about the ongoing war in gaza — and say there are plans to open new aid delivery routes starting this week. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the front line �*has worsened' after rounds of russian attacks. in the uk, police investigating the death of a man in greater manchester find more body parts, at two separate sites. and, thousands of people gather in birmingham for the grand final of one of the biggest gaming contests. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we start in the us and the white house has confirmed that president biden has spoken to israeli prime minister

benjamin netanyuahu about the situation in gaza. in a statement — the white house said that the president reaffirmed his ironclad commitment to israel's security. it referenced what it said was a �*successful defence against iran's unprecedented missile and drone attack earlier this month. the two leaders reviewed ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate ceasefire in gaza. and they also discussed increases in the delivery of humanitarian assistance into gaza — through preparations to open new northern crossings, starting this week. the statement concludes that �*the leaders discussed rafah — and the president reiterated his clear position�* — although it didn't give details of what that is. in the last few hours it's also been announced that us secretary of state, antony blinken will visitjordan and israel after a stop at world economic forum summit in riyadh. our north america correspondent will vernon is in washington with more details on the biden—netanyahu phone call.

well, i think the most significant thing about this phone call was the timing. the language in the readout provided by the white house doesn't tell us anything hugely new. but this is a crucial moment for the middle east. as you mentioned, the us secretary of state, antony blinken, he's departed on another diplomatic tour of the region. he'll be meeting qatari and egyptian officials, other regional players too. and he's going to be discussing a us—led cease fire plan that could entail a six week cessation of hostilities in gaza, as well as the release of dozens of hostages still held by hamas in gaza and the release also potentially of hundreds of palestinians from israeli jails. and mr biden and mr netanyahu discussed the talks on this plan earlier in that phone call. those talks have stalled in recent weeks. they also discussed increased access for humanitarian aid into gaza. we know this is something that the americans are very frustrated with.

president biden has spoken about this many, many times before. there was that tense phone call, wasn't there another one three weeks ago betweenjoe biden and benjamin netanyahu, in which the us president essentially gave his israeli counterpart an ultimatum take concrete steps to improve the humanitarian situation in gaza and let more humanitarian assistance in. otherwise, us policy over the war could change. now, since then, we know that the israelis have increased the amount of assistance going in. but aid agencies, aid agencies say that's still not enough. as the diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire continue, the united nations is warning of looming famine in northern gaza, where it says 70% of the population is facing �*catastrophic hunger�*. on sunday israel�*s military said the amount of aid going into the territory will be scaled up in the coming days, and that the issue is a top priority. the bbc isn�*t allowed to report from inside gaza —

but bbc news has obtained exclusive access to footage filmed by an american doctor recently returned from northern gaza, where the crisis is most acute. fergal keane sent this report — you may find parts of it distressing. this is the story of a doctor who travelled to hell. desperate voices cry out. sam attar went to help people trapped by war. he usually works in a hi—tech hospital in chicago. in gaza, his skills and mental strength will be tested to their limits. immediately upon crossing the border, we were met with the familiar stench ofjust millions of people packed on top of each other, living together. in some pockets, the air you breathe, you feel like you�*re decaying, just breathing it, because there

are just so many people. the crisis is constant. lives in the balance. the wounded and the lost. the mother who will not leave the side of her dead boy. amin, amin! you have no ct scans? no ct scans. so you just watch them and hope for the best? yes. rami, with shrapnel in his brain, but no equipment to properly investigate the damage. you ok? long day. it is the great paradox of all war that, in the midst of slaughter, so many will risk their lives for humanity. the doctor whose daughter was killed

comforts rami�*s mother. but sam attar must now travel north, where the un human rights chief alleges israel may be using starvation as a weapon of war. israel rejects this, saying un figures are wrong, and blames delays and distribution on the un and aid agencies. in kamal adwan hospital — the desolation caused by hunger. baby nahed, three months old. a 22—year—old woman, malnourished and sick, photographed just after she died. this boy is dead — a victim, his mother says, of disease and malnutrition. those who already had serious medical problems are now acutely vulnerable. jena, before the war, learning the alphabet.

she already had a condition that made it difficult for her to absorb nutrition. now she�*s bed bound by sickness and the trauma of what she�*s seen. so this isjena. she presented, you said, as a skeleton? due to malnutrition. so she�*s just skin and bone. a child sam had to leave behind, like so many others in this war. jena�*s mom came to me, and she was saying, "i thought we were coming with you. "what�*s happening? "why are you going and we�*re staying?" and it�*s because the convoy was only approved for the delivery of food and fuel and not for taking any patients back. but memories of war have their own way of following, as sam knows well. i left a piece of my soul in gaza, and i do hope to go back. i�*d say it�*s the best time of my life but at the worst time of my life.

the best time because of the people, but the worst time because of all the horrors you witness. sam managed to organisejena�*s evacuation to the south. today, our cameraman visited and found a child whose sickness made worse by war has left her mother feeling hopeless. translation: what can i do? she can't be treated, and her mental state is very difficult. she doesn't talk at all whenever anyone talks to her. her situation is bad, and as a mom, i cannot do anything. in all of this, it is hard to speak of hope, except to know that gaza�*s medics keep going — the steady light of decency. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. the aid organisation, world central kitchen,

which provides meals for hundreds of thousands of people in gaza — has announced that it will resume operations there. it suspended its work after seven of its workers were killed in israeli air strikes, at the start of this month. world central kitchen says it has 276 trucks, with the equivalent of almost 8 million meals, ready to enter through the rafah crossing. they will also send trucks from jordan, and are exploring the maritime corridor — as well as adding a third high production kitchen. the organisation�*s ceo, erin gore, says that they have no concrete assurances about the safety of their staff, but had to make a choice to either stop feeding people during one of the worst hunger crises ever, or continue, knowing that aid workers and civilians are being intimidated and killed. mrs gore signs off by saying — we must continue our mission. ukraine�*s commander—in—chief says the situation on the front line there has worsened in the face of multiple russian attacks. oleksandr syrskyi confirmed that ukrainian forces had withdrawn from positions close

to the town of pokrovsk in the eastern donetsk region, where there has been fierce fighting. he also said russia had what he called �*partial successes�* near kupyansk, but said ukrainian forces had stopped their advance. russia is trying to take advantage of its current superiority in manpower and artillery before ukrainian forces get much—needed supplies of us weapons. meanwhile, ukrainian military intelligence has released a video it says is of a drone strike on an advanced russian radar station. the radar is reported to be able to detect targets up to 300km away. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse sent us this update from kyiv. general oleksandr syrskyi painted a bleak picture. he talked about, as you say, the eastern donetsk region being the worst affected for ukraine, where defending troops have had to pull out from defensive lines which were established

when the town of avdiivka fell earlier this year. we�*ve just travelled from there, where we saw new trenches being dug as many as 30 kilometres back from the front line, which gives you an idea of the direction of travel. but it doesn�*t stop there. russia is using its air superiority, notably in the north—east, around the town of kupyansk. president zelensky says more than 10,000 bombs have been dropped on troop positions there as the russians fly almost unchallenged in the skies. ukraine does try and counter—punch where it can. today, its intelligence service released footage of a drone strike on a radar system in neighbouring belgorod region inside russia, which can see targets 300 kilometres away. so ukraine tries to hit back where it can. but you mentioned that us aid package, that multi—billion dollar offering. it�*s meant to arrive imminently, we�*re told, but it�*s clear

from today�*s forecast that any ukrainian benefit won�*t come before significant russian gains along this eastern front line and right across it, in the words of general oleksandr syrskyi today. let�*s take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. the future of scotland�*s first minister, humza yousaf, hangs in the balance, as he prepares to face two no confidence motions — which could come as early as wednesday. mr yousaf�*s asked to have meetings with all opposition parties — but only alba has so far agreed. their leader, alex salmond, told the bbc that a renewed push for scottish independence is the price of their support. the home office says it�*s entering the "final phase" of putting its rwanda policy into practice. a report in the guardian newspaper suggests the detention of asylum seekers — ready for deportation — would begin on monday. a home office spokesperson said at some stage people would "inevitably" start being detained in preparation for the first flight, which is due to take off in 10

to 12 weeks. the irish prime minister has said foreign migration policies cannot be allowed to undermine those of ireland. simon harris said ireland "�*will not provide a loophole for anyone else�*s migration challenges�*. hisjustice minister said there had been a rise in the number of people crossing from the united kingdom — from northern ireland — to the republic of ireland. a uk government source said the uk "won�*t accept any asylum returns from the eu via ireland" until the eu changes its policies. tesla chief, elon musk, has met government officials, including china�*s premier, in beijing. chinese state media is reporting the tech boss is there by invitation, for the promotion of international trade. they have discussed data and technology relating to electric vehicles. our business reporter david waddell explains why the visit is so significant. i�*m joined now by patrick george, who is editor in chief, insideev electric car magazine.

patrick, the focus of this meeting allegedly was on launching the long—awaited full self—driving software in china and gaining approval to transfer data overseas. what can you tell us about availability of this type of technology on the market? nearly every car company is choosing the technology of self driving to i degrees or another. none as ambitious as tesla has been at this. it's ambitious as tesla has been at this. it�*s autopilot in cell charting systems were early in the market in the us they take quite a bit of more risk than other systems do. however they are completely unavailable in china, a big threat to the future plans of elon musk for the trajectory of tbilisi and future revenue. something he is trying to get fixed pretty quickly. —— trajectory of tesla. how does china see elon�*s musk idea to refocus tesla on al with the more investments planned for the robotaxis? was this a needed �*pivot�*? needed. it is a great question. it

depends on who you ask a lot of investors would like to see mosque and tesla focus on new and affordable tesla models coming up but a lot of people believe he has become a little bored with the card game and focused on autonomy and artificial intelligence and unlocking the key to self driving. that is what he�*s trying to do here. as for how china sees it, who knows. given how they have rolled out red carpet for him for this visit, it is possible they will reach some sort of agreement that will allow him to meet what he is after here in china. what challanges is tesla facing in china, they have ambitions for their own ev makers like byd among others. first and foremost, on the most recent earnings call of test like musk was adamant he sees the future company of robo taxis, self driving and full autonomy. he is down on the idea that car should have steering

wheels that are, they should be autonomous. in order to do this he says he can train ai from all the data tesla cards right now so those cars can all be talked to and drive autonomously. he needs the data from trying to do that and right now he cannot get that because that deed is forbidden for me and to the united states which he is trying to get lifted on this visit to china as well as allowing full so striving to be used on the chinese market at all. so to pretty big hurdles he has to overcome to deliver on this idea that tesla can pivot to becoming a robo taxi company.— patrick george, editor in chief of insideev electric car magazine. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

more human remains have been found by police investigating

the death of a man in greater manchester. a torso was discovered this month in salford. they have now set up four investigation scenes in and around manchester. detectives say they are also looking through hundreds of hours of cctv vision. two men are in custody. our correspondent greg mckenzie has the latest. police in greater manchester have confirmed that two sites that they were searching this weekend, they have now discovered body parts. now, this all stems back from the 4th of april when a passer—by that was walking their dog had discovered a plastic bag, a see—through bag which contained the torso of a man. they contacted the police who subsequently launched a murder investigation. now, following intelligence, they then started to search four other sites this weekend,

including yesterday and today and discovered more body parts. now, the police have gone as far as to confirm they now know the identity of the 60—year—old victim, the male victim, and his family have now been contacted. they say that they were able to do this following the discovery of those body parts found this weekend, although those body parts are now being forensically tested before confirming whether or not they do in fact belong to the torso that was discovered on the 4th of april. the police have questioned a number of people and two men who were arrested on thursday still remain in custody, currently being questioned. a 20—year—old that was also arrested last week has since been released on police bail. police say they will be staying in these four areas overnight whilst they patrol the area

and say their concerns are really for the family of the victim who they say are heartbroken. thousands of people have gathered in georgia�*s capital, tbilisi, demanding the government revoke a controversial "foreign agents" bill. the caucasus nation has been gripped by mass protests since mid—april, when the ruling georgian dream party reintroduced plans to pass the law — which would require any independent ngo or media organisation that receives more than 20% of funding from abroad to register as an "organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power. critics says it mirrors a russian law on "foreign agents" — which they say has been used to silence media outlets critical of the kremlin. let�*s speak to tinatin japaridze, who is a political risk analyst at eurasia group. what are the main concerns regarding the proposed law on foreign influence in georgia? thank you for having me. the first

concern is the draft law would silence the freedom of speech for each. of georgian organisations and by extension of many georgian citizens including the activities of election monitors in the elections are of course coming up in october of this year and they are critical. at the end of the day it is designed to demonise them as foreign agents. as traders, really, one of the legacies of the soviet union. as a said earlier, by reintroducing the draft legislation just a few months ahead of the october elections, the ruling party was likely hoping to curb opposition media and the work of western backed igs in exposing its shortcomings hence the deeper concerns pertaining to the backsliding of democratic georgia which has been such a long time a beacon of democracy in the region but not the picture is looking vastly different. what similarities have critics drawn between the proposed georgian legislation and russian laws? many have actually called it a

russian law and many georgians are concerned about those similarities. some have not actually break the law very closely, but they know what happened in russia when it was initially adopted in 2012. it has been a tool for the kremlin to target potential dissidents and silences civil society as you�*ve noted earlier. we know all too aware that ended in where russia is today and how the foreign agent law has been one component of a very concerning broader picture. in many ways this clause does mimic legislation that the kremlin used to silence dissent in the country and of course, we are seeing the georgia dream party saying it has absolutely nothing to do with the russian law and it is actually it is fair that is closer to the georgian variate and many who understand the incident out, both in georgia, the actual variant in georgia and discussion as

well as the us variant are strictly different and to the goals are strictly different and that is the biggest concern. but of course selling it to the georgian dream party is something more similar to the western variant rather than the russian one day he would hope it would be easier to sell, but that is absolutely not the case that is why we are seeing tens thousands of georgians protesting in the streets. thank you for putting that into context for us. tinatinjaparidze, political risk analyst at eurasia group. the grand final of one of the world�*s biggest gaming contests has been taking place in the uk. 12 teams of professional gamers have been battling it out for prize money ofjust under £800,000. the esl one tournament sees players compete in the multiplayer battle game dota 2. andrew rogers reports. this crowd is going to make this one of the most legendary series of all time!

am i right?! roaring crowds, pyrotechnics, even a live orchestra. and that�*s before the game�*s even started. for fans of the game dota 2, this is a massive event and a chance to see some of the best professional players in the world. if you don't know about it, you think, well, you're still watching people on screen, right? it's like, why can't you do that at home? but it is a completely different ball game if everybody comes together and you have the atmosphere and everything. such a high skill ceiling, l so seeing the best players in the world do it, . what a masterpiece. it�*s heavily crowded, and why not? i mean, people would love events like this. these are full—time gamers competing for serious prize money. here in birmingham, a share of more than £800,000 is on the line and, of course, a very big trophy. events like this one really do pull in the crowds, and they�*re part of a global industry estimated to be worth more than £800 million. when you pick a city or a place,

it�*s about more destination, how the experience of the city can be, and birmingham is a great example of what that can be. it doesn�*t have to be a city that everyone is dying to visit and there�*s a bunch of tourism, that�*s not necessarily the point. it�*s about how the community brings together, how the people want to welcome you. this is just the first event in a bumper yearfor uk e—sports, culminating in the league of legends world series. tonight, though, it�*s all about the winners, team falcon. i've dedicated a large portion of my life to this game. it is my craft that i've chosen, and i'm very pleased to be able to have such great success. quite literally at the top of his game. andrew rogers, bbc news. that�*s all for now — stay with bbc news. hello. expect a different feel to the weather over the next few days. some warmer weather on the way this week, but with that,

we will still see some outbreaks of rain at times, so don�*t be expecting blue skies and sunshine all the way. and certainly low pressure in charge of the scene for monday, this frontal system pushing in from the west. that�*ll make for a really soggy start to the day across northern ireland. conversely, central and eastern parts of england and a good part of scotland starting with some sunshine. a touch of frost first thing across parts of scotland. outbreaks of rain spreading from northern ireland, into southern and central scotland, north—west england, wales and the south—west as we go through the day. but for central and eastern parts of england, where we hold on to some brightness, temperatures could climb to 18 degrees. more generally, 11 to 1a. now, through monday night, this first band of cloud and patchy rain passes a little bit further eastwards and northwards. we�*ll see further heavy rain returning to western parts by the end of the night. some clear spells, too, but temperatures between 7 and 11 degrees — much milder than recent nights. we should be frost—free as we start tuesday morning, but still with low pressure

in charge, this frontal system bringing another dose of rain to western parts. and this front creeping in from the east, that is going to bring a band of clouds and perhaps some heavy, thundery showers into parts of eastern england as the day wears on. but in between our rain bands, a slice of sunshine across central parts of england, up into southern and eastern scotland. the warmth a little more widespread on tuesday, highs of16,17,18 degrees. the odd spot may be up to 19. now, by wednesday, levels of humidity will be climbing a little. that�*ll mean more in the way of low clouds, some mist and murk, particularly for eastern coasts. outbreaks of rain also likely to develop across many parts of central and eastern england. those temperatures, 16,17 or 18 degrees. as we head towards the end of the week, low pressure still fairly close by, so there�*ll still be some bouts of rain, but the winds coming from the east will feed some rather warm airfrom the near continent in our direction. now, the highest temperatures of all for the end of the week may

be across western scotland — could be looking at temperatures up to 20 degrees. as we head into the weekend, looks rather mixed. some dry weather, some rain at times, but staying just a little warmer than it has been of late.

this is bbc news. we�*ll have the headlines at the top of the hour,

as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i�*m stephen sackur. last december, the world�*s highest court, the international court ofjustice, began considering a case which has stirred debate and controversy around the world. the state of south africa accused the state of israel of violating the genocide convention in gaza. in its initial ruling, the court overwhelmingly found there was a plausible case to answer, but a finaljudgment is likely to take years. today i have an exclusive interview with joan donoghue, thejust—retired president of the icj, who delivered that initial court ruling that sent shock waves around the world. in a sense, the whole idea of international justice is on trial. how will it fare?