for football shirts. in sport. a blow to england s rugby world cup hopes as captain owen farrell sees his ban reimposed meaning he ll miss their first two matches of the tournament. happy birthday to blackpool s big dipper thrilling holidaymakers for the past century and 100 years old today. today we have showers across the north and west of the country. the rain currently across wales, the midlands and northern england will ease. most will have a largely dry day with sunshine. all the details later. it s wednesday, 23rd august. surgeons have successfully carried out the uk s first womb transplant, giving hope to dozens of women who are currently unable to have a baby. this kind of life changing surgery could help women born without a womb and those who lose their organ to cancer or other conditions, as our medical editor fergus walsh reports. a uk first as surgeons transplant a womb into a 34 year old woman, donated by her ao year old sister. the surgery in next door ope
let s return to ukraine. let s return to the middle east. the us s top diplomat has accused russia and china of cynically vetoing the resolution at the un security council for an immediate ceasefire linked to the release of hostages. anthony blinken said they did that despite widespread support for the measure among other countries. i have spoken to a senior member of israel s parliament who gave me his reaction to the us resolution being blocked. we gave me his reaction to the us resolution being blocked. we are in touch with our resolution being blocked. we are in touch with our allies resolution being blocked. we are in touch with our allies in resolution being blocked. we are in touch with our allies in the - resolution being blocked. we are in touch with our allies in the us. - touch with our allies in the us. secretary blinken is in israel and met with the prime minister. we are in open discussion with our allies. we are determined to finish this war and bring
in gaza to the release of hostages held by hamas. washington has previously vetoed three ceasefire resolutions but has grown increasingly critical of israel s military campaign. our reporter will vernon has the story. this is antony blinken s sixth trip to the middle east since the war in gaza began. the secretary of state met egyptian officials on thursday, holding crucial negotiations to bring an end to the fighting. mr blinken said very good progress was made in the talks. the i a . s progress was made in the talks. the a -s are progress was made in the talks. tue: gaps are narrowing, progress was made in the talks. tt;é: gaps are narrowing, we progress was made in the talks. tte: gaps are narrowing, we still progress was made in the talks. tt9 gaps are narrowing, we still have work to do but i believe the progress is good, it is real, i can t put a timeframe on it but we are getting close to a point i believe what we will have agreements. fin believe what we will have
the goal of ensuring israel s long term security. as we have said, though, a major military ground operation in rafah is not the way to do it. it risks killing more civilians, wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance, and further isolating israel around the world, and jeopardising its long term security and standing. so we are looking for to having israeli officials in washington next week to talk about a different way of achieving these objectives, objectives we share of defeating hamas and ensuring israel s long term security. it an integrated humanitarian, military and political plan. as i said, we will be talking about that next week, going through the details of what we see as the best way forward. we also had an opportunity to talk about the longer term trajectory, what needs to happen once the conflict in gaza is over. conversations we have had with arab partners in the last couple of days, and with israel as well. we are determined that isr