which is widely considered to have been carried out by israel in response to last weekend's attack by tehran on saturday. the white house has declined to comment on the strike. earlier, us secretary of state antony blinken repeated his calls for de—escalation in the middle east. israel has not publicly acknowledged it carried out this latest strike. and iran appears to be minimising its damage. now, nearly 2a hours later, the details still are not entirely clear. we do know there were explosions overnight deep inside iran — in isfahan. it's about a four hour drive from the capital tehran. us officials told our news partner cbs news that there was an israeli missile strike — while iranian media said three small drones had been involved. there were also reports of explosions in syria and iraq. very few images have come out so far showing any damage. our colleague merlyn thomas from bbc verify has more.

israel launched strikes on iran according to us officials, following unprecedented attacks on israel a week ago during which it wants more than 300 drones and missiles. so why did iran attack israel? i was in retaliation for israel's targeting of the consulate in syria on the first of april in which iran says seven of its military officers were killed. as a long—running shadow war between these bitter rivals which is out in the open. we analyse footage from the letters attack sent to our colleagues which shows the succession of flashes in the sky said to be above isfahan. we think it is to be consider flashes match up perfectly. indicating they show the same event. isfahan, the location of the attack is significant because several of the nuclear facilities are based there. iran said nothing to see here, the official state news shows

this footage in an attempt to confirm the scene after the explosions. he describes everything is safe and sound. international atomic agencies as there is no damage to iran declare such wishes will be up and unable to buy a five price cells. —— verify for ourselves. earlier i spoke to laura blumenfeld, middle east analyst and former senior policy advisor on the state department's israeli—palestinian negotiating team. she gave me her take on last night's strikes. i would the scales of rough justice are back in balance. the tangibles on both sides from the iranian strike and the israeli counterstrike, tangibles are zero dead and minimum damage but i think what is fascinating other intangibles. who would've thought world war iii would be averted through a compelling storytelling. that is how we are avoiding further escalation. they are saying what strike? and the israelis are making it sound like a scene from the godfather where the man wakes up with the horse head

in his bed and he is terrified because he knows the long arm of israeli justice can reach you at any time. we have hardly heard confirmation from either side about what is happening, israel has not confirmed it has carried out a strike, iran seems to be downplaying it, is it designed to de—escalate the situation? it was an immaculate attack with no real engagement and an american official said to me today, i won't talk about last night. so if that is what it takes to get us to a better day, then so be it. i guess the question is, where are we now in terms of escalation? are we expecting there to be more strikes or could this now bring at least a relative pause in this tit—for—tat? a pause but i am still concerned, ifeel like what has happened in this past couple of weeks is there is a retaliation inflation where the price of payback has gone up and taboos have been broken. there are some of the things that have gone easy,

—— a couple of things that make me uneasy. i am wondering in this kind of regional play, all four play, everyone has had their moment where they stepped into centre stage except hezbollah, so i am waiting to understand what is happening there. they are the people who gave israeli military planners night sweats. there are nuclear facilities, was that sending a message by israel, we know benjamin netanyahu has has been a long opponent of iran developing a nuclear weapon? opponent of iran developing a nuclearweapon? he opponent of iran developing a nuclear weapon?— opponent of iran developing a nuclear weapon? he had to take his sho -. nuclear weapon? he had to take his shep- he _ nuclear weapon? he had to take his shop. he got _ nuclear weapon? he had to take his shop. he got that _ nuclear weapon? he had to take his shop. he got that body - nuclear weapon? he had to take his shop. he got that body blow| his shop. he got that body blow in october seven and maybe this impact will lead us towards the end of the entire war including in gaza, i don't think he will rest until he took a shot at iran also maracas were calling it a signal, not a strike last night and it is like messenger pigeon missiles are dropping signals back and forth but

again if it takes us to the next step i think that is good. i'm optimistic because it looks like you can possibly turn this focus on an endgame of iran and use that to guide israeli to an endgame. there will never be motivated by gaza, there are entirely motivated and focused on a run back so the coalition springing into action last week and really could be the motivation that will bring israel moderated behaviour, to be more strategic in rafah and increasing humanitarian aid and that deal is supposedly reasonable on the table that hamas is frustrating that ceasefire.— hamas is frustrating that ceasefire. ~ , ., ~ , ceasefire. when you think this uts ceasefire. when you think this puts united — ceasefire. when you think this puts united states, _ ceasefire. when you think this puts united states, a - ceasefire. when you think this puts united states, a very - puts united states, a very strong ally of israel, going forward?— forward? they have been following _ forward? they have been following this _ forward? they have been l following this international theory of bear hug, strategic squeezing and some say israel is not listening but it has worked. they went for a

pinpoint strike this week, we have seen much more humanitarian aid, they are agreeing to what they call a condition spaced invasion of rafah which probably looks like they will never be a full—scale assault but much more pinpoint so it's taken a lot of carrots and sticks and pushing and backpedalling but i think they are getting there.— are getting there. what about iran, are getting there. what about iran. could — are getting there. what about iran, could we _ are getting there. what about iran, could we see _ are getting there. what about iran, could we see any - iran, could we see any engagements with iran was back we know they are behind several different proxies in the region, you mentioned hezbollah, issues with the houthi rebels. is there a chance this could lead to some sort of engagement with iran? 0nce sort of engagement with iran? once again i think it is the arab states, i was think of them as the swing states in this body referendum on the abraham accords and they are playing a key role in what we found out last saturday night is they hate them more than benjamin netanyahu. they were

willing to put aside the palestinian issue although they carry about it deeply and rally with the israelis and i was a game changer, everyone talks about how iran attacking israel on their own soil is a game changer but don't forget who is pushing back, and i was again change as well.— pushing back, and i was again change as well. lots of moving ieces change as well. lots of moving pieces that — change as well. lots of moving pieces that. thank _ change as well. lots of moving pieces that. thank you - change as well. lots of moving pieces that. thank you very - pieces that. thank you very much. also in the region — an explosion in just the last few hours has rocked a baghdad military base used by the iranian—backed popular mobilization force. the pmf said in a statement the explosion caused material losses and injuries. two security sources told reuters it is not known who was responsible. three fighters were wounded, according to a local government official. the us military said they have not conducted activity in iraq. we'll continue to bring you the latest updates as we get them. here in washington,

all eyes are on capitol hill as a foreign aid package for ukraine is finally set to make it onto the house floor. lawmakers are expected to vote saturday on that bill, along with several others, including assistance for israel and taiwan. republican speaker of the house mikejohnson had blocked ukrainian aid for months, and while it still faces resistance from some members of his own party, the bill is expected to pass. congress will be voting in the wake of more deadly attacks on ukrainian civilians. on friday, russian missiles struck a rail station and a maternity hospital in the central dnipro—petrovsk region. local officials say at least seven people were killed — including an 8—year—old child. president volodymyr zelenskyy told nato members on friday that ukraine needs more air defence systems to counter russian strikes. putin must be brought down to earth, and our sky must become safe again. and it is real. and it depends fully on your choice.

choice whether life is indeed equally valuable everywhere, choice whether you have equal attitude to all partners, choice whether we indeed are allies. and on the heels of fresh russian strikes and just before that key vote on us aid to ukraine — i spoke with melinda haring, a senior advisor at razom for ukraine, a nonprofit human rights organization supporting ukraine. i want to start off by talking about how mikejohnson delayed bringing this the on ukraine aid for several months, there was a bill sitting in the senate that did not come to the house. why do you think now he is changing his stance? even though bringing a ukraine aid bill could risk hisjob? thank you for doing this, i think mikejohnson has seen the light. he is a person of deep religious conviction and i think the moral

arguments have swayed him. it's notjust the moral arguments, many people spoke with him about this decision and he did not know that there were a lot that russia was persecuting and torturing christians and christians were able to see him and tell him their stories and pray with them so that emotional heart had a factor in it. he also received multiple very dire intelligence briefings and i think that scared him as well. politics were involved as well, this has been a long process, a two—month delay that could have been resolved sooner. he has a complicated legislative piece that had to satisfy maga republicans, democrats to make this happen. mikejohnson is new to this role as well. it is a miracle that we are where we are that we expect the aid bill to go through tomorrow. that is expected to happen

on capitol hill tomorrow. we do think it will pass and we will have to wait and see what happens and i want to talk about the details within the foreign aid bills, there are several of them, the senate bill has been split off. some of the aid for ukraine that comes in the form of loans, also language that would seize russian assets to help finance this. what are you making of the details? there is much ado about nothing with the loans, i think they are a small part of the entire package. i expect that aspect will be for given. there are new things i like in the house bill, it demands the white house and these long—range rockets that ukraine has been begging and pleading for and these are so important because the additional length allows ukraine to strike crimea and hit in occupied ukraine. and hit ammo and depots and get behind enemy lines and they had not been able to do that

because the white house has been cowardly. the republicans are going to force the white house to send these long—range attacks. that's a good thing. repo is the act that would send $300 billion in russian state assets, it would seize them and transfer them and allow the money to be used for russia's reconstruction and that is a great thing. it needs to happen and we have seen sentiment change on that as well. i was struck by something the mayor of kharkiv, ukraine's second—biggest city, said. he said we need defence support to prevent this becoming a target. how important are the systems for ukraine? when i look at the package that is before congress the things i want to see in ukraine tonight are 155 millimetres shells and more air defence systems and the attic on did something smart. it has been raining for this bill to be passed and it has

a lot of these weapon systems in ammunition ready to go in europe so as soon as congress passes the bill biden will sign it immediately and the weapon systems can be sent. air defence is essential and we have seen needless lives and dozens of people die in the last week, you said in dnipro and these are innocent people who don't need to die. congress has not been able to act, we are seeing unnecessary suffering because of it. i think the question may be that did the us make a mistake by not providing this weapon assistance at the beginning of the conflict and instead dragging it out and providing more of a trickle in terms of weaponry? that's an easy question. absolutely yes. we would be in a much different place, ukraine would be in a different place, american interests, european security would be in a far different place if we had the courage at the beginning of the war that we are showing now.

present biden is self deterred, he put many lines impositions on what the us could do in places that were not necessary. he said he would not send tanks, he's put these limitations in place and he ends up sending them and he finally does the right thing but it's too late and the cost has been enormous and the cost is human suffering and lives lost in ukraine. a three—day meeting of g7 foreign minsters on the italian island of capri has wrapped—up. discussions were dominated by the wars in ukraine and the middle east. in attendance: the foreign ministers from the united states, britain, italy, canada, france, germany and japan. they promised to beef—up ukraine's air defences and told china to stop supporting moscow's military industry if it wanted good relations with the west. but on the final day, much of the focus was on israel's strike on iran — and calls

for cooler heads to prevail. our correspondent, jessica parker reports from capri. the meeting of g7 foreign ministers here on the italian island of capri has now wrapped up, events in the middle east have certainly been a dominant factor here. we went to one of the final press conferences, it was with the us secretary of state, antony blinken, and it was really interesting. he really did not want to be drawn on events overnight in iran. he was asked repeatedly byjournalists including myself about what had happened, what he might know, but he didn't want to say anything apart from the fact that he said the us had not been involved. i asked him, why won't you give any details? and he even described himself as "incredibly boring" on the matter. and it's possible that this is a deliberate strategy to be boring by the us, and others, a way of barely acknowledging what has happened, not giving any detail, avoiding rhetoric,

provoking any response, as part of an effort to cool the situation down. the word we kept hearing here from various ministers again and again and again in terms of the middle east was "deescalation". us media are reporting that more than 1,000 american troops will withdraw from niger in the coming months. it comes after hundreds took to the streets of niger's capital niamey last saturday to demand the departure of the us military. niger had been a key security partner to us counter—terrorism operations in the sahel region, until its government was ousted in a military coup lastjuly. since then, those ties have been strained — with the newjunta looking to foster closer relations with russia. last month, niger'sjunta ended a military accord with the us and welcomed russian military instructors and equipment. preliminary procedings in former us president donald trump's new york �*hush money�* trial wrapped up friday, and opening arguments

could begin as soon as monday. a jury of seven men and five women was confirmed friday — they will ultimately decide the verdict in the first—ever criminal trial of a former us president. prosecutors say mr trump tried to hide payments he made to an adult film star, to keep her quiet about an alleged affair. mr trump plead not guilty to 3a counts of falsifying business records — a felony crime under new york state law that could see him jailed for up to 20 years. friday's hearing also saw the judge reject mr trump's latest attempt to delay the case. shortly after the jury was selected, a disturbing scene unfolded outside of the court house, when a man set himself on fire. nada tawfik has more on all the day's developments. journalist had just learned that jury selection journalist had just learned thatjury selection had concluded slightly after 1.30 in the afternoon when the man went identified as a florida resident in his mid— 30s

entered the park, blue coloured pamphlets in the air and doused himself in lighterfluid pamphlets in the air and doused himself in lighter fluid and sense of on fire and we could see the blaze and feel the heat. 0fficials later said he was not targeting an individual and he flew here for the trial. investigation is ongoing but they believe he was a conspiracy theorist. they save they will review protocols around the courthouse in light of the high—profile nature of the trial and whether or not to close the park to the public. nevertheless fort resumed and remained on schedule and opening statements in this trial will now be beginning on monday. donald trump leaving the court today again slamming this case as a hoax, a witch—hunt, he is charged with falsifying business records to hide a so—called hush money payment to the adult film star stormy daniels in order to influence the 2016 election, to

hide a potentially damaging scandal. he denies all wrongdoing and the extra marital affair and opening statements will begin on monday. a key member of the us federal reserve, which sets american interest rates, says the us is in "no hurry" to lower the cost of borrowing. raphael bostic, the president of the atlanta branch, says the economy and jobs market are "much stronger" than expected, but they're also keeping inflation too high to cut rates for now. credit for the booming economy and blame for stubborn inflation are both being aimed atjoe biden and one of his flagship policies: bidenomics, the spending of hundreds of billions of dollars to transform american industry. how that program plays out could make or break mr biden's re—election campaign. 0ur economics editor faisal islam reports from the state of georgia. here in georgia, the landscape is changing — the southern bible belt of america reborn as the battery belt, as the usa throws money at out—competing china

in manufacturing a variety of electric cars. and where some of these vehicles are going, they won't need roads. so we're building an all—electric vertical take—off aircraft, which is basically a flying car. this flying car will hold four passengers, plus a pilot. mass produced here? mass produced here, in the hundreds to thousands of flying cars per year. we're going to be getting up to thousands ofjobs. the speed and the scale of america's green industrial rebirth is staggering. it shows itself in america's jobs numbers and growth numbers and raises the question, in this election year, about whether that old mantra — that it's the economy, stupid, that matters — whether that still applies. this is green tech done the american way. $100,000 electric trucks weighing three tons are a niche. another factory for these rivian trucks is planned here in covington. but in the central square's

ice cream parlour, many voters aren't feeling a boom. do people feel like it's gone well over the past few years? not at all, not at all. and hopefully it'll get better this coming, you know, election year. but we'll see. how does it feel right now in terms of the us economy? um, it's not terrible. i mean, we adjust to it, the costs of everything, and you just kind of move on, we're not going to stop living life �*cause things are... just work harder — that's our motto. so most places are saying they can't find people to work, and so i'm like, well, if you can't find people to work, then why are our numbers so high? so, like, especially after covid. back into america's big cities such as atlanta, the flipside of a strong economy — stubborn inflation. and that presents a big dilemma here at the atlanta branch of the federal reserve, which helps decide us interest rates. so rate cuts are on hold, and there are new concerns about surging us government debt. i expect the us economy to be strong, to continue to be

strong — but not quite this strong. what do you make of some concerns in the markets about the fiscal position in the us, of debt now heading above 100% of the size of your economy? that you're noting that more and more people are asking whether our budgetary approach is a good thing — to me that says, ok, now maybe we should be having that conversation about, are we undermining the confidence and the full faith and credit of the us government? because we really can't afford to do that. across the us, these government—backed green investments are leading to new inflation and debt risks, but they're also helping the economy defy expectations. it will matter for the election and the world economy too. faisal islam, bbc news, in georgia. the biggest election in the world is getting underway, in the world's largest democracy: india. the election is an enormous undertaking, with an electorate equal to one out of every

eight people on earth. that's an electoral roll of 970 million voters — the country's election commission says it's set up 1.2 million polling stations for them to have their say. it's simply too much to happen on one day, instead, voting takes place on seven separate days — over the next six weeks. yogita limaye reports from uttar pradesh. this is a line of men and women who are waiting to cast their vote. we are in a rural part of the northern state, what is behind me is a school that for the day has been converted into a polling booth. inside the classrooms are electronic voting machines so this is not a paper ballot, people go in and press a button and that is how the vote is registered. some of these people have cast their vote and i will show you what happens after that. if you look at that, she has just cast

her vote and that is the ink with which your finger is marked in order to show that as a sign you voted. this is one of 102 constituencies voting today, this is one of them. as around 160 million people voting today, overall in the election there are nearly 970 million people who will be eligible to cast their vote. the prime minister to enter a motie and his party seeking a third term power, opposition parties have banded together to take him on and we have asked people what the key issues are on which are on their minds as they go in there to cast their vote, they have been talking about price rises, on employment, a lot of people especially women have been talking about security, people have been talking about moxie alsop before we go a reminder that you can find more on all the top stories, that's bbc .com and we will find live

coverage on saturday from the capitol building on capitol hill for the crucial vote on foreign aid to stay with us on bbc news for all of that coming up, we hand over now to our colleagues in london, thank you for watching. hello there. many parts of the uk had some lengthy spells of sunshine on friday, but there were a few showers around. the remain of some of this shower cloud in wolverhampton gave this fine end to the day, a fine sunset, and the majority of the shower cloud through friday afternoon was associated with a stripe of cloud you can see right here. this was actually an old cold front. the significance of that is colder air is behind it. and as we go through the next few hours, that will be pushing in across much of the uk. milder air recirculating around our area of high pressure into northern ireland and western scotland.

so it's here through the weekend that we will see the nation's highest temperatures. now on to the next few hours, we're looking at that colder air arriving, a lot of dry weather, a lot of clear skies. and that means it's a recipe for things turning pretty cold. and heading into the first part of saturday morning, we start off with a frost, even some patches of frost, i think, across rural areas of southern england. the lowest temperatures probably down to about —3 or so into rural areas of northern england and scotland. for saturday, where we get this colder air moving in, for most, it's a glorious start to the day with clear, blue, sunny skies. a bit of cloud coming in to eastern areas of norfolk and suffolk and maybe a bit of cloud developing through the day elsewhere. some splashes of rain possible for the far north of scotland, but otherwise it's dry. the highest temperatures likely in northern ireland. we could see a 17 here in the very warmest spots. for sunday, generally, there's going to be a bit more cloud across parts of scotland, thick enough for some splashes of light rain, fleeting rain, really, a few showers coming in across east anglia and south—east england, where we'll continue to have quite a chilly wind.

could be even warmer for northern ireland — if we were to get 19, well, that would be northern ireland's highest temperature of the year. so we'll be monitoring that carefully through the weekend. 0n into next week, high pressure stays to the west of the uk, and we continue to see this feed of cloud coming down the north sea. if anything, the cloud getting a bit more extensive, a bit thicker, and that means there's more likelihood of seeing some patches of drizzle across northern and eastern scotland and some eastern areas of england as well. the best of the sunshine, probably parts of north west england, wales, south—west england, northern ireland might still do 0k, and western parts of scotland. where the sunshine comes out, it shouldn't feel too bad. but if you're in the east where it's going to be quite cloudy with that wind coming in off the north sea, it will probably feel quite chilly. temperatures picking up a little later next week.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello and welcome. this week, we're finding out why a taylor swift correspondent is actually a thing for some in the media, how swiftonomics is now a real phenomenon. and the actor hugh grant says he's settled his legal case with one of rupert murdoch's newspaper groups for an enormous sum. but we'll start with an important story from the uk that raises big questions

for howjournalism works. back in 2020, the health authorities commissioned a report into the care that children and young people who were questioning their gender were getting. the cass review, as it's called, came out last week, and it recommends a new approach for clinicians. this is a polarising subject for some people. so, what mightjournalism do differently in how it covers it? hannah barnes is a former bbc producer who investigated some of the uk's gender identity services for the corporation's newsnight programme. she went on to write a book about it. i asked her when she first started her investigation. first came across it at all in 2017. i was off on my first maternity leave and there was a piece in the times byjanice turner which was talking about this really rapid increase in the referrals of teenage