and the hostage ceasefire deal. police investigating the death of a man in greater manchester find more body parts, at two separate sites. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the frontline �*has worsened' after rounds of russian attacks. officials in kenya warn of further heavy rainfall, as deadly flooding and downpours batter parts of east africa. hello and welcome, i'm samantha simmonds. the white house says president biden has spoken to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyuahu about the situation in gaza. the white house issued a statement saying 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. hours earlier, the palestinian president said only the us could prevent an israeli attack on rafah, where more than a million have fled. mahmoud abbas is at the world economic forum summit in riyadh. he will be joined there on monday by the us secretary of state, antony blinken. mr blinken will then continue ontojordan and israel aftervisiting saudi arabia. talks are expected to include what can be done to secure a hostage release ceasefire deal. a hamas delegation is reportedly in cairo for discussions on monday. however, israeli ministers have clashed over a possible deal. far—right finance minister, bezalel smotrich, said a deal would amount to a �*humiliating surrender�*.

but benny gantz, a member of the war cabinet, said the government would have no right to exist if it prevented an agreement. a little earlier, i spoke to our north america correspondent will vernon and he gave us more details on that phone call between the us and israeli leaders 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 will be discussing a us led ceasefire 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, 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 the israelis have increased the amount of assistance going in but aid agencies say that's still not enough. will, there does seem to be a lot of movement over this weekend

when it comes to possible developments in this attempt to try and get a hostage ceasefire deal with the foreign minister in israel also saying yesterday if there is a deal they will hold off on rafah, and these movements now from the us secretary of state, this will be his sixth visit in the past six months to try and broker some kind of deal. that's right. this is a high—stakes game, isn't it, samantha? you've got antony blinken on the one hand trying to hammer out a ceasefire deal. that could defer, then, a possible israeli offensive on rafah. on saturday the israeli foreign minister said if there is a deal over the hostages then they could suspend that operation into rafah. the americans have said they wouldn't support an offensive in rafah, there are around one million palestinian people who have sought refuge in that city. so, you've got the americans racing to reach a deal before the israelis launch an offensive, and if an offensive is launched, that would obviously

be against the express wishes of washington. there was one more thing in a statement from the phone call, one line at the end saying that the us president reiterated his stance on rafah, and i think that was left purposefully blunt to demonstrate how frustrated, how displeased the americans are with the israelis repeated comments that they are about to carry out an offensive in rafah. 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 eight 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. mr gore signs off by saying — we must continue our mission. here in the uk, 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 — in winton, salford, and in bury. detectives say they are also looking through hundreds of hours of cctv vision. two men are in custody. our correspondent greg mckenzie has more details. police in greater manchester have confirmed that two sites that they were searching this weekend, they have now discovered body parts. this all stems back from the 4th of april when a passer—by

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. the future of scotland's first minister, humza yousaf, hangs in the balance, as he prepares to face two no confidence motions. they could come as early as wednesday. it follows the collapse of the power sharing agreement with the scottish greens. mr yousaf has asked to have meetings with all opposition parties but only alba has so far agreed. more from our scotland correspondent alexandra mackenzie. a week that will decide his future with implications notjust for humza yousaf but also for his party, the snp.

good morning, everyone. it comes just days after he decided to end a power—sharing deal, the bute house agreement, with the scottish greens. one senior snp mp made an appeal to the scottish green party. i apologise for what has happened this week. it could have happened in a in a different way, but we are where we are. but the choice that every member of the scottish parliament has this week is are we going to support that government under humza yousaf to make sure that we deliver the legislation that we all agree oi'i. but the greens insists they will not back mr yousaf in the coming days. i cannot imagine anything at this point that could i change that position. this was a spectacular breach . of trust from on tuesday saying the buter house agreement was worth its weight - in gold to stopping it - unilaterally on thursday. that's broken. the snp leader has written to the opposition leaders

at holyrood, arguing that people want to see political parties work together and inviting them to discuss their concerns and priorities. ash regan of the alba party could be the kingmaker. her support alone might be enough for mr yousaf to survive. alba's leader, alex salmond, has set out the political price for that support, prioritising a reemphasised emphasis on independence. she will be meeting with humza yousaf at his invitation. she'll take with her some very reasonable, positive proposals, which hopefully, if the first minister accepts them, will help them to get out of a very tight political corner. the main opposition parties say that humza yousaf has run out of road. the scottish conservative party say that even if he is saved by alex salmond, that's just prolonging the agony. the scottish labour party have called for a no confidence vote in the scottish government, describing it as embarrassing

and incompetent. but the snp leader struggles on in a bid to secure enough support to keep hisjob. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news. the home office says it's entering the final phase of putting its rwanda policy into practice. a report in the guardian suggested detentions 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 ten to 12 weeks. meanwhile, 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, after it emerged that the majority of asylum seekers entering ireland have crossed from northern ireland. the irish government is looking at legislation to enable asylum seekers to be sent back to the uk. but a source said the uk won't accept any asylum returns

from the eu via ireland until the eu changes its policies. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the frontline 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. officials in kenya have warned about even heavier rainfall as downpours batter parts of east africa. more than 150 people have been killed in neighbouring tanzania, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced in burundi and uganda. there are also fears that five key dams on the tana river — kenya's longest — could overflow in the coming days, with people in affected areas advised to move to higher ground. these pictures are from kenya's makueni county south east of nairobi. so far, at least 76 people have died there, with a further 130,000 displaced. meanwhile in tanzania flood waters have engulfed houses in the capital

dar es salaam and displaced more than 200,000 throughout the country. tanzania's prime minister has blamed environmental degradation for the severity of the damage. our correspondent anita nkonge is in nairobi and gave us this update. we continue to see heavy rainfall this weekend. just last night, we saw such heavy rainfall here in kenya that it caused flights to be disrupted, some delayed, some having to be diverted to other parts of the country due to poor visibility and heavy rainfall. like you said, in burundi, 100,000 people have been displaced, in tanzania, 200,000 have been displaced, with 51,000 households affected by the floods and 155 people dead in tanzania. in kenya, over 20,000 households have been affected, roughly 131,450 people affected by the floods as well and 90 dead. part of what we've been seeing and people posting on social media has been houses being flooded,

people being stranded with the roads being cut off, trains having to be delayed. so it's definitely a very devastating time right now. the kenya meteorological department say that we should be expecting more heavy rainfall even tonight. and those who have been living in places where there are dams have been asked to go to higher ground, those in the main city have been asked to stay indoors or go to higher ground, especially if they're in areas that could be affected by flooding. and the government has been launching a multi—agency response unit to those places where they may predict flooding. the red cross even created centres in parts of informal settlements where we have seen a lot of flooding, in anticipation of houses and people being affected by flooding tonight. we've had a statement from the wife of the british man who was seriously injured in a shark attack in tobago this weekend.

jo smith says her husband, peter, is in a stable condition in the icu at scarborough general hospital. she says he suffered damage to his left arm and leg, puncture wounds to the abdomen and injuries to his right hand, in the attack — the full extent of which are still being evaluated. she says as of this morning he is aware of what's happening and able to communicate, but still under strong medication. jo smith has thanked the medical team at scarborough general, the manager of the starfish resort where they were staying, the british consulate, the tobago house of assembly division of tourism, the local tour agent, and the "wonderfully kind" people of tobago for all their help and support. she's also thanked everyone who assisted at the scene, especially two friends that remained in the water to, as she says, "battle the shark". pro—palestinian protests at universities in the us appear to be continuing to spread, despite police making a series of arrests at a number of campuses. the protesters, who some university

officials claim are not exclusively members of their student bodies, have demands ranging from a ceasefire in the war in gaza to universities ending investments in israeli enterprises linked to the military. the speaker of the house of representatives, mikejohnson, who's a republican, had this message for the protestors at columbia university in new york. today, hamas issued an endorsement statement of the protesters on this campus. they called them the future leaders of america. it is detestable. all of this has to be said because the cherished traditions of this university are being overtaken right now by radical and extreme ideologies. it places a target on the backs ofjewish students. ryan chandler is a reporter with kxan news in texas. he's been reporting on the protests at the university of texas in austin. it has been a very tense week here in austin and truly at university campuses across the country but what we saw here at ut�*s campus was extraordinary, it was unlike anything i have seen,

i have covered my fair share of protests and spent four years as a student myself at ut and this was truly unprecedented. the morning of wednesday, they were about 200 students who gathered for a peaceful protest, and they were met with an extraordinary police presence, the state sending in troopers in riot gear that were heavily armed to disperse the students and not allow them to have their demonstration. so this has kicked off controversy around the entire country with students and faculty calling for accountability for what they believe was an improper infringement of the students�* free speech rights. what is the response from the police? well, the state and the university are adamant that they warned the student group not to host this demonstration because it's affiliated with other organisations that have caused severe disruption at campuses like columbia, yale,

and usc in recent weeks, so we know from some internal communications that we have obtained among university leadership that they wanted to send a significant police presence early in order to send a message that ut and other texas universities are not going to put up with this. the texas governor greg abbott was calling for these protesters to be jailed, and 57 of them were, all of their charges have since been dropped but many of them who were students spent 12 hours injailjust for participating in this protest. senior british conservatives have defended the prime minister after the tory mp, dan poulter, defected to labour. dr poulter — who also works for the nhs — accused the tories of no longer valuing public services. the home office minister, chris philp, rejected the claim and said the government was spending more money than ever on the health service. our political correspondent helen catt reports.

dan poulter�*s surprise defection is still being digested by westminster — a part—time working doctor and, for the last 1a years, a conservative mp, who will now spend his last months in office as a labour one, abandoning his tory colleagues because he said he could no longer look his nhs ones in the eye. it's been the case in the last eight to ten years or so the nhs is not a priority to the conservative party and to the government. we need to look to a party that has a track record when it was in government before under tony blair and gordon brown. and that's what keir starmer and the labour party i know will do, and they will be trusted, i'm sure, to do it by nhs staff as well. not so, said a government minister this morning. well, i don't accept what dan is saying at all. he talked about the nhs as a priority. well, of course, the nhs was one of only two departments that was protected during those years of necessary spending restraint after the last labour government bankrupted the country. as we heard earlier, we're now spending £165 billion a year on the nhs — that is more than ever at any point in history.

for labour, the defection is a boost to its claim to be the party which can reform the nhs. the shadow health secretary denied speculation that it might have also offered dr poulter any other inducement, like a seat in the lords. not that i'm aware of. he's said very clearly to me when i was talking to him this week about how he might help. he's going back to the nhs full—time when parliament is dissolved, which can't come soon enough, as far as we're concerned. there's been speculation over the past week that an election could come as soon asjune orjuly. rishi sunak didn't rule that out, speaking to sky news this morning. we've talked about it. you're not going to rule outjuly? you're going to try and draw whatever conclusion you want from what i say. i'm going to always say the same thing. you should just listen to what i said, the same thing i've said all year. mr sunak has said repeatedly that his working assumption is that he'll call the election in the second half of this year, which of course does coverjuly, although many in westminster think that an autumn election is much more likely. some tories think that this talk of a summer poll is designed to scare off conservative mps who might be tempted to move

against rishi sunak if this week's local elections go badly for the party. and why might that work? well, given the current state of the polls, many tory mps are fearful they could lose their seats if an election was imminent. although chris philp voiced the hope held by some that the polls would narrow in a campaign. clearly, at the moment, people do feel grumpy with the government, but as we get closer to an election, it's not so much a referendum on grumpiness, it becomes actually a choice. who do you want to run the country? for dan poulter, the answer to that is now labour. rishi sunak will hope he can convince tory voters not to think the same. helen catt, bbc news. honduras is grappling with an epidemic of violence towards women, with the united nations warning of a femicide emergency. in 2022, six out of every 100,000 women in the central

american country were killed because of their gender — and this figure is thought to be increasing. our latin america reporter mimi sway—bee has more. honduras is experiencing a femicide emergency, according to the united nations. with at least 66 women murdered so far this year, the country has the highest rate of femicide in latin america, and that's alongside some of the most restrictive laws against reproductive health, including a complete ban on abortion. in 2021, xiomara castro became the first female president of honduras, generating high hopes for change in attitude towards women. she promised to not fail them to defend their rights and that all women could count on her. however, little has changed. as in 2023, around 380 femicides were recorded, according to the observatory of violence of the national autonomous university of honduras. the director also stated that the degree of hatred and contempt against women is evident. despite feminist movements across the country trying to tackle this epidemic of violence

against women, the un has said the situation is alarming, as violence towards women and femicide is becoming normalised. visitors to tokyo's nightlife area were in for a shock when a 100 metre tall godzilla was projected on to buildings. the fictional radioactive monster is 70 years old this year. tourism bosses hope that projecting images of the beast onto buildings, in the shinjuku ward, will encourage visitors to flock to the area. digital godzilla will be making three appearances a day at weekends and on national holidays. that's it from me, thanks for watching. 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. the headlines: joe biden and benjamin netanyahu

have spoken by phone about the ongoing war in gaza. the white house says they discussed aid deliveries and the rafah offensive. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the front line "has worsened" after rounds of russian attacks. ukrainian forces withdraw from some positions in the eastern donetsk region, but he says they have stopped russia's advance near kupya nsk. the tesla chief elon musk is meeting chinese government officials in beijing to discuss the future of us—china relations over electric vehicles. he has described chinese car manufacturers as "the most competitive car companies in the world". the family of the british man peter smith, who was seriously injured after being attacked by a shark in tobago, says he is in a stable condition at scarborough general hospital. now it's time for today's episode of newscast with laura kuenssberg,

paddy o'connell and henry zeffman. newscast.