hello. i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. the israeli defense forces continued with what they call "targeted strikes" into the southern gaza city of rafah, just hours after hamas leaders announced they had accepted a ceasefire proposalfrom egyptian and qatari mediators. the multi—stage deal could involve the initial exchange of palestinian prisoners for 33 israeli hostages held since the 7 october attacks, though the full details have not yet been made public. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the agreement is "farfrom meeting israel's demands" but that he would send a delegation to cairo to negotiate further on tuesday. qatar, which is facilitating the negotiations, says it will also send a delegation to the egyptian capital. israel's latest attack on rafah has left at least five people dead. armed factions in gaza responded to the israeli strikes by firing rockets into southern israel.

celebrations broke out in gaza as news of the potential breakthrough reached palestinians. but earlier in the day civilians in eastern rafah began to flee after the israeli military dropped leaflets warning them to evacuate ahead of a limited ground operation against hamas. 100,000 refugees have been told to move to what israel is calling an expanded humanitarian zone near khan younis, but gazans say the area is already overcrowded. jordan's king abdullah ii is in the us on a state visit. in a meeting at the white house on monday, jordanian officials say the king told presidentjoe biden a ground invasion into rafah would lead to a new massacre and risk spilling over into the wider region. in new york the un sectetary—general antonio guterres told reporters that israel invading rafah would be intolerable. our special correspondent

fergal keane has more details. they haven't had reason to dance for a long time. but they haven't forgotten how. even amid uncertainty about israel's position, hope springs. across gaza, bbcjournalists captured the reaction... ..of those convinced, perhaps prematurely, that a ceasefire will happen. translation: the feeling is indescribable. _ we're so happy we're going back to our home in gaza city. "we're refugees from the north and we fled here," this young man says. "we're so happy there's a ceasefire." israelis are still absorbing the news. it came late on one of this society's most important days, when — across the country — sirens bring the nation to a halt in memory of the dead

of the holocaust... ..a day of reflection in a country traumatised by the hamas attack last october. chanting tonight, on the streets of tel aviv, those who believe healing that trauma can begin with a ceasefire deal and the release of israel's hostages. we expect the israeli government to take this deal, to save all the remaining hostages who are still alive. but after seven months of a war in which israel's army pledged to destroy hamas, a ceasefire deal that fails to accomplish that risks breaking israel's wartime coalition government. israel will send negotiators to talks but won't stop fighting yet. translation: we examine every proposal very seriously _ and we review every possibility on the issue of negotiations and the return of the hostages to their homes as quickly

as possible and as a central task. at the same time, we carry on with our operations in the gaza strip and will continue to do so. this morning, the people of eastern rafah awoke to leaflets telling them to evacuate. many have been displaced before, but still they were told to leave — everyone, no matter how old, how young or how vulnerable. to al—mawasi, israel says, and other desolate places beyond rafah. the so—called humanitarian zones were to be expanded. but they've never been safe from sickness, hunger or war.

this is the aftermath of raids on rafah last night. people hope these may have been some of the last air strikes if the ceasefire can be made to work. news of the hamas announcement was still hours away. nisreen rajah, mother and refugee. for seven months, this has been the daily reality. this orphan, grieved by his relative. "his family was killed during the war," she says. "even he was killed." so many here are grieving and exhausted. late tonight, israel attacked eastern rafah, where they told people to leave. celebration had

turned to fear... ..and the hope that tomorrow might bring peace. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. let's bring in david hale, former us special envoy for middle east peace, former under secretary of state and now at the wilson centre. thanks forjoining us on bbc news. you've spent a considerable portion of your career in this region notwithstanding that there are still attacks happening down tonight. are we the closest to some kind of ceasefire deal that we've been for some time? thank you. the short answer is we don't know. those of us outside this dramatic conversations don't know the details of the proposal but hamas has said that they accept and the israelis have expressed some reservations about. what's hopeful is the israelis are sending delegation to engage and further discuss this but we

have to ask the question about whether this is for real. and the fact of the matter is neither israel nor hamas has been a real hurry to arrange a ceasefire so what's changed in the last 2&48 is? that's when the last 2&48 is? that's when the pressure the israelis have put on hamas by the demonstration that they are finally determined to go into rafah in a serious way. fin rafah in a serious way. on that, promising that yahoo has not achieved his stated goals from this switches bring back all of the hostages and eradicating hamas so has he given any indication at all that he would be prepared to stop his mission essentially until he reaches those goals? my until he reaches those goals? my understanding from the outside is the major stumbling block in these negotiations has been between hamas's demand that the ceasefire be permanent and the israeli refusal to accept that. this goes to the

heart of the question you asked, the fact of the matter is the israelis still hold out the intention of destroying hamas at its military capability, to vanquish hamas and whether or not that's achievable is no question but until now it's been united states questions and objections to a rafah operation and humanitarian consequences of that that is held the israelis back so there's been no real incentive for hamas to agree to a ceasefire so long as israel is not proceeding. that may have changed in the last 2a hours. have changed in the last 24 hours. . ,, ., hours. on that, the us role, what diplomatic _ hours. on that, the us role, what diplomatic wheels - hours. on that, the us role, what diplomatic wheels will| hours. on that, the us role, i what diplomatic wheels will be turning tonight when we see premised on yahoo ordering evacuations from eastern rafah and the us position that they cannot support a ground invasion there without some plan for civilians —— mike prime minister netanyahu. fist prime minister netanyahu. at the prime minister netanyahu. git the end of the date israel pose no democracy, it has its own

political structure for making decisions and the us has a great deal of influence but israelis would decide their national interest and after 7 october they are determined as i understand add public opinion stands behind their leaders in never allow again to put themselves in the shadow of that kind of terrorist threat from hamas, hezbollah, or other erroneous proxies about the real question. while we focus on the short term, what can happen day and hour and hour to hour, it's important step out and widen our lands and look at the region and the need to re—establish deterrence between ourselves, israel, paralysed in the arab world and iran which is a central protagonist in this conflict. iii is a central protagonist in this conflict.— this conflict. ifjoe biden withdraw _ this conflict. if joe biden withdraw support - this conflict. if joe biden withdraw support and i this conflict. if joe biden withdraw support and ifl this conflict. if joe biden - withdraw support and if there is a rafah invasion, what does that mean for regional stability?— stability? it's critically important _ stability? it's critically important that - stability? it's critically important that the - stability? it's critically important that the us | stability? it's critically - important that the us stand by its friends when they are in a moment of peril like this. i

hope that we can avoid the kind of breach. but at the end of the day again i think the israelis will make their own decisions with what they have to do. i hope we won't reach that point. right now i think both sides seem to be manoeuvring, posturing rather than trying to reach an agreement on a ceasefire so i don't think we are out of the danger zone by any stretch. mi danger zone by any stretch. all the while a terrible humanitarian crisis continues in that country. what will happen there if the ceasefire deal talks in cairo tomorrow night successful? —— are not successful? night successful? -- are not successful?— night successful? -- are not successful? ~ ., .., successful? will have continued dire situation _ successful? will have continued dire situation for— successful? will have continued dire situation for the _ dire situation for the palestinians in gaza. we've had from so many leaders who have their organisations on the ground about famine, health and other factors, ground about famine, health and otherfactors, so ground about famine, health and other factors, so everyone ground about famine, health and otherfactors, so everyone is doing all they can but without a corridor that opened to egypt

into gaza, and rafah is of course a major point of transit, it's very difficult to see how we can really meet the needs without a ceasefire. again, the key question is whether it's a short—term ceasefire to relieve the humanitarian situation and exchange of hostages and some prisoners, or whether it will lead to a longer term arrangement that can stabilise the situation and i don't see the situation and i don't see the pieces that have been put in place that would allow the latter scenario to unfold. thanks for your thoughts as always, david hale. david hale, former us special envoy for middle east peace, former under secretary of state and now at the wilson center. thanks for speaking to us on bbc news. thanks for speaking to us on bbc newe— french president emanuel macron welcomed new assurances from president xi jinping that china will not provide russia with weapons to use against ukraine. on his first visit to europe in five years, xi stood with macron to call for a truce in ukraine and other conflicts during the olympic games this summer. macron hopes that china's influence on moscow could push russia to end the war

in eastern europe. during their talks about the israel—gaza war the two leaders said they share the same goal of achieving an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, protecting populations and providing humanitarian aid. our paris correspondent hugh schofield has more. at the end of a very long day we've had one of those press conferences which aren't really press conferences diplomatic words, very difficult to get beyond the verbiage but if you listened to the content and analyse the words, you could see that they were still differences between the two sides when for example president xi talked about the ukrainian war, he talked about not war but the crisis, he said repeated his position that china is not part of the crisis and that we should not be putting all the blame on a third party, so clearly setting out the difference there between him and

the europe of macron which wants to use china to rein in president putin and on the issue of trade, the other big issue, we saw from macron language which was slightly coded to signify that europe is sticking to its guns. he said france has the most open economy in the world, the most open market in the world, but it is a sovereign and independent policy that it pursues and it will do more to defend its interests. again, that's restating this new macron european towards china, talking about a europe which will stand up for its interests more and more against what they see as their aggressive competition coming from beijing. for more on president xi's visit to france, i spoke to anne applebaum, a journalist at the atlantic and seniorfellow at johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. thanks forjoining us on bbc news.

president xi's visit to france, his first to europe in five years, what you think of the timing, why now? the most important thing about his visit is not that he is going to france but that he is going from france to hungary and to serbia. increasingly, xi sees himself as part of an international alliance of autocrats, it's not a formal alliance, they don't meet anywhere or share an ideology, but he sees himself as a part of that world and he is seeking to meet with the serbian and hungarian leaders as supporters and the countries in europe that are most friendly to china. i think he is in france because the french president has made noises in the past about seeking some kind of independence from the united states and xi is interested in that, but i think the timing is intended to demonstrate that china's policy towards europe is not what it used to be, he's not speaking to the european union

as a whole, notjust a large countries, he is speaking to people who thinks might be more friendly to his programme. will there be any serious business done in france? we are in the cusp in many ways of potentially a trade war between the eu and china. the odd thing is that china could stop the trade war and china could build its relationship with europe if china puts serious pressure on russia to end the war in ukraine. if china's desire for peace in europe was real, china would have a lot of friends in europe and i think the dynamic between china and europe would change completely. so we are waiting to find out if and when xi will ever do that but so far he shows no sign. do you think he exerts that level of influence over president putin in terms of his approach to ukraine? it's not so much he exerts influence but he is one of putin's primary suppliers of electronics, his primary trader, china now buys russian

natural resources and parituclarly important for russia and how its gas sales to europe have collapsed in the last couple of years, because profits are way down, so china is a very important source of economic support from russia so i imagine they would have influence over putin and whereas there is no ideological links but china would have a big say if it wanted to. beyond that china and russia relationship, macron has said that he wants to try to influence china, leaning into the stability of the international order. has president xi displayed any vested interest in actually wanting to do that? china is different from russia and i think the chinese don't want to see chaos and destruction and i don't think they want international trade to break down. they are very much a beneficiary of the international trading system as it exists now. so they may be looking for allies who will help them stay part of it and perhaps

macron has sought in the past to negotiate with putin in the beginning of the war and he may be trying to negotiate with xi now and i don't think it is such a strange idea that china would want to maintain elements of the system but what china will find difficult is maintaining that system, maintaining this kind of collegial attitude towards trade and global economics, if china continues to support in effect russia's destruction of ukraine. we will leave it there. thanks forjoining us on bbc news. thanks for “oining us on bbc news. ., ~ , ., around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making the headlines. john swinney has promised a "new chapter" after taking over as the leader of the scottish national party. he ran unopposed in the contest to succeed humza yousaf. mr swinney is also likely to be confirmed as scotland's new first minister this week. james cook explains.

in the and it was the coronation of king john, no other candidates or contest but straight to work as snp leader. my straight to work as snp leader. my focus will be the economy, jobs, the cost of living. it'll be the national health service, our schools and other public services, addressing the climate crisis. i look at politics today and i think politics today and i think politics is in the worst state i've ever seen it in my lengthy involvement in politics. so i'm here to do something about that. he's taking on the job 20 years after he resigned having led his party through three election setbacks in westminster, holyrood and european parliament polls. mr swinney will become only the seventh first minister of scotland in holyrood's 25—year history. you're live with bbc news. thejudge overseeing donald trump's first criminal trial threatened to throw the former president in jail. judgejuan merchan found

mr trump in contempt of court for a 10th time, saying he violated his gag order by commenting on the jury and how it was selected. thejudge said he recognises that mr trump could very—well be the next president, and said that throwing him in jail is the last thing he wants to do. but he said he has a job to do to uphold the judicial system. our north america correspondent nada tawfik reports. document styli. prosecutors show evidence they say proves trump coaxed the book to conceal election crimes. today in court it turned from tales of conspiracy to cover up as the former trump organization controllerjeffrey mike conley took the stand. he detailed how he was called a meeting with then cfo allen weisselberg in january 2017. he said he was given a copy of cowan�*s back statement during his $130,000

wire to stormy daniels' lawyer. his handwritten note details the map that led to michael cohen being reimbursed with $35,000 monthly over the course of the year. he also showed a series of emails, invoices and leisure injuries that are key pieces of evidence in the prosecution pozner case because ultimately it's falsifying business records, the hush money payment on its own. trump's lawyers claim the payments to cohen with a legitimate legal work but mike conley testified he never saw a little retainer agreement kind. on elimination by the defence connie said it was about never told him what colin was seeking reimbursement for so is there yet solid proof that donald trump was the architect? jurors will hear from witnesses including michael cohen himself. argentina's president, javier milei, told the bbc that ordinary argentines are not paying for his radical austerity measures. mr milei, who campaigned

with a chainsaw to symbolise his desire to slash public spending, insisted that it was false to suggest the public were bearing the brunt of steep spending cuts and the devaluation of the currency. our south america correspondent, ione wells, has more. this was once a wealthy country. some of these people were once middle—class. many say they're ashamed to be at the soup kitchen, just to feed theirfamilies. it is hard to eat with dignity. translation: since - the government changed unfortunately the demand for soup kitchens from homeless people, families as well has increased. not only people who are homeless, entire families that come looking for a plate of food. this place offers some lifeline. but food supplies and salaries of staff here have recently been cut by the government. it's one of many cuts the new president javier milei has introduced.

he has slashed energy and transport subsidies, the value of the currency, government spending on things like pensions. he argues the shock therapy is to fix the economy after years of high inflation, high debt and public spending. i asked him what he would say to argentines who feel they are paying the price. translation: actually, that is false. _ the largest adjustment is being paid by the political corporation. the mass media will deliberately lie and people will believe those lies they get through the media. you can't make a macroeconomic evaluation based situation of individuals. actually a particular situation may be influenced by the sort of information that individuals also have access to. information people have access to is prices in supermarkets. do you know how much a litre of milk costs in buenos aires?

do you know how many goods assets exist within an economy? you don't do economics based on the price of an individual asset. the first thing is that in economics miracles don't exist. what would have been the alternative? to continue to print money like the previous administration, that generates inflation and ends up effecting the most vulnerable? that was not the way to go. his fans want to give him time. some feel they can't afford to. julia sings here because her $190 per month pension isn't enough to live on. translation: it is us - who sufferer, not the political class as the president says. he says the political class is going to pay. it's a lie. we are suffering. the common people. the retirees. people who work every day and pay their travel fares, who by their food. ione wells, bbc news, buenos aires.

let's turn to some important news around the world. the uk's ministry of defence has been the target of a significant data breach. the bbc understands the personal data of serving and veteran armed forces members has been accessed from a payroll system. the defence secretary will update the house of commons on the situation on tuesday. columbia university has cancelled its main graduation ceremony, after weeks of protests on campus over the israel—gaza war. the ivy league school said it was ditching the 15 may commencement in favour of smaller celebrations, to focus on keeping students safe. already, graduation ceremonies at other colleges and universities have seen disruptions from pro—palestinian demonstrators. one of the biggest nights in the fashion industry's calendar is under way in new york where celebrities are gathering for the annual met gala. the event, hosted by vogue editor—in—chief anna wintour and held at the metropolitan museum of art, is known for its extravagant red carpet fashion and star—studded guest

list. the so—called �*oscars of the east coast�* serves as a fundraiser for the metropolitan museum of art's costume institute. that is set for the moment. keep up—to—date on bbc.com/news. i am caitriona perry. thanks for watching. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. well, your bank holiday monday probably came with a rain interruption at some point. it was pretty unsettled. some lengthy spells of rain across the southeast of england, but plenty of showers elsewhere. others, though, managed some sunshine. and in lincolnshire, we had 11 hours of sun, so it wasn't so bad there, whereas others had the downpours. and across parts of northern england, we had a couple of funnel clouds spotted — one over saddleworth moor and another one in the derbyshire area. the weather is going to be improving, though, over the next few days as a ridge of high pressure starts to move its way in and that will tend to settle the weather down. a slow process. we've still got a bit of rain left

over across southeast england, one or two showers elsewhere, but these will tend to fizzle over the coming hours. and temperatures as we start off tuesday morning, generally around 8—10, the coldest spots down to about five degrees. and that's probably where we'll have the best of the early morning sunshine. now, what you do start off the day cloudy, and particularly around some of these north sea coasts, it could be quite grey. some mist and fog patches around, a few spots of drizzle, but it is an improving picture for the majority. cloud will thin and break up, with sunny spells becoming widespread into the afternoon. outside chance of a shower? yeah, it's possible, perhaps across the hills of wales and south west england, one or two elsewhere, but not as many as we've seen over recent days. the vast majority of you will have a dry day and it will feel warmer when the sunshine comes out. the high pressure continues to build in for wednesday, but we do have weather fronts that will try to sneak in from the northwest. so wednesday, again, it should be a fine day for the vast majority of the country. certainly england, wales, most of northern ireland looking dry with spells of warm sunshine, probably quite hazy sunshine. there will be some high cloud in the sky.

but across the hebrides, highlands, orkney and shetland, it will turn cloudy, quite windy with outbreaks of rain moving in. in the sunshine, though, temperatures more widely climbing into the low 20s, so feeling progressively warmer. thursday, you've still got a risk of a few showers, this time for scotland. otherwise, some broken cloud and sunny spells. should be another dry day for most areas of northern ireland, england and wales. and again, those temperatures continue to climb. we're up to 19 in belfast. the warmest weather probably across eastern england, where temperatures will reach around 22, possibly 23 degrees celsius. that is going to feel warm in the sunshine, and there is more of that sunshine as we finish the week and head into the weekend, albeit probably with an increasing risk of seeing some showers moving in. that's your latest weather. bye— bye.

crossing 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. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. all of us are heavily influenced by the social, cultural and economic environment in which we are raised. as ideas, trends and technologies change, so too do generational traits. and right now there is intense focus on what is happening to generations of young people closer in age to my kids, than to me. are young adults inclined to be open—minded or closed? are children's minds being rewired by the ubiquitous smartphone? well, my guest is the renowned social psychologistjonathan haidt. are we losing sight of what freedom and curiosity really mean?

jonathan haidt, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much, steve. it is a pleasure to have you here. now, of course, your home base is new york university, across the pond in the united states. right now, that university — along with many others in the us — is in ferment, with students occupying certain grounds within the university. mm—hm. you've written a lot over many years about the intellectual atmosphere on campus in america, so i want to begin by asking you what you make of these protests. so, of course, the right to protest, we're all in favour of. the key issue for me is intimidation. this is what began in 2015 — a change in the nature of campus life, so that people

who are making a political point are doing it not with persuasion