live from washington. this is bbc news. a blast in beirut kills a senior leader of hamas as concerns mount that the conflict between hamas and israel could spread. as japan's earthquake recovery effort continues, disaster strikes on tokyo's runway as two planes collide. ukraine endures a barrage of more missile attacks with a heavy new wave of deadly russian air strikes, renewing calls for more military aid from the west. we have two win together because it is very important for all of us who believe in freedom, independence, sovereignty. hello, i'm carl nasman. hamas says a blast in lebanon killed the group's deputy head, saleh al—arouri, and two commanders

from its armed wing. the group says they were among seven killed in the explosion at a beirut building. hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by many western governments. saleh al—arouri was helped lead 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. 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 hezbollah and stop them making any problems, now we see the problems are coming from israel and that is what we

were 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. 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. 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 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 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 7? 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 7. given his being an influentialfigure among military circles because october 7 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.

all 379 people aboard a japan airlines flight have escaped after the plane became 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. our correspondent, suranjana 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. authorities say 62 people have now died in that centraljapan earthquake, where search efforts continue at this hour. earlier, i spoke with our asia correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes about the increasing difficulties rescuers now face. there is a number of challenges. firstly, it is winter so there is night 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.

in wajima and suzu saying at least 90% of the buildings in that little town have been badly damaged or completely destroyed. getting rescue teams there and supply 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 are so cold at night. to get a better understanding of japan's preparedness with earthquakes amid rescue efforts, i spoke to gavin hayes, the head of the united states geological survey�*s earthquake program. thank you so much for being here. search and rescue efforts are continuing. several after—shocks in the region. how big of a danger to after—shocks

still pose to people on the ground there 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 have continued and will likely 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. 7.6. we saw a similarly powerful earthquake strike early last year in turkey and syria. that killed tens of thousands of people. what made the difference here with the cavity numbers being thankfully a lot lower injapan? cavity numbers being thankfully a lot lower in japan?— a lot lower in japan? there is a lot lower in japan? there is a lot lower in japan? there is a lot of complicated - a lot lower in japan? there is a lot of complicated issues i a lot of complicated issues comparing those two. one, turkiye was hit by two earthquakes, very large,. the earthquakes, very large, . the area earthquakes, very large,. the area affected in turkiye was

significantly larger, one broke into corners longer is only 100 kilometres long injapan. the area affected in turkiye was much larger and thus more significant population density in that region. couple that with perhaps some better preparedness i would guess in japan. those all factor into the significantly different impacts. the significantly different im acts. ., ., impacts. you mentioned preparedness. _ impacts. you mentioned preparedness. one - impacts. you mentioned| preparedness. one thing impacts. you mentioned - preparedness. one thing japan has is a sort of advanced warning system that can warn people of an approaching earthquake. how do something like that work? how much actual time people have to take cover? earthquake early warning systems like the one injapan and the one we had on the west coast in the united states are designed to give seconds of warning to people and critical infrastructure that might need to be protected in earthquake. the theory is the initial energy transmitted from an earthquake that does not cause

damage can be detected. if we can use that you rapidly figure out how big the earthquake is likely to be and how significant an area that is going to be shaken, we can distribute warnings to people in infrastructure that can take protective actions. that is what they have set up injapan and have been using for a number of years in that region. what does it actually look like? i would talk about a tax a lot on your phone? what sort of a lot do you get? in a lot on your phone? what sort of a lot do you get?— of a lot do you get? in the united states _ of a lot do you get? in the united states it _ of a lot do you get? in the united states it is - of a lot do you get? in the united states it is a - of a lot do you get? in the united states it is a text l of a lot do you get? in the| united states it is a text on your phone or transmission that appears as an emergency alert on your phone. also third—party apps that distribute warnings as well that will give you notifications and it is those warnings that allow people to initiate those protective actions. injapan, a little bit different but similarly warnings from cellphones that can tell people to take those protective actions. pare can tell people to take those protective actions.— protective actions. are there lessons the _ protective actions. are there lessons the rest _ protective actions. are there lessons the rest of _ protective actions. are there lessons the rest of the - protective actions. are there | lessons the rest of the world, looking atjapan, a country

thatis looking atjapan, a country that is used to earthquakes and also be prepared for them, that the rest of the world can maybe take in terms of starting up their game and make sure they can be prepared and produce any sort of loss of damage from future earthquakes? i sort of loss of damage from future earthquakes?- sort of loss of damage from future earthquakes? i think the big lesson. _ future earthquakes? i think the big lesson. as— future earthquakes? i think the big lesson, as we've _ future earthquakes? i think the| big lesson, as we've discussed, is even when a country is very prepared for earthquakes, we are likely to see significant damage and impacts from very large events — and thus it's 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 their families, 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.— period of time until that help can get to them. gavin hayes, head of the — can get to them. gavin hayes, head of the us _ can get to them. gavin hayes, head of the us geological - head of the us geological survey�*s earthquake programme, thank you so much forjoining us. thank you so much for “oining us. ~ , , . , around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. another merchant vessel has

been attacked in the red sea, according to uk monitoring officials. it's at least the 24th attack on international shipping in the red sea since mid—november. three explosions were reported close to the unnamed vessel. no damage was caused and the crew are reported safe. iran—backed houthi rebels from yemen have plagued the red sea, prompting shipping companies to avoid the area. the white house is asking the us supreme court to reverse a lower court's ruling that prohibits board patrol agents from destroying a razor wire fence texas built along its border with mexico. migrants have been seriously injured trying to cross through the 29 miles of wire along the rio grande. chinese company byd became the world's biggest—selling electric car—maker in the final quarter of 2023, pulling ahead of tesla. byd said monday that it had sold a record 526,000 battery—only vehicles from october through december —

the first time that it has outpaced elon musk�*s company. but elon musk�*s company outpaced that rate last year. you're live with bbc news. turning to ukraine now: in the last hour, one person has died in a ukrainian drone attack on the russian city of belgorod, according to the region's governor. and in russian—occupied crimea, loud explosions have been heard in sevastopol. it all comes as ukraine accuses russia of deliberately targeting residential areas, 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 around kyiv without power. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky says, since december 29th, moscow has targeted the country with some 300 missiles and 200 drones. my colleague, sumi somaskanda, spoke with ukraine's ambassador to the us, oksana markarova. ambassador, there has been a fresh wave of russian strikes

on ukrainian cities including kyiv, in lviv. if these aerial attacks are a sign of what is to come, you have said it is clear ukraine needs more support, more military weapons. what exactly does ukraine need then in coming days and weeks? thank you, sumi, for having me. unfortunately, since december 29th, we have seen continuation with what russia did before, it did not come as a surprise, we knew the intent is still there to conduct a genocidal war and destroy ukrainians everywhere, we have seen a surge of attacks on kyiv, lviv, zaporizhzhia in kharkhiv and today another deadly attack on kyiv. the formula of our joint victory, of all civilised world,

still remains the same — more weapons, more prayers to ukraine, and it is all the weapons, air defence, first and foremost, and all the pieces of artillery and hopefully longer range missiles we can liberate more and provide more robust response to this horrendous attacks, and just clearly send a message to russia that they should stop. in an interview with the economist, your president, volodymyr zelensky, said the west has lost a sense of urgency. from your conversations in washington, what our lawmakers here telling 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 do understand the need for ukraine to win and also the urgency, so we look forward to congress coming back after the vacations. as you know the package which contains a continuation of ukraine package as discussed

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 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 of the support. let's talk about the package to remind our viewers, an 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, ambassador, what would that victory look like —

would it include ukraine taken back all territory, including crimea? 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, he met with speakerjohnson, 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, in territorial integrity to actually restore the international order. of course, for us, it means to restore the territorial integrity everywhere in ukraine, to deliberate all our villages. integrity everywhere in ukraine, to liberate all our villages. it is not only 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 processes but we cannot give up on any of that and it is notjust 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. 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 "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, of 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 freedom, 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, even though these minsk accords were not particularly fair to ukraine, we have done everything during eight years to implement from to the key, and to actually restore and prevent this next attack. and russia used all the time to gather the weapons and to attack us. one more question, what happens if congress can't reach an agreement on more aid for ukraine? frankly, i don't even 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. 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 to 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. thank you for having me. spanish footballerjenni hermoso testified in court on tuesday about allegations against former spanish football federation president luis rubiales. ms hermoso accuses mr rubiales of kissing her on the lips against her will, after their world cup final victory last august. mr rubiales claims it was consensual. our madrid correspondent guy hedgecoe has more. jenni hermoso has appeared in the national court here in central madrid to face questions from thejudge central madrid to face questions from the judge who is investigating luis rubiales for that kiss that he gave herjust after the world cup final in sydney in august. in her testimony, ms hermoso told the

judge that the kiss was not consensual, she did not agree to it, that she felt it was an attack on her. that, of course, contradicts completely what mr rubiales has been saying, which is that the kiss was supposedly consensual, that it was a spontaneous moment, and they were both happy about it. the judge investigating this case must now decide whether there is enough evidence for mr rubiales to go on trial for sexual assault. this is a case which has already had a huge impact in spain. in the football world, it has caused a major shake—up within the spanish football federation — obviously mr rubiales lost his job a few months ago, but also other seniorfigures in job a few months ago, but also other senior figures in the federation have been replaced as well. and it's also had an impact in broader spanish society, triggering a social movement against perceived sexism in other areas of spanish life.

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.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in war, not all soldiers are fighting on or for their own soil. thanks to the internet, it has become easier than ever before for foreigners to immerse themselves in conflicts very far from home. my guest today is a young british man, aiden aslin, who has a remarkable story. hejoined the ukrainian army. he was captured, tortured and sentenced to death by putin's forces. he survived thanks to a prisoner swap. but why did he risk everything in someone else's war? aiden aslin, welcome to hardtalk.