2019 while awaiting trail on sex trafficking charges. the journal reports the settlement is expected to compensate dozens of epstein s accusers. in a statement to the newspaper, a spokesman for the bank said: in recent years deutsche bank has made considerable progress inremedying a number of past issues. according to thejournal s sources, the bank did not admit any wrongdoing as part of this settlement. this information has not been verified by the bbc but we
on russia to help bring an end to the ukraine war. a woman s suing a rape crisis charity because she felt she couldn t speak at a support group after a transgender woman began coming to the same meeting. coming up: i m at wimbledon for day two to as two of the greats of the game, serena williams and rafael nadal, return. and coming up on the bbc news channel, england s women are currently in action against south africa on day two of their one off test. we will bring you all the latest from taunton. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. an abandoned lorry has been discovered in the us state of texas close to the border with mexico with the bodies of 46 people, believed to be migrants, inside. the fire chief in the city of san antonio described finding stacks of bodies after someone heard a cry for help. 16 survivors among them four children are being treated for heat exhaustion. richard galpin reports. dozens of emergency vehicles try to get to the aban