BBC News Briefing

26 September, 2024

Jules Darmanin

Hello. Israel's prime minister has told Israel's military to keep fighting with "full force", his office said, hours after allies issued a call for a ceasefire with Hezbollah. I have the latest updates on the diplomatic negotiations. Ismail Einashe reports from Kenyan flower farms, where workers grow roses for the European market in gruelling conditions. We're also writing on mangroves, period dramas, and train travel.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Israel to fight Hezbollah with 'full force', Netanyahu says

Smokes billows above a town in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military says it's "continuing operating to dismantle and degrade Hezbollah's capabilities. Credit: Reuters

Allies including the US, France and Saudi Arabia have called for a 21-day ceasefire "to give diplomacy a change to succeed" in Lebanon, warning of an "unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation". A US official described the call for a ceasefire as a "breakthrough" to our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman. But "there's a risk here that this is slightly presumptuous, or trying to create momentum around the announcement itself," he writes. For now, sirens are still sounding in northern Israel, and bombs are still landing on Lebanon, the Israeli army says. "Up until now, there have been no indications that Israel or Hezbollah are interested in backing down," writes Hugo Bachega from Beirut. The Iran-backed armed group, weakened by a week of attacks, is now fighting an "existential battle" for its survival. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his military to keep fighting with "full force", his office says. "There will be no ceasefire in the north", the country's foreign minister Israel Katz said on social media.

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Possible ground operation: The thought of returning to southern Lebanon 24 years after the end of Israel's occupation "is not viewed with relish" by Israelis, writes Paul Adams from northern Israel.

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Analysis: Israel Defense Forces are keeping up one of the most intense bombing campaigns in modern times, monitoring organisations tell Jeremy Bowen.

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Evacuation: Britons have told the BBC they are struggling to get out of Lebanon, as international airlines suspend flights to and from Beirut.

WORLD HEADLINES

US politics: New York City Mayor Eric Adams is reportedly facing federal criminal charges, as a growing list of political officials are calling for his resignation.

Death penalty: An 88-year-old man who is the world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been acquitted by a Japanese court, after it found that evidence used against him was fabricated.

In France: The murder of a 19-year-old female student in an exclusive neighbourhood of Paris is fuelling new calls from the French right for tougher action on immigration.

Growing pressure: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has survived a motion in parliament aimed at bringing down his government and triggering an election - but he will face further votes.

AT THE SCENE

Naivasha, Kenya

Toiling on a flower farm sending roses to Europe

A majority of the blooms produced by Kenya's burgeoning flower industry are shipped to Europe. But behind the roses, workers face strenuous working conditions and allege sexual harassment and unpaid overtime.

Ismail Einashe, BBC News

On a moonless night in the lakeside town of Naivasha, Anne sits inside a makeshift, two-room house, exhausted after a gruelling shift picking and sorting roses. Inside endless rows of the temperature-controlled greenhouses the size of tennis courts, workers like Anne harvest a huge variety of flowers that grow profusely in the rich Kenyan soil. Despite dedicating her working life to the industry, she says her monthly pay of just over $100 has barely changed in years. At the end of each month, Anne does not have enough to eat and often has to skip meals.

Keep reading

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

How to protect mangroves amid tigers and crocs

The Sundarbans mangrove area are home to India's largest population of tigers. Credit : Getty Images

The mangroves of South India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are "critically endangered" according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. But it's hard to know what actually takes place in these dense forests with a difficult terrain and a wildlife that is not exactly friendly to humans. Drones, however, are changing that game.

Read the story

Hollywood actors Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Dubious decisions

The casting for the tormented protagonists of Wuthering Heights has raised eyebrows.

Here's why

And finally...

A few years ago, when I told friends in the US that I had planned to travel from Los Angeles to New York by train, they found my endeavour unreasonable, to stay polite. British photographer Katie Edwards is taking us on a similar journey, crossing through the United States to try and capture its beauty through slightly dusty windows. Here's the result of 180 hours spent at the back of a train.

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– Jules

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