is a court hearing in washington. a very sad thing tha happened is a very sad thing that's happened with this whole situation, when they talk about a threat to democracy. that's your real threat to democracy. i feel like as a president, you have to have immunity — very simple. records "tumble like dominoes" as european scientists confirm that 2023 was the warmest year on record. america's top diplomat antony blinken says the daily toll on civilians in gaza, particularly on children, is "far too high". live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday.

thank you for being with us. we begin in ecuador, where police have detained a group of armed men who interrupted a live television programme — a day after the president declared a nationwide state of emergency. the men, wearing balaclavas, burst into the studio of a public television station in the port city of guayaquil, taking hostage several journalists and staff members. this footage shows the attackers carrying rifles and grenades, forcing the crew onto the ground. the president has said that ecuador is in a state of "internal armed conflict". ione wells reports from sao paulo. a moment of utter horror, broadcast live on television. armed men with balaclavas over theirface broke into the set of this public television channel in ecuador while it was live on air, brandishing guns and what appears to be explosives. it comes a day after the country's new president daniel noboa declared a state

of emergency yesterday. ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks after the apparent escape of a powerful gang leaderfrom prison. the president ordered the military and police to intervene in controlling prisons in an attempt to contain the violence. but the violence has exploded further since then. explosions in streets, police officers carrying out stop and search, some reportedly being abducted. for ordinary people in ecuador, terror on the streets. translation: i hope the state of emergency yields results, i positive results for the population, not for the criminals. we live in constant fear because on a day—to—day basis when we go out to work, we don't know if we will return or if we will come back home in one piece. the suspects tonight have now been detained, but with ecuador still on high alert, fearfor citizens

but with ecuador still on high alert, fear for citizens there remains. ione wells, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to ecuadorian freelance journalist carolina loza, who's following the developments. she told me about the mood in the country. it's utter chaos. basically, there are two main cities. people are having even trouble getting back home, trying to get their kids back home from school. government offices shut down. also, universities did the same. so, people are just desperately trying to get home. in smaller cities in the country, the uncertainty reigns as well. so many people are trying to get home as fast as possible, lock themselves up and see what happens next. nobody expected this level of coordinated violence. we had seen outbursts of violence after something that happened, whether it was prison riots or a transfer

of an important gang inmate from one prison to another, but nothing at the level that we have seen today in the country. do we know who might be behind all this? this is one of the most worrying components of it — we do not know. there's a link between those tornadoes and the inmate that escaped from prison yesterday and where all this started to happen. however, there's not one group that claims responsibility. it is coordinated, of course. however, there are so many groups of factions fighting or creating alliances with these criminal gangs that it is very difficult and this is what adds to that level of uncertainty and lack of control from the central government that ecuadoreans are getting fed up with and showing their anger today — whether it's through social media or talking to people on the streets who are tired of this insurgency and that there's

no clear responsible for this level of chaos. donald trump and his lawyers have been in court for a landmark hearing, and they argued that his term of office in the white house should shield him from criminal trial and former presidents shouldn't face criminal prosecution. but the justice department argues the presidency is not "above the law". here's trump is speaking after the hearing. here's trump speaking after the hearing. i think they feel this is the way they're going to try and win, and that's not the way it goes. it'll be bedlam in the country — it's a very bad thing, it's a very bad precedent. a very, a very sad thing that's happened _ with this whole situation. when they talk about threat to democracy, that's your real threat to democracy, and i feel that as a president, you have to have immunity, very simple. and if you don't, as an example — if this case were lost on immunity, and i did nothing wrong. adam klasfeld, the senior legal correspondent for the messenger, explains

the hypothetical questions on the sweeping immunity of a president that has been argued at the court today. it's very interesting because the hypothetical questions allow the court to get beyond the legal abstraction. for example, trump's lawyers have argued that presidents should be immune to the outer perimeter of their official actions. so what does that actually mean in practice? that's where the circuit judge, florence pan, had questioned trump's lawyer. does it include a precedent sending seal team six to assassinate his political rivals, and does it allow the president to sell pardons? both of these times, every time that she asked this question, trump's lawyer tried to kind of dance around the question at first, but essentially said that the answer was yes, the president would be immune unless the president were impeached and

removed from office. now, consider what that means under this hypothetical. and again, this is why hypotheticals come up so often in legal arguments and why they can be so clarifying. a president under this theory, hypothetically, could assassinate enough political rivals to prevent one's impeachment and removal from office or a president, a hypothetical that was brought up by thejustice department's attorney. attorney, the special counsel's attorney — could simply resign before being removed from office in a senate trial and then would be essentially, as you mentioned above, the law from prosecution, which is why it seemed that all three judges were highly sceptical of trump's arguments. and we'll see where they come down and how. adam, ijust ijust want to ask you briefly before we let you go. are these legal challenges

and hearings, are they actually affecting his popularity, though, ahead of the elections? so far, they have not. as a matter of fact, they have become fundraising opportunities. before today's hearing, he touted on social media and in mailings that he would be in court. he did not have to appear in court, but he was there to drum home that message that your viewers heard just a moment ago — that this is just politics, this is a way to take his campaign down, in his view, byjudicial means. and that's the message that he tries to hammer every time that he speaks about the criminal and even civil cases. last year was the hottest year ever recorded for the world. the average global temperature was almost 15 degrees celsius — that's dramatically higher than the last record set in 2016. our climate editorjustin rowlatt reports on the numbers and the solutions. wildfires raged across southern europe this summer. vegetation, parched

by a heatwave and drought, was tinder dry. many tourists and locals had to flee for shelter. the temperature in 2023 was 1.48 degrees celsius above pre—industrial levels, and it beat the previous hottest year, 2016, by 0.17 celsius. a huge margin, say climate scientists, when you consider it is a global average across an entire year. 0ur climate is changing and it's changing drastically. and not only is this recorded in record temperatures around the world, but it's also recorded in the frequency and intensity of extreme events. and what we've seen in 2023, was seven of the months of that year were the warmest months on record. just take a look at this. now, the grey lines on this chart show temperatures for each year since 1940. the red line, you can see it coming on there, shows last year's temperatures and you can see it started off pretty unexceptional in terms

of global temperatures. but from around july onwards, the world began a remarkable, and look at that, almost unbroken streak of daily air temperature records. more than 200 days set new daily global temperature records, according to bbc analysis of the data from the eu climate organisation copernicus. now, here's another way of looking at it. this table shows that every day was at least one degree above pre—industrial temperatures. almost half of all days, these ones in the darkest red, were more than one and a half degrees above them. and we had a couple of days in november... we haven't marked them on here. ..that were more than two degrees hotter — that is another global first. so, why is it so hot? carbon dioxide from the fossil fuels we burn is the main reason. but last year there was an extra blast of heat from the pacific ocean as the el nino weather pattern kicked in. that's also why this year will almost certainly be even hotter than last year.

and there has been some progress in tackling the problem — 2023 saw an increase in installation of wind and solar power. china continued to lead the world, adding almost half the new capacity. but europe, the us and india are also ramping up investment. at the climate conference in dubai, there was a global call to accelerate the deployment of nuclear power, and there is a huge global effort to find other clean energy sources, including tidal energy. this turbine, being tested in uk waters, flies like a kite to maximise the energy it harvests. but, and this is a big but, 80% of the world's energy still comes from fossil fuels — a measure of how much further we still have to go. justin rowlatt, bbc news. doctors say us secretary of defence lloyd austin

is being treated for prostate cancer and that his prognosis is excellent. but the white house says it didn't know about his diagnosis until today. it also didn't know he was under general anaesthesia during his surgery in december. and it's emerged that the pentagon didn't notify the white house or austin's deputy until three days after he had been hospitalised. the white house says president biden plans to stick with austin as secretary of defense. the administration has also ordered cabinet secretaries to notify them when they can't do theirjobs. live now to our north america correspondent david willis. david, if the defence secretary is supposed to be the walled twit. .. is supposed to be the walled twit... concern not surprising they are growing —— 21w. this they are growing -- 24/7. this is an extraordinary _ they are growing —— 24/7. ti 3 is an extraordinary situation.

the us defence secretary is one of the most powerful members of the cabinet, as you said. it's somebody who's expected to be constantly available, yet this us defence secretary not only kept the white house in the dark about his cancer diagnosis, he also kept them in the dark about the fact that he was in hospital being treated for it. his deputy, to whom he assigned some duties whilst he was in hospital, wasn't aware of herself that he was being treated in the hospital at the time. all of this of course at a time when the united states has interest and conflicts in the middle east and in ukraine, the middle east and in ukraine, the sort of matter is that very much affect the us defence secretary. congress wasn't informed of the defence secretary's hospitalisation until friday last week.

republican lawmakers are calling for him to resign. the white house spokesmanjohn white house spokesman john kirby white house spokesmanjohn kirby conceded today that the whole situation was not as he put it "optimal," but the white house is not calling for the defence secretary to resign at least at the moment. he remains in hospital. contrast all this with back in 2006, for example, when the then us defence secretary donald rumsfeld was admitted to hospital for a shoulder industry. the principal was kept up—to—date constantly. ditto in 2003, when colin powell was in hospital for prostate treatment. it seems that there is a lack of transparency, some are saying, in the pentagon in the us defense department, and this also raises the question — how with all these heated conflicts

going on in the world was the absence of the us defence secretary not noticed by those in the white house?— in the white house? david willis, thank _ in the white house? david willis, thank you - in the white house? david willis, thank you so - in the white house? david willis, thank you so much | in the white house? david i willis, thank you so much for updating us on that. quite fascinating story there. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. voice-over: bbc news, - bringing you different stories from across the uk. tacking up to take down criminals. it might not be theirjob, butjess and claire have volunteered to even up the fight when it comes to crime in the countryside. i love tilton, where i keep my horse, and i want to give a little bit back to the community. i'm out on my horse almost - every day, and the role came up and i thought, "yeah, let's go for it. - "why not? " the aim? to crack down on incidents like this, which last year, nfu mutual says cost the midlands economy more than £11 million. you've had a tip—off already? yes, we were contacted by a volunteer. - she had been out riding - and come across some silver tents in a hedgerow ditch line. she's hopped off to have a look

and it was the remains - of a cannabis grove. there was also a large box with cannabis in it. - the 20 riders are vetted and recruited and will work alongside rural policing teams to be their eyes and ears along quiet country lanes. voice-over: for more - stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. the us secretary of state has said palestinians in northern gaza must be allowed to return home as soon as conditions allow, now that fighting there has eased. antony blinken met prime minister benjamin netanyahu in tel aviv. the pair discussed efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages and get humanitarian aid into gaza. blinken insisted that although israel had mr blinken insisted that although israel had washington's resolute backing, civilian deaths in gaza were "far too high". we know that facing an enemy that embeds itself among civilians, who it hides in and fires from schools,

from hospitals, makes this incredibly challenging. but the daily toll on civilians in gaza, particularly on children, is far too high. to the uk and the former head of the post office, paula vennells, is handing back her cbe after more than a million people called for her to be stripped of the honour for her role in the horizon scandal. vicki young has more. it was an insult which added to their injury. new year's honours list. a moment depicted in the recent drama about the post office scandal. paula vennells has got the cbe. you'rejoking...! "services to the post office." today, it was all very different for paula vennells as she caved to mounting public pressure to hand back the honour. in a statement, she said...

it must be a bug. it must be...it must. be a computer bug... lee castleton's story was one of those featured in the drama series. he went bankrupt after being falsely accused of stealing £25,000. so, what does he make of paula vennells' decision? it kind of was a kick in the teeth back then. now it's full circle, i suppose, and we've got to a point where now it's acceptable that the moral decision to hand it back is the right decision. i personally have spent many, many years not being listened to and i'm thankful that people are listening now, and i think people really are listening. there's been a real step change. in leicestershire, there's a lot of sympathy for what lee and others have experienced. they should get as much back possible, and not always money. it doesn't heal wounds what they've gone through. it's shocking, you know, -

to be made to feel like that, made to feel like they've done something wrong and they'd . stolen the money and whatever, i think it's terrible how- they've been treated. as chief executive of the post office from 2012 to 2019, paula vennells earned more than £4 million during a period when serious issues emerged about the horizon software. mps quizzed her about it in 2015. we are a business that does genuinely care about the people that work for us, and if there had been any miscarriages ofjustice, it would have been really important to the post office that we actually surfaced those and as the investigation so far, we've had no evidence of that. there soon was evidence and it reached the high court, but it didn't prevent her from receiving an honour in 2018. the renewed publicity has made dealing with hundreds of wrongful convictions a priority for mps. we can do something good,

mr speaker, together if the justice secretary would bring a simple bill to quash all 800 immediately. the suggestion he made is. receiving active consideration. i expect to be able to make - further announcements shortly. in normal circumstances it would be almost unthinkable for parliament to get involved in the quashing of criminal convictions. it would be seen as an attack on the independence of the courts. but ministers accept this is an unprecedented situation, and that's why they are considering such a radical move. in 2021, there were joyful scenes when the court of appeal cleared 39 former postmasters and mistresses who'd been wrongly convicted. hundreds more hope they'll be able to celebrate soon. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. now to south korea, where the breeding and sale of dogs for their meat is to become illegal. jean mackenzie reports. reared and slaughtered for their meat. on this farm, more than 1,000

dogs are kept like this — eventually to be used in the centuries—old dish of dog meat stew. but the meat was already falling out of favour. this alleyway is one of the few places you can still come to eat dog meat here in seoul — in one of these specialist restaurants. dog meat is considered a delicacy among some older koreans, but it's far less popular now with young people. many of them never eat it now or have never even tried it... translation: more i people have pets today. dogs are like family now, and it's not nice to eat ourfamily, so i think it's best to get rid of it. ..though older diners were less enthusiastic about the ban. translation: we've eaten this since the middle ages. - why stop us from eating our traditional food? if you ban dog, you should ban beef. animal rights

activists celebrated a long—fought—for victory. those who farm, butcher and sell dog meat will be jailed for up to three years. but the ban won't come into force until 2027, giving farmers and restaurant owners time to plan. the industry has clashed with the government over the bill. the practice should've been allowed to die out naturally, they argued, rather than their livelihoods be wrecked. mrs kim has run dog meat restaurants since the 1980s. "i don't know what we're supposed to do now", she told me. "we need to be compensated. "i think we should accept dog meat, "but raise and slaughter them hygienically." these dogs were rescued from a farm last year. hundreds of thousands more will now soon be looking for new homes. jean mackenzie,

bbc news, in seoul. france's new prime minister is just 34. meghan 0wen has been looking at gabriel attal�*s profile. at just 34 years old, gabriel attal has become france's youngest prime minister. now, president emmanuel macron made this appointment as he attempts to revive his presidency with a reshuffle. let's take a listen to gabriel attal as he steps into his new role. translation: it has been said over the last few hours - that the youngest president in history is appointing the youngest prime minister in history. i believe this to be a symbol of audacity and motion, a symbol too of the trust placed in youth. he is a staunch macron loyalist. he's also france's first openly gay prime minister. and he's a bit of a rising star of french politics, known for being media—savvy. his rise has been pretty rapid. he's had various roles. ten years ago, he was just an obscure adviser in

the health ministry. he then became a household name when he was appointed government spokesperson during the covid pandemic. he was appointed minister for education in 2023, but here he was speaking to the bbc as minister for youth in 2020. when you look at everyone in the parliament or in the government around emmanuel macron in this majority, you see people from very different social and geographic backgrounds, and for me, it was actually the few who made me want to volunteer and to commit in politics, to make everyone have the same chance. he sparked controversy in one of his first moves in his role as education minister, when he announced that he was to ban the muslim abaya dress in state schools. he said in an interview with france's tf1, "when you walk into the classroom, "you shouldn't be able to identify the pupils' religion "just by looking at them". well, one of his other signature moves was to lay out plans for france to adopt a school uniform. mr attal replaces elisabeth borne, who is the outgoing prime minister.

she was in her role for 20 months, but she failed in that time to retain a majority. president macron will be hoping that this is something he can change with the new appointment. he will also be hoping that with widespread discontentment in france over rising costs and last year's pension reform that actually, mr attal will help him to defeat the far right in the european elections injune, and with the presidential polls coming up in 2027. that's it for now. thanks for watching. hello there. this time last week, low pressure dominated the weather story and it was all about relentless flooding rain. this week, high pressure controls the story and a quiet, colder theme, but also a sunnier one. in fact, the western isles had the lion's share of the sunshine on tuesday. so, plenty of sunshine around today as high pressure dominates, clear skies

across central and southern england. that's where we'll have the best of the sunshine, but it will be another cold start, with temperatures below freezing. not as widespread, the cold, as we had this time yesterday, and there's certainly more cloud. now, the cloud is thick enough across eastern scotland, northern england for the odd spot of light drizzle. could be some icy stretches first thing. south of that will see more cloud pushing into north wales, but we'll keep some sunshine and we'll also have some sunshine once again in the northwest of scotland. now, temperatures around 5—7 degrees, might be a degree or so warmer underneath the cloud, but it perhaps won't feel like that because you've lost the sunshine. now, we keep that cloud as we go through wednesday night, and once again, could be thick enough for a little bit of drizzle, particularly on exposed north sea coasts. best of the clearer skies further south of that — that's where we're likely to see patchy frost and fog forming as temperatures again dip below freezing. so, as we move into thursday,

it will be a similar story. we'll have some clearer skies into sheltered western scotland and also some sunshine across central and southern england. but cloud will tend to come and go into northern ireland, northern england for a time, and some of that cloud may well just push that a little bit further south as the wind changes to more of a subtle northeasterly by the course of thursday. once again, temperatures between 5—8 degrees our overall high. now, as we move into friday and the start of the weekend, we keep this quieter theme. it's still going to be on the chilly side. but again, there'll be a lot of dry weather around. but as we go into next week, there are signs of the weather story changing, the wind direction coming to more of a northerly. we could see some wintry showers even at lower levels in scotland. and look at this — towards the middle part of next week, there will be a frontal system, as it bumps into that cold air that's been sitting with us now for over a week. there is the potential on the leading edge to see some snow. a lot of uncertainty about that at the moment, but it's an early heads up —

something to look out for.

the x account of the us securities and exchange commission gets compromised and puts out market—moving fake news. plus.. trying something different. how in workaholicjapan some companies are introducing

mandatory power—naps to boost productivity. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko 0i. we begin with bitcoin and how a fake post by the official social media account of the us securities and exchange commission sent the crypto—currency�*s price for a ride. it was posted on the sec�*s x account, claiming that the commission had approved an eagerly—awaited financial product. that was followed moments later by another tweet saying the account had been compromised and the news was fake. here's more from our business correspondent erin delmore. if you're in the crypto world or curious about getting into it, then a spot bitcoin etf has been on your radar that would enable people to bet on bitcoin's gains and losses even if they don't own any bitcoin themselves. us regulators are widely expected to approve

the new exchange traded funds this week.