the pentagon says it will �*rush' air defence missiles to ukraine. british troops could be used to help deliver aid to gaza via a new sea route. the first minister of scotland says he will not quit and as a seeking support ahead a confidence vote. south africa celebrates freedom day — thirty years since the end of apartheid and its first democratic elections. a great heaviness lifted from our shoulders. our shackles had been cast off. hello. i'm lewis vaughan jones. ukraine's president zelensky has renewed his appeal for allies to provide his country with more air defences, after another night

of russian bombardment caused serious damage to energy infrastructure. in kharkiv — ukraine's second city — officials said a missile narrowly missed a hospital with athousand people inside... leaving a huge crater in the grounds.. blowing out windows and injuring one person. there were also attacks in the dnipro region in central ukraine — and in the western areas of lviv and ivano—frankivsk. ukrainian officials say equipment was damaged and at least one energy worker injured. russia has repeatedly targeted ukrainian energy infrastructure over recent months. mr zelensky called for decisive action, saying the world could shoot down every missile and drone launched by , what he called , �*russian terrorists�*. it's attacks such as these that have led to the us providing more aid for ukraine. the united states outlined what will be included in a 6 billion dollar package of military assistance. it's part of a larger 60 billion dollar commitment — which was approved by congress a week ago following 6 months of delays.

the package will focus on air defence and includes interceptor missiles, anti—drone systems and artillery ammunition. what's not included are the new patriot air defence batteries, which ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky says are critical. the us defence secretary, lloyd austin, spoke about the importance of the aid. the outcome in ukraine will determine the trajectory of our times. if putin prevails in ukraine, the security consequences would be grave and global. europe would face a security threat it hasn't seen in our lifetimes. as president biden has noted, russia will not stop in ukraine. if the kremlin gets its way, if putin's war of imperial aggression succeeds, every tyrant on earth will take note. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse, is in southern ukraine. even by the standards of this war this was a night of busy skies,

where you have the ukrainian authorities saying that russia launched 3a missiles from land, sea and air, and it was a large—scale attack where you have these power stations reportedly hit in the far westerly parts of ukraine, as well as in the east around the eastern city of dnipro, as well as kharkiv city in the north—east, where we are told a psychiatric hospital was narrowly missed, with 1,000 people inside. president zelensky has used the strikes to renew his pleas for air defence systems. yes, this western aid coming in, but he is saying that western allies have the resources to stop every russian missile from hitting ukrainian targets. he has used that political opportunity. but this wasn't a night of one—way traffic. you have russian authorities in the southern krasnodar region saying they intercepted more than 60 drones launched by ukraine. they say two oil refineries were hit

and there are reports that an airbase too. the us at one point warned ukraine about hitting energy sites inside russia overfears of energy price rises and an escalation in this war. it is clear from last night that kyiv still does not share in those concerns. there've been developments in ceasefire negotiations between israel and hamas — with both sides continuing to review proposals. egyptian mediators have arrived in israel — and local media are reporting there's been "notable progress" in finding common ground in gaza itself, the hamas—run health agency says at least 50 people have been killed in israeli attacks over the past 2a hours. on saturday, people searched through the rubble of rafah, trying to recover what they could, after two houses were struck in the southern gaza city. the bbc has learnt that british troops could be deployed on the ground in gaza to help deliver aid via a new sea route. aid would be delivered

from cyprus on large ships before being transferred onto trucks and smaller landing craft. the floating causeway is expected to be "several hundred metres long" and anchored firmly into the sand. the united states has decided not to put american boots on the ground. 0ur diplomatic correspondentjames landale has more from jerusalem. some aid is getting into gaza by land. trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies. some aid is being dropped by air, but the united nations says it is nowhere near enough to help the people of gaza who, it says, are facing famine. so there are plans for aid to come by sea. the us army is building floating platforms like this off the coast, where aid will be taken off ships and put into trucks. us military vessels to include the usns benavidez have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary pier and causeway at sea. that floating causeway is expected

to be anchored on the beach somewhere near here, where israeli forces will secure a distribution area. the us says there will be no american boots on the ground. so the uk is considering whether british forces should drive the trucks along the causeway that may look something like this. but that would mean british forces being put in harm's way on the beaches of gaza, so—called wet boots on the ground, potentially at risk from hamas fighters. the trouble with these sorts of operations is you always enter spaces that are unpredictable. you go to places you wouldn't want to go and things happen. so you have to be prepared for the worst case, so you've got to secure the area. british forces could be deployed from this uk air base in cyprus, but, as of now, it is just an option. there has been no decision and it is yet to pass the prime minister's desk. the mod refused to comment. james landale with that report. chris parry is a former senior officer in the royal navy and nato —

he was an amphibious commander — meaning he was in charge of sea—to—land operations. he explained how this might work... what we have to imagine is the coastline at gaza doesn't have any port facilities, and so, if anybody can remember what d—day was like we had piers pontoons that lead from deep water into the shallow zone and also the shore. what this is called by the americans is called joint logistics over the shore, jlots. it is essentially a floating pier and it enables you to put heavy trucks and other loads ashore from ships that can only go into deep water. during the construction of this pontoon pier people are going to stay in rfa cardigan bay, which is a 15,000 tonne auxiliary ship that works for the royal navy. i think we have heard already that a third party is going to be driving these trucks, and i suspect the interface would best be served by an arab

country rather than any british troops going ashore. i suspect we are going to be limited to doing what is offshore and the truck driving and all the other things are best placed amongst those who are understand the local culture and can deal with it. earlier i spoke to retired us army lieutenant general, mark schwartz about the operation to get the aid in gaza. i think the level of coalition coordination to this i think the level of coalition coordination to this point i think the level of coalition coordination to this point has i think the level of coalition coordination to this point has been superb, obviously, the uk, france and the united states, to build this floating pier to have another major avenue of aid coming into the country, into the gaza strip is great. the challenge is going to be as chris pointed out, getting it from the pier to the point of need. i agree, i from the pier to the point of need. iagree, i ideally, you will see,

whether it is palestinian or the kingdom ofjordan or egypt providing those transport drivers to help enable the aid to the point of need. lets look at the wider military state of play, specifically at rafah. what is your assessment of where we are?— rafah. what is your assessment of where we are? last week, with the activation of— where we are? last week, with the activation of two _ where we are? last week, with the activation of two reserve _ where we are? last week, with the activation of two reserve brigades. activation of two reserve brigades that i believe the intent of those two brigades are going to be backfilling two of the more capable active duty brigades that are currently in gaza, to free them up to start rafah operations. i think, i don't know if it is days, but certainly weeks, as you mentioned, the fact that there have been some concerted dialogue on negotiations as recently as yesterday, and with the egyptian delegation in israel, we had seen that before, but that's positive, and that will potentially delete if any type of agreement is

made. clearly, both conventionaland special operations forces within the israeli defence forces are preparing and doing theirfinal planning and preparations for an eventual invasion of rafah.— preparations for an eventual invasion of rafah. what is your understanding _ invasion of rafah. what is your understanding of _ invasion of rafah. what is your understanding of the _ invasion of rafah. what is your understanding of the need - invasion of rafah. what is your understanding of the need to l invasion of rafah. what is yourl understanding of the need to do this? is there intelligence that the final resting command of hamas is definitely there? i final resting command of hamas is definitely there?— definitely there? i think the consensus _ definitely there? i think the consensus we _ definitely there? i think the consensus we have - definitely there? i think the consensus we have seen . definitely there? i think the i consensus we have seen being reported is that there is certainly a pretty significant number of militants, i think the estimate i've seen, at least reported in the press, is anywhere from four or five battalions. certainly, whatever is remaining of the senior leadership, to include the senior leadership of the hamas militant wing are believed to be hiding among the population there as well. i certainly understand the operational necessity to go in, and, you know, iam glad to go in, and, you know, iam glad to see finally you are seeing these temporary camps being stood up in

and around rafah and hand newness as well to try and move as many of the population that is feasible before operations commence.— population that is feasible before operations commence. thank you very much for that- — now it's time for a look at today's sport. liverpool's hopes of staying in the premier league title race have suffered another blow. after being held to a 2—2 draw with west ham united. jared bowen put the hammers ahead just before half time. liverpool roared back in the second half, left back andy robertson equalising soon after the interval. an alphonse areola own goal saw the visitors take the lead. but they couldn't hold on to it. player of the match bowen picked out michail antonio to earn west ham a point. but it was a result that wasn't of much help to either team's ambitions. it's not a great day for liverpool fc. 0h, it's not a great day for liverpool fc. oh, my god, we were unlucky, obviously, unlucky too often most of

the time, maybe we know it's not right to claim anything else. again, let's recover and then we go again. really pleased with what the players that, they did everything that we asked _ that, they did everything that we asked of— that, they did everything that we asked of them, we would have like three _ asked of them, we would have like three points, it showed the character they had, they go to— one down _ character they had, they go to— one down to— character they had, they go to— one down to liverpool, liverpool heavily on the _ down to liverpool, liverpool heavily on the tort, — down to liverpool, liverpool heavily on the top, they stuck at it, did not buckle, _ on the top, they stuck at it, did not buckle, and give us a great chance — not buckle, and give us a great chance of— not buckle, and give us a great chance of getting back in the game and that— chance of getting back in the game and that is— chance of getting back in the game and that is what we did. there's loads — fulham host in—form crystal palace. sheffield united will be relegated if they lose to newcastle, and could go down if they draw and other results go against them. they began the day 10 points off nottingham forest in 17th with four games left. you can see two other games later on on saturday. everton against brentford and aston villa against chelsea. there's a huge night ahead,

in the women's champions league at a sold out stamford bridge. chelsea hold a 1—0 lead over barcelona going into the second leg of their semi—final. emma hayes knows that despite having the advantage, it's still a big task ahead of them. i think ithink our i think our players play for our badge. 0ur players play for their family. our players play for each other. i am family. our players play for each other. iam part family. our players play for each other. i am part of that. i am in a team, it's not me, it's us, it's team, it's not me, it's us, its weak. and these player play at this football club to play in every game for chelsea. former world championjudd trump says he has rejected an approach to join a potential breakaway snooker tour. there's been speculation the sport's biggest names could be tempted to leave the existing world snooker tour and play in lucrative events elsewhere. but world number two trump, the 2019 world champion, said he instantly refused, and there was no chance he would quit. 0n the table in sheffield, trump progressed into the quarterfinals by beating fellow englishman tom ford by 13 frames to 7.

in saturday mornings other second round match, stephen maguire led shaun murphy by ten frames to six at the end of the session. next up forjudd trump is the winner of the match between welshman jakjones and china's sijiahui who reached the semi—finals last year. these are live pictures from the crucible. they began the afternoon resume shortly withjones 9—7 up and the latest is... 9-7 you can follow all the action from the world snooker on the bbc sport website and app. in rugby union, it all comes down to today to decide the women's six nations. england play france in bordeaux, with less than two hours to kick off. it's winner takes all, in this one. the red roses have not lost in the competition for 28 games, but their last defeat was away against france in 2018. ireland are currently taking on scotland with third place and a spot

in the world cup at stake... it's 5—0 there. and in the first game of the day, wales beat italy 22—20.... but didn't get the bonus—point win needed to avoid finishing bottom of the table for the first time. and that's all the sport for now. in an attempt to save his political career, scotland's first minister, humza yousaf, has invited the leaders of other parties to talks in an attempt to find �*common ground�*. he reportedly wrote to the leaders on friday night. mr yousaf is insisting he will not resign despite the tumultuous week. here�*s a quick recap of what�*s happened. the crisis began when humza yousaf — who leads the scottish national party ended its governing coalition with the scottish greens. both parties are pro scottish independence. there�*d been trouble in the coalition about the decision to scrap climate

targets — and gender policy issues theoretically, mr yousaf could lead a minority government but he faces a confidence vote in his leadership — and all the main scottish parties say they will vote against him. there is also expected to be a confidence vote in his government. there�*s the possibility that a former s—n—p member ash regan — who defected to another nationalist party — could save mr yousaf. but that�*s highly uncertain.( the big picture in all of this is that the position of the scottish national party is weakening with uk elections due. and that also has implications for the likelihood of scottish independence. it was a disturbing development on the channel this week — the deaths of five migrants aboard a dinghy bound for the uk.the bbc�*s andrew harding has returned to the beach in wimereux where he saw that group take off on tuesday. we�*re just running to catch up with some migrants. it was just before six in the morning on tuesday, still pretty much pitch dark— we were sitting on these rocks, waiting quietly for something to happen. suddenly, there was shouts and within seconds, scenes of total chaos.

we knew there were migrants nearby because a bbc colleague was actually in a french surveillance plane with the police, and their thermal imaging cameras had recorded several groups of migrants in the dunes. what�*s striking now is quite how quickly it all happened. there was a big group of migrants who�*d come from those dunes and they were running as fast as they could with their inflatable boat towards the open sea, police chasing them. there�*s another group here. the french police were here. they could see them. they were chasing them. but there simply wasn�*t enough time for them to get between the land and the sea and block the boat to get to the water. they�*re letting off firecrackers to try and keep the police away from them. as we got closer to the water and to the migrants, it became clear another group was also joining them and they were converging on the same spot and on the same inflatable boat. and that�*s where the trouble really started. we now know that there were at least

110 people trying to fit on board that one inflatable boat. normally, the smugglers have put maybe 50 or 60 people on one boat, so it was totally overcrowded. the tactics used by the smugglers are clearly evolving to cope with increasingly effective measures being taken by the french police, who have recently been using knives a lot to slash the inflatables to make them simply unseaworthy. now, because of that, the smugglers are using much more violence. you�*re going to leave them to go out with any let�*s say the french police have come in for a lot of criticism for not stopping this boat and others for standing by. what they say is given the dark, given the dangers, given the violence from the smugglers, the fact that this is happening at sea, if they did intervene more aggressively, there�*s every risk they could put more

people in danger. clearly, though, it is a balancing act between protecting lives and stopping the boats, and sometimes they don�*t get that balance quite right. after all, five people did die here. i think this one incident shows us the determination not just of the smugglers, but of the migrants, many of whom stayed in the boat and carried on theirjourney across the channel. we�*re in probably for a very difficult few months. after all, we know there are many, many more migrants building up on the coast here than last year. we know that already more people have died this year than in the whole of last year. the likelihood is that there are going to be many more crossings as the weather improves and presumably many more deaths. they are investigating the death of a well—known tiktok influencer,

there is a gunman opened fire on our car before fleeing on a motorbike. she had nearly half a million followers on tiktok, but as our arab affairs editor explains, not everyone supported her content. similar to a lot of young women in iraq and the arab world, who posed footage of themselves dancing to pop songs, having a good time and things like that, and they attract a lot of fans but they also attract from the more traditional elements of those countries. she was sentenced last year to six months in prison after a video circulated of her, she is a 30—year—old mother, at her son�*s birthday in which she was seen dancing. she was then taken to court, when she was released, she said she didn�*t really understand why she had been sentenced, she said that thejudge had made reference to the fact that she was dancing and that she was showing some of her

cleavage. i mean, this is something which she is not alone in facing quite adverse reaction to her. there is sorrow and outrage expressed by many about her death, there are also some who are saying essentially she deserved it because of her behaviour. so it showsjust deserved it because of her behaviour. so it shows just how divided iraqi society is over issues like this. there was one last year in which an lgbtq influencer was shot dead. before that, in 2018, there were several attacks on women, some who were, they had a big following on social media for the same kind of material, but others who are outspoken women, who were involved politically orjudicially standing up for women�*s rights. there were four women who were gunned down. it is not only women and social media influencers who face this kind of pressure inside

iraq. last year, there was a new media law which was brought in which essentially pretty much tried to ban most dissent that could be expressed. that would be against people who make their political viewpoints clear as well which is not something that she did. it is quite a widespread crackdown on free speech in general which many activists in iraq have been alarmed by. not that there hasn�*t been that in the past bone, but as the security situation in iraq has largely improved, there are still these moments, the circumstances, where there is peer savagery taking place on the streets. south africa is marking thirty years since the end of apartheid and the country�*s first democratic elections. president cyril ramaphosa — who is leading the main ceremony in pretoria — has said freedom day will unite the country in celebrating its democraticjourney. on this day in 1994 nelson mandela

cast his ballot in south africa�*s first all—race elections at a high school near durban. south africa is preparing for elections next month, while experiencing failing infrastructure and high levels of crime and unemployment. for more on this i spoke to our correspondentjenny hill, who is in johannesburg. this is a moment when south africans think back, they commemorate the heroes of the struggle against apartheid. many of them recall too the joy and the hope which accompanied the election of nelson mandela and his african national congress party. the anc has been in power ever since. a lot has changed in this country since then, the current president, cyril ramaphosa, laid the commemorations today in pretoria. he said 30 years ago, the pale of freedom rang across our great country. he also went on to

say the weight of centuries of operation was cast off on that day. this is a big moment for south africa, an entire generation has grown up and post apartheid. cyril ramaphosa knows there are a lot of challenges facing his country, he acknowledged as much in his very stirring speech. he also knows he and his party are likely to face a bruising election in a month�*s time. many voters are frankly fed up with failing infrastructure, electricity, power outages, water supply is often interrupted too. there are huge problems with unemployment, the youth unemployment rate is more than 60%. record levels of violent crime are also affecting people and making them very angry. most opinion polls reveal as though that will certainly be reflected on election day. as it appears some voters are turning away

from the anc with some predictions suggesting that it could lose its majority for the very first time. the olympic flame for this year�*s games has begun itsjourney to france. a short while ago, the torch, onboard the belem set sail from the port of piraeus in greece. its arrival in marseille next month will signal the start of a torch relay across france, and french territories, which will end at the 0lympics�* opening ceremony on the 26th ofjuly. coming up, plenty more on scottish politics, do take a look at the analysis online. we politics, do take a look at the analysis online.— politics, do take a look at the anal sis online. ~ , analysis online. we will be getting all the analysis _ analysis online. we will be getting all the analysis and _ analysis online. we will be getting all the analysis and reaction - analysis online. we will be getting all the analysis and reaction and l all the analysis and reaction and looking ahead to next week as well. a big week in scottish politics. for the moment, this is bbc news.

hello there. there�*s certainly going to be winners and losers with the weather story for the rest of the day. the best of the sunshine so far has been in the far north and west, but most of us under this influence of low pressure, and this weather front ahead of the main low, well, that has brought some outbreaks of rain. it�*s weakening all the time as it drift its way steadily northwards, a band of cloud and drizzle. so the best of the sunshine certainly has been in north—west scotland, just take a look at the western isles early on this morning. for scotland, for northern ireland and northern england as we go through the afternoon, it�*s a case of sunny spells and scattered showers, but we keep that cloud and drizzle across the midlands and into north wales. slowly brightening up south of the m4 corridor, but that in turn could trigger off one or two sharp, thundery downpours. temperatures today generally across the country a little below par for the time of year, so still that disappointing feel 9—11; degrees. but it will turn a little milder at the weekend continues. but it will also turn wetter through the evening and overnight as we see more rain spilling its way up from the channel and spreading

across eastern england. here we�*ll see temperatures holding up, but to the far north and west under those clearing skies, low enough once again for a touch of frost. but it�*s this low pressure that will bring some wet and increasingly windy weather, but it�*s also bringing some milder weather with it as well as the wind direction changes to more of a southerly or south—easterly. so a spell of heavy rain which will linger across north—east england and eastern scotland. west will be best through the afternoon. it�*ll be windy with the cloud and rain, and as a consequence, the temperatures really disappointing once again, 7—10 degrees, highest values of 13, possibly 1a. now, as we move into monday, not a bad start, and with that wind direction still coming from the south, some sunshine and some warmth. yes, it will turn cloudier and wetter from the west as we go through the day, but in that sunshine we could see temperatures peaking at 16, and it should feel quite pleasant, particularly in comparison to of late. warmer still as we go to the middle part of the week.

this area of low pressure will bring outbreaks of rain at times, but we�*re tapping into a south—easterly wind direction, and that will continue to drive in some warmer air, so temperatures just a little above where they should be for this time of year, but don�*t expect anything too dry, settled or sunny.

this is bbc news, the headlines ukraine says russia has carried out another air attack — narrowly missing a hospital. the us says it will "rush" patriot air defence missiles and ammunition to ukraine as part of its new military aid package. bbc learns that british troops could be used to deliver aid via a sea route and it is understood that this evil so be task to do this when a caller opens next month. —— that the troops will be tasked to do this. scotland�*s first minister humza yousaf is seeksing to save his political career, inviting leaders of other parties to talks and hope to change their plans to oust him in the coming confidence vote. he insists he won�*t quit. wildlife in antarctica is being exposed to potentially damaging levels of ultraviolet light, because of a hole in the ozone layer caused in part by australian bushfires. scientists say animals and plants are at risk from the rays.