Hello, i m catherine byaruhanga. The us secretary of state antony blinken has arrived in israel on his 9th visit to the region since the war in gaza began to push once again for a ceasefire and hostage release deal. The us and israel have expressed careful optimism about a deal since talks resumed last week. But hamas denies progress is being made and accused israel of adding new conditions to the agreed proposals. This afternoon, the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu insisted israel could not be flexible on all issues accusing hamas of being obstinate. Jenny hill sent this report. There s a crushing familiarity to gaza s grief. Funerals for those killed overnight in israeli airstrikes. Israel insists it s targeting hamas fighters. This was an entire civilian family, mohammed says. A woman and her six children. As the human cost of this conflict surges, so too does the risk it will spill over into all out regional war. Urgent diplomacy is under way. The us secretary of
Brighter weather. Temperatures slowly starting to pick up. That s how it s back to a blustery day with a mixture of sunny skies followed by those downpours. Temperatures maybe lifting a little bit on recent days with tuesday a ridge of high pressure building, notice future showers on the map. Hello this is bbc news. The headlines. After more than two weeks of thrilling sporting action, the tokyo olympic games end with a spectacular closing ceremony. More gold medals for team gb lauren price wins the women s middleweight final, and cyclist jason kenny, becomes the country s most decorated olympian. Another provincial capital in afghanistan falls to the taliban as they continue to make ferocious assaults against key northern cities. Thousands flee their homes in greece as forest fires burn out of control. The country faces its most intense heatwave in more than 30 years. New changes to the uk s covid travel restrictions come into force. Double vaccinated people travelling from france t
of the delta variant. the british study also showed that vaccines can work well against omicron, reducing the need for hospital treatment. wildfires rip through parts of colorado in the united states destroying hundreds of homes and forcing tens of thousands to evacuate the area. mourners in south africa have been paying their respects to the late archbishop desmond tutu. hello and welcome. before we move to today s news let s go to pyongyang and that firework display by the taedong river. this is in the city s central square. north korea has yet to officially report any confirmed covid 19 cases, though analysts have questioned whether that is possible. two years of near total isolation have had a severe impact on the country s economy but as always, they are putting up an impressive show for the new year. not that we are showing that you right now. we are looking at pictures of the kim family. we can see the size of the crowd that has gathered, though. there was a fi