the headlines.. florida governor ron desantis drops out of the race for the white house, and throws his support behind donald trump. i can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory. accordingly, i am today suspending my campaign. the former president heard the news at a campaign stop of his own, and thanked the governor for pulling out.... i think most of those votes, the polls say that most of those votes, certainly many of them, come to us, but we don't need them because the polljust came out, suffolkjust came out, the boston globe and they say we are very far ahead. more than 25,000 people have now been killed in gaza since the war with israel began — according to the hamas—run health ministry. and. tens of thousands of homes in the uk are without power — as storm isha brings high

winds and rain. we begin in the united states, where florida governor, ron desantis, has dropped out from the republican presidential race — and endorsed donald trump. the surprise video announcement comes ahead of this week's republican primary in new hampshire — where mr desantis was polling in the single digits. his departure leaves nikki haley as mr trump's only significant rival. here's what he had to say. if there was anything i could do to produce a favourable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, i would do it. but i can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear

path to victory. accordingly, i am today suspending my campaign. i'm proud to have delivered on 100% of my promises. i will not stop now. it's clear to me that the majority of majority republican primary voters want to give donald trump another chance. they watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance and they see democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him. while i've had disagreements with donald trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of anthony fauci, is superior to the current incumbent, anthony fauci, trump is superior to the current incumbent, joe biden. that is clear. i signed a pledge to support the republican nominee. i will honour that pledge. he has my endorsement because we cannot go back to the old republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed—over corporatism that nikki haley represents. this is how donald trump reacted, a short time ago. we had the big day in iowa,

and we will have a big day and new hampshire, i think equal to, and we just got some word that one of our opponents, very capable person, is dropping out, ron desantis. and ron is dropping out and he, in doing so, he endorsed us. cheering. earlier i spoke to our correspondent carl nasman who is in manchester, new hampshire. this immediately makes it a two—person race in new hampshire. i've been speaking with some of ron desantis's supporters, who showed up right here, expect and greet camping event with the florida governor, only to find out that the event is cancelled and ron desantis has dropped out. what they have been telling me is they were a bit surprised by the timing, they expected to get the chance to vote for him on election day on tuesday, wanted to hear from him at one of the intimate gatherings that you see

across the early states like new hampshire and iowa. but they also say they were are not shocked, they are aware of the polling numbers and that ron desantis was only polling in the single digits in new hampshire, so it really was a campaign that went all—in on iowa, the previous state, desantis finishing in second with a big gap from the former president donald trump, and a big gap here as well. now, as you mentioned, it is a nikki haley and donald trump vying for first place amongst republicans. nikki haley made some comments about racism over the weekend, how is that being received where you are? when you talk to nikki haley supporters, she is facing some barriers within the republican party, she has been seemingly attacked by donald trump for her heritage and ancestry, she is born to indian parents here in the united states, also, of course, a woman,

which can be some factors that can play against a candidate in the republican party amongst conservatives. when you speak to nikki haley, she wants to be sure it's a campaign running on the issues, she is at second donald trump right back and stepping up her criticisms of the former president, not only saying he is not fit for office, talking about his mental acuity, donald trump had a moment where he seemed to confused nikki haley with former speaker of the house nancy pelosi, so these are barbs going back and forth and rhetoric we have seen from donald trump, attacking people and calling them by names, bringing up things like ancestry, we remember the controversy that donald trump started over false claims that barack 0bama was not fit for office because he might have a fake birth certificate which was not true. these are things we've seen from the past from the donald trump camp

and we are seeing as he tries to wrap up the nomination as quickly as he can. carrie sheffield is a conservative commentator who has worked closely behind the scenes with people from the desantis campaign unfortunately for ron, a lot went wrong. i would say, big picture, he was trying to replicate and go after the trump base, and what he should have done instead was try to get the "anybody but trump alternative", and there was a bit of momentum for him early, even this time last year and early spring last year, he was almost polling neck and neck with donald trump at that point, but instead of taking the strategy of where he would go after, again, the people who wanted an alternative to trump, he sought to erode the trump base, and the trump base were not having it, they were deeply loyal to the trump, and many trump supporters viewed ron desantis as someone who benefited from donald trump, because in his first race for governor in florida,

he was not doing well in the primary and donald trump gave him a boost through an endorsement that got him over the finish line. so a lot of trump voters said you are being disloyal by trying to supersede, basically, when you were the apprentice, and now you're trying to throw your former patron under the bus a month, so they perceive that to be disloyal. lots of messaging problems that i think the desantis campaign did, and also the fact that he over spent, in my view, on iowa, putting almost all his chips on iowa. had a very disappointing finish there, and it was reported he knocked on almosti million doors, almost 950,000 doors, to no avail, only to have a very disappointing 30 points below donald trump, first place, ron desantis was second—place, so there were a lot of issues. also his communication style was not perceived as warm,

but in doing so he was not perceived as authentic to who he was as a policy expert. in my view, he did exceptionally well in florida, i applauded a lot of what he did in florida by focusing on policy and substance, and instead he tried to wade over into the hot button cultural issues and tried to be the role of a culture warrior but that is not who he is at his core. weather warnings are in place across the uk as storm isha brings rain and gusts of wind exceeding 130 kilometres per hour. the strongest winds are expected in the coming hours. all trains in scotland have now been cancelled, with many services in england affected too. meteorologists are warning there's a risk to life in coastal areas, and there've been warnings of widespread power cuts, affecting mobile phone coverage. here's the lastest from our reporter sharon barbour in blackpool. storm isha has landed. almost all of the uk

is now under amber weather warnings for strong winds, some reaching up to 90 mph. if you do come near the coast, please make sure you err with caution. the idea is, even when it is rough, the wind and the waves will come over, and it could sweep you out to sea and it is hard in this weather to try and find anyone. so, please, if you do come down, or if not, please steer clear of the sea, if you can. what hasn't been able to land is a number of planes. dublin airport has cancelled more than 100 flights and strong winds meant many were unable to land. some have been diverted to france as all uk airports were full. even in london, planes struggled to land. all transport has been affected. in scotland, a tree fell on top of a car, but thankfully no one was injured. 0n the trains, there has been huge disruption, with scotrail stopping all services tonight.

the extreme weather conditions brought about by storm isha means it wouldn't be safe to run passenger trains. that is in the interests of passengers and staff, and as a result there will be no early morning service on monday morning. services will not start up until late in the day because we have got to check every track and route to make sure it is safe. earlier in the day, blackpool started to feel the force of storm isha. the rain is here and the strong winds have started to arrive, and the sea is on its way in. the real warning is around coastal areas with large waves and debris posing a risk to life. many on the promenade are planning to batten down the hatches. we are just wrapped up really warm and we are going to go home and stay inside, i think. we just knew the high winds were coming in, but we didn't expect them now, yet. right across the uk, storm isha is causing widespread disruption and emergency services

are responding to multiple incidents. sharon barbour, bbc news. the bbc�*s meghan 0wen has more on the destruction across the country. yes, look at this map, you can see how much of the uk has those amber weather warnings and in the last few hours we have been finding out that thousands of homes across northern ireland and the north of england and wales have lost power. we want to bring some other updates, this is sellafield nuclear site in the north of england, and they have stopped their operations overnight, they expect to resume tomorrow, but say they are stopping them at the moment because of that severe weather. in terms ofjust how fast the winds are, the fastest wins were measured in wales at 90 mph or 130 km an hour, loftus in north yorkshire and in northern ireland, really extensive and powerful

all over the uk, in fact, it is thought to be the most powerful storm of the season. here are some of the latest pictures. there's been widespread travel disruption in belfast, these are people waiting for theirflights, lots of flights disrupted. this was a clock tower that came down in galway, ireland, and we saw earlier trees have been crushing cars in scotland, you can see that there, a powerful image, and obviously fery disruptions as well, this is between wales and ireland, very rough seas. and i want to finish with this striking image. this is the cairngorms mountains in scotland, and you can see how heavy the snowfall has been, so lots of disruption expected to continue in the early hours, and we will have all the latest updates on our website and through bbc weather. an in the last hour

the met office released a red warning for parts of scotland north of aberdeen and inverness. a short spell of extremely strong winds leading to danger to life, structural damage and disruption is expected. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has again rejected the idea of creating a palestinian state, despite a phone call with us president biden who said he believed that might still be possible. mr netanyahu also rejected hamas's demands for israeli forces to withdraw from gaza — in return for the release of the israeli hostages. the death toll in gaza has now surpassed 25,000, according to the hamas—run health ministry. with the latest from jerusalem, here's mark lowen. lives on a list that grows by the day. an overnight air strike adding them to a new milestone — more than 25,000 killed in gaza since israel's offensive began, says hamas.

numbers out of date by the hour. israel's focus is now southern gaza, pounded from the air, backed by naval, but there have been clashes in the north, too. israel's army — vastly superior to hamas — is still facing significant resistance across the territory. the israeli defence forces released pictures of a new tunnel they say they found, booby—trapped and more than 800m long — and, they say, it's likely to have held israeli hostages. translation: in the tunnel, we found five cells, each had| a toilet and a mattress, enclosed by metal bars. according to testimonies we have, about 20 hostages were held in this tunnel at different times, in difficult conditions — without daylight, with stuffy air, very little oxygen, and terrible humidity that makes it difficult to breathe.

but more than three months in, israel still hasn't destroyed hamas or got the remaining hostages home, and splits are growing here. anti—war protesters — still few — scuffled with police. most israelis have rallied around their flag, but not their prime minister, and his continued opposition to a palestinian state is angering allies. i think it's very disappointing that benjamin netanyahu has said that. it's not, in some sense, a surprise — he's spent his entire political career against a two—state solution. but the point is, which other routes is there to seriously resolve this? here in israel, public patience with the war isn't limitless. and us intelligence is reported to have concluded that israel has only killed between 20—30% of hamas fighters, and that the group has enough weapons to continue striking back for months — raising the spectre of a prolonged conflict.

and prolonged suffering on both sides. for children, wracked with fever but unable to get medicine as gaza's hospitals run desperately short, and a lack of clean water makes disease rife. doctors resort to a weak syrup to treat the young, often orphaned. but it does little to dull the pain of gaza's war. mark lowen, bbc news, jerusalem. gerald feierstein is a former us ambassador to yemen under president 0bama who's now a distinguished senior fellow at the middle east institute and told me about what's driving the spread of the conflict to the wider region. i think the reality is that the houthi movement is really about 25 years old. they were initially a political movement, a religious revival movement, became a conflict with

the former government for a number of years before, of course, the events of 2011, the arab spring, and then their overthrow of the transitional government and the beginning of the civil war. so this is a group that has grown in strength and significance over the years. i don't think that it was possible to turn them back because they really tapped into some very real issues within yemen, and now more broadly in the region. does america bear some responsibility for their rise, and now their power within the region? their original position that really raised their profile was anti—americanism

in the period after 2001, the global war on terror, and the impact that that had in yemen. so, you know, there is a us components, if you will, to the growth of the houthi movement, no doubt about that. the us military gave an update on the status of two navy seals who went missing in the region they have not been located. the status of the two us special forces soldiers who went missing in the gulf of aden south of yemen earlier this month has been changed to deceased. the soldiers were reported missing after boarding an iranian vessel. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. the man and woman found dead alongside two children in a house near norwich both died from stab wounds to the neck, according to the postmortem.

norfolk police have confirmed they're not looking for anybody else in connection with the deaths. the force has referred itself to the independent police watchdog after it emerged that officers didn't attend a 999 call from the house on friday morning, about an hour before the bodies were found. a 17—year—old boy who died after a stabbing in birmingham city centre has been named by police as muhammad hassam ali. he was found with serious injuries in victoria square yesterday and died later in hospital. west midlands police say they believe he was killed in a case of mistaken identity, and have renewed their appealfor information. the duchess of york, sarah ferguson, says she's been diagnosed with skin cancer. her doctors discovered malignant melanoma while she was being treated for breast cancer. according to sources close to the duchess, she is back in the uk after initially recuperating in austria.

you're live with bbc news. a market and shopping district in the city of donetsk in eastern ukraine has been hit by shelling. russian officials say 27 people were killed — and blamed ukraine for the blasts. another 25 people were injured, in what appears to be one of the worst attacks on a civilian area in a russian—occupied part of the country since the conflict began. kyiv has not commented. india 5 prime minister narendra modi is set to open a hindu temple for one of the faith�*s most revered deities. it's being seen as the start of his election campaign. millions of hindus are celebrating the temple opening, saying it's a long—standing dream come true. but it evokes painful memories for muslims — a mosque that stood at the site was illegally torn down, triggering religious violence across the country. many accuse mr modi of violating india's secular constitution

by opening the temple. from ayodhya, the bbc�*s south asia correspondent yogita limaye reports. a display of hindu faith in a manner that's perhaps never been seen before in modern india. "hail lord ram," they shout, in praise of one of their most—revered deities. ayodhya is described as his birthplace in hindu epics — and at the spot that millions believe he was born, a grand temple will now be opened by the prime minister. translation: our dream has finally become a reality. - it's like god himself has appeared before us. translation: i'm so happy that i've been able to see _ this day before i die. god should bless modi

for building the temple. this city has shaped india. it sits on one of the country's biggest hindu—muslim fault lines. the temple, built at a spot where a mosque once stood. many see it as a declaration of hindu dominance. translation: we don't wantj to destroy anyone's mosque - but what has been built on the birthplace of our god, we will not tolerate that from now on. the site was given to hindus by a supreme court order. hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on the temple, funded from private donations. but the prime minister's presence would turn a religious ceremony into a state event, many say. especially controversial because of the history of the site. until 1992, a 16th—century mosque stood there —

illegally destroyed after a mass campaign by hindu mobs. religious violence broke out across india. thousands were killed. archive: ..temple in ayodhya, a campaign which has now led l to hundreds of deaths. for ayodhya's muslims, it was a painful time. this woman's husband was among 17 killed in ayodhya. "they cut his arms and legs off, and stuffed his body in a sack," she tells us. "on that day, i lost my biggest support, the person i shared my life with." her son says they never received anyjustice for his father, but he'd hoped the country's leaders would reach out to them.

translation: they're building their temple, | and that is right, according to them. but they should have come to us and said what happened was wrong. they should've showed compassion — but they haven't. many in the community told us they're worried there might be trouble again after the inauguration — and so, they were leaving the city for a few weeks. all major political parties have sought to appease voters through this politics of religion. but for prime minister narendra modi's bjp, its support of the temple — as part of its aggressive assertion of hinduism — is the reason why it's transformed from being a small party, just a few decades ago, to being seen as one that is virtually undefeatable now. at a local bjp office, preparations are on for the inauguration. i met a member of parliament from the party, lalu singh. do you think it's appropriate

for the prime minister of a secular country to be the main figure at a major hindu religious event? translation: it's 100% right. this must happen. the culture of the majority community in the country dominates the nation. this does not mean we do not respect minorities. if the prime minister is hindu, why should he not visit the biggest centre of the hindu faith? the opening of the temple is being seen as the start of prime minister modi's re—election bid — and it's expected to give him another resounding victory. one that could further polarise the nation. yogita limaye, bbc news, ayodhya. hello there.

storm isha will cause significant damage and disruption in parts of the uk, as we push into monday morning. met office amber warnings are in force for severe gales with damaging gusts and heavy rain. this heavy rain combined with snow melt, because of milder temperatures across northern areas, is likely to lead to localised flooding. the centre passing to the north of scotland, widespread severe gales on the southern flank covering most of the uk. these are the sorts of wind gusts we can expect, even inland up to 60, 70, 80 mph around irish sea coasts and 90 mph over parts of northern ireland and western scotland. the amber warning is valid until 6am. these are the temperatures we can expect to start monday morning, 6—11 celsius. storm isha is likely to bring significant disruption to travel on monday morning. stay tuned to your local radio bulletins and also bbc breakfast for the latest updates.

monday looks very windy — storm isha pulling away, staying blustery with showers, and some showers will be heavy at times. best of sunshine will tend to be over eastern parts of the country — these temperatures 7—11. moving through monday evening and overnight, the winds will begin to down as high—pressure starts to build and the showers die off over northern and western areas. it'll turn dry and clear and cool over the north and east of the uk, but the next spell of wet and windy weather early on tuesday morning. here it is on the pressure chart — the next low pressure system to bring a spell of rain and gales, not as severe but a blustery day, wet and windy weather over western areas spreading to all areas. could see some transient snow on the mountains of scotland before the mild air starts to move north over the country and it will be very mild indeed

for the time of year — temperatures reaching 1a, maybe 15 celsius. the weather remaining changeable through the week, wet and windy spells interspersed with drier and sunnier moments. generally for the time of year, it's going to be staying mild throughout.

us markets defy geopolitical concerns surging to record high. we will take a high. we will take concerns surging to record high. we will take a look at what's behind the optimism. plus why americans pay twice as much as sugar than the rest of the world. hello and welcome to asia business report. the us stock market surge to new highs on monday. shrugging off global headwinds. it has been driven mainly by big tech it is seen spilling over by the s&p 500. a benchmark index that investors watch closely. it ended friday's trading session at a record high. 0utstripping his previous record more than a year ago. previous record more than a yearago. i