meanwhile, the white house says president biden has spoken with israeli prime minister netanyahu today about the situation in gaza. the future of scotland's government will be determined this week. two confidence votes are planned, but the first minister says there's no deal on the table. and gamers go head to head with £800,000 up for grabs in the grand final of the esl 0ne tournament in birmingham. hello, i'm samantha simmonds. in the past hour, the white house said president biden has spoken to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyuahu about the situation in gaza. hours earlier, the palestinian president said only the us could prevent an israeli attack on rafah, where more than a million people 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. other key international figures are expected in the saudi city and sideline meetings are expected to discuss the war in gaza and the way forward. that could include further ceasefire talks — a hamas delegation is reportedly in cairo for discussions there on monday. this is the appeal from palestinian president mahmoud abbas to the us, urging it convince israel to reconsider any offensive in rafah. translation: and i say here - what's happening now in gaza, | and what will happen in the coming few days, and what israel will do by invading the city of rafah, all the palestinians from gaza are gathered in rafah and it's only one small strike that would force them to flee the gaza strip. and here, the biggest catastrophe in the history of the palestinian people would happen. we hope israel will not attack. we call on the united states of america to ask israel to not carry out the rafah attack,

because america is the only country able to prevent israel from committing this crime. 0ur correspondent sameer hashmi is in riyadh, where mr blinken is due to arrive. well, today is the first day of the world economic forum, a special meeting that's happening in riyadh. and it's focused a lot on what's happening in gaza. we had the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, who gave a speech earlier in the morning, and in his address, he reached out and appealed to the united states and president biden to stop israel from carrying out the invasion in rafah. he said it was important the united states exerts that pressure on israel and prevents that. so that was one of the first things, and then there will be a lot of action tomorrow, and a lot of diplomacy around gaza, because us secretary of state antony blinken will be arriving here, he will be meeting a lot of leaders from the region, including the foreign ministers of the gulf region, he'll be meeting arab leaders.

and then in the evening, there will be a meeting between the five countries from the eu along with the arab countries to find a resolution to this issue, to take stock of where the situation is and how to take this process forward. so tomorrow is going to be a pretty busy day as far as gaza goes. asaf shariv served as consul general of israel in new york between 2007 and 2010. he also worked as the director of media and public affairs to former israeli prime ministers ehud 0lmert and ariel sharon. i asked him about the progress of any deals on hostages and a ceasefire. in the last two months, there's not a real war in gaza because we are waiting for a response from hamas, and there is negotiation going on. as the american administration has said, we are waiting for hamas�*s response to the egyptian suggestion, and if that will happen in the coming weekend, there will be no operation in rafah in the coming days. that is the situation. this is why the american president

is talking to the prime minister, and obviously blinken�*s visit will be, among other issues, dealing with this. yeah, we've heard mahmoud abbas today urging the us to put more pressure on israel not to continue, not to go ahead with its offensive in rafah. just three weeks ago, president biden and benjamin netanyahu spoke, didn't they? and then biden told netanyahu he would re—think his support for israel unless more aid was sent into gaza and more done to limit civilian casualties. are those things happening? according to the american administration, this is happening. the official spokesperson has said that the aid is going out in a much higher amount than in the past and also that hamas is responsible that there is no cease—fire. that's by the american administration, but let's say something about rafah. israel left rafah in 2005, in august, with the intentions

of never coming back. the reason we are here today is because of what happened on october 7th. if the international borders would not be crossed by hamas, we are not here. we have no intentions to be in rafah, rafah is not the goal. our goal was to live peacefully. but if we will not finish the issue of hamas controlling the gaza strip, and as long as they are saying that they will do october 7th again and again, we're just postponing the problem, because it's going to happen in two months, in three months or in four months. that is the main problem. that's why we are trying to solve the issue. if there will be a cease—fire now and the hostages come back, hopefully we can solve this problem as well, but if not, we will have no other option. the problem that you're alluding to is the elimination of hamas, isn't it? if israel doesn't go into rafah, as it said it would, if it doesn't eliminate those last units of hamas — which is what it wants to do — how do they deal with, as you see it, the problem of hamas? this is one issue. the second issue is that there's the border with egypt.

as we speak now, iran is continuing to send weapons into the gaza strip, through rafah. this is how they brought the weapons in, and we saw on october 7th — and even afterwards — that they have weapons like an average european country. so if we will not solve this problem, not only hamas but also the border between egypt and rafah, and weaponry will continue to go in, this war will never end. this is what hamas is very explicitly saying, that they will continue to do the same. to what extent do you think prime minister netanyahu is listening to what the us wants now, its urging of restraint? i think he's listening very carefully. the united states is our closest ally, and it has a huge influence on the way we conduct the war, obviously. i think if it was only the prime minister's decision, we would go to rafah earlier. but i think, now, the americans understand as well that we came to the situation that we have to do it.

it's either cease—fire or going into rafah. there is no point of... it's not only that israel suffers, the palestinians suffer as well from this situation, because the innocent people of gaza, they are in a situation of war only because of one thing — the hamas problem has not been solved. that is the main problem. we have to solve it for peace in the region, not only for israel's sake. asaf shariv, talking to me earlier. 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�*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. more from our scotland correspondent alexandra mackenzie. wow, what a view! it's been a bruising few

days for humza yousaf, as he faces a vote of no confidence as first minister in a minority government... good morning, everyone. ..after he decided to end a power—sharing deal, the bute house agreement, with the scottish greens. 0ne 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 different way, but we are where we are. 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 on? but the greens insist they will not back mr yousaf in the coming days. the scottish green group have said we will vote in support _ of a vote of confidence, vote of no confidence . against humza yousaf. and i cannot imaginej anything at this point that could change that position. this was a spectacular breach . of trust, from going on tuesday

to saying the bute 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 re—emphasis on independence. ash regan, who leads alba in the scottish parliament, is obviously in a highly influential position, given the political arithmetic. she will be meeting with humza yousaf at his invitation. she will take with her some very reasonable, positive proposals, in which, hopefully, if the first minister accepts them, will help him to get out of a very

tight political corner. the main opposition parties say the first minister has run out of road, but the snp leader struggles on, in a bid to secure enough support to keep hisjob. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news. let's just take you to spain now where thousands of people are marching to show their support for spain's prime minister pedro sanchez. he announced last wednesday he will take a few days away from public duties to decide whether he wants to continue leading the government after a court launched eight business corruption probe into his wife's private dealings, and these people out on the streets of madrid in support of the prime minister. 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. 0ur 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 14 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 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 do the same. helen catt, 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 10 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". his government'sjustice minister said there had been a rise in the number of people crossing 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. 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. 0ur 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. 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 have 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. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the front line there has worsened in the face of multiple russian attacks. 0leksandr 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. 0ur ukraine correspondent james waterhouse sent us this update from kyiv.

general 0leksandr 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 positions there as the russians fly almost unchallenged in the skies. ukraine does try and counter—punch where it can. today, its intelligence released footage of a drone strike on a radar —— 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 0leksandr syrskyi today. james waterhouse there. thousands of people in georgia's capital, tbilisi, have taken to the streets to demand the government revoke a controversial "foreign agents" bill. the caucasus nation has been gripped by mass protests for two weeks. they began when the governing georgian dream party reintroduced the bill. it would require any non—government or media organisation that receives more than 20% of its funding from abroad to register as an "organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power." critics say it mirrors a russian law on "foreign agents" — which they say has been used to silence media outlets critical of the kremlin.

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. here's mr musk�*s challenge. he's trying to sell tesla's full self—driving software to more users, to more drivers. that's the software that enables vehicles to drive autonomously, with a driver behind the wheel but not operating it. that's available in north america, both in the us and canada. but on friday, a us report tied its wider range of autonomous driving modes to at least 13 crashes, including one death. despite that, chinese customers are angling to use full self—driving software, but it's not yet available in their market. mr musk said it would be rolled out there very soon,

but here's the rub — all the data from tesla's chinese fleet is held in shanghai and, under chinese regulations, isn't accessible to tesla's us headquarters in texas. and that hampers the learnings that tesla needs to do to deliver a safe and effective product in china. mr musk needs to navigate that with chinese officials. 0ne's the premier, li keqiang. now, he's been making very positive noises, saying that china's market will always be open to foreign—funded firms and that beijing would provide a better business environment for the likes of tesla. today, there's fierce competition between tesla and its chinese rivals — byd, for example, china's biggest ev producer, and new entrants such as xiaomi, better known for its smartphones. xpeng is one to watch. it's trialling both transformer—style flying vehicles and its own self—driving software. these companies are providing stiff competition in both the domestic and international markets and forcing tesla to compete on price. tesla's sales are falling and its share price is down

almost a third since the beginning of this year. a troubling rise in the number of women killed by men in australia has prompted a wave of protest over the weekend. tens of thousands of people joined rallies across the country, calling for action on gender—based violence. they were joined by prime minister anthony albanese, who told a crowd in canberra that the country's culture — and male behaviour — must change. we're here today to demand that governments of all levels must do better — including my own, including every state and territory government. cheering but the prime minister's comments were not celebrated by all. one of the rally organisers — sarah williams — who you might have noticed crying in the back of that clip — said he has disappointed her. he wasn't in support for women today. he was upset that it was called out that he didn't want to make change and he decided to pretty much

come up and ask to speak. let's just bring you some breaking news from the united states falsely mentioned at the top of the news bulletin that president biden had held a call with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu also we now got was called a readout of that call, which is released by the white house. it's as president biden spoke earlier today with prime minister netanyahu. the president reaffirmed his ironclad commitments to israel's security following the successful defence against iran's en missile and drone attack earlier this month. it says they also reviewed ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages. it says the present refer to his statement with 17 other world leaders which was last week demanding that hamas released their citizens without delay, to secure a cease—fire and release for the people of gaza. the call also said the president and prime minister discussed increases in the delivery

of humanitarian assistance into gaza, including through preparations to open new northern crossings starting this week. the president stressed the need for progress to be sustained and enhanced and full cooperation with unitarian organisations says the leaders —— unitarian. the president reiterated his clear position. three weeks ago, joe biden warned israel that their support would be rethought for israel if they did not looked more carefully about the fusion number of civilian deaths in gaza and the lack of aid that was getting into gaza —— huge number. we've heard also from the israel military that more aid is now flowing in. the grand final of one of the world's biggest competitive gaming competitions is under way in birmingham, where one team of professional gamers will win £800,000 in prize money. the esl 0ne tournament sees teams from all over the world compete in multiplayer roleplay arena game dota 2. andrew rogers, from radio 1's

newsbeat, is at the tournament. in a very busy arena at the moment — as you said, esl 0ne event here in birmingham — two of the best teams in the world are playing at the moment. we'vejust had round 1 come to an end. falcons in the lead. a lot of support here in the room. they're keeping everyone nice and warm till the next round. now, if you don't know dota 2, which is the game that they're playing here, it's a 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena, and it's serious stuff because these are professional players going for big sums of money. and a win would mean the difference between a team being successful — getting those new players in, getting the talent and resources they need — and potentially fading away. that's it from me for the moment. do you stay with us here on bbc news. i'm samantha simmonds. thanks very much for watching. i will be back later with plenty more. hello there. once again, we've had some

really contrasting weather conditions across the country with a west—east divide. the best of the sunshine certainly in western areas, despite a few shower clouds brewing up through the afternoon. pleasant enough in morecambe, lancashire. different story to the east of the pennines, though. in leeds, an afternoon of heavy, persistent rain, blustery, cool winds as well. now, we're going to flip that while the story on its head into tomorrow, with the best of the sunshine out to the east. it will be a bright and breezy affair first thing in the morning. but this weather front will introduce more cloud and outbreaks of rain across northern ireland, gradually pushing its way into scotland, north—west england, wales and south—west england as we go through the morning. so, after that bright and breezy start, into the afternoon, the best of the sunshine is likely to be anywhere from dorset over towards east yorkshire. south and east of that, we could see highs of 18 degrees. still mild, but outbreaks of showery rain continuing out to the west. an improving picture into northern ireland. here, we'll see sunny spells and scattered showers. top temperatures under the cloud and rain in scotland, perhaps around 11 to 13 degrees.

low pressure will stay with us as we move into tuesday and it will stay out to the west. so that's where we're likely to continue to see showery outbreaks of rain. but a southerly breeze means that we're going to continue to tap into that mild air, so it will be a mild start to our tuesday morning. into tuesday, then, that southerly wind feeding in the mild air, a lot of sunshine expected for most. we'll see showery outbreaks of rain into the south—west, wales, parts of northern ireland. but with that sunshine, well, it will feel quite pleasant to close out the month of april. temperatures likely to peak into the high teens and that'll feel quite pleasant. now, as we move through the middle part of the week, low pressure will continue to dominate for a while. but as we head into the weekend, some potential for that low pressure to drift away and an area of high pressure to build in from the westjust in time for the bank holiday weekend. we still continue to tap into that milder air off the near continent, so those temperatures will still stay just slightly

above where they should be for the early half of may. so, with some showers around through the middle part of the week into the bank holiday weekend, it looks a little bit quieter and a little bit drier.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the us secretary of state heads to saudi arabia as diplomatic

efforts intensify to stop israel's planned offensive into rafah. meanwhilejoe biden and benjamin netanyahu have spoken. the white house says they discussed aid deliveries and the rafah offensive. this week could be a pivotal one in scottish politics, as confidence votes are planned in both the first minister humza yousaf and his government. he has written to opposition leaders in an attempt to find common ground. 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 eastern donetsk region, but he says they have stopped russian�*s advance near kupyansk. officials in kenya are warning about further heavy rainfall in the country, as downpours batter parts of east africa. at least 76 people have been killed and more than 130,000 were displaced by the flooding. now on bbc news, it's sportsday with hugh ferris.