newsnight�*s ben chu reports. my health caught up with me. it was that and it was nothing else. and it was the worst thing in the world for me to stop working. i hated it. i still hate it. it's mainly my autism and my anxiety that comes around with the autism as well. they're the main reason that i qualify for the benefits that i do. two faces of economic inactivity in 2024, but will there be many more in the decades to come? since the covid pandemic began in early 2020, inactivity among working age people — that's those aged between 16 and 64 — has risen by around 770,000. and the biggest driver of that

rise in inactivity has by far been the rise in long—term sickness. that has been a brake on the economy and prompted the creation of a major back to work programme from government ministers. but if ministers were hoping for a rapid turnaround, here's a reality check. the health foundation thinktank projects that the number of working age adults suffering from major illness — whether diabetes, depression, chronic pain or heart problems — is actually set to rise significantly over the coming decades, in fact, by an extra 700,000 by 2040. fran springfield, a nurse for decades, was forced to give up work while she was in her 50s due to back problems which left her needing to use a wheelchair. the sadness of it all has been is that there's no real way that i could go back and work part time. i only know of one of us in the uk who is a wheelchair user and still works. and troublingly, new research from the foundation seen by newsnight suggests 80% of that

700,000 projected increase in working—age people suffering from major illness is expected to be among the least well—off half of the english population, shown on the left. a lot of the people who live in more deprived areas, actually, _ as we saw in the pandemic, - many of them are the key workers. many of them are the people that are absolutely vital _ to keeping our economy going. so we can't kind of discount a whole segment of the workforce simply i because they're poor. ijust enjoyed it since for as long as i can remember, i always know when my mental health is going downhill when i stop doing my art. charlotte bien, a 26—year—old single mother, is economically inactive because of her mental health problems, including anxiety and borderline personality disorder. i think if someone's struggling financially — and i know this is an extreme example — but if someone's struggling to feed themselves and their child at the same time, then that's going to cause you a massive amount of depression and anxiety.

i need more mental health support. so what sort of mental health support are you getting at the moment, then? i have appointments with a mental health nurse. but i've only had one so far. i've not not had any other support for a long time. so that's one in the last year, or what period? it will be the past couple of years. in an ideal world, i'd be able to see somebody potentially once a week. the policy challenge when it comes to inactivity is twofold — to stop people getting into it, but also to help people out of it. ben chu, bbc news. the foreign secretary, lord cameron, has met with israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu during a visit to jerusalem. these are the pictures of that meeting just in. mr cameron says it's clear that israel has decided to retaliate against last weekend's missile and drone attack by iran. he says he's trying to convince israeli leaders that, in his words, "calm

heads must prevail". after his meeting with benjamin netanyahu, lord cameron spoke to reporters who asked him if he was satisfied that israel wasnt going to do any thing that might exacerbate the situation. we have repeated our view that any response should be smart, despite our solidarity with israel, and in a way that is designed to de—escalate and limit this conflict because nobody wants to see it grow and spread so those other things we should be discussing but at the same time, i think it is really important for the eyes the world to switch to looking at the situation in gaza where hamas have now hold these hostages for more than a hundred days and they have been offered a deal to release hundreds of prisoners from israeli jails in exchange for a pause in the fighting

and a small number of hostages to be released. they should take that deal, and when the world sees them not taking that deal, everyone should recognise it is ever macular is because this conflict to continue. as i have said, we don't want to see escalation and we hope that anything israel does is as limited and is targeted and as smart as possible and it isn't one's interest that we see escalation and thatis interest that we see escalation and that is what we have said very clearly to all the people i have been speaking to. but at the same time, we should rest a some things that are going in the right to recognition —— we should recognise some things that are going in the right direction, the opening of ashdod port and you crossings and getting up to 100 trucks a day and thatis getting up to 100 trucks a day and that is some examples of things we have been talking about for a long time and israel have accepted that and early signs are encouraging. i

think we have seen a general change in israel's attitude in aid getting into gaza, and they had made a series of promises about opening crossing into ashdod and getting up to 500 trucks a day and switching water back on into gaza and allowing more to come through the so—called jordan corridor and these are important promises and there are early signs there are improvements being delivered but we will want to check day by day that it really is happening because it is so important we get that aid into gaza and we get people fed and we get them water and we get them the shelter and the medicine they need. the changes have been promised by the israelis and we believe some things are happening and we want to make sure they all happen. and we want to make sure they all ha en. �* , and we want to make sure they all hauen. h .,, and we want to make sure they all hauen. �*, ., happen. children's doctors are callin: happen. children's doctors are calling for— happen. children's doctors are calling for it — happen. children's doctors are calling for it to _ happen. children's doctors are calling for it to be _ happen. children's doctors are calling for it to be made - happen. children's doctors are | calling for it to be made illegal happen. children's doctors are i calling for it to be made illegal to smack children in england and northern ireland without exceptions, it is currently banned in scotland and wales but a report published

today said to the defence of reasonable punishment should be removed from any uk legislation. physical punishment is bad for children, it harms their health and well—being and perpetuate the cycle of violence. that has to stop, just as scotland and wales have taken the really great decision to stop that, we need the same in england and northern ireland. sporrtswear giant adidas says it expects to make profits of more than $740 million this year. the company has had a turbulent 18 months after it cut ties with the rapper kanye west. emily brown reports. after its break—up of partnership with kanye west, things are looking up for adidas. in fact, it says it expects to make profits of more than $740 million this year. that's about £598 million. the news comes after adidas reported its first losses in 30 years last month. let's remember the sportswear brand cut ties with kanye west in 2022 over anti—semitic comments he'd made on social media. and in february, adidas said it planned to sell its remaining yeezy

trainers for at least cost price. well, now, the company which makes samba, gazelle and campus trainers says its quarterly operating profit had significantly increased compared with a year earlier when it was hit by the split with the rapper. adidas then pledged to donate some of its proceeds made from what's left of the yeezy stock to charity. it said the remainder of the stock would probably be sold later this year, but without any further profit. for the past few years, we've followed the story of the three dads — andy, mike and tim, who've been fundraising in memory of their daughters, who took their own lives. for their latest challenge, they'll walk from stirling to norwich. 0ur reporter alison freeman has more. right, let's stride as though we mean it, not like three old men. andy, mike and tim have been campaigning for more than three years now and walked

almost 1,000 miles. today, they start their latest challenge — highlighting not only the risk suicide poses to young people, but also the change that's happened since they started walking and talking. we believe in what we're doing absolutely passionately that we can stop more young people, more people taking their own lives. brought together by the deaths of their daughters who each took their own lives, they first set out in 2021, raising awareness that suicide is the biggest killer of under—35s, as well as funds for the suicide prevention charity papyrus. suicide isn't inevitable, that there are ways to reach out. three dads are still here, i and we'll keep campaigning. in 2022, they walked between all four uk parliaments calling for suicide prevention to be a compulsory subject in schools. since then, they've met ministers, sparked a parliamentary debate on suicide prevention education and even been to number ten to see the prime minister. afternoon. good afternoon. how are you all?

andy, i'm rishi, very nice to see you. welcome to downing street. their message has reached so many people. gareth and his wife nicky ran a guesthouse in cumbria. she took her own life in 2021 after struggling with the menopause. the loss led him to also contemplate suicide. i got very, very close. and i found myself one evening with the opportunity. everything was there. that was south africa. we found this lovely little bar restaurant... fortunately, gareth reached out for support. he had help from the local suicide bereavement charity every life matters and spoke to the samaritans in his darkest moments. and then he heard that andy, mike and tim were walking close to his home. ijust thought, i've got to go and talk to these guys. i'll never forget andy

and the other dads forjust listening to me on the side of a hill in the middle of nowhere. so what is it that you think that the three dads gave you? hope, life. and i think that's what i've seen from the three dads. you can live with it. it's not nice, but you've got to live with it. because the other option isn't worth anything. the landscape is beginning to change, and i think a lot of that is due to what the dads have been doing. they have given people permission to talk about suicidal thoughts. and we also know that talking about suicide saves lives. we need to be talking about the s—word. it can't be the s—word any more, it's suicide. that report was by alison freeman. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear. hello there. the direction of the wind will play a key role in the weather story over the next few days. lighter winds generally, today, and that's given us a chance

for some sunshine and to enjoy the beautiful cherry blossom that we've got. but it's still coming from the north. this high pressure is trying to dominate, but as it sits out to the west and the winds circulate around there, it means that we've got showers coming in from a northeasterly along the east coast and along the west coast as well. sandwiched in between the two for the remainder of the afternoon is where we're likely to see fewer showers and some sunny moments. but because the wind direction coming from the north, it's cool out there for the time of year, highs between eight and 13 celsius. a few scattered showers easing away from east anglia and the south east. clearer skies developing overnight tonight. that's going to allow those temperatures to fall away. gardeners and growers take note — we could see a touch of frost out to the west under those clearer skies. not quite as cold in the northwest because there's more cloud and yes, there's more rain. so, rain pushing into northwest scotland, gradually drifting down to the borders,

moving out of northern ireland, pushing into north west england and north wales. so gradually, after a sunny start, clouding over, with the exception of east anglia in the south east — here it will be a degree or so warmer with that sunshine, 15 degrees the high, but that means rain for all of us at some point through thursday night, easing away during friday morning, the high trying to continue to establish itself but still the wind direction coming from the north. so after a cool and sunny start on friday, we'll start to see cloud amounts continue to develop. a blustery afternoon for most of us, and temperatures once again a little bit under par for this time of year, but still get a bit of shelter and some sunshine. one or two of us might feel as though it's not too bad. now, the high pressure stays with us into the weekend. it's still sitting out to the northwest, which means that we still potentially feed in wind direction from the north east. so along the exposed east coast, it could still be a little bit disappointing. west is best closer to that area of high pressure. so into the weekend, there is a chance that those temperatures may well continue to struggle out

to the east with some showery outbreaks of rain at times. but further west, it will be warmer and there will continue to be some sun. live from london. this is bbc news. the uk foreign secretary urges israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to limit — during visit tojerusalem. we hope that anything israel does is as limited and is targeted under

smart as possible. it is in no ones interest that we see escalation. meanwhile — the un launches a $2.8 billion appeal — for aid for the palestinian population in the gaza strip and 0ccupied west bank. passengers at one of the worlds busiest airports face continued disruption after heavy rain has battered much of the grant. hugh grant has settled against the newspaper the sun newspaper against claims that private investigators used her phone hacking to target his phone. hello and welcome to bbc news. three hours of fast moving news and interviews and reaction. we begin in the middle east where the british foreign secretary lord cameron has said it is clear that israel has decided to retaliate against last weekend's missile and drone attack by iran. he

met with his israeli counterpart benjamin netanyahu