four welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. the headlines... us secretary of state, antony blinken, is set to visit israel, the west bank, and seven countries over the next week. continued disruption to international shipping in the red sea — houthi rebels defy us warning by detonating a one—way unmanned surface vessel. we look at how there could be delays to businesses receiving supplies. historically high youth unemployment in china — we speak to 16—24—year—olds in urban areas to see how they're coping. glynisjohns, the actress best known for her role as suffragette mother mrs banks in the film mary poppins, has died at the age of 100. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday.

welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we start with the us secretary of state, antony blinken, who is headed to the middle east to visit israel, the west bank, and seven countries over the next week. the us state department says during mr blinken�*s trip, he will seek immediate increase in aid to gaza as the strip continues to deal with a humaniatarian crisis. the trip comes as the uk foreign secretary, david cameron, warns israel must allow more aid into gaza in order to avoid starvation and large outbreaks of disease. and there are reports of dozens more deaths from air strikes in southern gaza, as israel continues its military operation there. and in lebanon, people gathered for the funeral of deputy hamas leader saleh—al arouri. he was killed earlier this week in an explosion. hezbollah — a powerful iranian backed group in lebanon — has blamed that attack on what it says was "flagrant israeli aggression". israel has not commented, but the explosion is creating concern about violence

spreading in the region. our middle east correspondent hugo bachega gave this update. crowds gathered in beirut for the funeral of saleh al—arouri, the deputy hamas leader who was assassinated in an attack here in beirut, on tuesday. some people were carrying placards with his face, some were waving hamas and palestinian flags. and this assassination was a blow for hamas — but it also hit its lebanese allies, hezbollah, because it happened in an area of beirut that is a stronghold of hezbollah. so this has raised fears of a wider regional conflict, but there have been some indications that both hezbollah and israel are willing to take steps to an escalation in their confrontation. we heard from the israeli defense minister, yoav gallant, who said the israeli authorities were determined

to change the security in northern irael to allow the return of thousands residents who have been evacuated because of those constant attacks by hezbollah. but he also said there was a short window of opportunity for a diplomatic solution to the crisis there. and those comments followed a speech made yesterday by the influential leader of hezbollah — hassan nasrallah — in which he described the assassination that happened here in beirut as a flagrant israeli aggression. but crucially, he did not make any threats to attack israel. now, hassan nasrallah is expected to address his supporters again on friday, and any response from hezbollah is likely to be measured to avoid a strong israeli response and a potential catastrophic conflict

uk maritime trade operations says a merchant vessel in the arabian sea was attacked by at least five "unauthorised armed persons. " that's the 25th attack or hijacking of a commercial ship travelling in that part of the world since mid—november, with the majority of attacks happening in the red sea. houthi rebels vowed to continue the shipping attacks on the red sea in solidarity with gaza, despite several countries warning of retaliation. most shipping companies are now avoiding their usual route — and opting to take a safer, but longer way round — which takes on average roughly nine days more. merchants are now warning consumers their products could be delayed. carriers have already diverted more than $200 billion in trade over the past several weeks. i've been speaking with elisabeth braw, a senior associate fellow at the european leadership network, a defence and security think tank. i asked her about comments made by david cameron, the uk foreign secretary, who warned that action will be taken if the attacks in the red sea continue. it's a very risky move by david cameron to say

there will be consequences, and he's saying that in conjunction with the us, italy, other countries that have all vowed to to retaliate against further houthi aggression. but now that they've said it, they have to do it. and the houthis are betting that they won't do it. and so, this red line will mean nothing, and the west will be humiliated. so the next few hours, the next few days will be crucial in this battle because, if they don't take action, if the houthis continue their attacks, then they will look toothless in this really crucial body of water. so, now they've drawn this red line, then, what do you think is the biggest factor that could send this situation spiralling? it's the arrival of iran, without a doubt. iran already sent, a couple of days ago, a frigate to the red sea, where it's sitting — nobody really knows what this frigate, the alborz, what it's planning to do or what it will be asked to do.

but it's there as a signal to the western powers that it's trying to secure shipping in the red sea — and that signal is, "if you attack the houthis attacking vessels in the red sea, ourfrigate may respond, and indeed, we may send more naval vessels". so it's a very tense situation, and it's so unpredictable because we don't know what iran's plan is. but it's a very strong message from iran that this frigate is now there in the red sea. well, antony blinken is set to visit the middle east again — what can he realistically do to stop the escalation of the gaza—israel conflict from spreading? this is the dilemma for the united states. i think we all remember after the attacks happened, and after israel began retaliating by striking gaza, the americans said, "we'll hug israel close" — meaning we will keep them close so that when we ask them to, for example, reduce violence, they will then listen to us and follow our advice. and unfortunately, that

doesn't seem to have been the case very much. and so, now with blinken visiting the middle east, that will be a case study, really, for whether that american strategy works. if he asks the israelis to reduce the violence, will they actually do so? and will that be something that is communicated to the world? and equally, will his voice carry any weight with arab leaders, considering how closely the us has stuck to israel in this conflict? it's a very tricky diplomatic mission, and the stakes are extremely high — not just for the people in the region, but indeed, for the globalised economy. the united states is accusing north korea of supplying russia with ballistic missiles and launchers to use in its war in ukraine. white house national security spokesperson, john kirby, told reporters that newly declassified intelligence showed that russian forces fired one such missile at ukraine last week and several more two days ago.

he said that pyongyang was seeking russia's military assistance in return. mr kirby said that washington would raise the issue at the united nations security council. due in part to our sanctions and export controls, russia has become increasingly isolated on the world stage, and they've been forced to look to like—minded states for military equipment. as we've been warning publicly, one of those states is north korea. earlier, i spoke to our north korea correspondent, shingai nyoka, and asked her how the us plans to raise this at the security council. well, in that press briefing, he said that russia is violating the un resolutions, because north korea is under un sanctions. so he said that the us would raise this matter at the security council — but he also laid out other measures that the us is going to pursue. he said that they would also impose sanctions against those

that are facilitating the transfer of these weapons from north korea to russia. he described this as a "significant and concerning escalation" — notjust because of the weapons, the types of weapons that north korea is supplying to russia, but also the fact that north korea will expect different types of weaponry and military equipment in return. and that, for the us, also poses concerns about security in the indo—pacific area. certainly with north korea's nuclear ambitions in mind, does this also, domestically speaking, put pressure on congress to push through funding for more weapons for ukraine? yes, and it was quite interesting thatjohn kirby at that meeting spoke about the fact that iran, which is also supplying weapons to russia, and north korea are standing with russia. and he also made a case for the us to stand with ukraine, and really made the point that

now is the time that the us and congress needs to sit down and make a decision about that $61 billion package that president biden has requested. the request was made in november last year, but it remains stalled in congress — they closed out the year without any kind of agreement. and so, the congress will resume on the 8th january, in terms of its negotiations. and he was really urging them, saying that if ukraine — if russia and iran, and north korea can stand with russia, then then the ukrainian people deserve to know that the us stands with ukraine. oui’ our north america correspondent. to the uk now — and it was a declaration, of sorts, from rishi sunak today, saying the much—anticipated general election is likely to be held in the "second half of this year". but he could still call a snap

election after not ruling out going to the country before the autumn, on a visit to nottinghamshire. meanwhile, in a new year speech in bristol, the labour leader, keir starmer, said he hoped 2024 would give the country a chance to vote out the conservatives, accusing mr sunak of "squatting in downing street for months on end". here's chris mason. can i welcome to you this morning, rishi sunak, the prime minister? mansfield, in nottinghamshire — a town the conservatives want to hold on to at the general election. happy new year! how are you doing? the prime minister taking questions at a youth centre and taking this crucial question from a reporter. it's a new year — is it also going to be a general election year? yes! so, look, my working assumption is we'll have a general election in the second half of this year, and in the meantime, i've got lots that i want to get on with. words that grab attention, say something — but commit to nothing. 150 miles away, on a visit to bristol at exactly the same time, we tell keir starmer

what rishi sunak has just said. the prime minister is now hinting, without setting a date, that it might be later in the year. squatting in downing street for months on end, dithering and delaying, when the country wants change. what's he hiding? the conservatives have a mandate, don't they, to serve in government throughout this year? you can clamourfor an early election, but that's the constitutional truth. but what mandate does the third... well, they won the last general election. ..the third prime minister that they've had since the one in 2019! and it's notjust keir starmer with a keen eye on when the election is. i think the prime minister is running scared of the voters. people are fed up with the government's economic policies, with their health policies. they want change and they want an election. the liberal democrats agree with them. rishi sunak isjust clinging on to power. i don't think it really matters in the scottish context, whether the election is in may

or indeed later on this year, because what we know for certain is that the tories will get beat, just as they've done every election in scotland since 1955. back here on the outskirts of bristol, in a spot that labour needs to win from the conservatives, sir keir took on criticism from one of his own mps that it's not obvious what he stands for, and he claimed people are increasingly annoyed, irritated, by all politicians. the biggest challenge we face, bar none — the shrug of the shoulder. because this is the paradox of british politics right now. everyone agrees we're in a huge mess. everyone agrees as well that it's been like this for a while, that britain needs change, wants change, is crying out for change. and yet trust in politics is now so low, so degraded, that nobody believes you can make a difference any more.

well, it turns out there may be a little more time than some thought for political leaders, whoever they are, to take this on. words, crowds, persuasion, promises — 2024 will have the lot of them. chris mason, bbc news. there've been hundreds of flood alerts across england today, as heavy rain continued to batter parts of the country. and there are fears tonight the river trent, could come close to it's highest water mark on record this century. a major incident has already been declared in nottinghamshire due to widespread flooding, caused by storm henk. the county council is urging residents in "at risk" areas to prepare in case they need to evacuate, with the environment agency at one stage issuing more than 50 flood warnings and flood alerts, for the east midlands alone. navtej johal reports. storm henk may be gone, but it's certainly not forgotten. this is what it left behind in nottinghamshire,

where a major incident has been declared and water levels on the river trent are as high as they've been in more than 20 years. the council is making the decision could see the river surging past their headquarters, but not every seat here was suitable for a good view. its similar levels to that of 2000, so it's that serious, and we must ask people to be aware and stay safe. flooded roads are causing problems and making it harder for people to evacuate. in places it's become difficult to tell what's river, watts canal, what's supposed to be dry land. in the village of east bridgeford, many people have never seen it so bad. we went to bed last night knowing the river was coming up, so my partner set the alarms to check it every couple of hours in the night. the river started coming into the property at 6am this morning. we've spent most of today keeping it out, which we did a very good job of until about

2.30pm this afternoon, where the river trent got the better of us. in radcliffe, on trent, the fire service needed to be carried in at this static caravan park and rush hour was proving difficult. the yellow warning for heavy rain covers most of the southwest, southeast, and parts of the midlands, and there are more than 200 flood warnings across england. and in wiltshire tonight, flooded fields have led to flooded homes and frustrated residents. we've got water flooding under floors, we've taken upstairs. the council have the phone off the hook. the police aren't interested in closing the road, i'm amazed there hasn't been an incident. the fire brigade isn't interested, no one is interested. we were sat having a nice glass of wine by the fire and my partner's friend texted and said, i hope you are ok, and we were, like, 0k, what's going on? so we came out and went, oh, yeah. the rain is disrupting

rail services and all sorts of journeys. it's difficult to get around, even for those who know the land best. this is gloucestershire. these cows and horses won't be roaming far on their new island in leicestershire. some have been able to see the lighter side of it all though. good afternoon, welcome to the rose and crown, riverside view, and probably the best guinness... the landlord of this pub has no chance of a dry january. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. these rocks date back to the dinosaurs. the creatures preserved inside them give an insight into what marine life was like in a time before humans. there's no denying just how exciting people find fossils, you know, how manyjobs,

hobbies and passions has finding fossils actually inspired? there's no question about it, it did for me. you know, i used to collect fossils — and i still do. so it certainly has that natural history attraction. the ammonites here on doniford beach, in somerset are around 197 million years old. but some have been seriously damaged. police have confirmed two people from france were spoken to for allegedly using an angle grinder to try to remove some of the fossils. we're used to seeing people collecting on a small scale, when it happens. but, yeah, just the magnitude of this — you can see they've taken out a very large portion of that bedding plane there. you're live with bbc news. prince andrew is among a string of high—profile associates and friends of the late convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein who've been named in newly—released us court documents. the 900 pages contain

dozens of references to the king's brother, including testimony from a young woman who says that prince andrew groped her. the records form part of a civil case against ghislaine maxwell, epstein�*s british ex—girlfriend who's injail in the us for assisting him. prince andrew has previously denied all the allegations against him. 0ur north america correspondent gary 0'donoghue has more. jeffrey epstein was a billionaire financier — but he was also a serial abuser of underage girls. he knew some of the best—known faces on the planet — from british royalty to pop stars, to former presidents. these latest court documents contain more than 60 references to prince andrew, and some to bill clinton. back in 2002, donald trump described him as a "terrific guy" and a lot of fun to be with. neither of the former presidents have been accused of wrongdoing in the epstein saga. but prince andrew's long

friendship with epstein was what ended his public royal role. these latest documents contain testimony from one woman, johanna sjoberg, who said prince andrew touched her breast while holding the hand of a puppet of himself against another woman's breast. buckingham palace has in the past categorically denied all allegations. another of epstein�*s accusers, virginia giuffre, said she met andrew on a number of occasions and was directed to have sex with the prince when she was 17 years old. despite a photo showing them together, the prince said he had no recollection of meeting her. and i've said consistently and and frequently. that we never had any sort of sexual contact, whatever. in 2022, the prince settled a civil case brought by virginia giuffre against him

for an undisclosed amount, and withdrew from public life. the documents also contain some bizarre elements, including an email to one—time girlfriend ghislaine maxwell, who's serving 20 years for sex trafficking. in the poorly—spelt message, epstein offers to pay anyone who would deny that the late renowned physicist stephen hawking had taken part in an orgy on epstein�*s private island. this is the first release of documents in this particular case relating to epstein — there are more court files to come. many of epstein�*s victims, who endured years of not being believed, campaigned hard for the release of these names and documents. they were, of course, already being denied their ultimate wish — to see epstein put on trial — as he hanged himself before facing justice. gary 0'donaghue, bbc news. glynisjohns, the british actress who played mrs banks

in the 1964 film "mary poppins" has died at the age of 100. she appeared in dozens of films during a career spanning more than 60 years and was also an accomplished theatre performer. she memorably sang "send in the clowns", which stephen sondheim wrote just for her, in her tony award winning performance in the original production of "a little night music". she was also nominated for an academy award for her performance in the 1960 film "the sundowners". britney spears has said she will "never return to the music industry" after rumours she was planning a return to the studio surfaced last week. the pop star was responding to claims in the us media that she was lining up songwriters for a tenth studio album. the bbc�*s azadeh moshiri has more. "so we're clear, most of the news is trash." that's what britney said about us media reports that she's planning a musical comeback. "not so," says britney.

in an instagram post, she announced her retirement. she wrote... now, this isn't the first time that britney has shown reservations about making a comeback. in fact, in her memoir, the woman in me, she wrote... but this is the most adamant she's ever been. now, if you're a britney fan and you're thinking, "this is outrageous", and you want another piece of her music, you may be in luck — because several other stars have announced their retirement before, and then changed their minds. justin bieber is one of them. back when he was a teen singer in 2013, over the christmas holidays, he wrote... he cited media pressures and said... he's had several platinum records since. another one is nicki minaj. back in 2019, she wrote...

apparently not happy enough, because she's now celebrating her new album, pink friday 2. and just one other example is cher. now, she said she'd retire several times — but she's had multiple tours since, has even held las vegas residencies, and jumped back into the studio. now, say britney really means it, and that this is the last time we're going to hear her sing and perform again. well, she also announced in an instagram post that she's actually ghostwritten 20 songs in the last two years. so is this really the end? is britney really going to fall off the radar, or will she give us more? either way, britney's made it clear it's her prerogative. before we go, let's take you live to south africa, and the prison in pretoria — where disgraced athlete 0scar pistorius is due to be released. the former paralympic star has been given parole nearly 11 years after murdering his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, in

a crime that shocked a nation. pistorius — dubbed "blade runner" for his carbon—fibre prosthetic legs — shot the 29—year—old model dead through a locked bathroom door on valentine's day in 2013. a parole board in november decided he could be freed after completing more than half his sentence. under his parole conditions, he'll be monitored by officials or five years until his sentence expires. you will not be allowed to consume alcohol and other prohibited substances, and barred from holding media interviews. in addition to that, he will have to attend programmes on gender—based violence and continue therapy sessions as well. this is a story we will be watching here on bbc news. do stay with us. hello.

after the exceptional rainfall and the significant flooding of the last few days, you may well be pleased to hear that the weather is set to change. the next few days will be drier — yes, also colder — but i'm sure some lower temperatures will be a small price to pay for less in the way of rain. we certainly saw some rain on thursday in the south of the uk, thanks to this hook of cloud. that's an area of low pressure still close by for the first part of friday morning, still bringing some rain across eastern parts of england. we've also still got some showery rain from this weather system, centred across the north of scotland. so, as we head through the morning on friday, yes, still a little bit of rain across eastern england, quite a brisk wind, as well. still windy for the northern isles, and generally cloud and some showery rain across the northeast of scotland. further west, though, some brighter skies, some spells of sunshine and, while there will be some showers, there probably won't be too many, and a decent amount of dry weather. those temperatures a touch lower than they have been — six degrees for aberdeen, nine for cardiff, for plymouth, maybe ten for the channel islands. and then, as we head

through friday night, we'll keep some quite large amounts of cloud, especially across the eastern half of the uk, with some showery rain. drier out west with some clear spells, and just 1—2 showers — that will give rise to some fog patches and a touch of frost for some. temperatures across parts of northern england, scotland, northern ireland are likely to drop below freezing. so, frost and fog to start the day for some of us on saturday. quite a lot of cloud across the eastern half of england. that will break up to some extent, and i think we will see some spells of sunshine. just 1—2 showers here and there, but a much drier story than we've been used to. temperatures coming down again, 5—9 celsius at best. through saturday nights, the last remnants of this weather system really clearing away, as high pressure builds more strongly across the uk. that will set us up actually for the forecast for next week — and certainly on sunday, we're looking at a lot of dry weather. some early mist and fog, touch of frost in places, but some spells of sunshine. small chance of 1—2 showers maybe across northeast scotland, also grazing

the southeast of england and the channel islands. and it certainly will be a colder—feeling day, 3—7 celsius. and actually, into the start of the new week, the winds will really pick up across the south, so that will add to what will be a really cold feel to the weather. but it'll be a mostly dry week ahead, some spells of sunshine with some frost and some fog at night.

the devastating consequences from the politically—charged war in the gaza strip spills over into into the business community. plus, travellers continue to spend big, undeterred plus, travellers continue to spend big, undeterred by the high cost of living. we ask why, and where. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. we begin this hour with the war in middle east. in the months since hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented assault on israel in october, killing more than 1,000 people, the death toll on both sides have continued to rise. more than 21,000 people have been killed in the gaza strip by israeli bombardments, the consequences have now spilt over to businesses, as customers in the middle east and elsewhere boycott companies for their perceived support of israel. from new york, the bbc�*s michelle fleury reports. major western brands have found themselves hit by a grassroots

often unplanned boycotts because of their styles on