and xijinping arrives in france on his first visit to europe in five years. hello, i'm kylie pentelow. welcome to the programme. the israeli prime minister and the hamas leader have blamed each other for the failure so far to achieve a breakthrough in talks in cairo on a ceasefire in gaza and the release of israeli hostages. one of the crossings used to bring aid into gaza, kerem shalom, has been closed by the israeli military after rockets were fired by hamas. talks to secure a ceasefire and release some of the hostages today have now ended. with all the latest from jerusalem, here's frank gardner. in israel, the protests are getting louder. last night, thousands turned out to demand a ceasefire deal to secure

the release of scores of hostages still held in gaza. people are hostages to the right—wing government, and the people of gaza are hostages to hamas, and basically there has to be a way to overcome that. they are protesting because the last five months of military assaults on gaza have failed to release those israeli hostages. not everybody in israel wants this ceasefire deal. there are some, especially hardliners in the coalition government, who want to see instead an immediate military operation against hamas in rafah. meanwhile, the israeli government has voted unanimously to close the operations in israel of the qatar—based tv channel aljazeera. a tweet from the israeli prime minister's office called it the incitement channel. in cairo, ceasefire talks are still in play. hamas has sent a delegation, but they have been locked in talks with mediators. the sticking point appears to be they want a permanent end to the fighting,

notjust a pause, and israel isn't ready to give that commitment. in gaza, the war continues. the hamas—run health ministry puts the latest death toll at over 3a,000. the world food programme warns of famine, something israel denies. "god willing," says this woman in rafah, "my big hope is that this ceasefire happens and we can all return to our homes." gazans are desperate for this war to end. so are many israelis, but others in israel see this as unfinished business. they want this war pursued until hamas is utterly destroyed. frank gardner, bbc news, jerusalem. and a short time ago frank sent in this update from jerusalem on those peace talks. both sides want a deal. the problem is that they want it in slightly different ways on different terms. israel has gone about as far as i think it's prepared to go.

it reduced the minimum number of hostages that it wanted out in the first tranche. it reduced its figure from a0 down to 33. that's out of a figure of roughly 90 to 100 israeli and other nationality hostages thought to be still alive in gaza. they've also agreed to allow the return of displaced palestinians from rafah in the south, where they're currently concentrated, to their homes in the north. but the sticking point, as you mentioned there in the cue, is how does this end? and hamas are very reluctant, very unwilling to sign up to a deal to give up their key bargaining chip, the hostages, only to find themselves coming under full—scale assault. and the israeli government has made no secret of the fact that it wants to continue this war once it gets its hostages back. so that's not a very attractive... not a very, you know, not much of an incentive for hamas there. so the mediators, that's

primarily egypt and qatar, but also with us cia chief william burns in cairo, they're trying to kind of find a way around this to try and close this gap between the two sides. but there's an enormous amount of mistrust. israelis, even those on the left, more moderate israelis, still fear that if hamas is left intact in any form, it's going to make good on its promise to carry out another october 7th massacre in the way that it did seven months ago once it's rebuilt its fortunes, its armoury, probably with help from iran. and hamas fears, of course, being wiped out. and meanwhile, the us has said it's very unhappy. it disapproves of an israeli plan to attack rafah because it doesn't yet think that that plan includes a way to protect all the 1.4 million palestinians who've been displaced and are gathered there. so it's a bit of an impasse at the moment, frankly, and it's hard to see

a way through this. let's get more now on the news about aljazeera. israeli police have raided the jerusalem office of aljazeera, after the government decided to shut down the news network's operations inside israel. a statement accused aljazeera of acting as a mouthpiece for hamas. the qatar—based broadcaster said the ban was aimed at concealing the truth of the war in gaza. sebastian usher is our middle east analyst at the bbc world service, and gave this analysis of the speed of israel's raid on aljazeera's offices hours after the ban. it is swift, but it has been building for some time. this is something that the israeli government, now this far—right government, has very much pushed for and especially in the context of the gaza war, events since october 7th, the hamas attacks on israel then in which aljazeera, which israel has accused for a very

long time of being anti—israeli, it's acted against its journalists, journalists have been killed. i mean, most famously two years ago shireen abu akleh, the star correspondent of aljazeera for the arab service that they run in the occupied territories, was killed. aljazeera accused israel 100% of having carried it out, since then israel has said that the chances are that it was an accidental killing. so this showdown between aljazeera and israel goes back a long way, but really this has become much stronger during the gaza war and aljazeera has been really the only international media outlet which has been able to keep its reporters on the ground. they have been reporting essentially 2a hours a day on its arab and english language channels. again, that is something which the israeli government is very much against and believes is essentially acting as a mouthpiece for hamas,

and they said that explicitly, they have even accused aljazeera staff of collaborating with hamas. so this announcement today which was made by the prime minister, neta nyahu, was followed very swiftly by the communications minister saying he had signed it and as we have seen, actually, the communications minister posted a video of the raid within a couple of hours of this happening. so the powers that israel has over aljazeera to confiscate its broadcasting equipment, to close its offices and to block access to it on satellite and its websites. now, what we are hearing from israel is that has happened, that it is no longer obtainable by a satellite or cable in israel. let's turn now to the fallout from the local elections in england. the former home secretary,

suella braverman, has said prime minister rishi sunak needs to come up with policies that have more relevance to people, saying conservative voters "were on strike" in thursday's local elections. the tories lost over 400 council seats and all but one mayoral election in england. our political correspondent hannah miller has this report. applause labour won mayors, councils, and police and crime commissioners. rishi sunak left clinging on to just one mayor in the tees valley. even his majority diminished. this morning, the former home secretary, and one of the prime minister's biggest critics, warned of a total wipe—out for the conservatives. i despair at these terrible results. there's no spinning these results, there's no disguising the fact that these have been terrible election results for the conservatives and they suggest that we are heading to a labour government. her prescription for the pm... he needs to actually lower taxes in a way that people will feel, not tweaking round the edges.

if he is serious about migration, he needs to put a cap on illegal migration, he needs to take us out of the european convention on human rights. in defeat, the now former conservative mayor of the west midlands, andy street, said the opposite, urging his party to stick to the centre ground. this morning, ministers were insisting they're already on the right track. we have a plan and the plan is working... but voters are telling you they don't like it. but we're not all the way through yet. you've got to actually see... i think people want to see delivery, right? so, they want to see inflation continuing to come down, they want to see the boats stopped, they want to see, for example, nhs waiting lists continue to fall. we have made a lot of progress on that, but we are not all of the way there yet. despite a terrible set of results for rishi sunak, his mps are not about to turf him out of number ten, but they know that unless he's able to turn the party's fortunes around, it will be keir starmer walking through that door when the general election does come around. labour, though, faces pressure in some areas where there is concern

about its stance on the war in gaza. i do acknowledge that, in some parts of the country, that is the case, and there will be some people who maybe voted labour in the past that haven't in the local elections because of this issue. where that is the case, we will work to get support back but overall, these were tremendous local election results, a tremendous by—election, and a set of mayoral elections that went beyond the expectations that we had. until he decides to call a general election, rishi sunak appears safe in here. but he is under real pressure to deliver. and there are others waiting to get in. hannah miller, bbc news. conditions continue to deteriorate in southern brazilfollowing massive flooding and landslides with 70,000 residents forced from their homes. the government says at least 66 people have died and another 101 are missing. further rainfall is expected. brazil's president, lula da silva,

is paying his second visit to the southern state of rio grande do sul in recent days, to witness first—hand the devastating week—long flooding and landslide. jon donnison reports. much of brazil's most southerly state is under water. roads turned into rivers and more than 25,000 people forced to flee their homes. translation: now, when i'm being rescued, i feel relieved, | but it's terrifying because we saw the water rise in an absurd way. it rose at a very high speed. after a week of storms and heavy rain, at least 500,000 people are without power and clean water. translation: i need a lot of help, a lot. i we have nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. we have nothing. and the very young are being impacted, too. this tiny baby had to be winched to safety by helicopter. many of those who died were killed by landslides.

and at least two people lost their lives when the floods caused an explosion at a petrol station in porto alegre. brazil's military has been brought in to help with the rescue effort and to distribute aid. the extreme weather has been caused by a rare combination of hotter than average temperatures, high humidity, and strong winds, and forecasters say it's not over yet. jon donnison, bbc news. i spoke to my colleague from bbc brazil, paula adamo idoeta, who told us more about the rescue operations. the rescue operations are still under way, there are many people trapped, confined in their homes or villages that have been completely surrounded by water, they cannot get in or out. and also flying over these areas has been very difficult, these are the largest ever floods in this area in southern brazil due to a combination of temporary weather conditions, with el nino and of course

the effects of climate change. and the local river in porto alegre is now overfive metres high, the city's defence systems are struggling to cope with such a massive amount of water, which explains why it has been very hard to rescue people in these conditions. we know that more than 60 people have been killed, at least 100 are still missing. are there fears that those numbers of victims could increase? absolutely. there are fears that these numbers could go higher. around 70 people have been displaced, many people are still, you know, their whereabouts are unknown, and we have been connecting with people on the ground and they say they are, you know, desperately trying to connect with friends and family, know their whereabouts, know if they're safe. and less than a year ago, the same area faced floods as well, but not with such intensity and volume, which for brazilians is a stark reminder of the effects of global warming. also, local environmentalists

we have been interviewing, also blaming politicians and congressmen for loosening environmental controls and rules on deforestation in the past few decades. we know the president is visiting for a second time, clearly taking this very seriously. what kind of message is he hoping that sends? well, there has been a message of hope, trying to find people, but also of the alarming effects of how the weather has been very hard to cope with in the past few years and with the climate getting warmer, it is also a reminder that things could potentially continue like this. actor bernard hill, best known for roles in titanic and lord of the rings, has died aged 79. hill played captain edward smith in the 1997 oscar—winning film, and king theoden in the famous

rings trilogy. his death was confirmed by his agent this morning. hill was due to return to tv screens in series two of the responder, a bbc drama which begins airing on sunday. now it's time for a look at today's sport with jane dougal. hello from the bbc sport centre. it's been a miserable day for west ham, who've lost 5-0.. chelsea's cole palmer scored his 21st goal of the season as his side dominated the match. mauricio pochetino�*s side has been criticised for a mediocre season, but this result puts them up to seventh in the league. goals from connor gallacher, noni madueke and two from nicolas jackson made it five. west ham are ninth. meanwhile, it took 86 minutes for the deadlock to be broken at the amex as brighton hosted aston villa. villa had the chance to secure

a champions league spot with a top fourfinish but lost 1—0 after they gave away a penalty. keeper robin olsen saved joao pedro's shot, but couldn't stop the rebound. and in the game kicking off in about 15 minutes, liverpool will play tottenham at anfield. tottenham started the season so well, but manager ange postecoglou admits his side have a lot of work to do. we are a long way off, but that doesn't mean we can't challenge next year. i don't know which other way to put it. i think in terms of the team i want us to be, we are a fair way off, but i'm not dismissing the fact that we have to be competitive and have to challenge for success every year i'm here. he's a world cup winner, has lifted the champions league trophy four times and is an eight—time ballon d'orwinner, but last night, lionel messi broke a major league soccer record, as his inter miami team beat new york red bulls 6—2. the argentina captain got five

assists and scored a goal, which means he contributed to all six. that is a record for an mls game. the former liverpool and barcelona forward luis suarez also claimed a 12—minute hat—trick. cleveland cavaliers and orlando magic will fight it out later for the final place in the nba's eastern conference semifinals. they are tied at 3—3 in their series. meanwhile, the first of the western conference semifinals took place in minnesota. and it was the home side, the timberwolves, who won, taking a 1—0 lead against the defending champions denver nuggets. anthony edwards top scored with 43 points in a 106—99 victory. they'll play the second game on monday in denver. you can't play half a basketball in the semifinals.

they are a very talented team, i said it all week long and i will continue to say it, there is a reason they were in first place the large majority of the season and give them credit that they came in here, took game one, so there is a lot we can clean up and get better at, and we are going to have to. dutch cycling star demi vollering has won la vuelta femenina, riding alone to victory in the eighth and final stage on sunday. vollering, who won the tour de france last year, got her first victory of the season by winning the race for the first time, lifting her bike in celebration. she came second in spain last year, but this time took the title with a dominant performance. riejanne markus and elisa longo borghini finished second and third. there's been a dream start for kyren wilson at the world snooker championship, he leads jakjones seven frames to one at the end of the mid—session at the crucible. wilson had little resistance from the welsh qualifier who could only sit and watch as wilson took the first seven frames. jones managed to get one back at the end of the session, to save his blushes and stop it from being a session whitewash. this is his first world

snooker championship final. it's kyren wilson's second — he lost in the 2020 final, so he'll want to go all the way here. this match is best of 35 frames. and that's all the sport for now. thank you very much. chinese president xijinping has arrived in france on a state visit, his first trip to an eu country in five years. global conflicts are expected to figure highly when mr xi meets president macron and ursula von der leyen on monday. france would like china to pressure russia to end its war against ukraine, a scenario analysts view as highly unlikely. a huge free concert by madonna has taken place in rio dejaneiro, with a crowd of over 1.5 million believed to have attended. i should warn you there are some flashing images in the pictures we are about to show you.

the brazilian show had been billed as a thank you to her fans for decades of support, and marks the end of her "celebration" world tour, which began in london in october last year. organisers say copacabana beach transformed into the "world's largest dance floor" as madonna performed a string of hits from her ito—year career. here's entertainment writer beatrice hazlehurst. i think that's such a love letter to her fans. i mean, and it really shows her dedication to herfans. i think, like, she is one of the prevailing artists who's always shown that she appreciates the love and support that's given to her. and it's never been about commercialism. it's always the authenticity of the artistry and that is so special to see play out at this scale. i think she is someone who is totally propelled by maintaining her relevancy, and i think that's why this won't be her last tour, even though it's billed as this, you know, the celebration, this kind of last hurrah. i don't think we're going to see the last of madonna for a long time.

and we may even see a totally different madonna in five, ten years. and she may go again. whether it's going to be at this level, who knows? i mean, to be 65 and performing for 2 million people is absolutely inconceivable. but you have to think, i mean, look, this is one of the most successful female solo acts in history at this point. i think that reallyjust goes to show, like, her staying power. i mean, the tour in general hasjust received such incredibly positive reviews. there has been some kind of mixed bag responses, in that she's admitted some of her biggest hits, like, the lucky stars of it all. but ultimately, i mean, from vogue to like a virgin and her, like, michaeljackson tribute as well, there has just been so much to sink your teeth into with this tour. and i, honestly, i wish i went. entertainment writer speaking there. it's been a staple of breakfast tables and cafes across france for generations — we are talking about

the humble croissant. now bakers in paris are challenging tradition — and addressing climate change — by making the pastry without using butter. our paris correspondent andrew harding has the story. the french, as we know, take their food and all its traditions seriously. almost like a religion. so what to make of this? in a paris bakery, something close to sacrilege. c'est bon. it is a croissant made entirely without butter. like everything else on sale here. the baker responsible says his vegan business is booming. fla ky? yes. one small portion of a much bigger struggle to shake up french food culture, and to address climate change. we have to adapt a little bit french food.

but it must be a steep mountain to climb in a country like france. a lot, a lot. very difficult? yes, but it is changing. but that change is messy. dairy farmer sophie has spent many of the past few months on huge protest marches, leaving her pampered dairy herd to demonstrate against cheap foreign imports and against new eu rules to tackle climate change. as you can imagine, she is a big fan of butter in her croissant. but she is worried about the future. she says, "i have grandchildren, so i want what's best "for the planet, but you can'tjust blame everything on farmers." in her view, people need to eat local produce, to cut out the big multinational firms taking the profits. transforming french food culture is going to take a long time,

but there are plenty of people leading the way. in bakeries, on farms, and in high—end restaurants like this one. in her kitchen, chef manon fleury has already made waves for hiring almost only women, challenging a still male dominated industry, but she is also trying to nudge her customers away from meat, tackling another culinary tradition head—on. french tradition is quite heavy, so we need to, sometimes we need to have some radical ideas to change. a little revolution? yes, kind of. but these parisians are not yet ready for another revolution. they have come to judge the city's croissants, every pastry rich with dairy butter. all that buttery flavour going into it and that's what makes it wonderful and dreamy.

the vegan version not even under consideration. andrew harding, bbc news, paris. how do you get thatjob as a croissantjudge? there is plenty more on our website, but for now, stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. we've got some pretty big contrasts in weather to take you through the rest of this afternoon. for parts of the country, it will stay cloudy with a threat of rain — for example, here in southwest england. other places, though, quite a contrast. we'll have bright skies, plenty of sunshine, and it will become warm, particularly in parts of the midlands. the satellite picture tells the story quite nicely, with a beautiful curl of cloud down towards the southwest. that's an area of low pressure. band of rain working into southwest england. showers running ahead of that. then we get a slice of sunshine.

we've got cloudy skies with us again, affecting scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england. there will be showers, too. the showers quite frequent this afternoon for east scotland. we've got more general rain for parts of cornwall, devon and probably dorset. showers running into southern wales and central southern england. now, where it stays cloudy, temperatures on the cool side — 12—15 degrees — nothing special about that. but where the sunshine comes out across parts of wales, the midlands, east anglia, even south east england, temperatures reaching the high teens, perhaps even the low 20s. and that will feel warm. overnight tonight it stays cloudy for northern areas of the country with a few more patches of rain around. temperatures 8—10 degrees for the most part. but in the coolest parts of the countryside, wales, midlands, northern england, could see temperatures as low as four. tomorrow, well, broadly speaking, we're looking at a showery day. those showers really building into the afternoon, and this time, the shower is going to be quite a bit more widespread, but it'll also be a lot heavier. yeah, there is a chance of seeing some thunderstorms as we go

through monday afternoon, with hefty downpours. probably the best of the sunshine, again affecting parts of the midlands, east anglia and northern england. otherwise a fair bit of cloud knocking around. we start to see something of a change in the weather pattern though, through tuesday and wednesday, as an area of high pressure builds in. not the strongest high — there will be weather systems coming around the top side of that, but nevertheless it will do. and for tuesday, should be more in the way of dry weather. some spells of sunshine around, just a few showers across western areas. a bit of high cloud in the sky will make the sunshine hazy at times. but those temperatures starting to come up a little bit. 16 for belfast. england and wales — high teens to low 20s in more areas. and that trend of warming weather continues really through the rest of the week ahead. there will be a lot of dry weather. the exception, scotland, where there could be a bit of rain at times, but even here, it should start to feel warmer as the week goes by.

this is bbc news, the headlines. after heavy losses in the local elections in england, the former home secretary, suella braverman, has told the bbc rishi sunak needs to �*change course' if the conservative party is to avoid a political wipeout. attempts to secure a ceasefire in gaza are continuing for another day in cairo, with the two sides still unable to agree the exact terms of a truce. lengthy negotiations on saturday

failed to yield any breakthrough. the israeli cabinet has decided to close down the operations of the aljazeera television network in the country. prime minister benjamin netanyahu had previously described it as a �*terrorist channel'. aljazeera has described the decision as �*criminal�*. china's leader, xijinping has arrived in france. he's expected to meet french president emmanuel macron tomorrow, along with the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen. for more on the fallout from the local elections, it's now time for today's sunday episode of newscast, with laura kuenssberg, paddy o'connell and henry zeffman. newscast. newscast from the bbc. hello. it's paddy in the studio. and laura in the studio. and henry at home. is it mission impossible for the conservatives? that's what we've been discussing this weekend.

it depends how you count it. it depends who you are.