they do change their mind, that s a good thing, they are learning from evidence. i think the better line for the tories is, if things start to get a bit rosier for the economy, if progress is made on immigration, i think what they will want to say is, don t risk this because actually, on things like the environment, immigration, public finances, keir starmer and labour, you can t really trust them, they are a bit more radical. so the tories will really be trying to force that dividing line. but the fact is that keir starmer and labour are playing it so safe, they are hiding very close to the tory line, it s going to be difficult for the tories to do that so i don t think it will be successful. find tories to do that so i don t think it will be successful. . . it will be successful. and keir starmer can t it will be successful. and keir starmer can t take it will be successful. and keir starmer can t take the - it will be successful. and keir starmer can t take the young
welcome to the daily global, where we ll bring you the top stories from around the world. 2024 is shaping up to be a year of elections. two billion people one in four of the world s population will go to the polls this year in votes that could change the global political landscape. 50 nations will hold elections. starting with bangladesh, the polls include seven out of the world s ten most populous nations india, the united states, indonesia, pakistan, russia and mexico. and the uk will go to the polls at some point this year. british prime minister rishi sunak has said his assumption is that a general election will be held in the second half of this year, despite some speculation it could take place in the spring. opinion polls put mr sunak s conservatives well behind the opposition labour party. with the details, our political editor, chris mason. can i welcome to you this morning, rishi sunak, the prime minister? mansfield in nottinghamshire a town the conservative
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
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
And i think i can go back to the last page, actually, just to show you again what those numbers are, totting up all the totals, the bbc Election Team have added them altogether and this is it. Sadiq khan, 1,080,000 votes, susan hall way behind on 811,000. The greens almost pipped the lib dems into third place, they will be pleased with that. But stand back, the big result, sadiq khan gets that third term as london mayor. That result, sadiq khan gets that third term as london mayor. Term as london mayor. That is unprecedented, term as london mayor. That is unprecedented, i term as london mayor. That is unprecedented, i think, term as london mayor. That is unprecedented, ithink, is term as london mayor. That is| unprecedented, ithink, is not . Term as london mayor. That is unprecedented, i think, is not . This unprecedented, ithink, is not . This comes despite this incredible flutter we had last night, saying that the race was going to be much tighter than predicted. How did we get into