we start in mexico where top us officials met with their mexican counterparts to address a wave of migrants crossing their shared border. the us's top diplomat, secretary of state antony blinken, met with president andres manuel lopez obrador in mexico city. mr blinken was also accompanied by homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas. us officials said last week that up to 10,000 people were crossing the southern border every day. the republican governor of texas has sent 75,000 migrants to mostly democrat—run cities since last april. one of those cities is new york. its mayor issued an executive order on wednesday, requiring charter buses transporting migrants to provide a 32 hours�* notice in advance of their arrival into the city. 0ur mexico and central america correspondent will grant spoke to us earlier about secretary of state blinken�*s visit to mexico. can you tell us, what were the significant outcomes of this meeting between antony blinken and the homeland security secretary and the mexican president?

well, i think these were very much crisis talks, weren't they? i mean, they are organised pretty hastily between christmas and new year, that's unusual in and of itself. we don't know the specifics of exactly what elements of this crisis they spoke about because we were not allowed to speak to the delegations afterwards. there was no media conference, no press conference. we don't know that there was any major policy decisions reached because they have not announced any. we find it unlikely that there would have been. but, clearly, there is value in sitting down face—to—face between the two sides when there is all this going on at the us border with mexico, some 10,000 people a day being detained and, of course, a caravan of somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 migrants from central america and other nations making its way through mexican territory at this moment. so, clearly, there was benefit, i think, seen by both sides

of discussing this face—to—face. lawmakers in the us say they want to see mexico do more to curb some of that immigration. how does mexico see that? mexico has consistently said via president 0brador that they are sort of willing to help, that they are prepared to do more in terms of what the biden administration wants, in terms of what they call "contagion strategies". that to me means containment strategies, stopping people coming up from guatemala in the first place, turning them away from the border if they do not have the right paperwork. but i think what president 0brador wants to see in return is a sort of quid pro quo in terms of improved us relations with cuba, with venezuela, a reduction in the sanctions on those two nations, for example. he is big on the idea that more needs to be done in the migrant countries of origins to sort of disincentivise the idea that they would leave in the first place. i think the biden

administration would argue it has lifted sanctions on venezuela recently, has always kept up talks on migration with cuba even when the two nations aren't talking about other things. but we will have to see whether or not some of the things that mr 0brador wants, washington will be prepared to do in what is, of course, election year. we have about a minute left and it's a big question, but remind us again what is driving these large flows of migrants up to the us? well, i think at this point, there are several things. one is a sort of lack of funding here in mexico for migrant services and all the security forces and police who sort of deal them. another of course is that criminal organisations are pushing the idea that this is a very, very good moment to go. so people feel that they will miss their window if they do not go right now. but, of course, there are plenty of push factors from below as well.

2024 looks to be a bitterly difficult year for many nations in the region too, so those push factors are sending people out of their countries while pull factors to the us, family members and so on, who have already made it in the us, are at play as well, so it is a combination of all factors at once. great to talk to you. thank you so much. the high—level meeting came as pressure grows on the white house to stem the influx of migrants to the us. i spoke to republican congressman tony gonzales who represents the border city of el paso and is a member of the homeland security committee. congressman, i want to start with getting your thoughts on the visit paid by the secretary of state and the homeland security secretary to mexico to discuss ways to curb immigration. from what you have heard and seen, do you think any important progress has been made? thank you for having me. i think it is important that the secretary of state made that trip to mexico city. for too long, the administration has relied on the dhs secretary to handle a lot of this, i think that is a positive

development, but talk is cheap. it is all about the results, and it can'tjust be everyone is doing a greatjob. 0ftentimes in these diplomatic situations, you talk about the pleasantries. you don't want to get to the root of some of the issues. there needs to be tangible results out of there. what i have specifically been asking the mexican officials for is for them to curb humanitarian and work visas for people that have no intention of using those visas. what ends up happening is people from all over the world use mexico city, get these humanitarian visas, legally transit through mexico city and then they illegally enter the united states. so, congressman, i want to ask you about the impact of the record numbers of migration. your district lies along the us—mexico border. how has that affected your constituency? i represent over 800 miles of the us—mexico border, nearly half of the overall southern border. my district has been at the epicentre of this crisis, and we've seen everything that this border

crisis touches turns to ash. and, sadly, so many americans have been impacted by this, the high—speed chases coming through our towns, our schools going into lockdown, shortages of basic emergency services. imagine calling your local hospital in an emergency and them saying they do not have any beds. so these are the issues that my community is dealing with. i'd also say too my community as very warm and welcoming, we believe in the american dream, we believe in legal immigration. i'm a proponent of legal immigration, i've encouraged the current administrator to work on that, but the chaos of this happening at the border, this open border crisis, is doing the exact opposite. it's putting those that are trying to do it the right way, the legal way, at the back of the line and encouraging those who are doing it illegally to continue to come over to our country. so, congressman, can i ask

you — one of the things you have been campaigning for is the repatriation flights for those who are not eligible for asylum in the us and to boost the process of applying some of those asylum standards in the us as well. many of the migrants who are crossing over to the us come from countries with which the us does not have diplomatic relations — venezuela, cuba. where do these migrants go? that is partly true. however, if you dig down, if you peel the onion back, it gets more complicated. many of these from venezuela and cuba that you mention, they have already fled venezuela years ago, so they are actually living in chile and colombia and panama, they're living in other parts of central and south america. so what is happening is they are making the trek from those parts of south america and central america and they're coming down and then they're getting rid of their documentation right before they come over. so those people that do not qualify for asylum, those people that are fleeing economic persecution

should be immediately sent back to their countries of origin. 0k. and, congressman, as you know, many people who are fleeing are also leaving behind situations where they are facing abject poverty, violence, and the mexican president said in a press conference today the following: translation: they need more - more support, and that is - what the congress should be proposing, with all due respect, such as authorising resources for cooperation and support for poor people in latin america and the caribbean. so, congressman, he is addressing the push factors that are causing people to flee their homes. what do you make of that comment? i have visited many of these countries, i have visited — honduras is one of the most poorest countries i've ever visited. i spent 20 years in the military, i've been over the world twice over. guatamala certainly has its concerns. el salvador, venezuela, you mentioned that earlier. the list goes on and on. i believe it's time for the united states to make an investment

in our backyard, in central and south america, and we do that by, one, enforcing our laws, people have to respect our laws, and, two, by working with these countries in order to build cooperation. right now, there is none of that. so, congressman, one more question about the politics of immigration here in the us, because senate republicans, as you know, have not signed off on an aid package for ukraine, they want borderfunding in return. there has not been an agreement yet, and your colleague in the house tweeted the following: what is your response to that accusation, to those who say you are trying to violate the rights of migrants? on one side, you will have some members that say whatever package that comes together does not go far enough. on another side, you have another group of members that will say it has gone too far. what i can tell you is for decades we have done nothing. and nothing is unacceptable. nothing is dangerous to the american people.

we are seeing the amount of people coming over that we simply do not know, many are seeking a better opportunity, but there are also bad actors embedded in there. so what i have been encouraging, what i have been pushing and working, democrats and republicans alike, is for a border security package, a national security package that supports our allies, but also supports our border here at home. and i think we can accomplish that. now more than ever, it is needed, we're well past the breaking point and i think the american public deserve to feel safe in our own country. congressman, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us today on bbc news. right, thank you. take care. the israeli military says it has carried out strikes against at least 200 hamas targets in the past day. it also says it destroyed a tunnel network near a hospital in northern gaza, saying the facility was used as a "terrorist stronghold". meanwhile, the israeli war cabinet minister, benny gantz, has warned that israel could open up a new front against hezbollah on the northern border, which is shared with lebanon, if the lebanese government does

not do more to stop the militant group. there are fears of a spillover of the war in the region. earlier, the israeli government said the bodies of 80 palestinian men have been returned to gaza and buried in a mass grave in rafah. the hamas—run health ministry says at least 195 people have been killed in the past 2a hours. 0ur correspondent shamaa khalil has this report. and a warning — you may find it distressing. no funeral, no dignified burial, no tombstone. a bulldozer carries their bodies into a mass grave... ..theirfinal resting place. israeli forces are expanding their ground offensive into the densely populated urban refugee camps in central gaza. and this is the scene at the neighbouring al—aqsa hospital. 0verwhelmed, they have had to treat the injured on the floor and in hallways. across gaza at the moment, health capacity is at about 20% of what it was

80 or so days ago. so almost all of the hospital beds, almost all of the hospital services, have stopped functioning. 0n foot, donkey carts are crammed onto the back of trucks, those who fled from northern gaza have come here for safety, but the war has chased them out again. heavy bombardment continues in the south and there aren't many places left to go. israel says the war will last for months and insists the aims are clear. translation: the next stages of the fighting _ will also be powerful, deep and surprising. the campaign will continue and will be expanded as needed to additional locations and arenas. in the west bank, an israeli air strike killed six palestinians. the military says they were armed militants. locals deny it. this, as the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, has warned that

the area could implode. a new refugee camp has now been set up for those twice displaced — first from northern gaza, and now from the centre. this man lost six family members. "0ur houses have been destroyed," he says. "this is what's left. it's worse than hell here." the hamas—run health ministry says more than 21,000 people have now died in gaza. those who've survived are running out of places to flee. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, jerusalem. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. storm gerrit has wreaked havoc on parts of scotland, bringing snow, high winds and heavy rain there. in fife, residents in cupar had to be rescued from their homes amid severe flooding. some 18,500 people are believed to be without power in the north of scotland. across the uk, weather

alerts have been posted. north korean leader kimjong—un opened his country's ruling party's end—of—year meeting, unveiling new goals and policy objectives. it comes as state—run media report kim ordered the north korean military, munitions industry, and nuclear weapons sector to accelerate war preparations to counter what he deemed "confrontational moves" made by the us. police in the czech republic have confirmed that they discovered a suicide note in the home of the man who carried out last week's mass shooting in prague in which he confessed to an earlier double killing. they said he admitted to shooting dead two people in the woods in the week prior to the attack on charles university, in which he killed 1a people before taking his own life. you're live with bbc news. the us is releasing the last package of its military aid to ukraine that's available

without further authorisation from congress. it includes up to $250 million in air defence munitions, artillery, small arms ammunition, and anti—tank weapons. president biden has asked congress to provide a new package of $61 billion, but republicans are refusing to approve that without agreement on other issues that include tougher security measures on the us—mexico border. ukraine has warned that the war effort and its public finances are at risk if further western aid is not forthcoming. ukrainian officials are facing the prospect of a slowdown in aid from allies in washington and europe. former us president donald trump will be allowed to appear on the ballot next year in the swing state of michigan. on wednesday, michigan's supreme court decided not to hear an appeal from voters, who argued the former president should be barred from michigan's ballots because they claim he violated the constitution by engaging in insurrection. trump posted on social media that the michigan court "strongly and rightfully denied" what he called a "desperate democrat

attempt" to take him off the michigan ballot. last week, the colorado supreme court ruled to ban trump from ballots in their state, igniting anger in the republican party with claims that the next election will be rigged. the colorado republican party filed an appeal wednesday to the us supreme court to hear an appeal to the decision in the hopes to get trump back on the ballot. earlier, i spoke with the top election official in michigan, democratic secretary of statejocelyn benson, about the ruling in michigan, as well as new revelations of pressure placed by trump on michigan officials in 2020, asking them not to certify the results. secretary benson, you have been clear that you do not think it is the role of secretaries of state to determine the eligibility of a candidate, but rather the courts themselves. what you think of michigan's ruling? as secretary of state and... i am keenly aware of my responsibility, which is to make sure that people can vote and our elections are secure, and make sure that our election results are an accurate reflection of the will

of the people. in doing thatjob i also at times have to play referee and ensure that where the facts and law are clear, like the age of a candidate or whether they submitted enough signatures, then i can play a role in determining ballot access. but in cases like this on whether residue interpretation of the constitution and the law, as well as several nuanced facts and legalities, that, those types of interpretation so very much what the courts of law and their responsibility to do. michigan law is quite clear — i have a obligation, as the court has affirmed, to put everyone on the ballot who is a genuinely advocated—for candidate, generally advocated by the national news media to be a presidential candidate. the former president donald trump would be on the ballot under the law and the supreme court of michigan has affirmed that decision. colorado's supreme court ruled differently on the former president's eligibility. we have seen the colorado republican party will appeal to the supreme court but do

you understand the ruling in colorado and why it was decided that way? every state has different laws in colorado is unique in that they do allow citizens to challenge the eligibility under a lot of these nuances, and that is exactly what citizens in colorado did. the court had an evidentiary hearing and the supreme court of colorado made its decision. that will be appealed to the us supreme court and we have said all along, knowing that every court will go through its own process on this, that ultimately it will be the us supreme court that will make the final substantive call on donald trump's eligibility to be on the presidential ballot, both during the primary and during the general. interestingly, our supreme court in michigan also noted that while there is one set of determinations and factors that could be under consideration now, nine, eight, ten months from now when and if there is

a nomination process and donald trump is nominated to be the general election candidate, there may be another set of rulings as well in states and ultimately at the federal level. let's go down the road and look at that. if, for example, donald trump is nominee for the general election, let's say he is also convicted on one of the election interference cases, either the federal one or in the state of georgia, do you think this would then end up in the court of michigan again? it is very likely it would end up in the court of michigan again and ultimately at the us supreme court. you have to remember for matters like this that involve a novel interpretation of the constitution, it is the us supreme court's job to make that call and that determination. there are a number of variables and facts that have yet to play out and that could very well play out over the next eight—nine months. that's why in some cases some states are looking at this, like minnesota, as a premature determination in the primary process and have not ruled out a determination further on down the line if donald trump becomes the general election nominee. you said your role as a chief election official in michigan

is like being a referee, but i wonder, it must also be putting you and other secretaries of state in a difficult position to have this novel question before the courts? indeed it has — notjust to us but to voters and to the political parties. everyone in this case needs clarity. i strongly believe the institutions to provide that clarity are ourjudicial institutions and that is how the process is ultimately playing out. but at the same time the republican party needs clarity, our voters need clarity, election officials need clarity as to who to put on the ballot. so the sooner the us supreme court can hear these arguments and make a ruling on the merits under the constitution, the better off all of us will be, voters, republican party and secretaries of state, in ensuring the law is followed in the constitution is applied. i want to ask you about reporting we saw last week and in the detroit news reporting on audio recordings of a phone call from 2020 in which the former president and also the republican national committee chair ronna mcdaniel try to pressure officials tried to pressure

officials in the state of michigan not to certify the vote. i saw you wrote an article a few days ago in the daily beast that was titled: because your position is also an elected position, you are a democrat, if you think the former president is a threat to democracy, do you think he should be on the ballot? that is a great question. first it's important to note, i, as many of my colleagues in battleground states, were an actual witness to the very real attempts to undermine the will of the people in our state. we do not take this issue lightly. we take it very seriously and in many ways the decision is notjust whether the constitution makes donald trump ineligible to run, it is who should make that decision and when should that decision be made. that's really where the law has been, in my view, quite clear. the who is the courts and the when is either now or in the general election phase. and so i can certainly

tell my story, as i have, and talk about what i witnessed but the idea that one state official, a politician, unilaterally should be able to determine a nuanced and factually — at this point — ambiguous decision is really not what our three branches of government have been created to enable. it is squarely in the courts to make these legal and factual determinations and ultimately that is the way it is going to play out for everyone and nationwide. secretary benson, it has been great to get your perspective on bbc news. thank you very much forjoining us. the new york times is suing microsoft and 0penai for copyright infringement. it's a significant escalation in the battle over unauthorised use of published work to train artificial intelligence technologies. the times alleges millions of articles of original journalism were used without their permission to develop chatgpt and similar platforms. the newspaper is seeking damages, although an exact monetary demand was not mentioned, as well as an order

that the companies stop using its content, and destroy any chatbot models or training data that use copyrighted material. the defendants haven't yet responded to the lawsuit. what comes next could test the boundaries of how text, images, and other online content can be used by tech companies to develop their own products. earlier, we heard from technology reporter ryan mac, who covered the story for the new york times. companies like 0penai have essentially scraped the web and taken essentially scraped the web and ta ken content essentially scraped the web and taken content — a lot of it that's copyrighted — for free, and used it in its technologies. and, you know, the new york times is going to court to argue that that wasn't legal. there are ongoing lawsuits from other creative industries. you look at something like, you know, actors that have sued 0penai,

authors — fiction authors and nonfiction — and this is sort of the beginning. getty images has sued another ai company that uses its images to train generative ai that creates, you know, realistic images. so i think we're at the forefront of this, and it remains to be seen what happens. in europe, an iconic structure shuts down. one of the world's most popular tourist attractions, the eiffel tower, closed on the 100th anniversary of the death of the engineer who built the paris landmark. france's cgt trade union said it was taking industrial action on the symbolic date to protest against the tower�*s management over future budgeting concerns. the so—called �*iron lady�* attracted nearly 6 million visitors last year. before we go, folks in new york city got a glimpse of the redesigned times square ball that will debut in just four days. this year, bow—tie light patterns will sparkle on the iconic new year's eve ball that will be lowered in the final 60 seconds to midnight.

this will be the 120th anniversary of the event that features the glittering orb of 2,000 crystals triangles weighing six tonnes. of 2,000 crystal triangles weighing six tonnes. a billion people around the world are expected to watch. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. storm gerrit has certainly made its presence felt across the uk, with a combination of significant snow, flooding rain and some exceptionally strong winds. just a selection of the gusts recorded during wednesday and on into the evening. wind gusts of close to 90mph in the northern isles. now, on the satellite picture, this storm looks beautiful, this swirl of cloud here. the main body of the wet and windy weather is now sliding away northeastwards, up towards scandinavia, but low pressure is still firmly in charge.

lots of isobars on this chart. that means it is going to stay windy for many of us during thursday, and there will be lots of showers. those showers heavy, possibly thundery, wintry over hills in the north of the uk. across england, wales and northern ireland, some very gusty winds, gusting to 40, 50, maybe 60mph around some irish sea coasts, but certainly not as windy as it has been across scotland. temperature—wise, well, 5 or 6 degrees in the north of scotland, 12 or 13 in south wales and southern england, and then, as we head through thursday night, there will be further showers or longer spells of rain. still some wintry showers mixing in across the northern half of the uk with this northerly wind kicking in. that will bring a somewhat chillier feel. in fact, i think we'll see quite a lot of rain, sleet and snow developing in northern scotland by the start of friday morning. that is a sign of things to come. we'll see this showery and, at times, wintry, weather continuing to affect northern parts of scotland with a strong northerly wind. pretty windy in other areas as well. a band of showers across northern ireland, into northern england,

something wintry mixing in here over higher ground, sunshine and showers further south. a slightly chillier feel to the weather on friday, and then into saturday, here comes our next weather system. some heavy rain in places where we really do not need it. some snow developing over high ground in northern england and scotland. we could see some snow to quite low levels for a time in scotland. 5 degrees for aberdeen, 12 degrees for plymouth, and so low pressure will be firmly in charge of our weather as we head towards the end of the year, towards the new year's eve celebrations. in fact, this low could well bring another bout of very windy weather indeed. so this is the forecast through new year's eve and into new year's day. it looks quite unsettled.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. 50 years ago, london had a terrible reputation for food. generally, it was bland, stodgy and overcooked. but all of that has changed and now this city is a gastronomic destination. my guest today, michel roux,

has played a big part in that transformation. his restaurant, le gavroche, has won michelin stars and international acclaim, but now, he's closing it. so is this the end of a golden age of master chefs and fine dining? michel roux, welcome to hardtalk. it is a great pleasure to be sitting in this restaurant, one of the most famous in london, been in your family for the best part of six decades. the countdown to closure has begun. how do you feel about that? incredibly mixed emotions. it's...

it's obviously happiness because there's light at the end of the tunnel,