lam i am helena lam helena humphrey i am helena humphrey and lam helena humphrey and it i am helena humphrey and it is good to have you with us. taiwan has asked china to respect the results of its presidential election after voters elected a candidate who vowed to maintain taiwan's independence. china had warned voters not to vote for the doctor—turned—politician william lai, who represents the democratic progressive party. now, he won 40% of the vote, beating the other two opponents by a wide margin. mr lai's victory could increase tensions with china, which has called mr lai a troublemaker and separatist. china considers taiwan a part of its territory. it has been calling for a — quote — "peaceful reunification" but has not ruled out the use of force. in recent months, the country has ramped up its military presence on the island, heightening fears of a possible conflict. i spoke to the bbc�*s steve lai about the significance of this election. steve, what does this election

result mean for taiwan and the region? well, on the surface, helena, this victory means largely more of the same. william lai, now he is succeeding tsai ing—wen, after eight years of her in power, for the dpp, it means more of the same policies. tensions with taiwan are expected to continue. china has already severed ties when tsai ing—wen came to power eight years ago. those are unlikely to be resumed. and as taiwan under the dpp continues to look west to safeguard its democracy and build ties, we can expect perhaps more of the same. but there is perhaps something that lai has to contend with — he may be forced to moderate some of his positions and some of his policies, and that is because the dpp has lost the majority in parliament. that means he won't be able to push through his agenda without some cooperation from the other parties involved in taiwan. now, my colleague shaimaa khalil has been speaking to some taiwanese expats that usually live in america, but they travelled back to taiwan to cast their ballots and she got their thoughts.

the ruling dpp have won another term in power, a record third, but they have lost the majority in parliament, and this is going to be a very different experience for them on that front. what is going to stay the same is their china policy. the man that beijing calls a troublemaker has now been elected president. william lai has vowed to keep the status quo, and that is away from china's orbit and close to the united states. so what does that mean to taiwanese who live in the united states and who have come back to vote? tell me why you made that journey, because maybe our viewers don't know, you have to come back and vote in person. you can't do it via e—mail, mail or electronically. so why did you choose to make thatjourney? because i want to voice my concern. because i have concerns for the current government for what they have done, whether they have been protecting our people for their best interests. so i'd like to be in person to give my vote, and i believe

every voice counts, and that's the essence of democracy. watching news about taiwan from outside, especially from the united states, with this tussle between the us and china with taiwan in the middle, must feel very different than being here. yes, it's a lot of news stories about the tensions across the strait, but also a lot of stories about taiwan's wonderful democracy. i wanted to come back and vote, and with the dpp victory, i think we're sending the right message to the international community that we are part of democracy. jason, you are affiliated to the kmt, the opposition, but you also felt that you had to come here and vote. tell me your reaction to the results. absolutely, it's not - a result we're happy with, but we know that it was a victory of the people i in taiwan, and no matter. the outcome, we must work together as one nation. and william lai, - congratulations to him, but he must understand - he is coming to this presidency with a weak mandate. one last question to you —

how different is it being in the us and watching news about taiwan and coming here and participating in the election in person? in the us we watch from a distance, although we are concerned. in here i can sense the enthusiasm and see thousands of people gathering. yes, so that's really important, to watch the process of democracy. my colleague getting the views and thoughts of the taiwanese that live abroad and what they think of the election here in taiwan. we have been out of the ground throughout the week here in taipei, getting the thoughts of people coming into this election, and this election is being discussed on two levels. one, yes, we have the shadow — or the looming shadow of china over this election, and taiwan's relationship with china — and the us, as well. but in many cases domestic issues came to the fore. housing is incredibly expensive here for taiwanese people to afford. wages have been stagnant for the last two decades,

making young people unable to get into the housing market, and those concerns were felt at the ballot box. when you look closer at the numbers, the newest party, the tpp, the taiwan people's party, founded a huge boat from the younger population as they, a more populous party, looking to bring more domestic issues to the floor. that is something that william lai will have to consider as he takes power and gets inaugurated in may and has to contend with the parliament and the legislature that he doesn't have the majority in. steve, great to talk to you. thank you. steve lai there. steve, great to talk to you. joe biden says he sent a private message to iran about houthis in yemen, following us airstrikes against the group. president biden said america was confident that it was very well—prepared for the current situation, without giving further details. houthi fighters held military exercises on saturday, vowing a "strong and effective response" to the american and british—led airstrikes in yemen. video released by the iran—backed houthi movement showed officials gathered at an outpost near the yemeni—saudi border.

exercises included the dropping of bombs on sites marked with american and israeli flags. angered over israel's ongoing war in gaza, houthis have been disrupting international trade in the red sea. after warning houthis to stop the attacks for weeks, the us and uk governments carried out what they called defensive airstrikes on friday and the us struck another houthi target early on saturday. our middle east correspondent hugo bachega 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 radar facility 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. for more on this, i spoke earlier with gina abercrombie—winstanley, president of the middle east policy council. we've been learning president biden has sent a private message to iran regarding the houthi movement in yemen, which iran backs. what kind of message do you expect them to deliver? well, i think there are two important things about the message. the first, of course, is that it convey urgency, that it convey conviction and that it convey clarity. and then in that message, it would be that we do not want war, the united states does not

want to escalate or expand this war, but the united states is prepared to protect its own. it is prepared to continue to protect freedom of navigation. so asking the iranians to contain, to pull back, the houthis and their attacks on shipping, i am sure, is a major part of that message. but again, it needed to convey clarity, conviction and urgency to the iranians, and also recognise that the iranians are not interested — so far they have been very clear — in engaging in a direct fashion in conflict with the united states. we know that there has been a further us strike overnight. houthis have promised to retaliate. do you think that these strikes from the united states, from the uk — do you think that they are achieving their purpose when we hear that response?

the purpose of deescalation, probably not. i don't think that that was expected. the houthis have always been a wildcard. they have shown themselves prepared for a long—term, sustained conflict, as we've seen with their conflict with the government of yemen. again, it's been really difficult. on the one hand, for the united states, since the us government has been trying to bring reconciliation between the two parties within yemen, to be in conflict with the houthis — that was never our intent or wish. that said, if the strikes are effective in degrading their abilities to strike shipping then there will be a lessening of tension for a period of time. if there is, though, however, the prospect of more escalation, we don't necessarily know how this will go. are you concerned about the prospect of more regional contagion? i mean, how wide do you think this war in the middle east could potentially get? well, we see the three fronts with israel, whether it's in the gaza strip,

the actions that are happening in the west bank — let's not forget over 300 palestinians have been killed in the west bank since the 7 october hamas attack — the front in lebanon on in the conflict with hezbollah, and syria and iraq, and then there are the houthi. so from day one, day two, we have recognised in the us government and the international community the danger of this war expanding and escalating. unfortunately that is not decreased, and it has not decreased as a result of the strikes that were carried out by the us, uk and support from other nations. but getting international shipping going forward, ensuring that there are not these monetary costs for the entire international community, is a very important step to take, and that's why these strikes against the houthis have been carried out. but the danger very much is in place, which of course is why president biden wanted to send a message to the iranians.

we are of course, now, in an election year, pointing out the obvious, and the biden administration is engaged on multiple fronts. how much of a challenge do you think that it poses to the administration? it being an election year is one of those wild cards, and the president certainly is having to balance the broad support he has among the american people for supporting israel in a matter of self—defence. but increasingly we are seeing among american citizens, whether they work for the government or are private american citizens, and american representatives and local legislators, in congress in particular, increasing unease — dismay — at the nature of the way the israelis are prosecuting this war, the way that they have been going about or interpreting self—defence. and it is not an interpretation that is acceptable to many americans.

you can see by the protests that have been carried out around the states, and frankly around the world, today, and these protests and these voices will continue. we have had some americans start a political action group saying they won't vote for president biden. and these are important groups among american citizens who were very key to his success in the last election, though it's a difficult balancing act for the president. gina abercrombie—winstanley, former diplomat and middle east policy council president, as always, great to get your take. thank you so much, ambassador. now, john kerry, the former us senator and secretary of state, is stepping down from his role as us special climate envoy.

mr kerry served as presidentjoe biden�*s top official on climate change since 2021 and will reportedly depart from that role in the coming months. he's expected to help out with biden�*s re—relection campaign. his decision to step down as climate envoy comes just one month after the cop28 climate summit, where he helped broker an international agreement for nations to transition away from fossil fuels. the biden administration reportedly says no decision has been made on kerry's potential successor. earlier, i spoke with lisa friedman, from the new york times' climate desk. so, john kerry bowing out then. do we know why, and was it a surprise? did it come as a surprise to you? well, thanks so much for having me. you know, this decision was not much of a surprise. there has been talk ofjohn kerry getting ready to step down for some time now. the previous un climate summit — which we call cops — the previous cop in 2022 in egypt did not go that well for him. he came down with covid and was sort of down for the count for part of that summit. and so the sense was that he was very focused on the summit thatjust happened, that you just mentioned, in dubai.

they saw that as a success, and i think folks were really waiting for the moment when he would likely announce that he would step down after that. so you mentioned his role there at all the different cops, as you put it. what do you think his legacy will be in this role? you know, having covered mr kerry through the biden administration, i think the one thing that folks, whether they are admirers or critics of him, say is that he is relentless and tireless, and he has really put climate change at the top of this administration's agenda. he has circled the globe probably more than once. i'm told he went to 31 countries in an effort to try to restore the us leadership on climate change, which had really sunk during the trump administration, and to encourage other countries to do more. so i think there's that sense

of someone who won't quit, even when he's being told no — is something thatjohn kerry leaves behind. and secondly, he really championed working with china on climate change — something that was not easy doing the past couple of years, when of course there were a number of tensions between the us and china on a multitude of issues. it is an election year. do you think it also has something to do with that? i'm told by sources that he intends to work on the campaign to tell the story of what he believes the biden administration has done on climate change and to raise that as an issue in front of voters in this election. i think that's certainly something ahead of him in the coming year. now, we know the administration has said that at this stage they can't say who is going to take over what is a huge role, but are there any

potential names out there? any ideas floating around that you have heard of? there are — washington loves to play this parlour game of who comes next, who's in, who's out. i think one of the challenging things is going to be can the next special envoy get senate confirmed? john kerry was never confirmed by the senate. this is a route that many administrations take to work around the lengthy amount of time it can take for congress to approve a president's nominees. but congress last year got a provision into a defence bill that says special envoys from here on out must be senate confirmed. there are some loopholes to that, but one question is can a big name — one name that gets voted around, and i have no knowledge of this as an offer or not, but the climate community

talks about gavin newsom. can someone who is in anyway controversial get confirmed by a thinly divided congress and senate? well, talking about big names, as you put it, john kerry the new york times' climate reporter there, lisa friedman. very good to have your insights and reporting, lisa. thank you. here in the us, we're less than two days away from the iowa caucuses, where republican supporters will start the process of selecting their nominee for the 2024 presidential election. leading up to the big night, the headline out of iowa has not been candidates donald trump, nikki haley or ron desantis — it's been the weather! intense winter storms have caused major disruptions to republican presidential hopefuls campaigning in the midwestern state. a blizzard dropped about 15 inches that's 38 centimetres of snow across iowa causing some candidates to cancel events.

so just how cold will it be on monday? some forecasts in des moines, the state capital, say the low will be negative 18 degrees fahrenheit — thats minus 28 celsius. it's expected to be the coldest caucus day on record. here's candidates nikki haley and ron desantis talking about the wild winter weather. i've been campaigning here for 11 months now, all over this state, and in october or november, i was — at every one of the town halls — i was, like, it is cold. laughter and that's what they did, in october, november, they laughed and they go, "oh, this is mild, this is mild." and i was, like, "no, it's not, it is cold." i get it now. laughter. i totally get it now. this is unbelievable. i am a florida boy, born and bred, and yet here i am in negative temperatures. i'm not going to be cancelling. if people are going to come

out and hear from me, i'm going to show up all the way until the end of this caucus. you're going to see me everywhere. our reporter carl nasman is in iowa and i spoke to him a little earlier. good evening to you, carl, braving the cold, you are a california man yourself. you've just been at an event hosted by asa hutchinson, on the campaign trail there. what was his message, and what's the atmosphere like there, as well? i think we've gotjust a day and a half now to go before those caucuses get under way. the first vote of 202a. not long to go and as we have heard there, it is very cold in iowa. despite the temperatures, this was — this room behind me — an overflow crowd here for the former governor, asa hutchinson. a big turnout. really a good turnout for him. as we know he's not doing so well in the polls, right around i%. he said he wanted to make what he called his final arguments to thejury tonight. he touched on the situation

at the us— mexico border, he talked about the fentanyl crisis, the us debt level, but really, his biggest message tonight and throughout this campaign, was about donald trump. he has consistently been one of the few candidates to attack and to criticise the former president. he said that he does not believe he is fit to hold office again and he said that, come a general election, donald trump would be a weak candidate. i asked the former governor why he thought he was one of the few people willing, beside chris christie, to really go after and criticise donald trump and what that says about the current state of the republican party. here is what he told me. i think it says that the republican voters have been misled by donald trump, ever since january 6th, particularly, and any time that he calls that attack on our capital as a patriotic act of some kind, he's misleading voters and so that is why you need to tell the truth and leaders have to go out there and tell

republican voters that we are getting ready for a real shellacking, as we call it in the south, if we do not understand the risk of having a donald trump candidacy. yeah, he also mentioned that he believes that once voters get a closer look at the four criminal indictments facing donald trump, that that will make him an even weaker candidate, come the general election. how are other candidates there dealing with the fact that the weather has just thrown a massive curveball? we saw nikki haley, ron desantis, back out on the campaign trail today. they had cancelled many of their in—person events yesterday. they are out there making their case as well, to voters, but they are also really urging their supporters to, despite the weather, show up at the caucus sites on monday.

as we heard earlier, it is expected to be the coldest caucus night ever. we heard nikki haley saying, look, let's finish the job, let's finish strong. ron desantis promising, if you show up in these extreme conditions, i will fight for you for the next eight years. on the other hand, donald trump, the clear frontrunner, he has not been in iowa. hejust landed a few moments ago. he's not been doing those in—person events today, but he is expected back out on the campaign trail tomorrow. carl, this is largely now being seen for nikki haley, ron desantis, as a race for second place, essentially. how are they doing in that regard right now? we just got some new polling data out and this is from a local newspaper here. it is considered to be the gold standard, the final hold that really will show the state of the race, going into caucus night. it still shows a commanding lead for donald trump. he is now up 28 points, that's down from 32 points in december. it does appear and this

is still within the margin of error within the poll, that nikki haley has now leapfrogged ron desantis into second place. she is now at about 20%, and ron desantis at i6%. but again, the big leader still donald trump in this poll here, the des moines register poll. a 48% level of support for the former president. really interesting insights from our very own carl nasman out on the campaign trail. carl, thanks a lot. before we go — new zealand's former prime ministerjacinda ardern has married her longterm partner clarke gayford in a small private ceremony in the country's north island. the wedding was originaly scheduled for early 2022 but was postponed due to the strict restrictions she herself imposed during the covid pandemic. the couple have been togetherfor a decade and have a five—year—old

daughter. stay with us here on bbc news. i'm helena humphreys in washington, dc. our colleagues in london take over from washington, dc. our colleagues in london take overfrom here. wishing you very a good weekend. goodbye for now. hello. we've had some fairly chilly weather over the past few days, but things are about to get colder, as we're going to see a blast of arctic air moving in for the next couple of days. so a drop in temperature and some snow showers which will cause a bit of disruption, particularly in the north. so we've got a couple of weather fronts shifting their way south, opening the doors to these cold northerly winds, bringing us that arctic air. through the next few hours, already some snow showers working in across parts of shetland, mainland north of scotland. also seeing a little bit of snowfall, a few light rain showers, further south. but actually most of us are dry and as the sun rises,

i think, first thing, temperatures are going to be just about either side of freezing. so through the day on sunday then we've got the snow showers packing in across the north of scotland. it's also going to be really windy, particularly up towards the northern isles, where gusts could reach 70 miles an hour, so blizzard conditions there. further south, few spots of light rain, perhaps northern ireland, wales, into central southern england. but most places are going to be avoiding these showers and we'll see temperatures between about 3 to 6 degrees, but it'll feel cooler with the wind, especially in the north. now, heading on into monday, snow showers continue to pack in on that northerly breeze. they'll become more frequent across the northern half of scotland, but also for northern ireland, some snow possible here on monday and through some of these irish sea coasts, perhaps. pembrokeshire, one or two snow showers also possible for the likes of the north york moors towards norfolk as well. most of us, though, looking dry with some wintry sunshine. but look at those temperatures, justi to 5 on the thermometer. but when you add on those brisk northerly winds, it's really going to feel bitterly cold. feeling around about —5, —6 around some of those east coasts, for instance. moving through into tuesday, and nowjust have a look

at these showers just moving in for northern ireland, perhaps southern scotland, perhaps one or two into parts of northwest england and wales as well. there is the potential for a little bit more disruptive snow on tuesday, especially moving in towards the central belt, i think, later on in the day. so we're keeping an eye on the snow showers in the north, but further south and east, i think, you're going to be staying dry if cold again. so there's that area of low pressure bringing a bit of snow i think for some of us on tuesday. that clears away. this area of low pressure towards the south is most likely to be staying out across france, but if it does push further north into that colder air. across southern england, it could bring a bit of snow. either way, i think next week we're looking at a colder week, a fair amount of dry weather in the south, some snow showers mainly in the north and sharp overnight frosts. bye— bye.

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.

this week, we're riding wheels of steel with a swedish scooter that's as flat—packed as its furniture. with the curve folding, we dance with the metal. joe's investigating the future of passwords and passcodes, and they're looking a little different. it's probably not enough to fool you, but can it fool a machine? ai in agriculture — how technology is helping farmers in india to make smarter decisions about their crops. and the robot that sinks seaweed. in the future, we'll be able to gather like, information about wind speeds, temperatures on the surface and map everything. scooters. they're lean, nifty, greener than cars — really green if they're electric. but there's one thing about them that could still be greener — the way they're made and what they're made from.

this is stilride one.