hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. thank you forjoining us. we start with new us military action on the houthi movement. the pentagon says american forces struck a houthi radar site in yemen. it comes a day after the us and uk led coalition attacks on locations across yemen. us officials say it's part of an effort to degrade the houthis�* ability to strike red sea shipping. president biden responded to reporters at a coffee shop in pennsylvania where he gave his first on—camera statement about the strikes, calling the houthis "terrorists" and warning against more aggression in the red sea. inaudible question. no, iran does not want a war with us. inaudible question. i think they are. were the strikes successful last night, sir? yes. very — i don't think there's any civilian casualties — that's another reason why it's a success.

us officials sayjust under 30 sites were targeted in the initial strikes, including in yemen's capital city sa naa. the us— and uk—led strikes focused on what the us calls command and control centres, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defence radar systems. houthi leaders said five people were killed. the pentagon says the houthis responded with an anti—ship ballistic missile but it didn't cause any damage. houthis warn of more retaliation. the strikes were in response to houthi attacks on ships in the red sea, which the houthis say is in response to israel's attacks in gaza. fighters have been targeting ships with armed drones and missiles and boarding them. before the reports of the latest strike on yemen, i spoke with department of defense press secretary major general patrick ryder about the impact of the strikes. you mentioned some allies in the region are concerned about a wider conflict. is the us already caught

up in such a conflict? it's important to separate the different parts here. when hamas attacked israel on october the seventh, shortly after that, the us sent additional capabilities in the region, in support of our regional deterrence efforts. and so, those capabilities provide us with additional assets to be able to respond to a wide range of contingencies. what we're seeing near yemen, in the red sea, is the houthi rebels attempting to exploit this situation. but ultimately, at the end of the day, affecting over 50 nations that are sending commercial shipping through this vital waterway and so, we absolutely do not want to see an extension of the conflict in gaza broader in the region, and we'll continue to work hard on that. but at the same time, we can't allow the houthis to continue these attacks, putting innocent mariners' lives at risk. and affecting the global

economy. the houthis have said they want to see israel's war on gaza end, so should the us and its allies, its international partners be putting pressure on israel to wind down its operation to make sure there isn't a larger conflict? well, again, what you see here is the houthis attempting to exploit the situation in gaza toward their own ends. but we, the united states, will continue to stand by israel and support its inherent right of self—defence. as you know, as a close partner to israel, we have been consulting with them regularly to learn more about how they intend to conduct their operations and making very clear our expectations in terms of taking civilian safety and humanitarian assistance into account and so, we'll continue to do that, but at the same time, it's important to understand that what the houthis are doing here is, in fact, attacking the international community. again, as i mentioned, over 50 nations affected by this. it's an international problem. it required international response.

and last night, you saw an international response. general, i want to ask about defence secretary austen, who has been hospitalised, as you know, and the president today said he had confidence in his defence secretary. how is he doing and is he still able to carry through his tasks as this operation goes on? absolutely. well, first of all, the secretary's in good condition. he's recovering well and in good spirits. he was very actively engaged throughout this operation, both overseeing and directing it. on tuesday, when the houthis conducted their complex attack in the red sea, the secretary conducted a meeting with the chairman of thejoint chiefs of staff and us central command commander to monitor the attack. he subsequently has had several — two meetings, rather, with the president and also multiple daily calls with our national security adviser, with our chairman, and with the central command commander to look

at response and, ultimately, execution options, once the president gave the authorisation to conduct these strikes. and then, yesterday, secretary austen was the one who gave the order to the us central command commander to go ahead and execute the strikes and he monitored it real—time from his hospital room with access to full communication suite. and so, he's been very actively involved and continues to monitor the situation. we have to leave it there, major general, but thank you so much forjoining us on bbc news. thank you, i appreciate it. live now to military expert and former us marines chief of staff in europe, colonel brendan kearney. very good to have you on the programme. thank you for joining us. we are seeing there have been fresh strikes in yemen and us officials are saying this is not a new target but a further strike against a prior target. what do you think we are seeing?— we are seeing? well, this is routine- _ we are seeing? well, this is routine. this _ we are seeing? well, this is routine. this is _ we are seeing? well, this is routine. this is how - we are seeing? well, this is routine. this is how we - we are seeing? well, this is . routine. this is how we conduct these types of operations. we had the strikes last night and

what happened today during daylight, because it gives you the best satellite imagery, they go ahead and conduct what they go ahead and conduct what they call battle damage assessment — the acronym vda that occasionally appears in the newspapers and on locations. —— bda. but it must have reflected that the radar site that we've been hearing about for a while, it's a maritime radar so it's designed specifically to track ships that are transiting the red sea. so, what you see is that they must�*ve concluded that they must�*ve concluded that they were satisfied with the damage or the hit that was conducted on that site, so that gets the meritorious benefit of being hit again.— gets the meritorious benefit of being hit again. crosstalk. can i ask ou, being hit again. crosstalk. can i ask you. do _ being hit again. crosstalk. can i ask you. do you _ being hit again. crosstalk. can i ask you, do you think _ being hit again. crosstalk. can i ask you, do you think it - being hit again. crosstalk. can i ask you, do you think it has - i ask you, do you think it has anything to do with the fact that we saw the houthis retaliate, lash back with another ballistic missile today

that was perhaps assessed that the original mission did not meet its target? absolutely. i think that _ meet its target? absolutely. i think that that _ meet its target? absolutely. i think that that radar, - meet its target? absolutely. i think that that radar, again, l think that that radar, again, was either damaged or was certainly not knocked out but it tracks maritime traffic, so it tracks maritime traffic, so it would have passed on that information, the tracking information, the tracking information, to the missile command in control and that would have led to the launch of that missile. so, it's not a surprise and hopefully, this time around they will get the radar site. time around they will get the radarsite. in time around they will get the radar site-— radar site. in the bigger icture radar site. in the bigger picture here, _ radar site. in the bigger picture here, what - radar site. in the bigger picture here, what do . radar site. in the bigger. picture here, what do you radar site. in the bigger- picture here, what do you think we are seeing? will this be, from your assessment, a prolonged operation for us and uk coalition forces? ida. prolonged operation for us and uk coalition forces?— uk coalition forces? no, i don't. uk coalition forces? no, i don't- and _ uk coalition forces? no, i don't. and the _ uk coalition forces? no, i don't. and the reason - uk coalition forces? no, i don't. and the reason i i uk coalition forces? no, i. don't. and the reason i say thatis don't. and the reason i say that is what we're trying to do and what the president has and what the prime minister of britain and others have also echoed is that this was to send a message to the houthis. essentially, this is retribution for their failure

to listen to the warnings that have been given to them over the last two months. so, in order to see if they are going to comply now, we're going to have to do start the military action and i think that could take place any time in the next 3-5 take place any time in the next 3—5 days and we willjust wait and see. if they start up firing missiles and sending drones again at maritime shipping, then i'm afraid there will be a new round of attacks on yemen. if will be a new round of attacks on yemen-— on yemen. if you look at the statement — on yemen. if you look at the statement that _ on yemen. if you look at the statement that was - on yemen. if you look at the statement that was released on yemen. if you look at the i statement that was released on thursday night by the white house, the president didn't mention the fact in that statement that iran has provided intelligence, training, hardware as well to the houthis in their efforts. why do you think that is? well, ou why do you think that is? well, you know. _ why do you think that is? well, you know. in — why do you think that is? well, you know, in automatic- why do you think that is? well, | you know, in automatic surprise in the united states and i have a degree of personal affection for him and professional loyalty, i once was an active member of the armed forces in the united states. i'm retired

now. but honestly, i don't know if he is afraid of them or he is afraid that he is going to upset them. all of that is completely irrelevant. his inaction has been unconscionable and he's now responding to pressure from the congress of the united states and i'm sure to our allies from around the world that something had to be done and i think he is very reluctantly taking action. hejust got is very reluctantly taking action. he just got back he doesn't want to do it. i condemn him for that. that is absolutely dereliction of duty and he should be held accountable, most likely at the polls this coming year. we accountable, most likely at the polls this coming year.- polls this coming year. we 'ust have about fl polls this coming year. we 'ust have about one i polls this coming year. we 'ust have about one minute i polls this coming year. we just have about one minute left - polls this coming year. we just have about one minute left but if you say the president have not been active enough, what would you like to see him and the white house do right now? firstly, i think he needs to reemphasise how really serious he is in going ahead and targeting yemen. and lay it out that he's going to, if they

attack again, if this maritime interdiction efforts continue, we will strike again and strike harder. but he has to tie iran into this. he has to start threatening iran in the manner where he conveys that he is serious and if the iranians allow this to continue, and they are the ones that are, the ones behind this, the movies are nothing but proxies, then he needs to strike and strike hard and with this type of... —— houthisare proxies.. to a military man, this is not how you go ahead and convey the power of the united states of america. , ., america. interesting to get our america. interesting to get your perspective, - america. interesting to get your perspective, thank - america. interesting to get| your perspective, thank you america. interesting to get - your perspective, thank you so much forjoining us.— your perspective, thank you so much forjoining us. it's the final day of south africa's landmark case at the international court ofjustice against israel, who's been accused of genocide in gaza in its war against hamas. israel has slammed these allegations, telling judges that the case is distorting the truth. in an emotional testimony, israeli lawyer tal becker showed images of the 132

israelis still captive in gaza, saying the allegations deny israel its right to defend itself. he argued that the harm committed in the fight against hamas is "not evidence of genocide," claiming it's a misuse of the term. if the term genocide can be so diminished in the way that it advocates, if provisional measures can be triggered in the way that it suggests, the convention becomes an aggressor�*s charter. it will reward — indeed, encourage — the terrorist. south africa is seeking preliminary orders to stop israel's military campaign in gaza where, according to the hamas—run health ministry, more than 23,000 palestinians have died. let's listen back to thursday's closing statement from one of the lawyers representing south africa. the international community continues to fail the palestinian people, despite the overt, dehumanising, genocidal rhetoric by israeli governmental and military officials, matched by the israeli army's actions on the ground,

despite the horror of the genocide against the palestinian people being livestreamed from gaza to our mobile phones, computers and television screens — the first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate — so far vain — hope that the world might do something. the un's top legal body has now heard two days of powerful legal arguments from both sides. here's the bbc�*s anna holligan with an update from the hague. in court, israel accused south africa of weaponising the term �*genocide' and trivialising the genocide convention itself in bringing this case to the icj. they invoked memories of the holocaust. it says it was acting in self defence in response

to the hamas attacks on the seventh of october, which it said were a calculated mass murder of israelis — the worst since the nazis. what israel has sought to do is recharacterise some of the evidence presented by south africa on thursday. for example, when south africa talked about the military bombardments. israel said this was part of an effort to remove the threat posed by hamas. while south africa talked about forced displacement, israel said it was acting to try to protect and preserve civilian life. south africa says this is evidence of genocidal intent. israel says it is acting in self—defence, in line with international humanitarian law. both sides had three hours. now, thejudges have to decide how they interpret this evidence. the court is expected to make a ruling on south africa's proposed emergency measures

by the end of the month, but its final ruling on the charges of genocide will likely take years. it's election day in taiwan. polls are now open there as voters choose a new president and parliament. let's take a live look at a polling centre there. the economy and education are key issues for voters, but one sobering issue looms large — how taiwan should address the threat from china. 0ur steve lai has this update from taipei. thanks sumi, and you mentioned the looming threat from china, that's been the focus of what i want to talk about today and i'm joined by celia hatton, the bbc regional editor to get your thoughts. celia, about these elections today. china's view on this election — how would you sump it up? well, china's unhappy that these elections are taking place at all. they view this government on this island of taiwan as being illegitimate because they believe this territory belongs to beijing. but when it comes to the election itself,

beijing does have a preferred winner. they would hope the kmt nationalist party take the presidency and the parliament, because the kmt typically has a more pro—china stance. they advocate more dialogue, and they accept the one china policy — this idea that taiwan is a part of china. so china has a preferred winner. they're really hoping that the current ruling party doesn't get an unprecedented third term. that ruling party, the democratic progressive party, has ruled for the last eight years. unprecedented if they were to win again, we'll see how it plays out later today. how has the china— taiwan relationship evolved under xi jinping? relationship evolved under xi jinuin? , g ,

relationship evolved under xi jinina? g , ., jinping? does xi jinping want to invade taiwan? _ jinping? does xi jinping want to invade taiwan? the - jinping? does xi jinping want - to invade taiwan? the comments he made when he first came to power, he said early on in his tenure that he thought taiwan was not an issue that should be passed down through generations. some people thought he would want to deal with taiwan very quickly, some thought he had an appetite to invade. we certainly have seen heightened military exercises during this time, he does not seem to shy away from confrontation. 0n the other hand the chinese economy is not doing very well right now and the sanctions beijing has placed on taiwan have been very carefully placed so far, really only on local taiwan products, nothing that would hurt china as a whole. and so some people think maybe his appetite for conflict, his appetite for hosting the chinese economy isn't very high right now. clearly perhaps to signal a message to taiwan about its intentions.

it's notjust china that has an interest in taiwan, or the us, but regional players? that's right, this election is being watched by so many countries — japan, south korea, australia — very close us allies — who have always signalled their intent to try to support taiwan. of course, taiwan is a very important democracy in the region. it's a young democracy. and it's the world's only chinese—speaking democracy. so there are a lot of countries, fellow democracies, that want to support the elections here — but you're right. frankly, though, this is an election that taiwan, as a country — a place that is being very closely watched because of its semiconductor industry. it makes many of the chips that we use in cars, in medical equipment, in our phones. and so, really, the future of taiwan — its semiconductor industry — is very, very important. and that's why the outcome of this election is so important. and because of all that interest from around the region — from the us and china — that means having a vested interest doesn't mean they're sitting on the sidelines and watching to see where the chips fall,

but actively having a role in nudging, perhaps, different outcomes, perhaps? how would you explain what china's doing on that front when it comes to trying to get the desired outcome that it wants? oh, it's been doing so many things. i mentioned the military exercises — we've been seeing repeated incursions in the skies. we've seen a lot of activity in the taiwan strait. of course, we've been seeing balloons floating over taiwan. there was concern at one point that these were spy balloons. those have been confirmed to be weather surveillance balloons. but there's no mistake that those are being let loose over taiwan. now, we're also seeing some cultural pressures too. we have to look back to the taiwanese rock band mayday as one example. they were being accused of lip—syncing in china — that's against the law in china. it later turns out that they were coming under pressure to try to reaffirm beijing's principles towards taiwan, and they apparently had been resisting those pressures. so beijing has really been kind of trying to influence this election on all fronts.

that's something that people in taiwan are very, very conscious of. there's a lot of talk here about how beijing has been trying to sway this election in either direction. yes. so much at play. so much at stake. not just for the people of taiwan, but the broader region and international players as well. we'll be keeping a close eye on it here throughout the day. thank you very much celia forjoining me. back to you. the us says it will send a team of senior officials to ecuador to help its government fight the criminal gangs that carried out waves of deadly violence this week. more than 22,000 ecuadorean troops are carrying out a massive crackdown on the violence that followed after one of the country's biggest narco kingpins escaped from prison. today, authorities confirmed that another top gang boss, fabricio colon pico, also escaped. prison gang members are stil holding nearly 200 guards hostage at jails across the country. the president says the criminals are terrorist and

ecuador is at war with them. but is it a war he can win? 0ur correspondent, will grant, sat down with the president at the end of a devastating week for his country it has been the hardest week in ecuador�*s modern history. drug gang violence reminiscent of latin america's darkest years has turned the traditionally peaceful nation into a battlefield. i spoke to daniel noboa, ecuador�*s youngest ever president, only in power since november and now with the daunting task of restoring peace. i did not sign up to this thinking it was going to be easy. we cannot continue this game that these groups, these terrorist groups are trying to establish but now we're starting to see change. washington has announced it is sending a military and diplomatic team to ecuador to support the government. critics see us imperialism at play, but not president noboa. it is encouraging to see the international community actually paying attention now

to what is going on here, because i think it affects the whole world. the narco terrorists that operate here have operations in europe, have operations in the us, and i think that we need to solve the problem from the roots and the root of the problem is here. unverified video purportedly shows some of the 180 prison officers still being held hostages by the gangs. the government says it is fake, but the families are growing desperate. we are in constant communication with the armed forces and with the police. we have established security protocols and we're going to do everything in our power to bring those people home. in part, the chaos in ecuador was sparked when a gang leader known as fito escaped from prison last week. i asked president noboa if he where he was? ——i asked president noboa if he knew where he was.

we are looking for him. right now we do have a few leads. we talked with the armed forces, also with international cooperation and we are working on it. it is ecuador a narco state? we are fighting every day so it does not become a narco state. i do believe that we can win and i will never stop fighting until we win. the president may be confident ecuador is not yet a narco state but with troops on the street, it remains in a state of war. will grant, bbc news, guayaquil. to iowa now, and preparations for the republican presidential caucus there. the national weather service estimates the coldest caucus night in modern history with monday's high temperature expected to be —3 degrees fahrenheit, or 49.4 degrees celsius. the unrelenting weather forced some candidates to cancel in—person events, and is stoking worries that the cold might depress caucus goers from turning out. this was the scene in iowa's capital city of des moines

on friday morning — a blizzard blanketed the city in nearly a foot of snow, and is forecast to continue into the weekend. forecasters are warning of life—threatening deteoriorating conditions. ——deteriorating conditions. officials are telling drivers to stay off roads. 0ur reporter bernd debusmann is in des moines and gave me the latest. how have things been there this evening? is it getting worse? it has been getting worse. temperatures have dropped, we are now at about 13 below zero and winds are picking up which has made driving very, very difficult. the roads are very slick. i drove this morning and even then, we were at nearly white—out conditions but the wind has really picked up. it has prompted the candidates to kind of cancel events and the natural weather service is now warning that it could be potentially life—threatening conditions. they have also said that frostbite could kick in on exposed skin in as little as ten minutes.

so it has really kind of put a damper on the campaign trail as we go to the caucuses next week. how are the candidates dealing with this? what are they doing about all the events that they had planned for this week and leading up to monday? well, many of the events today and some of them tomorrow have been cancelled in lieu of kind of teleconferences. nikki haley for example had "telephon town halls", she called them. some will still be going on on the weekend, as far as we know so far. but they have really had to adjust their schedule which makes it very difficult in the last few days as they have made last minute pitches to voters. this is not really what they wanted. it has made things very, very complicated for the campaign in terms of reaching voters, many of whom don't want to be out here in the wind and the snow. before we go, an asiatic black bear found in an abandoned eastern ukraine zoo five months after russia's invasion in 2022 gets a new home. the bear named yampil arrived at his new permanent home in scotland on friday, at a zoo near edinburgh.

it's previously rehomed bears from traveling circuses. yampil was named after the village in the donetsk region where he was found — one of only a few of the 200 animals at the zoo to survive. before arriving in scotland, he'd been cared for by a belgian charity. thank you for watching bbc news, stay with us. hello there. a few wintry scenes captured by our weather watchers on friday across parts of scotland, such as here in perth and kinross. but the severe frost will become a lot more widespread as we go into the start of next week, with the potential for some disruptive snow, too. where is that colder air? well, it's behind this series of weather fronts. across northern scotland on sunday, that chilly airjust spilling down from the arctic as we head through the start of next week across the whole of the uk, with brisk and cold northerly winds blowing. so, lots of added wind chill to factor into the temperatures.

but this is how we start off the day on saturday, with temperatures hovering just above freezing, a few pockets of air frost where we see the clear spells, a week weather front sinking southwards, bringing outbreaks of patchy rain into northern areas of northern ireland, north west england and north wales. to the north of the front across scotland, some winter sunshine, showers by the end of the day in the north ahead of the front across england and wales, variable amounts of cloud, but also some brighter spells, temperatures ranging between 5—8 degrees celsius. and it's more of the same, too, on saturday night into sunday morning. there will be some clear skies around at times. we'll start to see the northerly wind pick up, brisk across the northern isles with some snow showers for the north of scotland. but again, to start the day on sunday, most of our temperatures will be slightly above freezing. but then that colder air really starts to show its hand with some snow showers even to low levels across northern scotland, with this feature just running down towards the north, further south as we head throughout the day.

but we've still got the milder air with some winter sunshine across england and wales, 7—8 degrees celsius here. but on sunday night into monday, there is the risk of some snow and ice, with weather warnings in place across northern ireland and the north of scotland. that wind starts to really pick up — look at the squeeze on the isobars on monday into tuesday — so wintry showers towards north sea—facing coasts with this feature running across northern ireland into southern scotland and perhaps northern england. so, here, the snow risk will extend further southwards through the day on tuesday. and then we look to the south—west to see this weather frontjust moving its way further northwards. there is the possibility that as it bumps into the colder air, we could possibly see some snow across the south of england on wednesday, but it's still very uncertain, so my advice would be to keep an eye on the forecast. it will certainly be cold. there is the greater risk of some snow with some severe frosts by night.

voice—over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. europe by train — four generations of backpackers, into rail as generations of backpackers, into railas and generations of backpackers, into rail as and for me, it is what travel is all about. and in germany, the railways are booming, partly because of

this. it's called the germany ticket, it costs me ilt euros a month, and it allows me almost unlimited use of the country's regional public transport network. it was a cost of living measure introduced in 2023, initially atjust 9 euros each. i do love a train — who doesn't? so i'm planning to take them to criss—cross the country and get a better look at the close relationship between germans and their railways. from early on�*s iconic u—bahn to the incredible hanging overhead railway of the industrial west, to the makeshift ireland trains of the northern coast... the water, the lights... this is stunning. i am here to see how engineering and a bit of imagination have led to a network like no other.