as a new round of ceasefire talks take place in cairo. mr netanyahu said invading the area is critical in order to reach his country's goals of releasing all of the hostages and destroying hamas. however, as many as1 million people are believed to sheltering in rafah — more than half of them children. this mr netanyahu is facing international pressure — including from the us — to not invade the city, without a specific plan as to how to keep civilians there safe. north of rafah, displaced palestinians returned to khan younis. it came as the israeli troops withdrew temporarily on sunday. a middle eastern correspondent lucy williamson reports. for months, khan younis was a city of targets, its apartment blocks and hospitals seen by israel as hiding places for hamas. residents returned today

searching for their city homes inside the concrete mountains as israel continued talks with hamas on a cease fire deal. translation: the| destruction is huge. khan younis has been destroyed. it all needs to be rebuilt now. it's not suitable for animal to live in, let alone human being. translation: | wasn't . expecting this destruction. our biggest request is that they withdrew from our land. it's better for us to have tents on the rubble of our home rather than being displaced. hamas launched rockets from khan younis, the army said, even as its troops withdrew. it hit back with airstrikes. israel's prime minister has promised total victory in this war, but hamas is still fighting and the withdrawal leaves just a skeleton israeli presence across the middle of the strip.

this is being presented as a temporary tactical withdrawal and that buys benjamin netanyahu more time. under american pressure to agree a cease fire deal and pressure from his own cabinet to keep the war going, he's framing this as a pause, not an end in the fighting, keeping both foreign and domestic allies on track. translation: we are working constantly to l attain our objectives. first and foremost, the release of all of our hostages and the achieving of total victory over hamas. this victory requires entering rafah and eliminating the terrorist battalions there. this will happen, there is a date. returning residents to their homes could smooth the path to a cease fire deal, but it could also help those in israel who want to continue the war.

israel is facing tough us demands to move refugees out of rafah before any ground offensive there. a day after the israeli withdrawal, it's clear how much the face of khan younis has changed, much less the face of the war. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. qatar's foreign ministry tells the bbc it's cautiously optimistic about a new proposal in the gaza ceasefire talks. however, there are conflicting reports in the regional media about the progress being made in cairo. for more on the conflict, i spoke to andrew steinfeld, former us foreign service officer, former foreign policy advisor to the chairman of thejoint chiefs of staff. andrew steinfeld, former us foreign officer, former foreign policy adviser to the chairman of the joint chiefs policy adviser to the chairman of thejoint chiefs of staff, thank you forjoining us. we have heard from the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu that there is now a date set for the offensive in rafah. we know there are more than i rafah. we know there are more thani million palestinians

than i million palestinians sheltering thani million palestinians sheltering there and the us has said they don't want to see a full—scale invasion. what do you think will happen in this upcoming fight? i you think will happen in this upcoming fight?— upcoming fight? i think this uts upcoming fight? i think this puts president _ upcoming fight? i think this puts president biden - upcoming fight? i think this puts president biden in - upcoming fight? i think this puts president biden in a i upcoming fight? i think this l puts president biden in a very difficult position because he has agreed from the start that the goal of this operation should be the destruction of hamas and of course the israelis believe that you can't leave rafah the way it is without destroying hamas. previously we have requested a formal plan from the israelis about how they intend to protect i about how they intend to protecti million plus people as they go into rafah and i don't believe that has been provided to us either so we are in a moment of great uncertainty, i would say, as is the situation in israel very tumultuous at the moment. what do ou tumultuous at the moment. what do you make _ tumultuous at the moment. what do you make of — tumultuous at the moment. what do you make of the _ tumultuous at the moment. what do you make of the increasing split between the biden administration and the israelis? i administration and the israelis?— israelis? i think it is inevitable _ israelis? ithink it is inevitable that - israelis? ithink it is inevitable that that l israelis? i think it is i inevitable that that will happen given the brutality first of the october seven

event, now unbelievably six months ago, and the subsequent very tough israeli policies in rooting out hamas in gaza. in some ways for me this points to a lot of what the institutional problems are in the bilateral relationship. there is a certain dependence on united states the israeli side — the $3.5 billion which is actually less than i% of their gdp — but more than that is the political support they are continually from the palu —— administration. the biden administration of gorza in the middle of an election year and it is being pulled in many different directions. we have the white — different directions. we have the white house _ different directions. we have the white house national- the white house national security spokesmanjohn the white house national security spokesman john kirby over the weekend saying they could be alternatives to a full ground incursion in rafah. what might some of that look like? having spent time in afghanistan, i think that the view in washington is when you

are trying to root out a terrorist organisation, one of the guiding principles that the american generals have always had is to protect the people, and the view in washington is that israelis have done everything that in gaza. another situation obviously is very difficult —— different in gaza for israel than it was in afghanistan for the united states but i'm sure that a lot of our generals are talking to the israelis about much more pinpointed strikes in rafah to root out what is ever left of hamas, but again, if they are in tunnels and there are i million people above them in tents, that becomes extremely difficult to do which is probably what the israelis are arguing back to the americans. one of the things we've got going on at the moment is talks going on at the moment is talks going on at the moment is talks going on in cairo over a possible hostage swap, possible ceasefire going forward. the

washington post is reporting that the hamas delegation left cairo monday to discuss the proposal which includes hundreds of palestinians being swapped for a0 israelis. a spokesman for hamas telling the spokesman for hamas telling the spokesman a proposal is a setback. as you say, where leadership is in tunnels, it takes a while to take these negotiations. do you think there is any agreement that israel and hamas might agree to? . , ., ., ., to? that is the million dollar question- — to? that is the million dollar question- i _ to? that is the million dollar question. ithink— to? that is the million dollar question. i think it _ to? that is the million dollar question. i think it is - to? that is the million dollar question. i think it is very i question. i think it is very difficult to conceive of that at the moment. i think one has to understand that as awful as this is as cynical as this is, the longer and more hostages hamas keeps, the more leveraged they have. leveraged for what purpose in the end one might ask. from the israeli point of view, it is clear now that prime minister and his government are under increasing domestic pressures to get the hostages back one way or the

other. that seems to be increasingly incomplete for hamas cosmic demands for hostage release which includes things like, it sounds like much longer ceasefire in israel's willing to grant stop the return of palestinians to the return of palestinians to the north which seems to be a big issue for the israelis because they seem to have created, or they seem to want to create a kind of cordon sanitaire in the entire north. so there are problems, when you hear from so there are problems, when you hearfrom hamas so there are problems, when you hear from hamas today telling aljazeera and others that they are not there yet, i think one needs to believe that there is still some distance between the two parties. still some distance between the two parties-_ two parties. andrew steyn bill, thank ou two parties. andrew steyn bill, thank you very _ two parties. andrew steyn bill, thank you very much _ two parties. andrew steyn bill, thank you very much for - two parties. andrew steyn bill, thank you very much forjoining us this evening. millions of stargazers in north america watched as the sky went dark, with some experiencing a 100% blackout — known as the point of totality.

that's when the moon passes between the earth and sun, perfectly obscuring the sun. on this map, the red line shows the path of totality. outside of the moon's direct path viewers only saw a partial eclipse. (cheering) those were the cheers as totality hit in mazatlan, mexico where people camped out on the sunny beaches to catch a glimpse — behind the safety of eclipse glasses, of course. and the fog and mist around niagara falls made it tough to see the eclipse, but did not stop the crowds from trying. the bbc had correspondents all over north america taking it all in. here are some of their reactions. it isa it is a multisensory experience but you want to see the corona. you want to see that moment and the weather lucked out for us, thankfully. the weather lucked out for us, thankfully-— thankfully. cheering and applause- _ thankfully. cheering and applause. just _ thankfully. cheering and applause. just taking - thankfully. cheering and | applause. just taking that moment in. _

applause. just taking that moment in. it _ applause. just taking that moment in. it is _ applause. just taking that | moment in. it is incredible. verities! it is peeking through the clouds! mother nature is teasing us! verities! wow! that is spectacular! eleanor humphreys has more. the way people — eleanor humphreys has more. tia: way people use about eleanor humphreys has more. ti2 way people use about this total total solar eclipse is awesome and they describe it in the truest sense of the word. that feeling of or saying they felt connected to something bigger than themselves, feeling part of the universe, wondering how small they are. being part of that universe and i think here in ohio we have one of the best seats in the house for totality. we came here early in the morning and there was quite a bit of cloud cover but you can see behind me all of that cloud burnt off to leave beautiful clear blue sky over lake erie and when we had that

moment of totality, over four minutes, i think one of the best ways to describe it is it was a combination of the fourth ofjuly here in the united states and new year's eve. we had a beautiful dusky like sunset fireworks going off across the lake here, over lake erie. cheers among the crowd and then just that moment of quiet as people marvelled at the sky and what was happening and it certainly is a rare event here. this part of ohio hasn't seen a total solar eclipse since 1806 and it won't see another one for some a00 years. that said, this solar eclipse really connected people right across the united states. 99% of them being able to see it whether it is partial or total and it will be a talking point. where were you during the great solar eclipse of 202a? and i think everybody feels very, very lucky to have been here to witness it. around the world and _

been here to witness it. around the world and across _ been here to witness it. around the world and across the - been here to witness it. around the world and across the uk, i the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making news. researchers have found that people living with long covid have inflammation in their blood — which could provide clues for ways to treatment it. a uk study looking at hundreds of people who've been seriously ill with covid found that their immune system remains overactive long after catching the virus. fergus walsh explains more. the study followed more than 650 patients in the uk who have been treated in hospital with severe covid. six months on, two and three were still experiencing symptoms including heart and lung problems such as shortness of breath, fatigue, but issues, anxiety, depression and brainfog. the but issues, anxiety, depression and brain fog. the researchers analysed their blood and found these proteins which are markers for inflammation of the immune system which are useful while the body is fighting an infection, but not once a virus is gone.

scientists say there's strong evidence that long covid is caused by different types of post viral inflammation. you're live with bbc news. russia says it shot down a ukrainian drone attempting to attack the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on monday — a day after the plant was damaged by three direct hits. zaporizhzhia is europe's largest nuclear power plant. it's been occupied by russian troops since moscow's invasion in 2022. it was the subject of attacks earlier in the war, but sunday was the first time since november 2022 that it has been hit. kyiv and the kremlin have both denied being behind sunday's attack. let's get more from edwin lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the union of concerned scientists. given we're talking about one of the reactors we understand

was attacked, how much damage could an attack by a drone like this have caused?— this have caused? well, unfortunately, - this have caused? well, unfortunately, the - this have caused? well, - unfortunately, the capabilities of the drones that have been employed in the war is increasing and the payloads the sides of the expose it —— explosive charges that they carried and the designs are increasingly damaging to structures including potentially nuclear power plant containment structures so i think there is great concern that the role of drones, if directed towards sabotaging or damaging this plant, could actually cause a catastrophe. un international atomic energy agency warned that this could lead to some kind of major nuclear mistake. what is the worst case scenario that we are talking about here? it is

important _ talking about here? it is important to _ talking about here? it is important to remember| talking about here? tt 3 important to remember that the zaporizhzhia plant, operations have been shut down for 18 months or more. that provides a lot of extra time in case there is a loss of cooling to those reactors so the risk is lower. but the fact is that a catastrophe could happen — it is still possible that a combination of events could lead to court melts or damage, to containment strategy —— around these reactors. this is why it is so troubling that these increasingly capable drones, is penetrating a containment structure at the same time, that damages done to the cooling system of or more of the reactors, you could be talking about an event much worse than the fukushima accident injapan in 2011 and

even approaching that of chernobyl.— even approaching that of chernobyl. even approaching that of chernob l. ., , ., ~ chernobyl. how should we think of this? how— chernobyl. how should we think of this? how does _ chernobyl. how should we think of this? how does this - chernobyl. how should we think of this? how does this compare | of this? how does this compare to other attacks on the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant? we werejust zaporizhzhia nuclear plant? we were just saying back there that the last direct hit was in 2022. , ,., ., 2022. yes, well, so far there hasn't been _ 2022. yes, well, so far there hasn't been any _ 2022. yes, well, so far there hasn't been any damage - 2022. yes, well, so far there hasn't been any damage to l 2022. yes, well, so far there l hasn't been any damage to the plant that could actually threaten the safety systems in a significant way. there is a fire originally when the russians first invaded in 2022 but that did not, fortunately, it didn't spread to the systems that actually protect the reactors. and there have been random artillery shells but these are relatively small munitions so again, the advent of bigger and more damaging drones i think does add a new element of danger to the plant that we should be increasingly concerned about and certainly

demonstrates that there needs to be a greater effort to insulate this plant from military conflict that is surrounding it and increasingly threatens its own perimeter. given as you say the increasing threats against, other any additional security measures that can be taken by the ukrainians?— that can be taken by the ukrainians? ~ , , ., , ukrainians? well, the russians control the _ ukrainians? well, the russians control the plant _ ukrainians? well, the russians control the plant now _ ukrainians? well, the russians control the plant now so - control the plant now so ukrainians have very little authority to do anything. but there are means to prevent drone attacks or to jam them, or even shoot them down. but unfortunately, the capabilities of drones make them very destructive type of weapon and the ability for them to continuously evade defensive measures is growing so there is a kind of arms race going on

here but there is no alternative to a political decision on the part of russia and ukraine to turn that area into a zone where both sides agree not to involve in any direct conflict that could impact safety systems. it is critical that hasn't happened yet. critical that hasn't happened et. ., ~' , ., , critical that hasn't happened et. . ,, , . critical that hasn't happened et. . ~' , . ., yet. thank you very much for “oininu yet. thank you very much for joining us — yet. thank you very much for joining us on _ yet. thank you very much for joining us on the _ yet. thank you very much for joining us on the programmej joining us on the programme this evening.— the united nations began to stripping food and sedan year—long war began. it stripping food and sedan year-long war began. it comes as the country _ year-long war began. it comes as the country risks _ year-long war began. it comes as the country risks triggering | as the country risks triggering the world's largest hunger crisis according to the world food programme. many charities left sudan after heavy fighting broke out. the conflict started when the head of the sudanese army and the leader of a powerful rebel group fell out and began battling for control of the country. our correspondent visited neighbouring chad to speak to

some of the victims of the conflict. ona on a street in sedan, what happens next is too graphic to show. —— on a street in sudan five unarmed civilians are threatened by an arab militia at gunpoint. what happens next is too graphic to show. gunshots ahmad is one of the men in the video. incredibly, he survived the street execution. the 30—year—old shows us this exit wound where a bullet ripped through his body after they were shot at point—blank range. translation: l was hit| in the shoulder and i also have some other wounds. three of us survived. we laid down as if we were dead, then someone told us, "anyone who is just injured should get up and run away." like so many survivors of the darfur violence, ahmad now lives here in one of the camps across the border in neighbouring chad. 20 years after accusations of genocide, the memories

are still fresh here, and now the un is opening up a new investigation into the latest war crimes and ethnic cleansing. the violence continues to spread across darfur. this group of men were abducted and forced to run to a local airport by the rapid support forces, where they were beaten and tortured. some disappeared, never to be seen again. here we have heard story after story of people being killed, kidnapped or abused — targeted, they say, because of their ethnicity. it comes as little surprise that these sorts of allegations and others in the wider sudan conflict have made the international criminal court say it has grounds to believe that war crimes are being committed. this is a genocide. it is 100% genocide. if i had other terms to use, i would use. but i think some of the international communities, they are silent. they don't react, or theyjust condemn but there is no intervention. shouting.

reports of alleged crimes committed by both the rapid support forces and the sudanese military continue to grow. the rapid support forces told us the majority of accusations against it are untrue, that its troops are held accountable when incidents occur. everyone in these camps knows someone who has been killed, injured or is missing, but survivors like ahmad still believe there will be an end to this brutal war. translation: we know one day - it might not be today _ or tomorrow, but one day — justice will come. despite the international outcry over the hundreds of thousands of deaths 20 years ago, no—one has ever been convicted. the victims of this conflict are likely to face a similarwait. merchuma, bbc news, on the chad—sudan border. rescue workers in mozambique are searching for survivors from a boat that sank off the

northern coast with dozens of people on board. some passengers have been found alive at almost 100 unknown to have drowned. the authorities in the province have said most were trying to reach an island following a panic caused by disinformation about a cholera outbreak. now to the race for the white house stop on monday, donald trump lost a bid to delay the start of his april 15 criminal trial on charges stemming from hush money payments he made to a former aduu payments he made to a former adult film star stop meanwhile, mr trump clarified his policy position on abortion, saying theissue position on abortion, saying the issue should be left to individual states to decide stop effectively ruling out a national abortion ban if he becomes president. tom bateman has more. what we saw today was donald trump rejecting some of the hard—line positions that his republican colleagues have been arguing for— that being a nationwide ban on abortion. that is significant because donald trump has sold himself

as the architect of the supreme court decision a couple of years ago stop to overturn roe v wade. that was a landmark ruling from 1973 that enshrined protections, constitutional protections, constitutional protections for women across america to abortion. what donald trump is doing here is being strategic when it comes to the presidential election. he has seen that some of the harder positions on the issue of abortion haven't played well for many republicans, most notably in the mid—term elections a couple of years ago. he is very aware of that in an election that will be decided to a certain degree in the suburbs of several marginal swing states. so i think a lot of this is about the electoral politics and he is saying it will basically be up to states themselves to decide how far to go on abortion bands. but already he is being severely criticised by pro—life groups—

one of the leading ones said it was deeply disappointed in his decision. as for the democrats, well, joe biden extent —— intends explicitly to make this an issue that he is going to attack donald trump over and already his campaign had come out and said that donald trump was responsible for stripping away the rights of women. it said that women in america were, in their view, said that women in america were, in theirview, in said that women in america were, in their view, in the extraordinary position of having fewer rights today than their mothers or grandmothers because of the policies enacted after donald trump was president. let's turn to some important news around the world. us centres for disease control and prevention said on monday the risk of bird flu to public remains low, even as it asked state public officials to be prepared to respond. the agency requested plans to quickly test and provide treatment to potentially impacted farmworkers after an outbreak among dairy cows. authorities in hong kong have made their largest ever seizure of smuggled gold in the city's

international airport. they found 1a6 kilograms of gold disguised as machine parts stop shipment is estimated to be worth more than $10 million. that is it. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. monday was quite a quiet day of weather, really. we had some sunny spells breaking through the cloud, for example, here in cambridgeshire. and across large parts of england — it was a warm day for april, with temperatures topping out at 19 degrees celsius at kew in london. these temperatures are around five or six degrees above average. it's going to be a much cooler kind of day for tuesday. notjust cooler — it's going to be wet and windy for many as well. the change is down to

an area of low pressure. this area of cloud you can see swirling to the south—west of the uk and that's essentially pushing northwards and eastwards over the next 12 hours. we already have quite a bit of rain with us at the moment and the rain across northern ireland and scotland could be heavy enough to cause some localised flooding. 20—a0 millimetres of rain, not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things. however — edinburgh, for example, has already had over one and a half times the april average rainfall, even though we're onlyjust over a week into the new month. so this extra rainfall could be enough to cause some localised flooding. the weather will tend to brighten up from the west as we go through the day. sunshine and showers follow our main band of rain through. it's also going to be a windy, gusty kind of day. particularly for england and wales, gusts widely running into the forties of miles now, but could reach around 50 or 60 miles an hour around some coastal areas, with the rain reluctant to clear away from eastern scotland and parts of northeast england. our temperatures are about 10 to 12 degrees for most. that will clear through and be left with some colder air as we head into the first part of wednesday. potentially chilly enough to give an odd nip of frost for the early part of wednesday morning. should be a fine start

to the day with sunshine. then it clouds over with the next weather system moving in from the west, bringing more rain. now, even as the rain pushes through across wales and south—west england, it probably will stay rather cloudy. the weather that follows, however, it will start to turn a bit milder again with south—westerly winds, temperatures around 13—15 degrees. and that warming trend continues as we head into thursday. again, we've got south—westerly winds with us, but this time after a cloudy start, the clouds should tend to thin and break up and we'll see some spells of sunshine coming through quite widely. yeah, there'll be a few showers for the north and west of scotland, but otherwise it's mostly dry. and those temperatures, 17 for aberdeen, 17 for belfast, but highs could reach around 19 or 20 across parts of eastern england. it stays pretty mild then towards wales and england as we head into the weekend. temperatures could reach the low 20s for some.

big plans for us made chips — the world's largest maker of semiconductors agrees to build a third factory in arizona and gets billions in support. plus we take you to south korea for a ride on the world's first driverless night bus. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. our top story today: tsmc is expanding its plans to invest in the united states. the taiwanese chip—making giant will build a third factory in arizona. in exchange, the commerce department is awarding tsmc with $6.6

billion in subsidies. the taiwanese chip—making giant first announced plans to expand into america back in 2020. however its production timelines have been delayed, partly because of uncertainty about when it would receive funds under the us chips act. paul triolo from the albright stonebridge group consultancy says the us is making huge strides to bring chip production onshore. it is a huge step forward. i think one official characterised it as the biggest foreign direct investment in greenfield's facility in advanced semiconductors in us history. so it's a big step on the way to the us trying to onshore some percentage of global capacity in advanced semiconductors. right now, the percentage is zero, so the goals that the commerce department has set up for these investments is to reach about 20% of global capacity for advanced semiconductors by 2030. and this is a big step

in that direction. it's notjust investments coming from the outside,