uk officials in france are preparing to fly home a british teenager who was found after being missing for six years. alex batty, now 17, disappeared after travelling to spain with his mother and grandfather. the boy was discovered on wednesday near the city of toulouse. in the past hour, manchester police gave a short update to the media. i think ithinki i think i speak on behalf of the whole of the greater manchester police when we say we are relieved and overjoyed to say we received the news from the french authorities they believe alex batty has been found safe and well. it has been six years since his disappearance. this is a huge moment for alex, his family and the community in oldham. alex went missing whilst on holiday in 2017 when he was just 11 years old. on wednesday, a member of the public reported a potential cycling in toulouse area of france. the young man identified as alan alex was taken to a french police station. the young man and alex s, the spoke on a vide
welcome to bbc news now three hours of fast moving news, interviews and reaction. prince interviews and reaction. harry has called on interviews and reaction. police and the financial regulator on police and the financial regulator to investigate mirror group newspapers after he was awarded £140,000 in damages in a historic lawsuit for phone hacking. the high courtjudge. mrjustice fancourt rules that phone hacking was rife within mirror group and that prince harry s personal phone was targeted between 2003 and 2009. he says 15 of 33 sample articles were the product of phone hacking or the product of other unlawful information gathering. the duke of sussex became the first senior british royal for 130 years to appear as a witness in court this summer, after he sued the publisherfor damages. the mirror group has apologised. a statement issued by the spokesperson for the publisher says, where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full respon
about moving to what it describes as a more precise phase of military operations have been constructive, with further diplomatic efforts due to take place today. president biden spoke by phone to israel s prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his national security advisorjake sullivan held face to face talks with him. it s understood the american leadership discussed a scaling back of israel s high intensity military operations in gaza but with no specific timetable. mr biden said he didn t want israel to stop going after hamas, but he also wanted it to be focused on how to save civilian lives. mr sullivan is due to meet officials from the palestinian authority in the west bank in the coming hours. meanwhile, israel has continued its heavy bombardment of gaza overnight. this was the scene in northern gaza, as seen from southern israel on friday morning. palestinian sources are reporting air strikes on khan younis and rafah in the south of gaza, with children reported to be am
of gaza for a third day having told more palestinians to leave areas in and around khan younis immediately. the hamas run health ministry in gaza says more than 15,500 people have now been killed there since the start of the conflict between israel and hamas, which is considered a terrorist organisation by the uk government. these pictures from earlier today. children are among those being driven to the hospital, carried inside by family and friends. a senior adviser to the israeli prime minister has insisted israel is doing all it can to minimise the number of civilian deaths in gaza after the us defence secretary, lloyd austin, said israel had a moral responsiblity to minimise casualties not linked to hamas. a short time ago the israel defense forces held a briefing, on the back of the news of the new ground operation. take a listen. translation: the idf continues. where there translation: the idf continues. where there is translation: the idf continues. where the