country respond to advancing russian troops in the east. president biden and donald trump agree to a series of presidential debates, the first will be in just a month and before their parties conventions. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. officials from the slovak government say prime minister, robert fico, is expected to survive after he was shot in an assassination attempt on wednesday. speaking to bbc news hour — deputy prime minister tomas taraba discussed prime minister fico�*s condition, and the political context behind the shooting. i was very shocked and tried to contact people in the surrounding to find out how serious is his condition and fortunately as far as i know, the operation went well and i guess that means he'll survive. at the moment the state of operation should mean

that he is not in a life—threatening situation. in slovakia we won two elections, the presidential one in october and we had parliamentary elections, so our government has pretty stabile and strong support in the public but after what he did in the political arena, his presence in slovakia, we think the opposition uses false narratives often and in international politics about our government, they speak of false narratives that we want to leave the european union, that we want to join the cooperation with russia. and all these false narratives. and, of course, people from the other side who lost in the elections sometimes believe these narratives, and they can become a little bit, let's say, upset. the attack took place in the central town of handlova. our correspondent bethany bell is in the capital bratislava with more on the suspect,

and how the attack played out. this was the moment a european leader was shot... gunshots. ..as he greeted members of the public in front of a local community centre. robert fico was shot in the stomach and in the arm. his security team half dragged, half carried him to his car. a few metres away, amidst the chaos, security officials push a man to the ground. the suspect is believed to be in his 70s. witnesses say he shot at the prime minister several times. translation: i heard three shots. _ it was quick, one by one, like if you throw firecrackers on the ground. i saw a scratch on the prime minister's head and then he fell next to the barrier. it's a nightmare. the 59—year—old was flown by helicopter to hospital, where he had emergency surgery.

officials said his condition was critical. a few hours later, a sombre president addressed the nation. translation: i am shocked, we are all shocked by - the terrible and vicious attack on prime minister robert fico. a physical attack on the prime minister is, first of all, an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy. hateful rhetoric, which we can see in society leads, to hateful actions. please, stop it. robert fico, seen here before the attack, is regarded as a divisive figure — a populist who's accused of being authoritarian and too close to russia. the attack has been widely condemned by all sides in slovakia. translation: the attack on the prime minister - is terrible — uncivilised

and brutal, pure evil. i this should provoke just one reaction —i unite all society against evil, hate and violence. _ the suspect is now in police custody, the authorities are searching for a motive. bethany bell, bbc news, bratislava. us president biden reportedly plans to press ahead with a billion—dollar tranche of military aid to israel — just a week after suspending a shipment of bombs over concerns about israel's offensive in rafah. israeli tanks are reportedly pushing deeper into the city, as the idf says it's targeting four hamas battalions. the hamas—run health ministry says the number of palestinians killed since october 7 is at least 35,233. and it says 82 palestinians were killed on tuesday, in the largest single—day toll in weeks. gaza's hospitals have warned of �*catastrophe' due to dwindling supplies of fuel for power generators and ambulances. meanwhile, there's been a rare

public sign of division within neta nyahu's war cabinet. israel's defence minister, yoav gallant, has voiced open frustration at the governmentss failure to address the question of a post—war plan for gaza — and urged the prime minister to rule out plans to take over civilian and military rule in the region. from jerusalem, here's our diplomatic correspondent paul adams. for days, the israeli papers have been full of reports suggesting that there are misgivings in the defence establishment over the lack of a plan for what governance for gaza in the days after the war. those misgivings came bursting out into the open today with the defence minister yoav gallant saying about his efforts to try to get the government to focus on this had simply been in vain. and that indecision was leading israel down a dangerous path towards a kind of long—term military and civilian rule in gaza, something he said would not be good for the country.

and he urged the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, to put into this indecision and to declare publicly that israel does not intend to rule gaza indefinitely. that was an extremely public rebuke, essentially, to the prime minister, accusing him of indecision. benyamin netanyahu hit back on social media saying that he was going going to swap hamas—stan for palas—stan, a reference to the palestinian authority that rules in the west bank. that's the most public row at the heart of the israeli government that we have seen since this war began. in the meantime efforts to try and improve the provision of aid to the gaza strip are going to take a little notch up in the coming days because a pontoon bridge which the american military has been putting together along with a floating platform that's going to set out several kilometres off the coast of gaza is all now ready

and being towed to the coast of gaza where it should be in action within the coming days. a british ship carrying aid in the form of plastic sheeting and temporary shelter equipment is on its way from cyprus and could be among the first pallets of aid to be delivered to gaza. joining me live is aaron david miller, a seniorfellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace and a former us state department official. gallant openly criticizing netanyahu for not having a strategy for the day after in gaza. how unusual is this and what consequences would that have for gallant? very. and i think that it could be the beginning of a trend among israeli military officials. current officials and even those who are just out of government to begin to

publicise their discontent and on significance to the prime minister's refusal to engage or to tether the military tactics to tether the military tactics to a political strategy. gallant and netanyahu — no love lost there. netanyahu fired gallant and then re—hired them in march of 2023 in response, to gallant�*s public criticism of the then judicial overhaul and the negative impact it was having on israeli security. so i think that israeli defence force — and i think that this has been building for quite some time. and the reality is that military power is only an instrument. it's an instrument designed to achieve a political set of objectives. and in gaza, the prime minister, for political reasons, to keep his coalition intact. forget implementing — he's failed to even discuss. implementing - he's failed to even discuss.— implementing - he's failed to even discuss. yeah, that's what i wanted to _ even discuss. yeah, that's what i wanted to ask _ even discuss. yeah, that's what i wanted to ask you. _ even discuss. yeah, that's what i wanted to ask you. the - i wanted to ask you. the content of this critique — does benyamin netanyahu and his government — are they engaging on what the enpoint of this war

could look like, and what governance in gaza could look like on day one?— like on day one? they have lans, like on day one? they have plans. but _ like on day one? they have plans, but i _ like on day one? they have plans, but i think _ like on day one? they have plans, but i think that - like on day one? they have i plans, but i think that they're tethered to a gal far, plans, but i think that they're tethered to a galfar, far —— galaxy far, far away rather than the realities back here on planet earth. there's going to be no governing authority in palestine that is legitimised. and the prime minister wants to rely on local elements, neighbourhood councils. but a lot of that is influenced by hamas. and hamas is going to survive this with a capacity to intimidate or coopt whatever doesn't have legitimacy. so the prime minister doesn't want to engage on this. two of his coalition partners, ben givr and smotric, threatened to leave if the palestinian authority is involved or if netanyahu moves in a direction of a establishment of a palestinian state. this could be the beginning of a tendency

to push for political change. but in the it would have to involve resignations. chief of staff would have to resign, the head would have to resign with the public protests and still might not be able to shape the four orfive might not be able to shape the four or five seats that you need from the coal bring down the government. i need from the coal bring down the government.— need from the coal bring down the government. i also wanted to ask you _ the government. i also wanted to ask you about _ the government. i also wanted to ask you about what - the government. i also wanted to ask you about what we're i to ask you about what we're seeing here in the us. the white house announcing last weekjoe biden, the president, saying that they would suspend certain weapons shipments to israel. a warning really to not go through with an operation in rafah. at the same time, we're seeing these reports from media here that the white house has announced that biden is sending $1 billion of weapons to israel. so where is the white house's strategy right now? the strate: house's strategy right now? the strategy is _ house's strategy right now? the strategy is to — house's strategy right now? tia: strategy is to try to house's strategy right now? ti2 strategy is to try to extricate the administration from this war, probably via an israeli—hamas negotiation to return hostages and create a six—week ceasefire. that has not borne fruit. but the

reality is that this president is under tremendous pressure within his own party. he's also, as we've seen, in response to spending one shipment — one shipment — against the backdrop of $14 billion recently appropriated for the israelis, international security supplement and another $830 million, $730 million of weapons and now $a $1 billion package which has been in the work for quite some time. this is not a president that wants to go to war, figuratively, with benyamin netanyahu. and he's carefully, i think, scripting this pause of one shipment. d0 scripting this pause of one shipment-— scripting this pause of one shiment. ,, ~ ., shipment. do you think that that is appealing _ shipment. do you think that that is appealing to - shipment. do you think that that is appealing to a - shipment. do you think that that is appealing to a base | that is appealing to a base here in the us? i that is appealing to a base here in the us?— that is appealing to a base here in the us? i don't think that it will. _ here in the us? i don't think that it will. do _ here in the us? i don't think that it will. do you - here in the us? i don't think that it will. do you think- here in the us? i don't think| that it will. do you think that that it will. do you think that that is politically _ that it will. do you think that that is politically strategic i that is politically strategic forjoe biden? 1 that is politically strategic forjoe biden?— that is politically strategic forjoe biden? ~ ., ., forjoe biden? i think that one man's floor — forjoe biden? i think that one man's floor is _ forjoe biden? i think that one man's floor is another - forjoe biden? i think that one man's floor is another man's l man's floor is another man's ceiling. he's alienating progressive democrats and mainstream democrats, but he's also in the process if he pushes too hard against the

israelis of losing the votes of conservative democrats, big donors and leaving himself exposed to a presumptive republican know who passions himself to be the most pro—israeli president in the history of the universe. so i think that biden is trapped in a strategic cul—de—sac, and right now, again, without an israeli—hamas deal, which is the only way out of this, to begin to de—escalate israeli military activity, free hostages, surge humanitarian assistance and perhaps build on this to break the battlefield dynamic of this war — i think that the situation is likely to get worlds before it gets worse. �* , , get worlds before it gets worse. ~ ., , worse. always really interesting - worse. always really interesting to - worse. always really interesting to talk i worse. always reallyj interesting to talk to worse. always really i interesting to talk to you. thank you so much. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky canceled all upcoming foreign trips as troops struggle against russian advancements and shelling near the country's second—largest city of kharkiv, in the northeast. a military spokesperson says ukrainian soldiers are under heavy fire. kyiv has rushed in reinforcements, but the deteoriorating battlefield situation prompted some ukrainian troops to pull back to new positions

in the region. around 8,000 people were evacuated from kharkiv since last week. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has more. not your usual traffic jam in russia's belgorod region, as a rocket launcher pulls over to pourfire into neighbouring ukraine, causing panic across the border. "what do you need to take? "let's move quicker, let's go," says this police officer. the russians are using new tactics here — constant ground assaults and relentless air strikes, although not all bombs go off. now ukrainian troops are withdrawing from some positions near the border. for the first time in 18 months, this war is no longer a grinding stalemate. russia has momentum, and that is fuelling a sense of diplomatic urgency

here in kyiv. a two—day visit by america's secretary of state antony blinken ended with tributes to ukraine's war dead and another $2 billion to arm those still fighting. we're rushing ammunition, armoured vehicles, missiles, air defences, rushing them to get to the front lines, to protect soldiers, to protect civilians. and on air defences, as dmytro said, this is, of course, a top priority. in moscow with his new defence minister, a confident sounding vladimir putin announced more funding for a war he thinks he's winning. translation: all enemy - counterattacks were repelled. our troops are improving in all positions, in all directions, every day. and here are the consequences — kherson in the south, like so many cities and towns across ukraine, is becoming increasingly uninhabitable.

nowhere is immune to moscow's desire to conquer its neighbour. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. russian president vladimir putin landed in beijing thursday for a two day visit to china to deepenen a �*strategic partnership' between the two countries. in an interview with chinese state—run media, putin said he's prepared to negotiate over the conflict in ukraine. the kremlin says putin and chinese president xijinping will also discuss asia, energy and trade. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some stories making news in the uk. junior doctors in england have entered talks with the government to try and end a long—running dispute over pay. the british medical association says itsjunior doctors' committee entered a new "intensive phase of talks" with the government, facilitated by an external mediator. the two have been at odds over pay for more than a year. these will be the first substantive talks since december.

junior doctors in wales and northern ireland have also been demanding higher pay. the home office announced that it's expanding the rwanda deportation scheme to cover failed asylum seekers. under the original plan, only people who had arrived in the uk on or after the first of january 2022 could be deemed eligible to be deported. failed asylum seekers are also eligible for a voluntary scheme announced last month. two men accused of of felling the famous sycamore gap tree near hadrian's wall in northumberland appeared in court. daniel graham of carlisle pleaded not guilty while adam carruthers from wigton entered no plea. the districtjudge said that the case was so serious that it must be dealt with at the crown court. the tree was cut down in september and the men were arrested in october. you're live with bbc news. the french government says an "unprecedented" manhunt continues to find the gang who killed two prison officers in an ambush. a 30—year—old convicted burglar escaped after the van taking him back to jail was rammed yesterday morning at a toll booth in normandy. president macron insisted everything was being

done to find them. the killings prompted a walkout from staff at many prisons across france today. from the city of rouen, europe correspondent nick beake sent this report. after the initial shock — an anger is now burning in this part of france. prison officers mourning their colleagues murdered in yesterday's ambush today walking out, fearful they could be the next target. the victims have been named. the man on the left, his twins turn 21 tomorrow. the man on the right leaves behind his wife, who is five months pregnant. this of the first killing of french prison staff in more than 30 years. lucy says it reflects a growing danger they all face. translation: many of us knew them personally, and it could have been us. it could have been me. we have children. we

realise that one day, we might not come home. everyone is in shock. the whole of france is in sock. , , , ,., in sock. this is the prisoner who was — in sock. this is the prisoner who was freed _ in sock. this is the prisoner who was freed during i in sock. this is the prisoner who was freed during the l in sock. this is the prisoner i who was freed during the dead liam mohammed amra, now the subject of an interpol red alert. today, we learnt more about the 30—year—old who had a string of convictions. the french authorities have revealed that for the past month, amra was being held at this prison, and that earlier this prison, and that earlier this week, he attempted to break out. apparently, he tried to saw through the bars of his prison cell. that attempt failed. but the ambush yesterday just up the failed. but the ambush yesterdayjust up the road was successful. the attack at the motorway toll booth seems to have been carefully planned. the white prison van being rammed by gunmen who then opened fire much the prisoner in white trainers then whisked away sparking a huge man—hunt. if the police are making progress in their search for france's most wanted men, there

are no signs publicly yet that the net is closing in. joe biden and donald trump will officially go head to head on the debate stage. current us president biden and former president trump have agreed to two televised debates in the coming months. cnn will host the first debate onjune 27. it will take place in the battleground state of georgia. cnn says there will be no audience in attendance at the june debate. meanwhile, debate number two is set for september 10, hosted by us broadcaster abc news with a location yet to be determined. debates have traditionally been scheduled by the commission on presidential debates. but wednesday's announcements by cnn and abc came after mr biden broke that tradition by laying out his terms for debating mr trump in a social media post. donald trump lost two debates to me to 2020 and since then hasn't shown up for a debate. now he's acting like he wants to debate again. make my day, pal. i'll even do it twice.

let's pick the dates, donald. i hear you're free on wednesdays! his predecessor quickly responded. in a post on truth social, former president trump criticised mr biden�*s debate skills and policies. mr trump closed out his message by saying, "just tell me when, i'll be there. "let's get ready to rumble!" and in a later post to truth social, he confirmed the announcements from cnn and abc, saying he accepts their offers to debate his opponent. as we mentioned, debates are typically orchestrated by the commission on presidential debates. but biden and trump will break with that tradition as their campaigns will deal directly with broadcasting networks. the bbc spoke earlier to co—chair of the commission on presidential debates frabj fahrenkopf, and we asked if he felt left out of the process. this was a shock of the day for everybody. there was no news anywhere that this was going to happen. we normally don't have contact with the candidates until after their conventions when they become officially nominees of the parties that are on the ballots for every state. so this was interesting,

particularly because at the time their first debate is scheduled, i think it'sjune 27, only about seven states will have completed their ballots questions of who will appear on tear ballots. —— who will appear on their ballots. we're all volunteers uncommission. we're not paid. ourjob was to be the neutral group in between to make sure that the debates would happen, and we've been successful for all of those years. at times, there have been other things happening but they've always come back to us. and if they're able to do it and get it on, so the american people a chance to hear the two can dates, where they are on the issues — god bless them. and we'll go away. let look at some other headlines now. france has declared a state of emergency in the pacific territory of new caledonia after three people were killed in riots and clashes. president emmanuel macron warned that continued violence would be met with a strict response. a dusk—to—dawn curfew imposed earlier on the capital, noumea, had failed

to slop the clashes. no injuries were reported after a barge crashed into a bridge on the texas coast. aerial video shows damage to part of the bridge and an oil spill. it forced the closure of the only road to a small island near galveston. eltonjohn and sir david furnish have one of the greatest private collections of photographs in the world with more than 7,000. now an exhibition of some of those images will open at london's v&a this weekend. in an exclusive interview with our culture editor katie razzall just after their first view — they talked about their love of the image. # i'll write a symphony just for you and me... 300 photographs, many on show for the first time. # i'll paint a masterpiece... sir eltonjohn started collecting after he got sober in the �*90s, and with his husband, david furnish, now has one of the world's great collections. i'm so proud of what we've collected, because we both love photography so much. itjust hits so many emotional

moments for both of us. the nan goldin especially, i bought that because i thought, that's my life, my old life, on the wall. the addictions and the people we lost to aids. yeah. there's a lot of pain and grief on these walls. 9/11, political riots, assassinations. civil rights. what makes you want to collect that pain? because in pain sometimes, there's a lot of beauty, unfortunately, and i'm drawn to that. that's why the show is called fragile beauty. # seems to me you lived your life # like a candle in the wind... we are sitting surrounded by some very beautiful people. but of course, there's sadness here as well. we've got marilyn, chet baker. and i'm looking at miss piggy. so there's something for everyone! marilyn monroe, chet baker, they clearly suffered for their art. do you think you suffered for your art? well, i did in a way, but it was self—inflicted. the pain i suffered was because of addiction, and alcoholism and unhappiness. but music saved me

and it always has done. the couple have 2,000 photographs from 9/11. it's the first time they've exhibited any of them. it's too raw for people who lived through that, but it's good to see some of them. there's only about four of them out. reportage is very important. and there's a very powerful photo of the january the sixth capitol hill riot. yes, i think the importance of photographs like that is that we live in an age now where people seem to want to rewrite history and want to deny truth, and i think when things are captured photographically, it's irrevocable. it's important to have photographs like that and it's important to keep a record of what happened. but there is little record of the man himself in the show. there arejust two photographs of eltonjohn — one of his hands, and this more playful image. completely spontaneously, he picked the plastic eggs up and put them under his glasses, and that to me says more

about elton's personality, and sense of humour and irreverence than anything, and that's what i love about photography. it is extraordinary that i collect photographs, because i don't like being photographed. i find it really painful. # hold me closer, tiny dancer...# many will find pain, but also joy in this extraordinary collection — a chronicle of our times. katie razzall, bbc news. that is the programme at this hour. you can always head to our website for the latest there or you can download our app there or you can download our app as well to get the latest analysis and headlines. hello, there. looking at thursday's weather, we've got some, i think, wet weather on the way to parts of england and wales

with some thundery rain at times. on wednesday, here's the day of sunny spells and passing showers. some of those showers, mind you, were very heavy, for example, here in hebden bridge. but looking at the satellite picture, you can see a stripe of cloud just here, that's a weather front that stretches all the way into europe. there's our fronts. but bumping into that front, we've got this trough here, this line of very intense showers. you might get the sense that these areas of rain are merging together. well, i think that's exactly what's going on. and they will tend to run towards england over the coming hours. so weather—wise, over the next few hours, not so much of an issue. we'll have some low cloud effects, some of our north sea coast, a few mist and fog patches here and occasional spots of rain or drizzle. drier weather elsewhere with temperatures around 10 or 11 degrees quite widely. the problems with the forecast come tomorrow. i think there is a risk of seeing more widespread rain initially across eastern areas of england through thursday morning before moving across the midlands and on into parts of wales and the west country as we head into the afternoon.

so the details are going to be quite difficult to come by, but expect the chance of seeing some heavy thundery rain at times across parts of england and wales. further northwards for northern ireland, sunshine through the morning and a dry morning. the afternoon, yeah, you could see a storm or two breaking out. most of scotland, in contrast to all of that, will be dry, although there will be some mist and low cloud across eastern areas and spots of drizzle through the morning, the afternoon, the best of the sunshine into the northwest, and that's where we'll see temperatures at their highest, probably reaching around 23 degrees or so. heading into friday, the weather pattern is still rather unsettled, but hopefully a bit more straightforward. it should be a day of sunshine and showers through the afternoon for england and wales. some of those turning heavy and thundery. the drier weather will be further north again for scotland and for northern ireland, where most places will keep spells of sunshine and temperatures well into the low 20s. that's going to feel pleasant with light winds for the weekend weather picture, we're still at low pressure close to the south of the uk,

a ridge of high pressure trying to build in from the northwest. and so it's again scotland and northern ireland that will have the dry ice weather through the weekend. england and wales, meanwhile, will have the chance of seeing a few more showers to come. bye for now.