the candidates vying to become the us republican presidential candidate are on the campiagn trail in iowa. 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. president biden says he's sent a private message to iran about the houthis in yemen, following us and uk air strikes against the group. 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 says reunification with taiwan is still inevitable despite the vote, and 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. rana mitter is the professor of us—asia relations at harvard kennedy school. i asked him to explain why the us, although it backs taiwan, does not support its independence. 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 that he would defend taiwan —

he has used that phrase before — if china were to attack it, he has also made it clear, as has secretary of state antony blinken, that formal independence is not something they would support, so 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 own voters. china was worried about william lai and they've said they have concerns about the result, but william lai has actually softened his rhetoric when it comes to formal independence. yes, i think 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 pretty 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 radical form 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. could you explain for us, because i think it's really important to highlight the fact this isn'tjust about taiwan, this has much broader implications, doesn't it? why is this relationship between china and taiwan so important when it comes to global diplomacy? because, essentially, china and the united states see the status of taiwan in two different ways. china regards it as the last unfinished business of the cold war. when the communist party took over mainland china in 1949, taiwan was the only province they never managed to capture and they consider that unfinished business. for the united states today, there are two reasons they consider taiwan 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, a little bit like hong kong a couple of years ago. the second reason is strategic. if china's navy was able to operate off the coast of taiwan,

the western pacific ocean would essentially be dominated entirely by china, and the us and its 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. lastly, when it comes to william lai and the legislature result, how tied are his hands right now? how much power will he really have? he'll have to do some negotiations. the legislature actually is now split, the kmt actually have one more seat 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 which 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 where they will find different views, as in most democracies. 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 23,815 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, its 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. live now to drjames smith in london. he is an emergency physician associated with medical aid for palestinians and has returned from deir al—balah area of gaza strip just a few days ago. dr smith welcome to bbc news. wa nt to want to get your reaction when the israel defense forces are saying

palestinians can return to the north but only if there is no danger to them from the fighting. the first thin to them from the fighting. the first thing to say _ them from the fighting. the first thing to say is — them from the fighting. the first thing to say is the _ them from the fighting. the first thing to say is the palestinians l thing to say is the palestinians have the right to return, be they currently displaced into southern gaza, be they refugees living in refugee camps in lebanon and so on. the palestinian people who have been displaced from northern gaza should indeed be allowed to return but that can only be done once it is safe for them to do so. that requires an immediate ceasefire, an immediate and sustained ceasefire. we welcome such opportunity for the palestinian people to return, provided it is safe, and this is something that should be done at the nearest possible opportunity.- should be done at the nearest possible opportunity. when it comes to calls for a — possible opportunity. when it comes to calls for a ceasefire, _ possible opportunity. when it comes to calls for a ceasefire, israel - to calls for a ceasefire, israel maintains its right to self—defence after the events of october the 7th,

that's what they would say to that, but you are an emergency physician, you'vejust come back but you are an emergency physician, you've just come back and we've seen the number of functioning hospital just absolutely plummet. what have you witnessed?— you witnessed? there are very few functioning — you witnessed? there are very few functioning hospitals _ you witnessed? there are very few functioning hospitals remaining - functioning hospitals remaining throughout the gaza strip. myself and colleagues not only from medical aid but the international rescue committee were working in i'll axa hospital in the middle of the gaza strip. —— al—aqsa in the gaza strip. we would see hundreds of patients injured as a result of a ground invasion orfrom aerial injured as a result of a ground invasion or from aerial bombardment. those trauma —related, injured, we were unable to provide adequate levels of care to them because many of the health care workers that normally staff the hospitals have

either been killed or displaced themselves and have had to flee to seek safety. other reasons being that we aren't receiving enough material, medical assistance to the hospital is so on occasion we would run out of the most basic forms of medical supplies such as sterile gauze, morphine for pain relief and so on so very, very difficult to provide even a basic level of care to patients who are presenting in very, very high numbers. hospitals are protected _ very, very high numbers. hospitals are protected under _ very, very high numbers. hospitals are protected under humanitarian i are protected under humanitarian law. in terms of the living conditions for palestinians right now, when it comes to things like food and hygiene, what did you witness? what are they facing right now? ., ., witness? what are they facing right now? . . , ., witness? what are they facing right now? . ., , ., ., now? inadequate levels of food are cominu now? inadequate levels of food are coming into — now? inadequate levels of food are coming into the _ now? inadequate levels of food are coming into the gaza _ now? inadequate levels of food are coming into the gaza strip - now? inadequate levels of food are coming into the gaza strip at - now? inadequate levels of food are coming into the gaza strip at the i coming into the gaza strip at the moment. water and sanitation has a major problem, exacerbated by

crowding in the few shelters available for displaced people. colleagues in our team visited one shelter, one of many in which individuals numbering about 40,000 individuals numbering about 40,000 in a number had just over one square metre per person in such a space. inadequate numbers of toilets, very, very undignified and unsafe conditions, and as a result we see increasing rates of diarrhoea diseases, major concerns related to malnutrition and high numbers of food insecurity as reflected in the recent ipcc report. really incredibly dire conditions. doctor smith, thank— incredibly dire conditions. doctor smith, thank you _ incredibly dire conditions. doctor smith, thank you for _ incredibly dire conditions. doctor smith, thank you for your - incredibly dire conditions. doctor smith, thank you for your time. | incredibly dire conditions. doctor - smith, thank you for your time. and, of course, israel does say it is doing its best to spare civilian lives but the situation is honestly

extremely concerning for palestinians. —— obviously extremely concerning. let's show you live pictures from the state of iowa, where the leading republican presidential candidates — frontrunner donald trump, nikki haley and ron desantis — are campaigning. it's just two days now before the republican caucuses there kick off the official nominating process for the 2024 presidential election. winter storm weather has been wreaking havoc, with heavy snow fall forcing the candidates to cancel events. rick wilson is a former republican, political strategist and co—founder of the lincoln project, a political action comittee that was founded in 2019 to oppose former us president donald trump.

i asked him earlier, why does he think donald trump leads in race for republican nomination? everyone who understands the anthropology of today's republican party has understood for a year that no matter what nikki haley 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 he will not relinquish, no matter how much he is in trouble legally or politically. that death grip is stronger than ever, frankly. it's hard to see how the american political media is going to come out of monday's probable results in iowa where trump will likely win over nikki haley and romp across the early contests.

you're a strategist by training. do you think nikki haley is still in it to win it or is she eyeing the vp 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 i'd also say none of these candidates — except vivek ramaswamy, who 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 trump who holds a grudge, his voters hold a permanent grudge against anyone who speaks out against donald trump at any point. you obviously founded the lincoln project, many see nikki haley as a potentially unifying, moderate candidate. do you see her as a moderate?

i really don't, i think she has made so many compromises. in another era, in an alternate universe, nikki haley would be an impressive candidate, but she lives in the maga universe now and that's why a week ago she was struggling to explain her position on slavery, which should not be a hard thing to do, 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. some breaking news earlier. john kerry, the united states' special climate envoy and former secretary of state and presidential contender, plans to leave the biden administration. he will switch to helping joe biden campaign to be re—elected to the white house. he believes that a second term

in the white house for biden would be the "single biggest" difference for progress in the climate crisis. kerry was instrumental is helping to broker the 2015 paris climate agreement. now it's time for a look at today's sport with karthi gnanasegaram. 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're huge personalities so they showed me that we want to be there, we want to fight until the end to retain the title. they showed me again against huddersfield, the way they run and play again today, 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 here in a row at stamford bridge, third 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. ivory coast have the lead. seko fofana with the goal, 1—0 to ivory coast. 53 minutes gone. 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 opportinty 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. 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 two frames to nil 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 status 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. i don't feel that old, i feel... laughter i know what my age is, but i feel young in my mind, i feel younger around a table than i do when playing these young players, they look old, the way they... their brains are quite slow, so, for me... cheering

i still feel my brain is still pretty quick around a snooker table, which is enough. they need to get their act together, i'm going blind and have bad knees! while the second semi—final 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 three frames to one. mark allen has just got a century break and is attempting to come back looking for a 1—4—3. carter has a lead over alan and the winner will play o'sullivan on sunday. and that's all the sport for now. president biden says the us has delivered a private message to iran, about the houthi movement in yemen, which iran backs. he said the us and its allies are well prepared for any further attacks in the red sea. the us and the uk 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, causing huge international shipping delays. hugo bachega reports. 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. stay with us here on bbc news. 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—7 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. in what the us calls a "follow—up

action" to thursday night's attacks, a us ship fired missiles at a radar site. 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. now on bbc news — influential with katty kay: michael lewis. michael lewis is a bestselling american author, famous for his books moneyball, the blind side and the big short. he has a new book out and we met him here in washington, where else but in a book shop? well, look who it is. what a surprise! as if! i can't believe i found you here!

it's been so long.