in yemen, that's as president biden says the us has delivered a private message to iran about the houthis. the israeli prime minister says that nothing will deter israel's determination to pursue the war in gaza, including the international court ofjustice in the hague. translation: no-one will stop us, not the hague, i not the axis of evil and no—one else. we begin in taiwan, where voters have ignored china's repeated warnings not to vote for william lai from the ruling party, the dpp. he will replace tsai ing—wen as president after securing 40% of the vote, though the dpp lost its majority in parliament, making it hard for him to pass legislation.

mr lai says he will maintain the status quo in relations with china, which has labelled him a troublemaker and a "dangerous separatist". in his victory speech, he pledged to use dialogue rather than confrontation when it comes to exchanges with china, and said he hoped beijing understood that peace will benefit both sides. china claims reunification with taiwan is inevitable despite the vote, and says that it opposes separatist activities. rupert wingfield—hayes reports from taipei. onto stage, the man who will now be taiwan's next president. in the end, william lai won the election by a larger margin than expected. china's campaign to intimidate voters here not to choose him failed. his supporters say, if anything, it had the opposite effect.

china warned the people of taiwan not to vote for this man. they said he is a troublemaker who will take the island closer to war. well, tonight they have given their answer — by electing him their new president. speaking to the international media following his victory, president—elect lai was quick to offer beijing an olive branch. translation: over the last eight years we have tried - continuously to extend goodwill. unfortunately, china has not responded to these gestures. we hope in the future china will realise peace serves the interests of both sides. for taiwan's main opposition party, the kmt, it was another humiliation. it had run on a platform

of getting closer to china. the kmt is the party xi jinping would prefer to see running this island. instead, voters gave the party he loathes an historic third presidential win. now everybody is waiting to see how china's leader will respond. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in taipei. let's cross now to prof rana mitter, who is the professor of us asia relations at harvard kennedy school. thank you forjoining us. i first want to focus on the relationship with the united states because it's a little complicated, the united states backs taiwan and yet they are not pushing for a formal independence, are they? they absolutely _ independence, are they? they absolutely are _ independence, are they? they absolutely are not, _ independence, are they? they absolutely are not, this - independence, are they? they absolutely are not, this is - absolutely are not, this is something that has been an issue for more than 50 years. when the people's republic of china was recognised by the united states back in the 1970s, part of the overall deal was that they would not acknowledge taiwan as a separate

internationally recognised state, and that still stands today. although the american presidentjoe biden has made it clear he would defend taiwan, he has used that phrase before, if china were to attack it, he has also made it clear the secretary of state antony blinken at formal independence is not something they would support, so the limbo status quo that we have todayis the limbo status quo that we have today is really what is likely to remain. it's been shown that it's probably supported by about 80% of taiwan's on voters.— taiwan's on voters. china was worried about _ taiwan's on voters. china was worried about william - taiwan's on voters. china was worried about william lai - taiwan's on voters. china was worried about william lai andj taiwan's on voters. china was - worried about william lai and said they have concerns about the result but william lai has actually softened his rhetoric when it comes to formal independence. yes. softened his rhetoric when it comes to formal independence.— softened his rhetoric when it comes to formal independence. yes, i think that's more — to formal independence. yes, i think that's more what _ to formal independence. yes, i think that's more what beijing _ to formal independence. yes, i think that's more what beijing was - to formal independence. yes, i think that's more what beijing was hoping | that's more what beijing was hoping for, they were pretty sure that he was going to win. he was odds—on favourite to do so and he has in fact won by a clear margin. what they wanted to do was make sure he didn't feel any temptation to push his rhetoric beyond what he had said before and what his predecessor

president tsai ing—wen had said, not going for some more radicalform of declared independence. it seems beijing's rhetoric worked to that extent, he stuck to his position but hasn't gone further than he might have done had they not made that particular threat.— have done had they not made that particular threat. could you explain for us, because _ particular threat. could you explain for us, because i— particular threat. could you explain for us, because i think _ particular threat. could you explain for us, because i think it's - particular threat. could you explain for us, because i think it's really i for us, because i think it's really important to highlight the fact this isjust about taiwan, important to highlight the fact this is just about taiwan, this has important to highlight the fact this isjust about taiwan, this has much broader implications. why is this relationship between china and taiwan so important when it comes to global diplomacy?— global diplomacy? china and the united states _ global diplomacy? china and the united states see _ global diplomacy? china and the united states see the _ global diplomacy? china and the united states see the status - global diplomacy? china and the united states see the status of i united states see the status of taiwan in two different ways. china regards it as the last unfinished business of the cold war. in the communist party took over china in 1949, taiwan was the only province they never managed to capture and they never managed to capture and they consider that unfinished business. forthe they consider that unfinished business. for the united states today, there are two reasons they consider taiwan important. one, today, there are two reasons they considertaiwan important. one, it's a democracy in the region and they believe that if china were to take

over, its democracy would essentially be very quickly extinguished, like hong kong a couple of years ago. the second reason is strategic. if china's mary was able to operate off the coast of taiwan, the western pacific ocean would essentially be dominated by china and allies such as japan don't want that to happen, so two very different world views from each side as to why taiwan is important. when it comes to — as to why taiwan is important. when it comes to william _ as to why taiwan is important. when it comes to william lai _ as to why taiwan is important. when it comes to william lai and - as to why taiwan is important. when it comes to william lai and the - it comes to william lai and the legislature result, how tied are his hands right now? how much power will he really have?— he really have? you'll have to do some negotiations. _ he really have? you'll have to do some negotiations. the - he really have? you'll have to do l some negotiations. the legislature actually is split, the kmt actually have won more seats than the dpp and the third party, the tpp are in the middle, so a bit of negotiation is likely but everyone shares one view is that they want the taiwan status quo to remain, they want to preserve taiwan's important semiconductor industry, so there will be lots of

areas they can agree, as well as areas they can agree, as well as areas where they will find different views, as in most democracies. some breaking news from axios news agency, john kerry is planning to resign as the us special presidential envoy for climate. he will leave the administration later this winter according to axios. they believe he plans to help president biden�*s campaign. according to axios, a lot of this has to do with the fact thatjohn kerry believes that when it comes to climate change, the result of the us election is crucial and that is the big motivation for him. john kerry was former secretary of state and chairman of the senate foreign relations committee in the us, and also the democratic nominee for president in 2004 so this is a big figure in us politics. now he is

planning to step down as the us special presidential envoy for climate, that's according to axios. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has declared in a televised address that nothing will deter israel's detemination to pursue the war in gaza, including the international court ofjustice in the hague. for two days this week, the un's highest court heard a case lodged by south africa alleging that israel was committing genocide against the palestinians. this is what prime minister netanyahu said about that. translation: no-one will stop us, not the hague, not the axis of evil. and no—one else. the hypocritical attack at the hague on thejewish state — which was established from the ashes of the holocaust —

in the mission of those who came to commit another holocaust on thejews. this attack is a moral low in the history of nations. israel is keeping up its bombardment of gaza, with the crowded southern cities of rafah and khan younis bearing the brunt of the attack. gaza's health ministry says 23,843 palestinians have now been killed in israeli strikes on gaza since october 7th, most of them women and children. more than 60,000 have been wounded. we've also been hearing from israel's military. it says it will consider allowing palestinian civilians displaced from northern gaza to return there, once there is no danger to them from fighting with hamas. these are the latest images from beit hannoun in northern gaza. as you can see, it's reduced to ruin. here's how un under—secretary—general for humanitarian affairs, martin griffiths described the situation in northern gaza

to the security council on friday. my own colleagues from my office who have managed to make it to the north in recent days describe scenes of utter horror, corpses, dead people left lying in the road, people with evident signs of starvation stopping trucks in search of anything they can get to survive. and even if people were able to return home to the north, we know from the statistics of buildings destroyed, many no longer have homes to go to. there's also been violence in the west bank. the israeli military says overnight, its forces killed three palestinians armed with knives,

a rifle and axes, who were trying to break into a settlement in the occupied west bank. official palestinian media says two were aged 16, and one 19. president biden says the us has delivered a private message to iran about the houthi movement in yemen. iran backs the houthis. he said the us and its allies are well prepared for any further attacks in the red sea. united states and united kingdom launched dozens of strikes against houthi targets in yemen on thursday night and there was a fresh air strike last night on a radar site which it says was being used by the group. the action is in response to houthi rebels attacking vessels in the red sea which has caused huge international shipping delays. our has more.

before and after. these satellite images show the impact of the american and british attacks on houthi targets in yemen. the us says airfields and weapons storage depots were destroyed. overnight, the us carried out more strikes, targeting a radarfacility in the capital sanaa. british forces were not involved. american officials say the strikes are designed to reduce the ability of the houthis to attack ships in the red sea and called them "legitimate and proportionate". the houthis, who captured a ship in december, say they are acting to support palestinians in gaza and to hit israel's allies. iran gives them weapons and training and the houthis say the attacks will continue unless there is a ceasefire in gaza. the attacks have disrupted the key red sea trade route — commercial vessels are now

travelling around africa. it means delays and extra costs. the houthis accuse the us and its allies of an escalation on israel's behalf. they say the attacks have had no significant impact on its forces and threaten with what they describe as a very harsh and painful response. so far, their reaction has been muted. they fired a missile yesterday which didn't hit its target. also yesterday, a huge protest against the strikes was held in sanaa. the americans say they don't want a major confrontation but are warning the houthis they are ready to respond. hugo bachega, bbc news, beirut. mikey kay is a former uk military strategic planning adviser and a former raf helicopter pilot. he has told me earlier

about the purpose of these strikes. the targeting of shipping, both military and civilian shipping inside the strait, has been going on well before the israel and gaza conflict, the recent one that occurred in october the 7th, actually came about. it has been happening for a while and it's been stepped up since israel's action on gaza. so i think that is the most important contextual point. the second bit is that this is a graduated... or the us and uk will argue this is a graduated and proportionate response because these attacks have been going on for some time now and there are some ministers inside the uk parliament and us congress that have been advocating that this military action should have happened earlier. the us and uk are justifying these actions under the article 51 of the un charter which is the right to collective self defence was doesn't require a united nations security council permanent five unanimous vote on a resolution, it is just collective self defence.

this is what has happened over the last couple of nights. the us and uk have historically always been aligned on such military action. the us have coordinated the strikes from carriers and warships using cruise missiles, and the uk conducted the strike using four typhoons with precision—guided munitions from royal air force in cyprus which involved air—to—air refuelling, so it has been on the cards for a while and the targets will have been under a lot of intelligence scrutiny for a while because the stationary targets and the targets predominantly in the main were radar sites which allows the houthis to put ballistic missiles and drones more accurately onto targets... just to interrupt, because you are talking about the targets and the fact that they would have been in the us and uk's view for some time now. i was speaking to an expert on yemen who was saying that all of this has essentially been a recruitment drive for the houthis and has driven up their popularity at home. so i would like to ask you,

in your view, were there any other options for the united states and the uk other than these strikes? diplomacy obviously has to be the first port of call when it comes to a graduated and proportionate response. one of the diplomacy channels the us and the uk will have gone through, probably the un, will the houthis have listened? clearly not because they keep targeting based on the context of the israel—gaza conflict, and the fact that the us and uk and the western world are not putting enough pressure on to israel to stop what they are doing in terms of the bombing of gaza so it is a very complex, interconnected, multifaceted sort of strategic level approach that has led to tactical activity which the us and the uk and other partners have felt has failed and therefore, when foreign policy fails, the blunt tool of foreign policy is military activity. now it's time for a look at today's sport. there's a staggered winter break in the premier league, so just two top flight matches today and it's manchester city, who were celebrating at saintjames's park after a 3—2 win over newcastle united. all five goals were pretty special.

city opened the scoring through bernardo silva but newcastle were 2—1 ahead by half time. kevin de bruyne equalised for city after his return to the premier league after five months out through injury, and then, turned provider for oscar bobb, who scored a stoppage time winner — his first premier legaue goal — to move manchester city up to second place. what a performance. this incredible team that we played, they are huge personalities so they showed me that we want to be there, we want to fight until the end to retain the title will stop they showed me again against huddersfield, so i'm really, really pleased. earlier, chelsea beat fulham i—o — a cole palmer goal the difference between the two sides. it's chelsea's third league win in a row and moves them up to eighth place. fulham's poor away form continues, having lost their past five away league games.

we deserved the victory, we were the better side and i'm very pleased with it. it's our third victory in a row in the premier league and it's important to be confident in this run. there are also two major international tournaments starting this weekend. in the asian cup, australia beat india 2—0 with goals from jackson irvine and jordan bos. uzbekistan faced syria in the other game in group b — that finished goalless, as did china against tajikistan in group a. china did get the ball in the net on 80 minutes, but the goal was disallowed for offside. and the opening match is under way at the africa cup of nations. the hosts, ivory coast, are in action against guinea bissau.

they've been playing for about 15 minutes. and ivory coast have the lead, seko fofana with the goal. the first grand slam of the tennis season, the australian open, starts on a sunday for the first time rather than the traditional monday for various reasons including allowing more fans to get to watch live tennis. and they've taken full advantage of the opportunity to watch tennis at melbourne park already this week. organisers say that almost 90,000 supporters came to watch tenis during qualifying. play in the main draw begins tomorrow and novak djokovic is the men's defending champion and top seed and he has his sights set on extending his grand slam record as the first step in his goals for the year. it's no secret that i verbalise my goals and i say clearly that i want to win every slam that i participate and play on. it's no different this

year. i'mjust and play on. it's no different this year. i'm just hoping and play on. it's no different this year. i'mjust hoping i and play on. it's no different this year. i'm just hoping i can start the season in a way that i have been starting my seasons throughout my career with a win here in australia, in melbourne. ronnie o'sullivan is on course for a record extending eighth masters title, after beating shaun murphy in the semi—finals at alexandra palace in london. o'sullivan took an early lead going 2—0 ahead. but fellow englishman murphy came back into it and was only 2—3 down at one point before o'sullivan showed his world number—one class to take the remaining frames to win 6—2, as he aims to become the oldest champion in the tournament's history at the age of 48, almost 29 years after becoming the tournament's youngest winner. the second semifinal is ongoing at the moment — these are live pictures from alexandra palace. ali carter is in action against mark allen. carter currently has the lead by two frames to one.

he beatjudd trump in the quarterfinals. and that's all the sport for now. officials in colombia say a landslide has killed 33 people in the northwest of the country — many of them children. after 24 hours of heavy rain, part of a mountain detached, crashing down on a busy road connecting the cities of medellin and quibdo. it is feared that more people may be buried under the mud, which engulfed several cars on the road. let's go to iowa now. wild and dangerous winter storm weather is continuing to wreak havocjust two days before the republican caucuses kick off the official nominating process for the 2024 presidential election. it's not great news for leading candidates donald trump, ron de santis and nikki haley as they enter

the last weekend of what would normally be frantic rounds of events as they attempt to draw any uncommitted voters into their camps. nikki haley had to cancel all three of her events on friday. donald trump's campaign cancelled three out of four in—person rallies over the weekend, opting to hold tele—rallies instead. live now to rick wilson, former republican political strategist and co—founder of the lincoln project. the lincoln project was launched in order to defeat donald trump at the ballot box and was formed by several moderate republicans. rick wilson, you are a founder. i hope you're doing 0k you are a founder. i hope you're doing ok because it's called over there, glad to see your indoors! i’m there, glad to see your indoors! i'm a florida there, glad to see your indoors! i“n a florida man so this is even more of a shock to the system!- of a shock to the system! donald trum is of a shock to the system! donald trump is leading _ of a shock to the system! donald trump is leading in _ of a shock to the system! donald trump is leading in the _ of a shock to the system! donald trump is leading in the polls, - of a shock to the system! donald l trump is leading in the polls, what does this say about his hold over the party?

does this say about his hold over the -a ? , ., does this say about his hold over the party?— does this say about his hold over the -a ? ., , ., , the party? everyone who understands the party? everyone who understands the anthropology _ the party? everyone who understands the anthropology of _ the party? everyone who understands the anthropology of the _ the party? everyone who understands the anthropology of the day's - the anthropology of the day's republican party has understood a year but no matter what nikki haley or ron desantis or vivek ramaswamy or ron desantis or vivek ramaswamy or chris christie did, they still had to overcome the fact that trump has a death grip on the republican party, you will not relinquish it no matter how much he is in trouble legally —— he will not relinquish it. that death grip is stronger than ever, frankly. it's hard to see how the american political media is going to come out of munday�*s probable results and —— in iowa and romp across the early contests. you are a strategist by training. do

you think nikki haley is still in it to win it or is she eyeing the vp ticket? i to win it or is she eyeing the vp ticket? ~ , �* , , ticket? i think she's eyeing the second job- — ticket? i think she's eyeing the second job. the _ ticket? i think she's eyeing the second job. the vp _ ticket? i think she's eyeing the second job. the vp ticket - ticket? i think she's eyeing the | second job. the vp ticket would ticket? i think she's eyeing the - second job. the vp ticket would be something she would take, i don't know if trump will give it to her at this point, but none of these candidates except vivek ramaswamy never said a crossword about trump, not even obliquely. they have all crossed the line with his voters where once you criticise him, it's notjust where once you criticise him, it's not just trump who where once you criticise him, it's notjust trump who holds a grudge, his voters hold a permanent grudge against anyone who speaks against donald trump at any point. you obviously found _ donald trump at any point. you obviously found the linking project, many see nikki haley as potentially unifying, moderate candidate. do you see her as a moderate? i unifying, moderate candidate. do you see her as a moderate?— see her as a moderate? i really don't, i think— see her as a moderate? i really don't, i think she _ see her as a moderate? i really don't, i think she has _ see her as a moderate? i really don't, i think she has made - see her as a moderate? i really don't, i think she has made so | see her as a moderate? i really - don't, i think she has made so many compromises. in an alternate universe, nikki haley would be an impressive candidate, but she lives

in the maga universe and so a week ago was struggling to explain her position on slavery, which should not be difficult but she was worried about offending parts of the party today. unfortunately, she tried to keep a foot in both camps and you just can't do that. it has turned out that it has been more embarrassing for her to say one thing in the boardroom and another at debate stage because the contradictions become more clear. the washington post has a headline that says donald trump is making his court appearances look like campaign stops. why? how? court appearances look like campaign stops- why? how?— stops. why? how? donald trump recognises _ stops. why? how? donald trump recognises the _ stops. why? how? donald trump recognises the political _ stops. why? how? donald trump recognises the political value - stops. why? how? donald trump recognises the political value in i recognises the political value in america of spectacle and he uses it to reduce the viability and credibility of all the institutions that try to hold him to account. in this case, he has waged about a 50 year war in the legal system in america and this is the pinnacle of that moment where he wants to turn

this into a trump clown show, he wants to turn it into a car crash so that people say, "i don't know what happened there." it's a very clever but deeply corrosive approach. thank ou for but deeply corrosive approach. thank you for your — but deeply corrosive approach. thank you for your time. — but deeply corrosive approach. thank you for your time, rick. _ but deeply corrosive approach. thank you for your time, rick. stay - but deeply corrosive approach. thank you for your time, rick. stay with us on bbc news, plenty more to come. hello there. although the weekend has started off on a largely fine note with some sunshine around, things are set to turn much colder as we head into sunday. and certainly into the start of next week, it looks very cold as we open the floodgates — these arctic northerlies, which will be feeding plenty of snow showers into northern areas and around some coastal areas, too. and you can see, as we reach the latter parts of sunday, the dark blue colours will be pretty much across the board. so, through tonight, it'll be mostly dry, a few showers around coastal areas — showers across northern scotland

turning increasingly wintry as we start to pick up that cold and strong northerly wind. and there will be a risk of frost and ice where we've had showers. where we hold on to cloud, then it won't be as cold. so sunday's a chilly start, there will be some sunshine around, variable amounts of cloud, too. a few rain showers across wales, southwest england, and some showers draped around the eastern coastal areas, too — but the showers turning increasingly to snow across scotland, as we move through the day, as temperatures start to come down. still 5—6 celsius for england and wales. into monday, though, we're all into that run of very cold, strong northerly winds. winds strongest around coastal areas, where we'll see most of the heavy and frequent snow showers — those snow showers even affecting eastern coastal areas, some down through the irish sea into pembrokeshire, maybe into the high ground of southwest england, also coastal parts of northern ireland. but inland areas will stay dry with plenty of sunshine, but look at these temperatures — i—4 celsius. factor in the strong arctic northerly wind, it'll feel more like these temperatures suggest,

—6 to —8 celsius across scotland, so that is very cold. tuesday's another very cold day. plenty of sunshine in southern and eastern areas, snow showers continue across northern scotland. then we could see this feature running into northern ireland, southern scotland, northern england, north wales to bring a spell of sleet and snow. could be some disruption with this, but further south and east, it stays dry, but it's another very cold day, particularly when you factor in the wind. now, there was some thinking earlier on that this area of low pressure could bring an area of disruptive snow to southern britain — it doesn't look like that'll happen now, it'll stay across france. but it'll stay cold for much of this upcoming week, particularly the first half of the week is looking very cold with a risk of snow across northern areas, which could be disruptive. and nights will be cold with severe frost and ice to watch out for.

this is bbc news, the headlines... william lai, from taiwan's ruling party, wins the presidential election and vows to defend the island from china's intimidation and maintain its democratic way of life. but china said "reunification" with taiwan is still "inevitable" after the election on the self—ruled island that beijing claims as its own. the us military says it has carried out a new strike on a houthi target in yemen,

a day after dozens of similar us—british air strikes across the country.