Author: BBC News

The United Nations will announce its annual appeal for the world’s major humanitarian crises later today. For another year, a record sum is expected to be requested to help millions of people inside Syria, as well as the millions who have fled to neighbouring countries. The BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is in Syria and sent this report on what daily life is like for people in a town called called Kisweh, on the outskirts of Damascus. Subscribe to BBC News HERE Check out our website: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: source

The Zephyr is not your usual aircraft. It only travels at 40mph, it is launched by hand and it is completely solar-powered. The unmanned craft flies high in the atmosphere, to avoid commercial air traffic and adverse weather. So, what exactly is it used for? This video is from BBC Click, the BBC’s flagship technology programme. Subscribe here: For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news #BBCNews source

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has been killed in a helicopter crash, state media confirm. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also killed in Sunday’s crash, along with several others. The helicopter – one of three travelling in a convoy – crashed after it got into difficulties in heavy fog in the north of the country. President Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz, in the north west of Iran, after returning from an Iran-Azerbaijan border area, according to local media. The incident sparked a massive search operation that was hampered by bad weather conditions. Subscribe here: For more news, analysis…

The leaders of the UK’s Conservative and Labour parties faced each other in the final television debate, ahead of the general election on 4 July. Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer clashed repeatedly on their plans for tax and immigration, while facing audience questions. They were challenged about integrity in politics in one of the last major set-piece moments before polling day next week. Subscribe here: For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news #UKGeneralElection #BBCNews source

The number of deaths in the UK from coronavirus has reached 1,019 after the biggest daily increase so far. The government has announced more measures to help businesses survive the crisis. In Italy, more than 10,000 people have now died. Some critically ill patients there have been flown to hospitals in Germany, to help relieve Italy’s desperately stretched health services. Kate Silverton presents BBC News at Ten reports from Health Correspondent Dominic Hughes, Business Correspondent Katie Prescott and Europe Correspondent Jean Mackenzie in Rome. Please subscribe HERE source

Heavy rain has battered Gulf states, causing flash floods that have killed 20 people and disrupted flights at the world’s second-busiest airport. Dubai Airport said it was facing “very challenging conditions”, and advised passengers not to turn up as runways were flooded with water. Authorities warned that more thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds were forecast, with many low-lying areas still under water. Read more on the BBC News website: Subscribe here: For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news #Dubai #Floods #BBCNews source

Dominic Raab says the government’s “step-by-step action plan” is aimed at slowing the spread of virus so fewer people need hospital treatment. The foreign secretary says, at each point, the government has been following scientific and medical advice and has been “very deliberate” in its actions. He confirms the number of deaths across the UK – which has now reached 5,373. He pays tribute to those who have died and to all the front-line workers helping them. Dominic Raab says the prime minister is still in hospital, but in “good spirits”. And he says the government is also still “united”…

Israel’s military says it has conducted pre-emptive air strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after detecting plans for a significant attack against its territory. Hezbollah also confirmed it had started “phase one” of an extensive attack on Israel, firing 320 Katyusha rockets and drones targeting 11 military sites. About 100 fighter jets “struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels” in more than 40 sites, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. At least one person was killed after an Israeli airstrike on a car in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam, according to the country’s health ministry. It is…

Russia is scrambling to pull its military personnel and citizens out of the city of Kherson ahead of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Ukrainian father Dmytro Bahnenko reflects on the months he and his family lived there under occupation and secretly filmed for BBC Eye at great personal risk. Dmytro, whose day job had been as a local reporter, never thought he’d be filming the invasion of his home city. Along with his wife Lidia, Dmytro struggles to shelter their five-year-old daughter Ksusha from the war as she increasingly senses the danger around her. Kherson was the first major city to fall…

*** Warning: graphic frontline footage Ukraine’s forces have retreated from Avdiivka, a key eastern city besieged by Russian forces for months. Ukrainian troops pulled out as Russian forces advanced and seized control of the city in the Donetsk region. The retreat was ordered to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia’s defence ministry said it had full control of the city, with President Vladimir Putin hailing it as an “important victory”. Almost all of Avdiivka’s pre-war population of more than 30,000 people have fled and the city itself is almost completely destroyed. Its fall…