the former president says he'll appeal to the us supreme court. high—stakes drama followed by another delay, as the un postpones a vote on a ceasefire resolution for gaza. plus, dramatic pictures from iceland, as officials warn that pollution from an erupting volcano could hit the capital, reykjavik. hello, i'm caitriona perry. you are very welcome. we begin with a major decision in the us state of colorado that could impact the 2024 us presidential election. the colorado state supreme court ruled that donald trump is disqualified from holding office and not eligible to appear on the state's republican primary ballot next year. the case was tied to the former president's actions onjanuary 6, 2021 — the day of the attack on the us capitol building.

the decision is based on a rarely used provision of the us constitution that bars officials who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion from holding office. the ruling says he's ineligible to appear on next year's ballot because of his role instigating violence against the us government. the ruling only applies to colorado's republican primary ballot but is on hold pending appeal until next month. the decision came down shortly before mr trump gave a campaign speech in iowa, where the first contest of the 2024 season will take place in less than a month. the former president did not explicitly mention the case, though he has discussed other legal cases against him before on the campaign trail. in a statement, the trump campaign said the court had "issued a completely flawed decision". adding they... "will swiftly file an appeal "to the united states supreme court." live now tojosh gerstein who's the senior legal affairs reporter at politico.

thank you forjoining us on bbc news. what did the colorado state supreme court say about why it was making this ruling? it provided this running under the 14th amendment to the us constitution which is a provision in that that was basically designed to prohibit people that are taken part in civil war activity back in the 18005 civil war activity back in the 1800s from holding political office in the united states and that has been a growing movement around legal graves across the us to use this provision to have trump kicked off the ballot as a result of his involvement in the activities that led up to the attack of the us capitol undercounting on the electoral votes on january six, 2021. former votes onjanuary six, 2021. former president trump has indicated it will appeal this decision. what will the us supreme court have to decide on? it

supreme court have to decide on? , ., , , supreme court have to decide on? , , ., supreme court have to decide on? , ,., ., on? it is mostly a question on how quickly — on? it is mostly a question on how quickly they _ on? it is mostly a question on how quickly they can - on? it is mostly a question on how quickly they can decide . how quickly they can decide this and whether they can get full hearing into this issue in time to issue a meaningful ruling. as i understand it, the colorado ballot for the colorado ballot for the colorado republican primary is supposed to be locked in on january fifth, which is only two weeks from now, so it is not a normal amount of time for the supreme court to take in any case that it considers, if you consider the fact that we have the christmas and new year's holiday also in here. this is going to be a very accelerated timeframe for the court to make a potentially very politically sensitive decision.— very politically sensitive decision. ~ decision. will the court said over the — decision. will the court said over the period? _ decision. will the court said over the period? normally. decision. will the court said | over the period? normally it would not- _ over the period? normally it would not. they _ over the period? normally it would not. they are - over the period? normally it would not. they are not - would not. they are not expected to sit in person until january five, which is the day they're supposed to meet for they're supposed to meet for the next conference. the were all together for a funeral of

the funeral of retired justice but they can consult each other via e—mail, phone or as them, or methods that got used to using over the pandemic. would ou using over the pandemic. would you exuect _ using over the pandemic. would you expect imminent _ you expect imminent notification if that is to happen? i notification if that is to happen?— notification if that is to ha en? ., ~' , happen? i would think so. trump has to officially _ happen? i would think so. trump has to officially bring _ happen? i would think so. trump has to officially bring the - has to officially bring the case of the supreme court. the colorado supreme court has given a stay of their ruling for a couple of weeks they will be interesting to see if the trump campaign tries to get a quick action from the supreme court or if they tried to drag out that stay in a way that might allow his name to remain on the colorado ballot. d0 might allow his name to remain on the colorado ballot.- on the colorado ballot. do you think that _ on the colorado ballot. do you think that voters, _ on the colorado ballot. do you think that voters, cases - on the colorado ballot. do you think that voters, cases in - think that voters, cases in other states, think that voters, cases in otherstates, may think that voters, cases in other states, may seem to use this ruling for cases to challenge his place on the ballot in otherjurisdictions? ballot in other jurisdictions? well, ballot in otherjurisdictions? well, we have already seen a few challenges like that that

have so far been unsuccessful. there are some that are not in court but going forth in front of the chief election officers in various states. the real question here is whether he can be knocked off the ballot in a state that he has a significant chance of winning, which is a scenario we have not seen yet. this puts the supreme court in an uncomfortable position, one they seem to want to avoid. if they seem to want to avoid. if the course continued to rule as they have up to this point, that he could remain on the ballot, there was really no need for the justices to get involved but now it would seem they're going to need to step in and addressed this question definitively one way or another. it is notjust a question for the primary ballot starting to take place next month but also, of course if he wins that republican nomination, for the general election that will run into november.— election that will run into november. ., ., november. we will have to watch this sace november. we will have to watch this space closely. _ november. we will have to watch this space closely. thank- november. we will have to watch this space closely. thank you - this space closely. thank you

very much forjoining us. very much for “oining us. thank ou. the suit was brought by six republican and unaffiliated colorado voters. i spoke with mario nicolais, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case. can you tell us a little bit about the six voters that took this case about the reaction to the ruling tonight?— the ruling tonight? thank you for having _ the ruling tonight? thank you for having me. _ they are thrilled. they're thrilled with the outcome. these are six individuals, i cannot overstate how courageous they are to bring a lawsuit like this and to bring it out. and basically say that the united states constitution stands for the fact that this country is a rule of law country and that is what they believed in. so it includes six people, four are republicans, two unaffiliated,

unaffiliated that can vote primers in colorado. among the republicans we have our lead plaintiff, norma anderson is a former state and house majority leader in colorado, so she served as a republican official, a high—ranking official in our state and she has been adamant that she does not think he is qualified, under the us constitution to serve in the presidency again. we have a former of chief—of—staff fora republican governor, we have a conservative republican columnist for the denver post, we just have a great group of people who basically said, look, we think this is our duty as citizens in this country to stand up for our constitution and to say that when you cross the line to engaging in insurrection after taking an oath to protect that constitution you are no longer eligible to hold office, you are no longer eligible to run for office. similar bids have failed previously and three other states. why so you think it is

that yours succeeded? welcome i think this is a fundamentally different case because none of those cases had any evidentiary hearing. we engage in a full five day hearing where we put on witnesses and we put on evidence and we made arguments to a court and went through that whole process, so we had officers who were there during the insurrection who testified, we had experts who testified about what the meaning of the 14th amendment was. so the fact that we were able to have a full evidentiary hearing in which no other state has done was very useful for us. i think also we had a team that was a very strong team, primarily from colorado lawyers here who are helping to push this through. we had help from a group from washington dc as well. and we were able to make sure that we could win this case. i think because we had that evidentiary basis it may be , it made the supreme court, the colorado supreme court look

at this and say, well, we know what you put on as a case and we agree with it. so now the question is what will donald trump do... crosstalk. just to jump in there, the former president has said he will appeal this, he intends bringing to the us supreme court. how confident are you that today's rawling will be how confident are you that today's ruling will be upheld there? i think we have a really strong argument, a strong argument for it to be appealed. while our decision here was 4—3, only two of the justices, only one of the justices really appealed, dissented on constitutional grounds. those are the grounds supreme court will have to hear this on. and they're going to have the questions of is the president an officer of the united states or does he maintain an office under the united states. that is a legal question. was his speech protected under the first amendment? that's a legal question. those are the things

they will be hearing. we think we have really strong argument to move up there. in one of the arguments you can see is the supreme court quoted justice gorsich, something from years ago denying to be on the ballot in colorado than we could protect our ballot from people who don't belong on it. so i think there is a very good chance that when this court, even a court that does have what people would typically consider conservative justices look at our case i think they will find it is incredibly strong and will let it go through. we're short on time, just want to ask another question. you mentioned neil gorsuch there, appointed by donald trump when he was present previously. in the ruling today the judges wrote that they hadn't reached these conclusions lightly, that they were mindful of the magnitude and the weight of the question that was before them. do you think the victory you have had in the colorado state supreme

court might encourage other states, voters in other states to take similar cases now? absolutely. and i think a lot have in other cases, there is one being heard in maine right now. i think what this helps them to do is to prove their cases. and i think it also requires the supreme court to step in and say, ok, we need to make a decision for the country as a whole. a volcano in iceland is still active following a dramatic eruption on monday. the flare up is gushing lava and smoke from the mountain filled with magma. more than 4,000 residents of the nearest town, grindavik, were evacuated after a spate of earthquakes last month. reports say lava is flowing at a rate of around 100 to 200 cubic metres per second, despite iceland's meteorological office saying the power of the eruption is decreasing. there are concerns of gas pollution in the region as fumes could reach reykjavik between tonight and wednesday morning. our correspondent nick beake has the latest.

fountains of gold... ..lakes of lava. iceland's own breathtaking winter illuminations. the fieryjets reaching up more than 100 metres, after blasting through the surface of the volcano, creating a rupture more than two miles long. all this, the result of a series of small underground shakes on the reykjanes peninsula. i'm very excited to be here in this place, in this time, just being able to see this natural phenomenon happen, just seeing lava emerge from the ground, even if it's in a particular continent such as this, it's just fascinating to see nature and action. i just... it'sjust like something from a movie! jasper and walter, dutch tourists, said they were in awe. our b&b hosts, they sent us a message that the volcano erupted, so, of course, we came here to go see, because it's

a once—in—a—lifetime for us. crucially, the lava has been flowing away from the nearest town. grindavik, a fishing community, home to 4,000 people, was evacuated last month when the volcano first showed signs it could blow. for the authorities, this is the fourth eruption in the past three years. we have cleared the town and the area and now we are just securing the area and closing every road to the area. that's just in process now, but... ..then we are just trying to manage the situation here. experts worry the gases that continue to spurt out are polluting the air, but they say there won't be a giant ash cloud, like 13 years ago, which grounded more than 10,000 flights. that's because this volcano system is not trapped under glaciers.

it may be that the most memorable part of this christmas performance is over, but they are not letting down their guard here. nick beake, bbc news, iceland. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some news out of the uk. the british prime minister has faced one final grilling from mps before christmas, as he answered questions from the liaison committee of senior mps. the group is tasked with scrutinising the prime minister's work. with a general election looming next year, rishi sunak will ask voters tojudge him on his record. bbc verify�*s nick eardley has assessing whether the prime minister has achieved his goals, starting with inflation. as you can see, at the start of the year it was high, 10%, went up to just below ii%, but on this one the government is doing pretty well. you can see that inflation has come down. in the latest figures it was 4.6%, so it has more than halved.

we are still waiting for the overall figures, the final three months of the year, and it's worth pointing out this is the job of the bank of england rather than the government. but it looks like this one is going to be achieved. on other matters though, like the overall economy, wait times at medical facilities, and migrant arrivals, our bbc verify team has found the prime minister and his government have been less successful. you're live with bbc news. there's been lots of diplomacy on the israel—gaza war, but no new deals yet. a vote at the united nations on a draft resolution calling for a secession in fighting has been delayed again, and in the middle east possible talks on hostage releases are making progress. it's the second time the un has delayed the vote, with the language in the resolution standing in the way. in the latest wording, the un would be calling for a suspension of hostilities. that's watered down from the stronger language calling for a ceasefire in the original draft. the holdout is the us who has vetoed the previous resolutions.

here's white house national security spokesman john kirby earlier. we don't support a permanent ceasefire at this time. it would simply validate what hamas did on 7 october. we would leave them in power in gaza, which is unacceptable to us and our israeli friends and, of course, it would give them a much longer time line to prepare and plan additional attacks. we do support smaller, more localised, more targeted humanitarian pauses to get hostages out and more aid in. another vote is set for wednesday morning in new york. meanwhile, the hamas—run health ministry says dozens more palestinians have been killed this week in air strikes in the north and south of the strip. and in rafah, at least 20 people were were killed and tens more wounded. the israeli army says it targeted and killed a hamas financier there. negotiations seem to be restarting over a new hostage deal that might see a pause in fighting. reuters reports that

a meeting between qatar's prime minister and the heads of both the us and israeli intelligence services was positive, but no new hostage deal is imminent. and a source tells the bbc that the leader of hamas is expected to visit cairo on wednesday, a sign that negotiations could be resuming between israel and hamas. our middle east correspondent hugo bachega has more. there were new signs of movement towards possible negotiations between israel and hamas for the release of more hostages being held in gaza and for more humanitarian aid to be delivered to the territory. on wednesday the leader of hamas, ismail haniyeh, is expected to visit cairo, egypt alongside qatar, to help negotiate the first deal that saw the release of more than 100 hostages and also palestinian prisoners being freed from israeli jails. on tuesday the israeli president said his country was ready for another humanitarian cause in gaza.

that followed meetings between the israeli and american intelligence chiefs and the qatari prime minister but any negotiations are unlikely to be easy. hamas has conditioned any exchanges on a comprehensive ceasefire in gaza. israel so far has rejected the calls for a ceasefire, saying that this would only benefit hamas, a position that's been supported by the country's main ally, the united states. more than a hundred captives remain in gaza and israel says the release of hostages and elimination of hamas are its goals of its military offensive in gaza. live now to natasha hall who's a senior fellow with the middle east program at the center for strategic and international studies.

thank you forjoining us on bbc news. the us has a long tradition of vetoing resolutions relating to israel and gaza, why has there been so much intense diplomacy on this one? there is always intense diplomacy when there are these escalations and violence, the united states has vetoed dozens if not 50 times in defence of israel, so today what we are seeing on what we saw yesterday in the past weeks it is trying to avoid yet another us veto toward something of a bit more constructive. moving away from the language of a long lasting ceasefire, to a cessation of hostilities and now we're talking a suspension or pause with hostilities. what i think is happening is potentially us officials are trying to unite the hostage deal and the pores that might take place there, with whatever happens at the security council. i5 with whatever happens at the security council.— security council. is there amount _ security council. is there amount of _ security council. is there

amount of time - security council. is there amount of time these . security council. is there - amount of time these delays could carry on the security council to try to align it with that deal that you mention? there is on already been an enormous amount of delays, we are waiting till tomorrow morning again and we are hope there will be a vote but they have been delayed many times and there are very intense negotiations going on with the uae leading the way. we have seen some intense diplomacy between egypt and qatar and the israeli equivalent of the cia to get some kind of deal across the finish line where three dozen more hostages would be released in return for a pause in fighting again.— in fighting again. those talks ou are in fighting again. those talks you are describing _ in fighting again. those talks you are describing between l in fighting again. those talks i you are describing between the us, israeland you are describing between the us, israel and qatar, there is no to individual involved, as this step one of what would be a longer discussion process? it could be, qatar has been the

mediator 42, could be, qatar has been the mediator42, it could be, qatar has been the mediator 42, it has been the host for hamas for many years now, in view of the lack of direct communication between the united states and hamas, qatar serves that role. hamas is part of the discussions even if indirectly because they would obviously also have to acknowledge the hostage releases as well.- acknowledge the hostage releases as well. given we are told hamas — releases as well. given we are told hamas leader _ releases as well. given we are told hamas leader is - releases as well. given we are told hamas leader is expected told hamas leader is expected to be in cairo that week what does that signal to you? it signals to me a movement in diplomacy, israel fora signals to me a movement in diplomacy, israel for a while was delaying even their own mossad chief from going to meet with the qatari prime minister to further these negotiations but recently netanyahu has reversed course and said israel would be open to such negotiations does seem like something is afoot.- negotiations does seem like something is afoot. given the relative ineffectiveness - something is afoot. given the relative ineffectiveness we i relative ineffectiveness we have seen from the united nations up until this point and

the wider international community in terms of having any broad sway over what is going on, even if a resolution is passed at security council tomorrow, do you have any faith that would make a difference? i think it would be because israel's primary benefactor is the us and that is the point of the us and that is the point of the security council, to get a great power behind something because otherwise many resolutions would be effectively non—binding like the one we saw at the general assembly we overwhelmingly won 53 countries voted in favour of a ceasefire, and only ten voted no. but nothing will come of those kinds of votes unless there is a push by the powers that be to have a sensation in hostilities or asis in —— suspension of hostilities and hopefully it humanitarian aid access. but that would require the united states, which is the power at the security council

that has been protecting israel to move the ball forward. the tarsal hall- — to move the ball forward. the tarsal hall. -- _ to move the ball forward. the tarsal hall. -- natasha - to move the ball forward. the tarsal hall. —— natasha fyles. thank you very much forjoining us. let's turn to some important news around the world. ukraine's president wants to mobilise hundreds of thousands more soldiers for the war and has rejected suggestions the country is losing the fight against russia. in an end—of—year news conference, volodymyr zelensky said he is confident that the us �*won't betray�* ukraine, after republicans in congress blocked a $60 billion military aid package. france's lower house of parliament passed a bill on tuesday that would tighten rules on immigration. the french government says the law will make it easier for migrants working in sectors facing labour shortages to get a residency permit. however, it would also make it easier to expel illegal migrants. human rights groups denounced it as the most regressive immigration law

in france in decades. sudan's army has acknowledged that it has lost control of the central city of wad madani to the paramilitary rapid support forces. the city had been sheltering hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the conflict. the united nations says at least 250,000 people have fled the safe—haven. a resident tells the bbc that many fled the city without having anywhere to go. mourners paid tribute to the late supreme courtjustice sandra day o'connor on tuesday. all nine sitting justices attended tuesday's funeral at the national cathedral, as did retired justice anthony kennedy. presidentjoe biden was among those who spoke. o'connor was the first woman to serve on the nation's highest court. she died earlier this month

in arizona at the age of 93. and finally, scientists in the uk have used dna evidence to retrace the steps of a man who travelled from what is now southern russia all the way to the english countryside, some 2000 years ago. it's the first biological proof that these people came to britain from the furthest reaches of the roman empire. the remains were discovered during excavations to improve a main road between cambridge and huntingdon. the scientific techniques used will help reveal the usually untold stories of ordinary people behind great historical events. they include reading the genetic code in fossilised bone fragments that are hundreds of thousands of years old, which shows an individual�*s ethnic origin. thank you for watching, i'm caitriona perry. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. wintry weather does not feature

heavily in our forecast between now and christmas day, but cloud, wind and rain will. on the earlier satellite picture, you can see this stripe of cloud that brought rain in the south on tuesday. then a zone of clear skies not lasting long. more cloud rolling in from the atlantic, in association with a warm front, bringing a rather grey and quite damp wednesday in many locations. also quite a windy day out there, so any early brightness across england and wales will be replaced by cloud spreading from the north and the west with some outbreaks of rain. northern ireland and scotland just having a generally grey and cloudy day with some bits and pieces of rain and drizzle. it's going to be a breezy or indeed a windy day, but a mild one for most. just a little bit colder in the far north there in shetland. and then through wednesday night, extensive cloud cover, some mist and murk, splashes of rain, heavier rain pushing into scotland and the winds really picking up. gales likely across northern scotland, but we could see gales developing elsewhere by the start of thursday morning. it's going to be a mild start to thursday but a really

windy start to the day, with this deep area of low pressure passing to the north of the uk. this frontal system bringing cloud and a little bit of rain as it slides just a touch further southwards. behind that, some sunny spells, but some showers which could be wintry over high ground in scotland. and it is going to be very windy. particularly gusty conditions to the east of high ground — say, to the east of the pennines, northern and eastern parts of scotland. we could in places see gusts of 70 to 80 miles per hour, very rough seas and maybe even some coastal flooding around some north sea coasts. temperatures, well, just two degrees by the middle of the afternoon in lerwick, 12 there for cardiff and plymouth, so staying mild in the south. quite a messy weather picture for friday. it looks like we'll see a band of rain trying to push northwards and eastwards. that could run into some cold air to provide a bit of snow over

high ground in scotland. temperatures are four degrees in aberdeen, 12 for london, 12 for plymouth. now, mild air will win out for most of us over the weekend and as we head towards christmas day. just a little bit colder in the north. and it is over higher ground in the north of the uk, particularly in scotland, where we do have the chance of a little bit of snow.

shipping rates rise and companies warn of delays. we take a look at the fallout on businesses from the suez canal disruption. and a whopping $3 million price for a bowler. we look at the rising prices in the indian premier league. hi there, welcome to asia business report, with me, mariko oi. we start the programme this morning in the suez canal as companies scramble to avoid shipping disruptions following recent attacks on vessels by the iran—backed to houthi rebels. about i2% of global trade passes through the canal, that's around 17,000 ships each year. now many companies, including oil giant bp as well as danish shipping firm, maersk, are rerouting to take the much longerjourney around the southern tip of africa.