live from washington, this is bbc news. lebanon has blamed 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 devastation continues in ukraine, with five people dead in russian strikes on major residential areas. we hearfrom ukraine's ambassador to the us. hello, i'm carl nasman. hamas says a blast in lebanon has killed the group's deputy head, saleh al—arouri, and two commanders

from its armed wing. the group says they were among seven dead after 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. lebanon is blaming israel. 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 hezbollah and stop them making any problems, now we see the problems are coming from israel, and that is what we are afraid of. that israel, in order to compensate for its failure in gaza, is trying to expand the war.

reaction has been swift, raising concerns of a wider regional conflict. the iran—backed militant group hezbollah says the attack in beirut will not go unanswered. 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. a hamas senior official killed in a hezbollah stronghold. this is the aftermath of the blast in the heart of the dahiyeh neighbourhood, beirut�*s southern suburb. hamas�*s deputy leader saleh al—arouri and several others died in the explosion. local media has said this was an israeli drone strike, but the idf has told the bbc they will not comment on reports by foreign media. this blast comes at a very volatile moment in the region.

it was condemned by the lebanese caretaker prime minister najib mikati, who said israel wanted to drag lebanon into a new phase of the conflict. israel has not said it was behind this attack, but government adviser mark regev made this point — that whoever did it, this was not an attack on the lebanese state, but rather a surgical strike on hamas leadership. saleh al—arouri was a senior hamas figure on both the political and the combat fronts. he helped establish the group�*s military wing, the izz ad—din al-qassam brigades. 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 seventh. 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 a few years ago. thank you so much for being here. hamas saying its deputy head 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 not just a political leader, he has very good connections with the military wing. he is a founding member of the military wing of hamas

in the west bank. hamas controls gaza of 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 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 is that hamas and the palestinian people are entitled to various forms of resistance. itold him, "even armed resistance?" he said, yes, even if the west does not approve 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 firm and very cautious with his words and very calm. that line really says a lot about the way he thinks. certainly somebody who had influence, notjust politically but also militarily.

absolutely. he is known for being very well—connected with 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. 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? this is what is being circulated after he was

killed is that he was one of the few people in the political bureau who had some knowledge about october seven. given his being an influentialfigure 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. investigators are looking into what caused a japan airlines jet to hit a coastguard plane at tokyo�*s haneda airport. all 379 people onboard the passenger flight miraculously escaped as fire swiftly engulfed the plane on tuesday. thejet was coming in to land, when it collided with the coastguard plane, killing five of its crew. the captain survived

with serious injuries. our correspondent, suran—jana tewari, is in tokyo with the latest. the moment of impact. ajapan airlines plane with more than 370 passengers 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. translation: 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, although the pilot escaped. that aircraft was travelling to ishikawa 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 approximately, 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 i 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 people affected by an earthquake that that hit on new year�*s day.

authorities say at least 62 people have died in that 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 that over 57,000 people have been evacuated. aftershocks continued on tuesday. officials warn there could be further tremors of intensities up to magnitude 7 in the coming week. earlier, i spoke to gavin hayes, the head of the united states geological survey�*s earthquake program. thank you so much for being on here on bbc new. search and rescue efforts are continuing. we have seen aftershocks in the region. how big a shock today pose for people on the ground injapan. after—shocks will pose a significant danger for quite a period of time. we can expect elevated

earthquake rates in the region for months to even a year or more because of that initial 7.5 main shock. we had an after—shock above 6.2 early on in the after—shocks sequence. and there were several above 95 and will likely continue for weeks continue for 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 think our initial models that did 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, upwards 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. this was a powerful earthquake, wasn�*t it? this was a powerful earthquake, wasn't it? ,, , ., wasn't it? seven we did see a similarly _ wasn't it? seven we did see a similarly powerful _ wasn't it? seven we did see a similarly powerful earthquake strike early last year in turkey and in syria. that killed tens of thousands of people. what made the difference here, do you think, with the casualty numbers being thankfully a lot lower in japan? thankfully a lot lower in ja an? . thankfully a lot lower in jaan? ., japan? there are complicated issues comparing _ japan? there are complicated issues comparing those - japan? there are complicated issues comparing those two. | issues comparing those two. turkey was hit by two earthquakes, a very large ones a 7—point date and a 7—.69 hours later. the area affected in turkey was significantly larger. a fault 370 long. only about 300 long injapan. the area affected in turkey was

much larger. couple that with better preparedness, i would guess, injapan and i think those all factor into the significantly different impact. you mentioned the preparedness mi you mentioned the preparedness mi thing japan does have is a sort of advanced early warning system they can warn people of an approaching earthquake. how does something like that work and how much actual time do people have to take cover? earthquake early warning systems like the one injapan are the west coast of the united states actually are designed to give seconds of warning to people and to critical infrastructure that might need to be protected from an earthquake. the theory is that the initial energy transmitted from an earthquake that does not cause damage can be detected if we can use that to rapidly figure out how big the earthquake is likely to be and how significant an area is going to be shaken. we can

distribute warnings to again people and infrastructure that can take protective actions. that is what they have set up in japan and that is what they have set up injapan and have been using for a number of years in that region. what this is actually look for? tui talk about attacks delivered on your phone or what sort of you get? in attacks delivered on your phone or what sort of you get?- or what sort of you get? in the united states _ or what sort of you get? in the united states it _ or what sort of you get? in the united states it is _ or what sort of you get? in the united states it is a _ or what sort of you get? in the united states it is a text - united states it is a text delivered on your phone or transmission through the system that appears as an emergency alert on your phone. there are also third—party apps that distribute warnings as well that give notification. it is so warnings that give people ability to take protective action. injapan, a bit different but warnings that can tell people to take protective action. , ,., , tell people to take protective action. , ., , action. lessons that the rest ofthe action. lessons that the rest of the world, _ action. lessons that the rest of the world, just _ action. lessons that the rest of the world, just looking - action. lessons that the rest of the world, just looking at | of the world, just looking at japan the rest of the world thatis japan the rest of the world that is used to earthquakes but also very prepared to them, that the rest of the world can maybe take in terms of up their game and make sure they can be prepared and reduce any sort of

loss or damage from future earthquakes?— loss or damage from future earthquakes? loss or damage from future earthauakes? , , ,., ., , earthquakes? the big lesson as we have discussed _ earthquakes? the big lesson as we have discussed is _ earthquakes? the big lesson as we have discussed is even - earthquakes? the big lesson as| we have discussed is even when a country is very prepared for earthquakes, we are likely to see significant damage and impacts from very large offence and thus it is very important for people in regions that can be affected by events like this to be prepared, to know what to do when an earthquake happens, to know how to protect themselves, how to protect theirfamilies, and what themselves, how to protect their families, and what to themselves, how to protect theirfamilies, and what to do in the aftermath of an earthquake so that they can perhaps survive without help on the ground for some period of time until that help can get to them. ., ., ,, them. the head of the us geological _ them. the head of the us geological survey - them. the head of the us geological survey is - them. the head of the us - geological survey is earthquake programme, thank you very much forjoining us. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let�*s look at some other stories making news. former us president donald trump is appealing a decision by maine�*s secretary of state to disqualify him from the state�*s march primary ballot in this year�*s presidential election. shenna bellows last

week ruled that trump is barred under a us constitutional amendment that prohibits anyone who "engaged in insurrection" from holding office. republicans are appealing a similar ruling by the state supreme court in colorado. the us will re—open four crossing points along its southern border with mexico. border officials will on thursday resume operations at a site each in texas and california, and at two ports of entry in arizona. it follows talks last week between top us and mexican officials about how to address record numbers of migrants. mexico had urged the us to re—open some of its crossings. france has closed its embassy in niger. it comes after 1,500 french troops pulled out of the country in the wake of a coup in july that unseated then—president mohamed bazoum. the french foreign ministry said that the embassy mission in niger had become "impossible", and that its operations will now operate from paris. you�*re live with bbc news. ukraine�*s defense minister says russia

is deliberately targeting residential areas. that statement comes after five people died from attacks on the major ukrainian cities of kyiv and kharkiv. the strikes on apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure left about 250,000 people in and around kyiv without power. earlier, my colleague sumi somaskanda spoke to oksana markarova, ukraine�*s ambassdor to the us. there has been a fresh wave of russian strikes on ukrainian city including german the verb of these aerial attacks are a sign of what is to come you haveit sign of what is to come you have it is clear ukraine needs more support, more military weapons, what exactly does ukraine need in coming days and weeks? ., ~ ukraine need in coming days and weeks? . ~' , ., ukraine need in coming days and weeks? ., ~ i. ., ukraine need in coming days and weeks? ., ~ ., ., weeks? thank you for having me. unfortunately. — weeks? thank you for having me. unfortunately, since _ weeks? thank you for having me. unfortunately, since december. unfortunately, since december 29, we have seen continuation with what russia did before, it

did not come as a surprise you the intent is still there to conduct a genocidal war and destroy ukrainians everywhere, we have seen a surge of attacks on kyiv, the veeve, zaporizhzhia and kharkhiv and today another deadly attack on kyiv. the formula of ourjoint victory of all civilised world still remains the same, or weapons, more prayers to ukraine and it is all the weapons, ear defence, first and foremost and all the pieces of artillery and hopefully longer range missiles we can deliver more and provide more robust response to this horrendous attacks, and just clearly send attacks, and just clearly send a message to russia that they should stop. in a message to russia that they should stop-— should stop. in an interview with the economist - should stop. in an interview with the economist your - with the economist your presidency the west has lost a sense of urgency. from your

conversations in washington what our lawmakers here telling you? what our lawmakers here telling ou? ~ , ., you? well, everyone in here from president _ you? well, everyone in here from president biden - you? well, everyone in here from president biden who i you? well, everyone in here - from president biden who made a statement after these attacks and administration but also congress on a very strong bipartisan basis to understand the need for ukraine to win and the need for ukraine to win and the urgency, so we look forward to congress coming back after the vacations as you know the package with a continuation of ukraine package as discussed very actively on the hill, does not just for very actively on the hill, does notjust for ukraine there is complex package which includes israel and some issues of the national security, the border issues in the united states, and we can only hope and ask all of ourfriends here and we can only hope and ask all of our friends here to find all of our friends here to find a solution which is not related to ukraine but to find that solution as quick as possible and we look forward to the

continuation.— and we look forward to the continuation. let's talk about the package _ continuation. let's talk about the package and _ continuation. let's talk about the package and aid - continuation. let's talk about the package and aid package | the package and aid package which would include $60 billion of support for ukraine. some republicans when they were asked about this package have said ukraine has not yet made clear what a victory would look like. could you tell us, invested up what would that victory look like, would include ukraine taken back all territory including crimea? == territory including crimea? -- ambassador. _ territory including crimea? » ambassador. first of all, president zelensky has been very clear about this when he visited washington in december and he met with both senate and the house, met with the speaker johnson, he met with president biden, and everywhere we have been discussing the need to stay the course as we say, the need for all of us who believe in the un charter, and territorial integrity to actually restore the international order. of course, for us it means to restore the

territorial integrity everywhere in ukraine and deliberate all our villages, it is not about the land but millions of ukrainians who right now on a daily basis being killed and tortured there. we are realistic, we understand that requires additional capabilities and additional capabilities and additional processes but we cannot give up on any of that and it is notjust important for ukraine. it is important for ukraine. it is important for all of us because we are all on the same page, the war has been broken, the international architecture has been shattered, we have to restore it. been shattered, we have to restore it— restore it. the biden administration - restore it. the biden administration has i restore it. the biden . administration has been restore it. the biden - administration has been very supportive of ukraine, we saw some reporting on politico saying the biden administration has quietly shifted its focus from a total victory for ukraine to improvising sorry improving its position in an eventual negotiation to end the war. what do you think of this?

i have never heard or seen anything like that and i would urge to look at the official statements, with all of our friends, not only in the administration but also in congress and here, all the generals whether current or retired the secretary of defence and others and you will see one very coherent and robust message, that we have to win together, because it is very important for all of us who believe in edom, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity. we have tried to restore our territorial integrity through diplomatic solutions, i want to remind you this war started in 2014, the russians attacked us in 2014, we have done everything in eight years to implement from the un and restore and prevent this next attack. and russia used all the time to gather the weapons and to attack us.

time to gather the weapons and to attack us— to attack us. one more question. _ to attack us. one more question, what - to attack us. one more| question, what happens to attack us. one more . question, what happens of congress cannot reach an agreement on more aid for ukraine?— agreement on more aid for ukraine? . ~ , ., ., ukraine? frankly, i do not even want to think _ ukraine? frankly, i do not even want to think about _ ukraine? frankly, i do not even want to think about the - want to think about the possibility like that. i can tell you ukrainians will never give up and will never surrender, we will keep fighting. iam positive surrender, we will keep fighting. i am positive that american people in this country, which is based on the same values we are fighting now on the front lines for, freedom, democracy, dignity, i am positive and i hear it from people and i hear it from congress, that you fight these values is important for us and important for americans, so we really count on the support. ambassador, thank you so much forjoining us on world news america, today. 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 freezing 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 before he managed to isolate himself. riverdale police say several foreign students have recently been targeted by cyber criminals. now before we go, the pliosaur was a massive sea monster that terrorised the oceans millions of year ago. a sort of pre—historic mash—up ofjurassic park and jaws. a skull of the creature was discovered recently in the uk — and on tuesday, it went on display for the first time. it�*s about 2 meters long or more than six feet, and it dates back some 150 million years. researchers estimate the force of its bite would have been similar to that of a trex — earning the pliosaur the nickname of sea rex. i would not want to find one of those when i am swimming in the ocean.

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 it�*s 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 in the electric car sector heats up as he widely outpaces tesla in sales for the first time. plus, will taking drugs in tiny doses make you more efficient at work? we take a look at some of the worries in this trend in the worries in this trend in the united states. hello and welcome to asia business report. i am steve lai. we begin with byd, the chinese ev maker that officially overtaken the american giant tesla in total fourth—quarter sales. tesla�*s record deliveries of more than 480,000 vehicles in the last three months of the year was not enough

to cement its position in the top spot.