to impeach the top official in charge of migration policies at the country's southern border. lam sumi i am sumi somaskanda. good to have you with us. ecuador�*s president announced that foreign prisoners in his country are being deported. president daniel noboa made the announcement wednesday, one day after masked gunmen stormed a public tv studio during a live broadcast in the city of guayaquil. president noboa hopes to cut down on ecuador�*s prison population, as more than 120 prison guards are still being held hostage by inmates across the country. nationwide unrest began a few days earlier, on sunday, when a notorious gang boss escaped from a maximum security facility. it's unclear whether the attack on the tv studio was related to the disappearance adolfo macias villamar, or fito, as he is better known.

after the escape, but before the tv studio attack, a 60—day state of emergency was issued in ecuador on monday. will grant reports from guayaquil. viewers in ecuador watched in disbelief as masked and armed gang members entered a state tv channel and held staff hostage — all of it televised live. translation: they shot one of our cameramen in the leg. | broke the arm of another one. they were shooting bullets inside the studio. the police were called and came in minutes. the gang was soon arrested and the hostages released, but the tv station ambush was just part of the descent into chaos. panic as gunmen stormed guayaquil university, explosions around the country, schools and businesses shut down and widespread rioting inside ecuador�*s prisons. in response, president daniel noboa called a state of emergency and imposed a curfew.

by decree, he designated 22 gangs terrorist organisations and ordered the military to, as he put it, neutralise them. translation: we are practically living - in a state of war against terrorism. these are not organised crime groups, they are terrorists who are financed by drug trafficking, trafficking in people, organs and arms. president noboa says that ecuador is now engaged in an internal armed conflict. but while this explosion of gang violence may have caught the nation off guard, in truth, the storm which has turned ecuador from one of the safest nations in latin america to one of the most violent, has been brewing for years. specifically this man — adolfo macias villamar, alias fito, is part of the reason ecuador finds itself on the brink of an internal war. he's the leader of a gang called los choneros and escaped

his prison cell shortly before his transfer to a higher—security wing. two prison guards have been arrested for allegedly helping him flee. the gangs are largely controlled from the prisons. even behind bars, macias ran his organisation without interference from the authorities. translation: people are scared, i they're closing all the stores, i there is no security. they're afraid gangsters will come and loot everything. an iron fist on crime has been used here before, but it did little to break the gangs stranglehold on the andean nation or slow its slide towards bloodshed. will grant, bbc news, guayaquil. earlier, i spoke to todd, former us ambassador to ecuador and now a non—resident fellow at the center for strategic and international studies. ambassador, i want to ask you first of all what we saw ecuador two ecuador�*s president abella in talking about the

crisis, he said his government is fighting against terrorist groups and he said" they want me to call them groups of organised crime because it is easier when they are terrorists and and when we live in a state of war other laws apply." what you think that means? what will that allow him and his government do? it that allow him and his government do?- that allow him and his government do? that allow him and his covernment do? , . , ., , government do? it is a pleasure to be with _ government do? it is a pleasure to be with you — government do? it is a pleasure to be with you and _ government do? it is a pleasure to be with you and talk- government do? it is a pleasure to be with you and talk about i to be with you and talk about the serious matter. ecuador has been threatened by narco terrorists for many years regrettably, as it's only two land borders are with carew and columbia. and that brings all sorts of nefarious actors who wish to use ecuador for transiting cocaine to markets in the united states and europe. —— peru in recent days, these narco terrorists have gone to further extremes to create havoc in prisons, bring chaos to the streets and takeover television station while it is projecting life,

all to advance its message that they wish to have control of they wish to have control of the state. so president boer, who has only been in office something like i believe this is day a8, has taken bold steps that will try to galvanise society and mobilise his internal security forces to address this threat.- internal security forces to address this threat. you said yourself. _ address this threat. you said yourself, armed _ address this threat. you said yourself, armed gangs, - address this threat. you said yourself, armed gangs, this| yourself, armed gangs, this type of violence, it is not new to ecuador. why are we sinking spiral out of control in the last days?— spiral out of control in the last days? spiral out of control in the iastdas? last days? last few days is a combination _ last days? last few days is a combination of _ last days? last few days is a combination of the - last days? last few days is a combination of the last - last days? last few days is a combination of the last few. combination of the last few years. these groups have become more aggressive, more thirsty within the country to bring about its terror, and, like any new president, they get tested and these narco terrorists are bringing new challenges to the new government, to see what this president is made off. and i must say the president is showing tremendous courage and leadership by first executing this executive order that is

supported by 95% of ecuadorians to seek to bring greater control and order to the streets of ecuador and especially in guayaquil. these are foreign controlled groups that are using ecuador and really it is just dash and up as an up. the ecuadorian people are rising up together, united, to confront this terrorist challenge. to confront this terrorist challenge-— to confront this terrorist challenue. ., _ .,, challenge. you say the vast ma'ori challenge. you say the vast majority of _ challenge. you say the vast majority of people - challenge. you say the vast majority of people in - challenge. you say the vast i majority of people in ecuador support these measures. how does this look in the region because we know in el salvador is we have seen the president there take a very controversial approach in his crackdown on criminal gangs they are. do you think we're going to see something similar in ecuador and are you at all worried about what the repercussions might be for everyday citizens? i think what we will see is firstly a greater involvement of the armed services. just like in the us and other countries, generally, an army, navy and the military is not

deployed for internal necessary means to control whatever is going on in your country. but this is different. this is an internal armed conflict. that is what the president daniel noboa has called and indeed thatis noboa has called and indeed that is what it is because these groups are heavily armed, they were waving hand grenades in front of television cameras when they invaded the television station. these are ruthless killers and so the military working with the very capable police force, which the united states has been involved with in terms of providing training over the years, and we are very pleased with that, they are going to take action. a quick blast questions in about 30 seconds left. what you think the us and international community can do to support ecuador in this? the international - ecuador in this? the - international community has ecuador in this? tue: international community has a great role to play and especially the united states. number one, greatly increased training and technology that is provided to the government of equinor and that we can do right away. number two, just

like 20 years ago, more than 20 years ago, and columbia, we established a columbia to do exactly what is needed in ecuador to control internally armed groups and repress the use of cocaine, cocaine to corrupt society. we need to do it in ecuador, we need to see a plan ecuador. number three, it in ecuador, we need to see a plan ecuador. numberthree, it is important we provide the means to a great economic renewal and ecuador. the id act, which is a bipartisan act in congress right now, which is the innovation and development act in ecuador, as bipartisan support, the bible dr biden administration can get that passed immediately to provide expanded trade and investment opportunities for the ecuadorian people. thank you so much forjoining us. the head of the world health organization is calling on israel to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to gaza.

tedros ghebreyesus accused israel of repeatedly barring access. he said it was impossible to reach those in need. israel maintains that it is doing what it can to allow aid into the strip. meanwhile, us secretary of state antony blinken continues his diplomatic tour in the region. he met with palestinian president, mahmoud abbas to discuss the palestinian authority's role while on a visit to the occupied west bank. mr abbas assured america's top diplomat that israel's security concerns would be addressed, but that gaza and the west bank must remain united. mr blinken�*s trip comes amid fears that the war will spread in into a wider regional conflict as the iran—backed houthis continue attacking ships in the red sea. speaking from bahrain, the top diplomat said iran must reel in the houthis, or else. as we made clear and many other countries make clear, there will be country credit donna consequences for the houthis action. we have also repeatedly tried to make clear to iran, as other countries have as well, that the support that they are providing to the houthis,

including for these actions, needs to stop. it is not in their interest to see the conflict escalated and we are not the only ones who sent that message to iran. the bbc�*s hugo bachega has more on developments in the red sea and across the middle east. there were some familiar topics being discussed. he referred the us position in support of the us position in support of the creation of a palestinian state alongside israel. something that has been opposed by the current ismaily administration and the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. mr lim, also talked about the need for a reformed palestinian authority. the biden administration said the pa playing a role in gaza after the role is over. it is not clear how this would work and there have been some concerns

among some palestinian authorities who do not want to be seen as been driven into gaza on the back of an israeli tank, as they put it. in gaza, the israeli military has continued to attack central and southern areas of the territory despite repeated pleas by american officials to move to a more targeted approach in its war against hamas more targeted approach in its waragainst hamas in more targeted approach in its war against hamas in gaza and reduce the number of civilian casualties. while antony blinken tries diplomacy against the houthis, the us and uk militaries are using force. on tuesday, the houthis fired 20 projectiles at ships in the red sea in their largest attack yet but the us—led task force shot down all but two of them. on wednesday uk defence secretary grant shapps called the attacks unacceptable and said: "we will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy". meanwhile, the un security council has adopted a resolution calling for a halt to houthi attacks in the red sea.

earlier, the bbc spoke to retired marine corps general frank mckenzie about the potential for escalation in the region. he was head of the us central command from 2019 to 2022. festival, i think we should be careful about the use of escalation. it should not actually be our highest priority. we want to prevent escalation we should go home, withdraw from the region. in fact, we're not doing that. there are objectives that are than preventing act two escalation and i would say the assured passage of congress... is more important than avoiding escalation. having said that, it is my belief from years of study and experience, if we strike back at the houthis able not necessarily escalate beyond that region. don't believe that iran will necessarily take action against israel or us if we strike back at the houthis at yemen at those sites where they are attacking maritime shipping. around the world and across the uk,

this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. train drivers in germany have started a 3—day strike, forcing the national rail operator to cancel services used by thousands of people. only one in five long—distance deutsche bahn serviecs ran on wednesday, while regional trains were severely reduced. the walkout was called by the gdl train drivers�* union over pay and working hours, and follows nationwide protests by farmers. a powerful winter storm in the us has knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and grounded flights from north carolina to maine. in hampton beach, new hampshire, officials declared an emergency and ordered evacuations as flooding threatened homes and businesses.elsewhere: heavy elsewhere heavy snow has blanketed the midwest, and blizzard conditions threatened communities in the west. us transportation secretary pete buttigieg says boeing 737 max 9 aircraft are grounded nationwide after one plane lost a door plug in flight won't return to service "until it is safe". the announcement came after alaska airlines grounded

all of its max 9 planes. the us federal aviation authority is not committing to when the planes will be allowed to fly again. you're live with bbc news. former newjersey governor chris christie has dropped out of the race for the 202a republican presidential nomination. and it's clear to me, tonight, that there isn't a path for me to win the nomination. which is why i'm suspending my campaign tonight for president of the united states. mr christie made the announcement on wednesday during a town hall in the us state of new hampshire. the former governor had focused his campaign on criticism of former president donald trump. mr christie repeatedly called mr trump unfit for office and argued he was responsible for the january 6th 2021 attack on the us capitol. but a reuters poll showed christie had the support ofjust 2% of republicans nationwide, trailing donald trump, nikki haley, and ron desantis. and back here in washington, two republican—led committees approved a resolution holding hunter biden,

the son of presidentjoe biden, in contempt of congress. the oversight and judiciary committees passed the measure because hunter biden did not comply with subpoenas to sit for a closed—door deposition. there was a raucous hearing in the oversight committee wednesday morning. hunter biden surprised members when he showed up in person sparking fierce reaction from republicans, who accused him of a political stunt. democrats lashed back, urging republicans to allow hunter biden to testify in public straight away. the president's son has offered to testify at a public, televised hearing, but republicans on the committee want to speak to him in private. tuesday's drama is the latest in republicans' investigation into presidentjoe biden over allegedly peddling his influence through his son. the busy day for house republicans continued with an impeachment hearing of homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas. the inquiry into secretary mayorkas comes as record numbers of migrants attempt to cross the us—mexico border. the republican lawmaker leading the hearing, representative mark green,

accused secretary mayorkas of intentionally encouraging illegal immigration by failing to enforce laws. if we take a look at those record numbers, the year 2023 saw almost 2.5 million people apprehended at the us—mexico border. compare that to just a few years earlier, in 2019, just over 850 thousand people were apprehended. in december of 2023, us officials said up to 10,000 people were crossing the border every day. if republicans are successful in impeaching secretary mayorkas, he would be the first us cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years. the move would however be largely symbolic, as he would almost certainly be acquitted in a trial in the democrat—controlled senate. live now to representative jasmine crockett. she's a democrat from texas. really good to have you back on bbc news tonight. thank you for joining us.

republicans say that homeland security secretary mayorkas may not have committed a crime, but he's responsible for gross incompetence for failing to enforce laws at the us border. what's your response to that? my my response is that they can call him incompetent, they can do a lot of things, but impeachment is completely improper under the circumstances. they said it out loud. ifeel as if we need to take my colleagues on the other side of the aisle back to civics one on one and educate them on what it means to impeach someone. they have to commit high crimes and misdemeanours. it's not good enough if you disagree with their policies or feel as if they're failing at their job. it has to be high crimes or misdemeanours, and they know that they don't have that, but they want to push forward anyway. they want to push forward an a . ., y ., ~ they want to push forward an a . ., , ., ~ ., anyway. 0k, do you think that secretary _ anyway. 0k, do you think that secretary mayorkas _ anyway. 0k, do you think that secretary mayorkas is - anyway. 0k, do you think that secretary mayorkas is failing l secretary mayorkas is failing at his job?— at his “ob? i'm not saying that. at his job? i'm not saying that- i'm _ at his job? i'm not saying that. i'm saying - at his job? i'm not saying that. i'm saying that - at his job? i'm not saying| that. i'm saying that even at his job? i'm not saying i that. i'm saying that even if

you accept their argument, it's still not enough, is the only point that i'm trying to make. 0k, understood. but point that i'm trying to make. 0k, understood.— 0k, understood. but i'll tell ou this 0k, understood. but i'll tell you this about _ 0k, understood. but i'll tell you this about failure - 0k, understood. but i'll tell you this about failure the i 0k, understood. but i'll tell you this about failure the a l you this about failure the a jobs. i can tell you that congress is failing, because any secretary that we have can only do what the law allows them to do. and as far as immigration reforms, something that we've needed in this country for quite some time, something that the democrats have a number of bills that the republicans failed to bring up — they haven't proposed the policies. and building a wall isn't a policy, just fyi. that seems to be something both parties agree on, that there needs to be some sort of reform. if we look at what the white house has done. after title a2 expired in may, the biden administration instituted a number of measures that were supposed to encourage legal migration pathways and discourage unlawful migration. your district is not on the border but is in texas. why haven't these policies worked? so, i mean, think about it like this. number one, we have to

have resources to carry out any policy. we used to say — don't give us an unfunded mandate. that's what we used to talk about when i was in the state house. so you can say everything that up want to say, but if you don't give the people on the ground the tools that they need, whether it is money or technology, then it's all for not. it's not going anywhere. so while the administration has tried to do something, you see that this is the most unproductive congress that we have had in modern day history. and therefore, we don't have the funding. in fact, our speakerwent don't have the funding. in fact, our speaker went to the border and he said — they don't want the funding. that is not true in the conversations that i've had. and i know that when people show up to work, they want to be paid. i know that with these types of numbers of crossings — guess what — they need more staff. these are common—sense fixes that the republicans don't even understand the very basics about that we need to get to. what about how the american people see all of this? a cbs news poll, released this week, found that 63%

of americans want stricter border policies and a5% of americans now say there is a crisis at the border. republicans have made this issue central to their campaigning for this year's election. with iowa just around the corner, do you worry that voters are going to turn away from democrats over immigration? i don't. i do realise that it's a very real problem, and that's not to say that americans don't want us to address it. but we know that the republicans are not going to address it, because they do want to campaign on it. and as you mentioned, you said it was a centre issue. it is the only issue that they have. and so, therefore, the last thing that they want to do is fix it, because then, what do they campaign on? we've heard people like chip roy from texas say, "we don't have anything to campaign on." all they're looking for is something to campaign on. while democrats are fighting for democracy. democrats are fighting for reproductive democrats are trying to save the country from gun violence. democrats have a number of policies, trying to

make sure that when don't have children in poverty. trying to make sure that we're feeding children. do make sure that we're feeding children. ,, make sure that we're feeding children. , ., ~ ., children. do you think that democrats _ children. do you think that democrats need _ children. do you think that democrats need to - children. do you think that democrats need to do - children. do you think that democrats need to do a i children. do you think that - democrats need to do a better job then of communicating on immigration?— job then of communicating on immigration? absolutely do. i won't disagree _ immigration? absolutely do. i won't disagree with _ immigration? absolutely do. i won't disagree with you - immigration? absolutely do. i won't disagree with you on - won't disagree with you on that. because one thing that the republicans do is, they're gonna get out there and they're gonna get out there and they're gonna say the same thing over and over and over. even if it's not true. so i do think that it is important that we educate the general public about what effective immigration looks like. when people say that we need stricter immigration laws — you can ask the average american — what are the immigration laws right now. and the average one cannot tell you, to know that. but it's because of the rhetoric that we've gotten from the republicans, and they've obviously been very effective in seeping into the psyche of the american people. but if they sit back and ask themselves — what are the laws right now? what are the rules? i can tell you, that most can't tell you what it is that they want to tighten up on. ok, congress woman, thank you 0k, congress woman, thank you very much forjoining us tonight.

thank you. on saturday, taiwan will elect a new president, an election that china has called a choice between peace and war. taiwan's separation from china is seen in beijing as an aberration — a "left over" from china's civil war. in 19a9, communists drove china's nationalist leader chang kai—shek, from power. he fled to taiwan, setting up a rival government. today, people there are free to choose the government they want. 0ur asia correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes reports. hundreds of them were stashed away here. this 9a—year—old isn't happy about what was done to his former leader. as a young soldier, fan fled china with chiang in 19a9, but he never stopped feeling chinese.

translation: taiwan is a province. - it is still a part of china. slowly, the differences between us will narrow until we are the same. then, we can achieve unification. chiang kai—shek tried to turn taiwan into a mini version of the china he'd left behind. people here were taught there was no such thing as being taiwanese. this enormous memorial to chiang kai—shek still dominiates the centre or taipai. but his project to turn taiwanese people into citizens of china ultimately failed. today, around 70% of people here say they are taiwanese, not chinese. 86—year—old john chen is one of them. he spent ten years in this prison for supporting taiwan independence. in all, around 1a0,000 taiwanese were locked up for opposing chiang kai—shek�*s rule. john says he always felt taiwanese, and his years in prison only strengthened that belief. translation: idon't. consider myself chinese. taiwan is already

a great country. but due to the influence of the chinese communist party, we can't declare independence. that's how i see it. its election time, and people here are, again, facing those questions. who are they? what relationship should they have with china? but today, no—one, not even the old nationalist party is campaigning for unification. translation: yeah, i'm taiwanese. - but my ancestors come from china. we have the same blood. and what about unification? translation: i want us to be good friends. - we can both make money together. taiwan is very different from china. it has dozens of political parties and noisy, energetic elections. people are free to choose who they are and how to live, and the vast

majority don't want that to change. that's our show at this hour. have more at the top of the next hour. we'll be checking in on the debate between two republican presidential candidates, nikki haley and ron desantis. 0ur correspondent is desa ntis. 0ur correspondent is there desantis. 0ur correspondent is there and will give us a live update. stay with us. hello there. on wednesday, we were all in the same area of high pressure. but despite that, the amount of cloud we saw from place to place varied a lot. the cloud was at its thickest across eastern scotland and north—east england, where we saw drizzle move in from this sheet of cloud from the north sea. but there was some sunshine. western scotland did 0k, and for east anglia and southern england also

there was quite a bit of sunshine around on wednesday, and what a difference the sunshine made to how the weather looked. for example, here in cornwall, barely a cloud in the sky. now, we're going to have the same kind of weather picture with us for thursday, with the cloud varying a lot from place to place. still got a bit of drizzle falling from it, mind you, east scotland around these eastern coastal counties of england, otherwise dry start to thursday, still some frost slowly melting away for southern england and western scotland initially. but it is across these colder parts of the country where we will have the best of the early morning sunshine. and the cloud across the north sea, i think it's going to thin through the day, so i would expect any drizzle to die away, the afternoon looking dry for all of us. cloud will tend to encroach across the midlands east anglia into parts of south—east england, leaving the best of the sunshine probably across central southern england, south west england, southern wales and probably western scotland. again, not doing too badly for some sunny spells. you might see a bit of sunshine as well in northern ireland. 0n into friday's forecast, that cloud comes further south

again. so east anglia, southern england, a lot cloudier this time, probably more in the way of breaks generally across scotland, northern ireland and probably north—west parts of both england and wales. temperatures give or take around about six degrees, so it is still on the cold side for the time of year. and the weekend has more of the same, really. high pressure stilljust about clinging on. so some cold and frosty mornings, largely dry weather picture with some of you seeing some sunshine, others staying a little on the cloudy side, but it will remain on the cold side. now, beyond that, next week, we get northerly winds diving southwards. they will bring some snow to scotland, i'm sure about that. we could see a weather system move into the cold air, which could bring some snowfall on its northern edge as well across parts of england and wales. but there's still a little bit more uncertainty about that. however, there is plenty of potential to see some disruptive weather with cold, icy and maybe snowy conditions next week.

the us makes a long—awaited decision to allow bitcoin to be part of mainstream investing funds. plus, how artificial intelligence and machine learning are fuelling a revolution that is transforming

india's farms. welcome to asia business report. we begin in the united states where the securities and exchange commission has approved the first exchange traded funds that are directly tied to bitcoin. the long—awaited decision was accompanied by a stern warning about risks associated with the asset. eren delmore has more from new york. this decision by the sec was years in the making, and now it will allow people and institutions to invest in bitcoin almost as easily as they buy stocks. the move could increase demand for bitcoin and legitimacy for the crypto currency industry, which has weathered scandal and scepticism. the sec chair did not shy away from that in a statement, saying "while we approve the listing and trading "of certain spot bitcoin it pt shares today, we did not

"approve or endorse bitcoin."