live from washington. this is bbc news. the leaders of the us and israel speak about gaza for the first time in weeks, amid differences over the issue of a two—state solution. actor alec baldwin faces a new charge, over a fatal shooting on a movie set in 2021. he has long denied any wrong—doing. and with women's reproductive health a key issue in the us 2024 election, anti—abortion activists rally in the nation's capital. i'm helena humphrey. we begin with a look at the growing divide between two allies over the future of gaza. us presidentjoe biden spoke with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu on friday, theirfirst talk in nearly a month. mr biden re—affirmed

washington's commitment to a two—state solution, once israel ends its military operation in gaza. mr netanyahu said this week he would not accept a palestinian state after the war. our correspondent mark lowen has more from injerusalem. netanyahu's comments are not a surprise because he has spent his entire political career opposing a palestinian state but it is about the timing. israel is under intense international pressure with almost 25,000 people killed in gaza and the offensive according to hamas run health ministry in this is a very public rebuttal of the biden administration, getanother administration, get another one. administration, getanother one. and it is being seen as israel forming its nose at the us and netanyahu falling back on the far right here that has propping up his government and he believes that he is staking his political survival on opposing a palestinian state. public opinion here is increasingly fallen out with

the prime minister. 0nly increasingly fallen out with the prime minister. only 50% of israelis according to a reasonable believe you should stay on after conflict ends. —— 15%. he believes the majority of israeli public opinion is still opposed to the creation of a palestinian state and too traumatised to accept that after the attacks of the 7th of october. meanwhile — the violence in gaza shows no signs of letting up. israeli forces are now largely focusing on southern gaza's main city of khan younis. their advance is a threat to the few health care facilities that are still open, and the palestinian red crescent accuses israel of firing on a hospital there. and in northern gaza — the united nations is accusing the israeli military of preventing aid deliveries. the un humanitarian agency says only 7 out of 29 planned aid deliveries have been allowed this month. all told, israel's military campaign against hamas has destroyed or damaged more than half of gaza's buildings — and laid waste to much of its infrastructure.

the un warns that order in gaza could completely break down — and that a generation of children �*could lose out completely�* on their education. wyre davies has this report. the impact of israel's bombing campaign in gaza is astonishing. its aim, to completely crush hamas, has also destroyed or damaged more than half of gaza's buildings. more than 2a,000 people have been killed, says the hamas—run health ministry. the war has also laid waste to much of gaza's infrastructure and civic society. this un school, blown up by celebrating israeli troops who accused hamas of using these buildings. major universities and more than 100 schools have been damaged or destroyed. like any society, gaza's future is its children. but here, they're victims of war. and, says the un, they may lose out completely on what should be rightfully theirs.

you have today about half a million children in the primary and secondary school system. how would they go back if you cannot bring people back to their home, which have been completely destroyed? and i'm afraid that here we are taking the risk to lose a generation of children. gaza's health system, too, is broken. the world health organization says that only 13 of gaza's 36 hospitals are functional. those who need treatment often go without. translation: i was receiving regular medical treatment - for my cancer at the hospital here in gaza. but during the israeli aggression, medicaltreatments have not been provided for the past four months. since this war began, israel's unprecedented bombing of gaza's main conurbations has laid much of the territory to waste. very few areas, from north to south, have escaped without damage.

israel disputes the scale of gaza's humanitarian crisis, and says it doesn't target civilians or public infrastructure unless it's suspected of being used by armed palestinian groups. israel also rejects accusations that it's deliberately turning gaza into a wasteland so people will have no option other than to leave. israel says it wants to allow in as much aid as the agencies can distribute, and it's not trying to demolish gaza's civic structures. but with key institutions like law courts and gaza's parliament also in ruins, there's not much of a society left. wyre davies, bbc news. i spoke about all this with aaron david miller, senior fellow at the carnegie endowment in washington. so what we are seeing here is that israel and the united states clearly at all is when it comes to the and the united states

clearly at oddd when it comes to the future of a two—state solution. what kind of position do you think that puts a washington in in terms of support of its key ally, israel? i think there have been tensions all along, over the last several months, both the absence of sufficient humanitarian aid and the character and nature of the israeli ground campaign which the administration was and i was expecting, notjust hoping but expecting that they would be significantly altered by the end of the month or early february. i think there are strands. the last phone call the president has other than the one today, he often hung up on netanyahu but i don't think we are talking about that. president biden is still committed to the israeli war aims. it is a race for the presidency, he does not want to leave himself open to repiblican attacks. by being too critical of the israeli so i suspect tensions will increase but i think there will

that isjoe biden�*s style. it is not to confront, it is to accommodate with a view of trying to leverage, quietly or discreetly. what that that is going to work or not, that remains to be seen but i suspect by the middle of february. if you take it look at some of the comments coming out of the war cabinet for example we have been hearing from the far right national security minister it's security minister ben—giver who says we must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of residents of gaza so essentially, palestinians leaving the gaza strip. could these ideas take hold? and the most extreme government in the history of israel. it is extremist, right—wing, homophobic, it isjewish purposes in terms of these ministers but they are not members of the work cabinet and i doubt, frankly, brought in to provide some stability, other parties, i doubt the expulsion from gaza of the palestinians will become

an official israeli policy. should it, i think that you would see a major confrontation. with the biden administration it would probably go beyond anything that we have been witnessed under democratic or republican administrations. i want to your assessment of the stability of mr netanyahu himself as prime minister because he has got some desires coming from more far right factions of his government, he has an israeli population increasingly calling for as a first priority for those hostages to be brought home. where does leave him in his tenure? under a lot of pressure. remember, you need 61 votes. he has 64 and with an additional 12 and he is on trialfor bribery, fraud and breach of trust now

three years in the running and he will testify next month. he must remain prime minister if he has any chance of beating this indictment and avoiding jail, assuming he is convicted. so i think all politics is local i think part of the reason he is reacting in the way that he has on the issue of the palestinian statehood is because of local pressure. but again this is israeli politics who we can expect a bumpy ride in the months of head. it it will be a ride, i am afraid, with netanyahu who is conflated to his own political interests, legal interests, with the security in the interests of the state of israel. it is a very bad time to have that kind of a leader. briefly, do you think there's any chance that essentially, netanyahu is trying to cast himself in opposition to washington, to drum up support at home? i think to and degree he will play on the issue of the statehood. i think the israelis have no

position to engage seriously in two states or the withdrawal of israeli settlements or any of these issues. that will have to wait, should mr biden get a second term, i think serious progress might be possible because by then, i suspect you may have a new government in israel. and that i think is essentially critical for any of this to succeed. senior fellow at the carnegie endowment in washington, great to have your analysis. the hollywood actor alec baldwin has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of halyna hutchins, the director of photography on the set of the western film �*rust�*. prosecutors had dismissed previous charges against the actor — and mr baldwin has maintained he did not pull the trigger. but an independent forensic test has concluded that it could only have happened if the trigger had been pulled. emma vardy reports from los angeles. you were in the room when the lady was shot? i was holding the gun, yeah. 0k. a rehearsal that went terribly wrong. alec baldwin had been getting ready for a scene

during filming for the western movie rust in new mexico when a pistol he was holding went off, killing 42—year—old cinematographer halyna hutchins and wounding the director, joel souza. mr baldwin has always claimed he was not responsible for her death, saying he was told the gun did not contain any live rounds. i would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never. that was the training that i had, you don't point a gun at someone and pull the trigger. he was first charged over a year ago, but the charges were dismissed when new evidence emerged that the gun may have been able to be fired without the trigger being pulled. but following a new forensic report, a grand jury has now concluded he should face trial, accused of involuntary manslaughter. the movie's armourer, hannah gutierrez—reed, is also facing the same charge. the film rust was completed in halyna hutchins�* memory following her death. her family have welcomed the prospect of criminal trials, saying they've always

wanted the truth about what happened that day. if convicted, alec baldwin could face up to 18 months in prison. turning now — to the us presidential campaign. the race for the republican nomination will heat up on tuesday, when new hampshire voters take to the polls in the first primary of the 2024 election cycle. tuesday's republican primary will test former president donald trump's frontrunner status after his landslide victory in iowa. and former governor of south carolina nikki haley is looking to establish herself as the main rival to mr trump with a strong showing in the granite state. meanwhile, florida governor ron desantis is looking past new hampshire. he is focusing his efforts on ms haley's home state of south carolina. unique to new hampshire's election is the state's bloc of independent voters. they represent nearly 40% of its electorate and can vote in the republican primary. haley hopes to win over these voters to secure a chance at beating trump for the nomination.

the republican iowa caucus saw two candidates pull out of the race after failing to win enough popular support. vivek ramaswamy ended his campaign as the iowa counties were still counting votes. he quickly threw his support behind donald trump. asa hutchinson has also dropped out after receiving just 191 votes — 0.2% of those cast. speaking to the bbc, the former arkansas governor said he is proud of his anti—trump campaign, but that he isn't ready to endorse another candidate — at least not yet. i could see myself down the road endorsing an alternative to donald trump so i am watching it. i have not made a decision yet. we will see how it goes. i have held build a republican party in arkansas. i have always expected to support the republican nominee, but this is a precarious time for the party. i think we can come out

of this, but we have to move quickly away from donald trump's hold of the party to a more independent voice, a more conservative voice and a principled voice and we will see if we can do that, but that is what i will be focused on. and you can watch that full interview with asa hutchinson injust under an hour's time, when my colleague carl nasman has a special preview of the new hampshire primary. so stay tuned for that. presidentjoe biden is seeking to galvanise democratic voters on the issue of abortion. his campaign is expected to focus on reproductive rights throughout the 2024 campaign. a recent study led by the guttmacher institute says that the number of abortions increased in the first ten months of 2023. it estimates that there were 878,000 abortions in the formal us health system. factors contributing to the rise in abortions include people travelling across state lines to access the procedure, abortion provided via telehealth, and some states passing policies protecting abortion. here in washington on friday, anti—abortion activists gathered on the snowy national mall for the annual march for life.

the rally has been held every january since 1973 — when the supreme court's roe v wade ruling guaranteed abortion access nationwide. in 2022 the supreme court overturned that decision. a short while ago i spoke with our digital reporter holly honderich— who was at the rally. what was getting people out on a very cold, snowing day, what were people telling you? the weather was tough and as you mention, it is a bit tough for the pro—life, anti—abortion movement that a massive victory 18 months ago a landmark victory returning roe v wade is a clearing the field to get to the ultimate goal which is a national abortion ban. that has not happened and things have not according according to plan if you are

an anti—abortion activist. they have seen glowing clinical persistence in the gallup poll some 69% of americans support some actions some accessto abortion. i think they know facing the election coming up this year it will be a tough climb for them to get their movement going forward. let's talk about as an election issue. we saw a 2022 campaign launch between president biden the vice president kamala harris when it comes to abortion rights. how big do you think this will be at during this election season? we saw in 2020 most people predicted a horrible outcome for the democrats and in fact the over performed and republicans underperformed and most peaceful on both sides that i'll agree it was because of abortion but i think we are expecting a similar outcome for 2024 but for republican posters and pundits and stayed to be biden needs

to be tallking about abortion every other sentence. it will get democrats engaged versus the republicans they are scared to talk about it in they know it is losing issue for them. the annual meeting of the world economic forum wrapped up on friday in davos, switzerland. artificial intelligence topped the agenda — but the wars in gaza and ukraine also garnered attention — with ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky addressing the forum on tuesday. he urged leaders to enforce sanctions against russia, help rebuild ukraine, and advance the peace process. for more on this, i spoke to bill browder — a political activist and financier who just returned from davos. thank you for being with us. i understand that you have just got back from switzerland in davos where you have been making the case that the west should confiscate frozen russian friends from the central banks with that ukraine can use them when it comes to defence, reed construction as well. —— russian funds. how has your message been received? i have been proposing the solution basically since a few weeks after the war started two years ago. when i first started, it was a nonstarter. people wanted nothing to do with it in different governments, whether —— it was

thought a radical idea. two years later there are so huge financial requirements for the war with no end in sight. i would argue it has been a much more well received a message this year than ever before, purely for financial reasons. with the early quarters, any countries in particular? interestingly the uk is out front in leading on this. the foreign secretary david cameron has basically been promoting and proposing this idea in davos and washington and publicly, the united states seems to be more amenable to this idea than they were before and saying, not publicly, but privately that they are ready to go forward on it. the big bottleneck right now is the eu. the eu is where the lion's share of the money is stop out of the 300 plus billion dollars, i think 220 billion is

in the eu. the eu is still to be convinced. i think there is a desire to do it in the eu, but there are dancing around the head of the pen right now in terms of trying to find a way forward.— in terms of trying to find a wa forward. ~ , ., ,, ~' way forward. why do you think that is, that — way forward. why do you think that is, that reticence, - way forward. why do you think that is, that reticence, do - way forward. why do you think that is, that reticence, do you | that is, that reticence, do you think there is concern for tit—for—tat here when it comes to russia? tit-for-tat here when it comes to russia?— to russia? there's always concern — to russia? there's always concern for _ to russia? there's always concern for tit-for-tat. i to russia? there's always concern for tit-for-tat. at j concern for tit—for—tat. at this case it will be ill—founded concern because the russians don't have the ability to do the tatting. in other words, does not like western central banks keep their money in russia so that they cannot do this reciprocally. to the extent that they are threatening western businesses with assets in russia, russia has already started expropriating was businesses liable for this ever happen. i wasjust in liable for this ever happen. i was just in davos meeting with executives from hyundai the korean car company and they had a 3,000,000,000—dollar car manufacturing operation in st. petersburg —— st. petersburg goes expropriated. same thing with other companies as well. so the idea that we should be

worried but western companies losing their assets in russia is really not a reasonable explanation for not doing this. some i also wanted to ask you is whilst you work there in switzerland, we had the iowa caucuses here in the united states. we saw a decisive victory for president trump in those caucuses. watching this, president putin of russia, what do you think he made a fat? putin is looking at donald trump as his hail mary. even if putin is losing hundreds of thousands of men on the battlefield, if donald trump comes in, he is effectively promised to cut off funding for ukraine and putin sees that as his big opening. that this may be the opportunity for him to win the war which he is pretty much losing which also begs the question of, what do we do if donald trump comes in. what does ukraine do if you donald trump comes in. that is when

$300 billion of central bank reserves could make the difference. if the west were to come up with a plan to confiscate that money before donald trump comes in, i would see it as effectively, donald trump insurance for ukraine. briefly, of course we are in a situation where in the biden administration we have seen more aid to ukraine blocked in facing stumbling blocks in congress, do you think is are stumbling blocks or do you think the tide has turned, to a certain extent, in terms of support from the west, that some fatigue has set includes maximum fatigue certainly has said about what is happening in washington is is that a small number of far right republicans in the trampling of the republican party have used various legislative tricks to block the eight. i have met with many people in washington, republicans and democrats and there is an overwhelming

support for ukraine in congress. so i am sure that we will be able to find a way through and ukraine will get the money. in the short term. the real question is what happens if donald trump becomes president after the november elections this year. then things could radically differ. thank you very much for speaking with us. let's turn to some important news around the world... hundreds of people in the russian region of bashkortostan protested on friday against the recent conviction of a local activist. police arrested at least ten people in the regional capital who were supporting fail alsynov. he was convicted of inciting hatred and sentenced to four years in a penal colony. he led a banned indigenous organisation that has protested against mining operations. the us central command says its forces have conducted strikes against three houthi anti—ship missiles. it said the missiles were aimed into the southern red sea and were ready for launch. centcom says the houthi

missiles were determined a threat and were destroyed. houthi fighters have recently targeted vessels in the red sea — in response to israel's war against hamas in gaza. us stocks have notched a new record, with the s&p 500 topping its previous peak set in january last year. investors have driven the index higherfor months, amid hopes that the us federal reserve will cut interest rates. tech companies like apple, microsoft and n—vidia fuelled friday's rally. japan has become just the fifth country ever to touch down on the moon. but its uncrewed "moon sniper" lander appears to have hit a glitch. pallab ghosh has the story. japan's lunar landing has touched down with a soft landing but there has been a glitch. the solar panels are not working, so unless it is fixed the spacecraft will run out of power. experts say the mission has achieved 99% of its aims. this was all about precision landing.

they have not confirmed the exact precision of the landing, but they are the fifth nation to land successfully on the moon and that is a huge success. flight engineers are pouring through the spacecraft�*s data and will report next week on what went wrong. but a lot went right. they are able test out a new advanced face recognition system to hone into its landing site. it also deployed one of its many lunar rovers, able to hop where no rover has hopped before. and another one can literally roll back the frontiers of knowledge. it is a new way of doing space exploration and a big part of it is to bring down the costs to de—risk the missions and do more of them at a faster turn around and hopefully get more science and exploration out of each one. the team at the open university are building an instrument

for a future mission involving bothjapan and india, as well as the uk. japan's achievement is the start of a new rush to the moon. india got there last year and later in 2024 there will be several us attempts and by the end of the decade there will be chinese and european missions, so it is all getting very interesting. in the 19605 and 70s it was all nasa. # we are on the moon one day...# but now it is an international race. a small fleet of spacecraft from across the world are on their way to the moon to lay the ground for humans to return. there are minerals and resources on the moon that will be used to build launch sites for mars and beyond. but this time, the plan is to stay for the long term.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello. i think we've seen the last of the widespread cold, frosty days. on friday, there was plenty of blue sky and wintry sunshine for many of us, as was the picture in dudley. but things are changing now. we've got milder air moving in in time for the weekend and also much windier weather. in fact, the met office have named storm isha. that's on the way, particularly late sunday into monday bringing severe gales and disruption to travel power perhaps is likely. but let's have a look at saturday. first off, this band of rain will affect central portions of the uk, perhaps southern scotland, northern england into wales as well. there'll be some sunshine across much of the midlands, south—east england and east anglia and some brighter skies across the north—east of scotland too. temperatures around six or seven in the east, but we're back into double figures towards the west — ten degrees for the likes of belfast and glasgow, for instance. later on saturday, heavier rain moves in from the west. the winds are going to pick up as well. that system sweeps its way eastwards into the early hours of sunday, followed

by more showers. it isn't going to be cold and frosty as we start sunday morning. we've got too much wind and the showers around from the word go. but let's take a look at sunday in a bit more detail because here is storm isha developing in the atlantic, sweeping its way in. just look at all these isobars across the uk between the warm front and the cold front. that's where we're going to see really strong gusts, perhaps 70 or 80 miles an hour. so for sunday, some rain initially for northern ireland sweeping into other western parts of britain. there could be a little bit of snow just across the very highest ground for scotland. still chilly air in the far north of scotland, but much milder, 12 or 13. but the real emphasis on sunday, particularly later, is going to be the strength of the wind. we've got amber warnings for storm isha across northern ireland, southern scotland, northern england, western parts of england and wales and the south—east as well. gusts 70, 80 miles an hour, enough to cause some

significant disruption. big waves, i think, around the coast with this storm system as well. now heading on into monday, we've still got the brisk winds at first. they should ease a little bit through the day, but it is going to be another really windy day with heavy showers rattling in across the north and the west. should be mostly dry, i think later on in the south, in the east and temperatures somewhere between about six to 12 degrees for this stage — not quite as mild as sunday. but things are looking unsettled through the week ahead, often pretty windy, showery rain around at times those temperatures much milder than they have been. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. hello and welcome to las vegas, sin city, home to big casinos, big hotels and big entertainment. and everyjanuary, it's also home to big tech because this is where ces happens, the consumer electronics show.