In northern israel. The us Defense Secretary Lloyd austin has given his support to israels objectives after speaking with with his counterpart, yoav gallant. Mr austin also warned iran it faced Grave Consequences if it carried out a direct attack against israel in support of hezbollah. This is the scene in beirut where explosions have continued overnight in the capitals southern suburbs. Israel had ordered the evacuation of 3 areas. These pictures show explosions and smoke rising near beirut international airport. There have also been reports of an Air Strike hitting a crowded palestinian Refugee Camp near the southern lebanese city of sidon. Syrian State Media says that 3 people have been killed by israeli strikes on the capital damascus. Israel is yet to comment on the reports. Meanwhile, the Uk Government has charted a flight to help british nationals leave lebanon scheduled to leave beirut on wednesday. In a moment, we will hear from my colleague anna foster, who is in beirut but f
craig williams and laura saunders, on the date of the general election. on the campaign trail, labour is setting out changes to the process for someone to legally change their gender. the party is also offering to provide hundreds of thousands more dental appointments on the nhs. the lib dems release their analysis on hospital waiting times. leader sir ed davey claimed the country has ten days to save the nhs. the snp sjohn swinney will give a speech on brexit. while the dup is launching its manifesto in northern ireland. so it is a busy day for all of the parties today. we ll touch on all of the above in this programme, but let s start with the election betting investigation. here s tobias elwood speaking to the bbc radio 4 today. this betting saga has been deeply unhelpful, self inflicted distraction, and in what world they thought this was acceptable is beyond belief. the prime minister has expressed his anger, he said that at the leaders s question time debate. it has bee