and a peace mission to south sudan the pope makes an unprecedented visit, alongside the leaders of the church of england and church of scotland. hello, and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. the giant chinese balloon that had been floating over the united states has been shot down by an american fighterjet off the coast of south carolina. the balloon, which the us says was being used to spy on military sites, appeared to plummet straight into the sea. china continues to insist it was a stray civilian weather observation airship. a short time ago, this is what president biden said. i ordered the pentagon to shoot it down as soon as possible, they decided without doing damage to anyone on the ground. they decided that the best time to do that was as it got overwater within a 12 mile limit. they successfully took it down, and i want to complement our aviators who did it, and we ll have more to report on a little later. our north america correspondent david wi
Intensive aerial bombing of gaza since the hamas attacks inside israel two weeks ago, in which 1,400 people were killed. The Palestinian Health Ministry Says about 4,600 gazans, mainly civilians, have been killed in the israeli air strikes. That includes 55 people overnight. Israels military has warned civilians in gaza to keep moving south for their own safety, as it prepares to increase pressure on hamas, which is designated a Terrorist Origanisation by the uk, us and other western governments. The Israeli Defense forces said one of its aircraft also targeted a mosque in the palestinian city ofjenin, in the occupied west bank. Israel says the mosque was used by a hamas cell as a base to plan and execute attacks against civilians. The uns humanitarian chief hopes a second aid convoy might be able to enter gaza late on sunday. If not tomorrow. But he said 20 trucks, the ones that have arrived so far, was just not enough. On saturday, agreement was reached to allow the first 20 lorries
By an explosion last night at a hospital in gaza city. The Health Ministry says a71 people were killed. Israel and hamas are blaming each other for the blast, which has inflamed tensions and sparked protests across the region. Israel says the blast was caused by a rocket misfired by the Palestinian Militant Group islamichhad. A senior us official says its high confidence that israel did not do it. But hamas, palestinian authorities and other countries blame israel for the explosion. The bbc is trying verify the claims from both sides. After talks with benjamin netanyahu, President Biden warned israel not be consumed by rage and to learn from mistakes the us made after 9 11. Israels Prime Minister called biden a true friend and commended his Deeply Moving decision to visit israel during a time of active war. He also said he would not block Aid Deliveries from egypt to gaza where food, water and fuel are running out after nine days of total siege. Well have the very latest on a day of di
Thank you very much, stephen. Its a pleasure to have you on the show. As Minister Of Defence in canada, how embarrassed are you that your country is still significantly failing to meet the collective commitment of nato Member States to spend at least 2 of your gdp on defence . Stephen, im not embarrassed at all because canada, under our government, has been investing very significantly in defence and theres been a very strong upper projectory of Defence Spending. Weve just introduced our latest Defence Policy, which injects a significant amount of new investment into Defence Spending. It builds up greater capabilities, it moves us much closer to the target of 2 , and with some of the other things that weve articulated in this Defence Policy, i think we are on a strong and inevitable path to achieving that 2 goal. Canada is well aware of its responsibilities to our nato allies, to our continental allies, through norad in the United States, and even around the world, and, as well, we are
Bill blair in ottawa, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you very much, stephen. Its a pleasure to have you on the show. As Minister Of Defence in canada, how embarrassed are you that your country is still significantly failing to meet the collective commitment of nato Member States to spend at least 2 of your gdp on defence . Stephen, im not embarrassed at all because canada, under our government, has been investing very significantly in defence and theres been a very strong upper projectory of Defence Spending. Weve just introduced our latest Defence Policy, which injects a significant amount of new investment into Defence Spending. It builds up greater capabilities, it moves us much closer to the target of 2 , and with some of the other things that weve articulated in this Defence Policy, i think we are on a strong and inevitable path to achieving that 2 goal. Canada is well aware of its responsibilities to our nato allies, to our continental allies, through norad in the United States, and