Hello, im rajini vaidyanathan. We beginfrom. The polls have just closed in catalonia, where Pro Independence supporters wanting to break away from spain are hoping to maintain their majority in the Regional Parliament. Catalonia made a failed attempt to break away from spain in 2017, and the election comes as the parliament in madrid is expected to approve a controversial amnesty law for separatist catalans facing legal action. Lets speak to our correspondent guy hedgecoe. If you could just set this into context. Why are these elections so significant . Context. Why are these elections so si. Nificant . , context. Why are these elections so siunificant . ,. , context. Why are these elections so siunificant . ,. , u, significant . They are significant because the significant . They are significant because the cattle significant . 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It would be a big boost to Prime Minister pedro sanchez, who has been under a enormous pressure because of his decision to push the parliament that amnesty law which lifts action against Pro Independence catalan. Catalan. Guy had cojoining us catalan. Guy had co� oining us from spam. Catalan. Guy had co� oining us from spam. We h catalan. Guy had co� oining us from spain, we will catalan. Guy had cojoining us from spain, we will stay catalan. Guy had cojoining us from spain, we will stay with catalan. Guy had cojoining us. From spain, we will stay with those stories as a result come in. Thank you very much. The Israeli Military says it has opened a new humanitarian crossing into the gaza strip in Co Ordination with the us government. President Bidens National security adviser has warned that israels but the exact location of the the crossing, called � western erez, is not confirmed and whether it will make a difference to aid reaching the most needed. More palestianians have been told to move out of the Southern City of rafah towards a coastal area around al mawasi, which israel calls an expanded humanitarian zone. The hamas run Gaza Health Ministry says that at least 35,000 palestinians have been killed since the war broke out. Paul adams reports from jerusalem. One by one, the people of rafah are leaving. 0utlying Parts of the city now all but deserted. I wasnt planning on going, hassan says, but since no one is left here, i decided to leave. I have to find out where my wife and daughter are. The un says 300,000 people have left already. Thats almost a quarter of those sheltering in rafah. Most are heading for the coast, to places barely able to to places barely able to sustain life, where exhausted, hungry people fend for themselves. Zainab and her children have brought their makeshift tent to the beach. Translation they dropped leaflets on us four times. After the fourth time, we came here. When i arrived, Ifound My Tent was worn out. We stayed in it for five months in rafah. I want to try and stitch it, but its no good. Israels Ground Operation in rafah is almost a week old. The military says its killing hamas fighters and destroying tunnels. But washington is still warning israel not to launch an all out offensive because theresi Million People there in very close quarters an all out offensive. Because theres a Million People there in very close quarters whove been pushed there because of the Military Operations in other parts of gaza, you would have really significant civilian casualties. And while israel would also be able to kill some hamas folks, many hamas folks would melt away because theyre terrorists. Once again, israel is fighting on more than one front, sending troops back into the northern part of the gaza strip over the weekend. And suffering casualties. 19 year old itai livni, one of four soldiers killed, buried this morning in tel aviv. You were so proud of what you were doing, his twin brother, yoav, says. I was so proud of you. I lost my other half. You will forever stay in my heart. Israel is approaching memorial day when it remembers those killed by war or acts of terrorism. This past year, the worst for half a century. Paul adams, bbc news, jerusalem. Drjames smith is a british doctor currently working from the un building in rafah. Speaking to the bbc earlier, he outlined what the situation on the ground is like. Coming to rafah today. The streets that were previously packed with idps living going into rafah today, the streets that were previously packed with idps living in makeshift tents, most of those tents have now been dismantled and people have fled. The area immediately around the un building is almost unrecognisable now. All of the people that were seeking some degree of sanctuary there have fled. The roads yesterday from Rafah City Up towards khan younis were completely packed with people. It was almost impossible to move. We also saw people moving by foot for the first time now thats because there are so few vehicles available to transport people and the cost of a journey in a vehicle or even on a donkey cart now is prohibitively expensive for many people. Here in the uk, the Foreign Secretary lord cameron, has defended the governments decision not to withdraw arms export licenses to israel. Speaking on Laura Kuessnberg on sunday, he said that restricting Arms Deliveries to israel because of its war in gaza would strengthen hamas and make a deal to free israeli hostages less likely, but said that decision was being constantly reviewed. Israel has not had a clean bill of health. 0n humanitarian aid, there have been real failings and they need to do better. But on the crucial question we have to answer which is, is there a serious risk of exports being used for a serious breach in International Law . Up to now, in the assessments weve done, weve continued with the export licensing, but its a rolling process and it looks at what is happening on the ground. I knew Ater Crossing has been opened up. I knew Ater Crossing has been opened u. F i knew Ater Crossing has been opened u. , �. ,. , up. Theyre calling this western erez. Up. Theyre calling this western erez that up. Theyre calling this western erez. That is up. Theyre calling this western erez. That is the up. Theyre calling this western erez. That is the area up. Theyre calling this western erez. That is the area closest i up. Theyre calling this western j erez. That is the area closest to gaza city in that very heavily populated area. It is just to the west of the Erez Crossing which is normally a Crossing Point for civilians, but also goes for and for the provision of aid recently. Its close to the major port of ashdod, where a significant quantity of aid including flower is stored in the israelis were staying in the course of today, dozens of trucks carrying flower entered into the gaza strip. It says this was coordinated with the us government. Dont forget there is also ashdod a pontoon that is being constructed by engineers, a pontoon that is destined to go another a bridge into the gaza strip just south of gaza city. In fact, that should be installed any day now. I think the israelis believe or certainly want to persuade the International Community that the provision of new access routes for aid, particularly in the north, where the dangers of hunger is most acute, the israelis are doing what they can to relieve the situation there. I think there will be some scepticism about that. Any a Crossing Point that opens has the potential to make life easier. But in the south, where the campaign is getting under way, and also in the north, where the Israeli Military has resumed operations in certain areas, those active fighting fronts continue to make the provision of aid extremely complicated. You mentioned aid extremely complicated. You mentioned the aid extremely complicated. You mentioned the south and theres been a lot of focus on whats going on in rafah. Weve to more activity, more Artillery Strikes and the like. When is that full scale offensive deemed to have begun, because we already hear about some activity there . Israels operation has been going a front for a week. It is still described by the military has limited and topical. It is yet to moved into the heavily did populated parts of rafah. As you heard in one of those clips, people are not waiting. Weve had people getting on for a quarter of the civilian population that has been huddled in the rafah area all of these months, leaving already, heading to the coast and up the coast to all of these Tent Encampments Thatjust get bigger and bigger by the day. Some are on the beach. There is no real access to sanitation, to the kinds of facilities that people need to keep clean and properly sheltered. I think its significant that the kind of people that were seeing on the move are people who already have moved to the south to seek shelter. Its all of those people who had set p its all of those people who had set up encampments in that area, theyre now moving forward. The war keep chasing them from one place the next. President zelensky says theres � fierce fighting along a large part of the Kharkiv Region border in eastern ukraine. Russia says its captured another four villages in the region an area where Russian Troops had been pushed back nearly two years ago. It means that since they launched their Surprise Offensive two days ago, theyve taken nine villages. Today, there have also been strikes on the russian side of the border in belgorod with Russian Military saying a Ukrainian Air strike destroyed a section of a ten storey apartment block. With the latest on the conflict, our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale reports from vovchansk. The road to russia just a few miles from the border and proof the road to russia just a few miles from the border and proof the russians are back in the Kharkiv Region again. The town of vovchansk was liberated in a surprise ukrainian offensive less than two years ago. Now its at risk of falling back into russian hands. Alexi, a local policeman, is once again telling the population to leave. He says its better than dying. The shelling is constant and chaotic and its all over the town. We quickly move on at the sound of a russian drone. This is all thats left of sergeis home. The familiar russian tactic of reducing towns to rubble. But sergei says he cant leave. He needs to look after his goats now, his only worldly possessions. He needs to look after his goats now his only worldly possessions. You can still hear the artillery battle going on. It was more intense yesterday. This devastation one mans house was created by a russian glide bomb. And thats the sound of a jet somewhere. Explosions ukraines outgunned and outnumbered, and russias using aerial glide bombs to devastating effect. Alexi simply says, look at whats happening. For some, its made the decision to flee unavoidable, though its still heartbreaking for 0lexander. This was the home he grew up in. He doesnt know if hell ever return. Ukrainian officials insist they were ready. Not everyone agrees. This Drone Footage appears to show Russian Troops crossing the border unopposed. Ive been in front line. For something youve already fought for before in 2022. Same again. Youre angry. Very angry. Denis, a ukrainian reconnaissance commander, helped push back the russians in 2022. Now hes having to fight for the same territory again. Translation there was no first line of defence. We saw it. The russians just walked in wherever. Where were the minefields . They just walked in. Ukraine says its repelling this attack with reinforcements, but russias been probing the entire 800 mile front, and in kharkiv, its exposed the weakness. Jonathan beale, bbc news, vovchansk. The taliban say 315 people have now died in devastating flash floods in the north of afghanistan. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry told the bbc that most of the casualties were in the province of baghlan. Emergency teams have been sent to rescue those stranded by the floodwaters. On friday, a massive torrent of water swept away hundreds of houses in several villages. Dozens of people are still missing. In the last hour, i spoke with our south asia editor for the bbc world service, anbarasan ethirajan. I asked him what do we know about the impact of these floods. As we speak now, thousands of people have been left homeless, they are waiting for food, shelter, and other help from humanitarian agencies and the authorities. Now, these calamitous floods on fridayjust swept through villages, taking down walls on its way, houses, livestock, and also farmland, importantly, for many of those living in the rural areas. So these are devastating floods. We are talking about Hundreds Killed and thousands injured, and the Economic Impact is quite huge because peoples wealth in these rural areas are livestock and most of the livestock has been wiped out. And people will come back to their houses, whatever is remaining there, they find that their houses are full of mud and most of the belongings washed away, cracks on the houses. So, these are already suffering communities in the rural part of northern afghanistan, they also had very strong floods and they also had very strong floods last month that killed about 100 people. So, aid agencies are now struggling to reach out to many of these people because the transportation, the transport infrastructure has been severely hit bridges, roads so people are now not able to move from one village to another because there are still flowing rivers without any means of crossing these hurdles at the moment. The duke and duchess of sussex are ending their three day tour of nigeria today. Earlier, prince harry and meghan watched a Basketball Match and attended a Fundraising Event at the citys polo ground. They have been in the country to promote the tenth anniversary of the dukes invictus games, for injured military personel. 0ur Africa Correspondent Simijolaoso is in lagos and sent us this update earlier. They had been watching a charity match, like you mentioned. The match was put together to raise funds for a local organisation that they support called nigeria unconquered. And as you said, they were watching kids play basketball earlier today. Sports appears to be a constant theme during this trip. So, when they visited that school, they played well, harry played basketball with some of the kids who are being helped by another local organisation that they support called giants of africa, and they actually organise Basketball Camps across the continent for african kids. I actuallyjust want to point out what the duchess was wearing there, which kind of appeared to be a blue skirt. But that is actually a traditional attire called ashoke, which is hand woven here in southwest nigeria. And she was gifted it at a reception that she attended yesterday where she actually spoke about her nigerian heritage, saying that