live from washington. this is bbc news. lebanon blames israel for an attack on its capital that killed the deputy leader of hamas. israel has not confirmed any involvement. terror on board a japan airlines flight, after it collided with a coastguard plane. amazingly, everyone made it out safely. five people onboard the other aircraft died. and harvard's president steps down amid allegations of plagiarism, and a controversy over anti—semitism on campus. hello, i'm carl nasman. hamas says a blast in lebanon has left the group's deputy head, saleh al—arouri, and two commanders from its armed wing dead. the group says they were among seven killed in an explosion

at its offices in a suburb of lebanon's capitol, beirut. hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by many western governments. mr al—arouri was deputy chairman of the group's political wing. he was also known to be deeply involved in the group's military affairs. hamas has called his killing a terrorist act. israel has not claimed responsibility for the blast. the israeli military told the bbc it will not comment on reports in the foreign media. but an advisor to the israeli prime minister described it as a surgical strike against hamas�* leadership — not one on the lebanese state. lebanon is blaming israel, with the country's prime minister condemning the explosion. the country's foreign minister spoke to the bbc�*s radio program the world tonight: at the time when all western countries including the united states, britain, france, was asking us to hold has followed and stop making any problems. now we see the problems are

coming from israel and that is what we were afraid of. that is well, in order to compensate for its failure in gaza, is trying to expand the water. —— war. regional reaction has been swift — raising concerns of a wider regional conflict. the iran—backed militant group hezbollah says the attack in beirut would not go without response. iran says al—arouri's death will ignite resistance against israel. the palestinian prime minister has also condemned the killing warning of �*risks and consequences�* that could follow. meanwhile, the united nations has described the strike as extremely worrying. our correspondent shaimaa khalil is injerusalem with more. i must mixing official killed in an hezbollah stronghold. the aftermath of the blast in beirut southern suburbs. homs deputy leader. others daily explosion. local media said

this is an israeli drone strike. but the idea told the bbc they will not, and supports by foreign media. this blast comes at a very volatile moment in the region was condemned by the lebanese caretaker prime minister who said israel wanted to drag level nine into a new phase of the conflict. we have heard from mark regev, the adviser to the prime minister at benjamin netanyahu, he has been speaking to the us network msnbc, and he reacted to the blast saying that israel did not take responsibility for the attack and it should be clear this attack was not one on the lebanese state but as he put it, a surgical strike against the hamas leadership. on october seventh, he was with ismail haniyeh, the head of hamas, watching footage of the deadly attacks in israel. al—arouri was one of the most closely connected hamas

officials to both iran and the iran—backed hezbollah group in lebanon. he is seen here with iran's supreme leader, ali khamenei. this is his west bank house in his home town north of ramallah, destroyed by israel's military after october 7. and this is ramallah tonight. hamas supporters mourning a leading figure and vowing revenge. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, jerusalem. so who was the deputy hamas leader, saleh al—arouri? i spoke with our arabic bilingual correspondent for egypt and the middle east sally nabil who interviewed al—arouri back in 2021. thank you so much for being here. i must make saying it's deputy had saleh al—arouri has been killed in a blast in beirut. you actually interviewed him back in 2021. can you give us a sense on who he was and what he told you? saleh al—arouri is the deputy

head of the political bureau in hamas but he is notjust a political leader, he has very good connections with the military wing. a founding member of the military wing of hamas in the west bank. i must snack controls gaza course but he was a very effective member of hamas in the west bank that is under the control of the palestinian authority. i met him back in cairo back in 2021 when he was attending a series of meetings held between the palestinian factions. i remember one of the most important lines he told me at the time was hamas and the palestinian people are entitled to various forms of resistance. i told them even armed resistance? he said yes even if the west does not approve of that or does not like that, it doesn't matter because if we look back at all resistance movements across the globe, they have held arms at some point. i remember he was also very foreign and very cautious

with his words and very calm. that line really says a lot about the way he thinks. certainly somebody had influence, notjust politically but also militarily. absolutely. he is known for being very well—connected with hezbollah and it is in the hezbollah and it is in the hezbollah stronghold in beirut this man was killed. he was seen as a good connection or a person who can forge good links between hamas and gaza and hezbollah in beirut. he was very influential. when it comes to the military wing in hamas. he is kind of an exceptional figure because he enjoys influence and control on both the military and political fronts. ~ . , the military and political fronts. ~ ., fronts. was he the sort of erson fronts. was he the sort of person who _ fronts. was he the sort of person who might - fronts. was he the sort of person who might have i fronts. was he the sort of. person who might have been

involved in planning military actions such as the attacks we saw on october seven? might he be in the inner circle that would be involved in those sort of things? would be involved in those sort of thins? , , would be involved in those sort of things?— of things? this is what is bein: of things? this is what is being circulated - of things? this is what is being circulated after- of things? this is what is being circulated after he| of things? this is what is - being circulated after he was killed that he was one of the few people in the political bureau who has some knowledge about october seven. given him being an influential figure among military circles because october seven is believed to be designed and led by the military wing rather than the political wing of hamas. the fact that this man has been killed in southern beirut says a lot about the significance of this murder or this killing. and the repercussions it might have in the region on the short and long—term. have in the region on the short and long-term.— have in the region on the short and long-term. what might those implications— and long-term. what might those implications be? _ and long-term. what might those implications be? you _ and long-term. what might those implications be? you touched - and long-term. what might those implications be? you touched on | implications be? you touched on the significance of where this took place. could this potentially now bring in other

actors, even other nations into this conflict?— this conflict? that is deeply concerned _ this conflict? that is deeply concerned at _ this conflict? that is deeply concerned at the _ this conflict? that is deeply concerned at the moment. | this conflict? that is deeply . concerned at the moment. the repercussions spill over and extend beyond gaza and israel. 11 on might come on the liner because over the past few weeks there have been attacks and counter—attacks between israel and hezbollah and the factors that has been killed in the stronghold of hezbollah mine have later repercussions. certainly a concern on the mind of western officials as well. thank you so much. all 379 people aboard a japan airlines flight miraculously escaped after the plane was engulfed in flames on tuesday. thejet was coming in to land, when there was a collision with a coastguard plane at tokyo's haneda airport. five people on board the smaller aircraft died. investigators are still piecing together what happened and why the two planes were on the runway at the same time. our correspondent, suran—jana tewari, is in tokyo with the latest. the moment of impact.

ajapan airlines plane skids down the tarmac at tokyo's haneda airport, after a collision with a smaller plane operated by japan's coastguard. inside the air bus, chaos, as passengers see heat and smoke billowing from an engine. and in the terrifying moments that followed, the plane finally comes to a stop. "get me out," she screams, as passengers panic. within moments, and as the cabin fills with fumes, inflatable slides are released, allowing hundreds of passengers and crew to scramble to safety, miraculously unharmed. translation: i was wondering what happened, then i felt - the aeroplane tilted to the side

of the runway, and ifelta big bump. the flight attendants told us to stay calm. i can only say it was a miracle. we could have died if we didn't evacuate at that point. a huge fire quickly takes hold and overwhelms the passenger aircraft, and then, this. those on board the second plane were not as fortunate. five of the six people aboard died, though the pilot escaped. that aircraft was travelling to near the epicentre of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake. the crew were carrying food and preparing to help with the rescue effort. authorities here at haneda airport deployed 100 fire trucks to try to control the blaze, and it took more than six hours. experts say it is because of japan's strong safety record and the training of its staff that the crew were able to respond so effectively in time.

translation: we will work with the transport ministry | to determine the cause of the accident. the scene needs to be preserved for that, but we will try to get airport operations going as quickly as possible. investigators will be desperately looking for answers as to how two planes were on the runway at the same time. an extraordinary moment, but coming so soon after a powerful earthquake, japan finds itself facing two tragedies in as many days. suranjana tewari, bbc news, tokyo. the coastguard aircraft was on its way to the west coast of japan to help those affected by the powerful earthquake that hit the country on new year's day. authorities say at least 62 people have now died from that natural disaster. the 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the

noto peninsula in centraljapan. tremors were felt hundreds of miles away in the capital tokyo. japan's prime minister says it is a race against time for the 3,000 first responders to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and over 57,000 people have been evacuated so far. aftershocks in the region continued on tuesday with officials warning people to be alert for more earthquakes of intensities up to a seven magnitude in the coming week. earlier i spoke to gavin hayes, the head of the united states geological survey�*s earthquake program. he told me about the threat of after—shocks in the region. after—shocks pose a significant danger for quite a period after—shocks pose a significant dangerfor quite a period of time for that we can expect elevated earthquake rates in the region for months to even a year or more because of the initial main shock. we had an after—shock above 19.6, 6.2 early in the after—shocks

sequence. and have continued and will likely continue for weeks and months to come. what do ou weeks and months to come. what do you make _ weeks and months to come. what do you make of — weeks and months to come. what do you make of the _ weeks and months to come. what do you make of the amount - weeks and months to come. what do you make of the amount of loss and damage this earthquake has inflicted? is it in line with what some of your models would have predicted or expected? i would have predicted or exoeeted?_ would have predicted or exected? ~ ., ., expected? i think our initial models that _ expected? i think our initial models that do _ expected? i think our initial models that do not - expected? i think our initial models that do not have . expected? i think our initial models that do not have a i expected? i think our initial i models that do not have a lot of data except for historical information perhaps underestimated those impacts a little bit. as we updated those models with information from ground sensors in the region that recorded the earthquake, our models are in line with what we are seeing unfortunately, words of about 50 casualties. and what is likely to be significant economic losses. japan is extremely well prepared for earthquakes. they have some of the most resilient building codes globally. and some of the best seismic hazard assessments. unfortunately, any earthquake of this magnitude that occurs in a shallow

populated region is going to cause a lot of damage. joining me to discuss those ongoing rescue efforts from taipei is our correspondent, rupert wingfield—hayes. thank you for being here. the japanese prime minister saying it is now a race against time to five survivors. what are the biggest challenges facing rescuers on the ground? ads, rescuers on the ground? number of challenges. firstly, it is winter so there is no time cold going down below freezing. people trapped are trapped effectively in the cold. there are huge logistical challenges because the damage to infrastructure has been very extensive. particularly on the noto peninsula. that is where the epicentre of the quake was closest to and where the damage has been most severe. now we are starting to see just the extent of the damage to the small towns on the northern end

of the noto peninsula. two in peninsula, wajima and suzu saying at least 90% of the buildings and that little town have been badly damaged or completely destroyed. getting rescue teams there and supply teams there is a real challenge, having to do it by helicopter or by ship at the moment. logistics is really the big challenge. they have got more than a thousand rescuers, rescue teams, going in there with dogs, infrared equipment and looking for people. of course, it is a race against time as the japanese prime minister said winter bridges are so cold at night. we saw that dramatic _ are so cold at night. we saw that dramatic video - are so cold at night. we saw that dramatic video of - are so cold at night. we saw that dramatic video of that l that dramatic video of that crash at tokyo's airport. what more do we know about what

happened on the runway at this stage? in order to see what might have led to that crash? well, it looks like there's always a number of factors when accidents like this happen. it looks like — it's what is called by experts a runway incursion. there was a plane on the runway, the smaller aircraft, on the runway, that shouldn't have been there, as the largejapan airlines plane was coming to land. aviation experts have been warning for years these sort of incidents are becoming more and more of a problem because airports are so busy. in addition yesterday, haneda airport is one of the busiest airports in the world, and it wasn'tjust dealing with civilian traffic but also japanese government planes going out, taking supplies to the disaster zones. so they

were trying to slip more flights into an already very busy airport. experts i have spoken to say this is the sort of scenario where these sort of things can happen. it's not unexpected, unfortunately. people have been predicting for a long time this sort of collision would occur at some stage. collision would occur at some sta . e. , collision would occur at some staue. , ~ ., ., stage. rupert, i know you have lived injapan. _ stage. rupert, i know you have lived in japan, you _ stage. rupert, i know you have lived in japan, you have - lived injapan, you have written about what you call a deep collective trauma that still lingers after that massive earthquake of 2011. how much do you think those memories are on people's minds after that latest earthquake? very much. although it's 13, nearly very much. although it's13, nearly 13 years since that huge earthquake in 2011, it was very profound. i think it affected everyone. whatever their age, they were affected very profoundly by it, it's the

biggest earthquake that anyone has experienced injapan, in recent decades, in living memory, if you like. then there was that terrible tsunami afterwards that destroyed so much of the northeast coast of japan. when this happened on monday and there were tsunami warnings in effect as well, very much people would have immediately gone to their memories of 2011. and talking to friends injapan, you could see they were immediately — there was a lot of fear. there was absolutely a lot of fear that japan was about to go through the same thing again. thank you so much forjoining us, especially in the rain. thanks a lot. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at a major story in the uk now. the british home secretary says the government has done what it promised in dealing with a backlog of older asylum cases. james cleverly said every single one of the so—called legacy applications had been processed. that's the term for those made before asylum laws changed in 2022.

here's our home editor, mark easton. that bit of a backlog in the blue here, you can see that has fallen significantly from around 100,000 cases to, well, not quite zero, 11,500 are still in the system. but now reclassified as complex. while the focus has been on the legacy bit, another backlog has been growing. the red bars here. new cases in the system now number more than 911,000. a higher number actually than the one the pm promised to reduce to zero. mr cleverly said it was impossible to say how long it will take to get through the current log of outstanding cases. but he added the government enhanced the asylum system by adding more people and implementing what he called real accountability. you're live with bbc news. ukraine's defence minister says russia is deliberately targeting residential areas. that statement comes after five people died from strikes on the major ukrainian cities of kyiv and kharkiv. the strikes on residential

buildings and civilian infrastructure left around 250,000 people in kyiv and its surrounding region without power. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse visited the scene of one of the strikes — and sent this report. it was a threat that kyiv used to contain. but it's been a week where the city has been overwhelmed. air defences still shoot down russian missiles like this one. but more are getting through. in a deadly aerial escalation. today, a person was killed in kharkiv in the northeast, just a0 miles from the border with russia. a city where explosions usually come before air raid sirens. four more died in and around kyiv, including here at this apartment block in the heart of the city. this is how close the

missile got to hitting this block of flats. the crater is about 5m deep and just look at the devastation caused. you can see the windows completely not blown through, blasted through. even the block on the other side has been blown through, such as the force generated from blasts like this. we haven't seen attacks like this since the early days and weeks of the invasion. there were fears that russia had been stockpiling missiles to use during the new year period. without new ammunition coming from the us, attacks test air defence systems that rely on continued western help. translation: we were getting ready to have breakfast and go to work and then it blew up. everything blew up. i sat down and started putting on my shoes. bent down, and windows

flew over my head. translation: i want putin to die very much. i want it so much. and everyone who supports him. because today's event ruined the lives of hundreds in one minute. there have been a lot of hits before this, a lot killed. all this is on him. russia says it targets military sites. but it is civilians who bear the brunt of these assaults. let's turn to some important news around the world. former president donald trump is appealing a decision by maine's top election official that disqualifies him from appearing on the state's republican presidential primary ballot. the secretary of state announced her ruling last week saying the constitution prohibits anyone involved in an insurrection from holding office. republicans are appealing a similar ruling in colorado by the state's highest court. mrtrump will remain on the ballot there for now unless the us supreme court intervenes. a chinese exchange student who went missing in the us in a "cyber kidnapping"

scam has been found. kai zhuang was discovered in a tent in rural utah on monday, four days after he was reported missing by his parents in china. they said the kidnappers manipulated their son and tricked them into paying about $80,000. local police said that several foreign students have recently been targeted by such cyber criminals. the president of harvard university has announced her resignation. claudia gay is leaving her post after six months. she faced heavy pressure to step down following allegations of plagiarism, as well as criticism for comments over her handling of anti—semitism on campus. will vernon has more. well, claudine gay was the first ever black person to be appointed to the prestigious post at harvard university when she got thatjob injuly last year. her problems started in

december. that's when she and two other university leaders were called to give evidence in front of a congressional committee on anti—semitism on us campuses. it follows attacks on jewish us campuses. it follows attacks onjewish students in the us. during that testimony, dr gay provoked a furious backlash when she refused to say whether calling for the genocide of dues would constitute a violation of harvard's code of conduct. she said that would depend on the context. she later apologised for those remarks, but calls for her resignation continued. and added to those were accusations of plagiarism in her academic papers. now, harvard university said it investigated those complaints and a number of errors of citation were corrected. but in her resignation statement today, dr gay said she was stepping down

in the best interests of harvard. but she also said she had been the victim of personal attacks and threats fuelled by racial animus, attacks and threats fuelled by racialanimus, by attacks and threats fuelled by racial animus, by racial hostility. and the reverend al sharpton criticised her resignation, saying this was an attack on every black woman who put a crack in the glass ceiling. and before we go, the pliosaur was a massive sea monster that terrorised the oceans millions of year ago — a sort of pre—historic mashup ofjurassic park and jaws. a huge skull of the creature was discovered recently on thejurassic coast in the uk and on tuesday it went on public display for the first time. it's about 2m long, or more than six feet. and it dates back some 150 million years. researchers estimate that the force of its bite would have been in the same range as a t—rex — earning the pliosaur the nickname of sea—rex. thank you for watching, i'm carl nasman. i'll be back in 30 minutes with more. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello there. the weather should be calming down a bit now. it'll take a while for the flood waters to recede, but the winds have dropped. earlier on tuesday, we had a gust of 81mph at exeter airport, then the strong winds moved into the southeast with a gust of 69mph at heathrow airport. well, that's storm henk, and it's now tracking its way into europe. it'll bring some snow in scandinavia — it's very cold here. this low pressure is not a storm, but it will bring some showers. the more persistent rain has cleared away, mind you, but we have seen a lot of flooding just recently. the heaviest rain actually fell over the hills of wales — that's fed into the river systems in the west midlands and, a short while ago, there were over 200 flood warnings on rivers in england. these are the temperatures we're looking at for the start of wednesday — not too cold out there, typically 5—6 celsius. we've still got some more persistent rain in the far northeast of scotland, could be a bit wintry up in shetland, some strong

winds for a while here. some strong winds, too, blowing through the english channel, in the southwest of england. not as windy as it was on tuesday. and elsewhere, it'll be a mixture of sunshine and showers, maybe some more frequent showers coming back into scotland, pegging the temperatures back a bit here. those numbers a little bit lower than we had on tuesday, but not by a great deal. now, this low pressure will still sit to the west of scotland as we head into thursday. this feature here is causing us a few headaches, the track seems to be changing a little — it's now moving a little furthersouth, more into northern parts of france. there is the threat of some rain coming through the channel islands and into the far southeast of england. otherwise, a fairly quiet day, more in the way of sunshine, fewer showers, still some cloudy, damp, and breezy weather into the far northeast of scotland. temperature—wise, we're looking at around 8—9 celsius typically, so it is beginning to get a little bit cooler, and that trend will continue as we head towards the weekend.

we are going to find, instead of low pressure around, though, pressure will rise — now its low pressure that's brought all the wet weather recently and all the flooding, but high pressure will build in in time for the weekend. that'll bring in some colder air, may get a northeasterly breeze for a while, but certainly a change in weather type is on the way eventually. some much—needed dry weather to come as we head towards the weekend and into next week. it does mean, however, it will be colder, generally dry with some sunshine, but we're likely to have some frost at night. goodbye.

the battle for top spot at the electric cars centre higgs up as tester is replaced for the first time. will taking drugs in tiny doses make you more efficient at work? we take a look at some of the worries around this trend in the united states. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. we begin with byd, the chinese ev maker which has officially overtaken the american giant tesla in total fourth—quarter sales. tesla's record deliveries, up more than a80,000 vehicles in the last three months, of the year was not enough to cement its position in the top spot. the company's deliveries

are the closest estimation to its sales figures.