,economic , economic block of the regional economic block ecowas as they strengthen ties with moscow. welcome to the programme. us presidentjoe biden is vowing to respond to a drone attack that killed three us troops and injured at least 3a more. while campaigning in south carolina president biden called for a moment of silence.- president biden called for a moment of silence. one last thin - moment of silence. one last thing - i _ moment of silence. one last thing - i want— moment of silence. one last thing - i want to _ moment of silence. one last thing - i want to point - moment of silence. one last thing - i want to point out i thing — i want to point out that we had a tough date last night in the middle east. we lost three brave souls in an attack on one of our bases. i would ask for a moment of silence for all three of our fallen soldiers. we shall respond. fallen soldiers. we shall remand-— fallen soldiers. we shall

resond. , �* , respond. president biden says the attack _ respond. president biden says the attack took _ respond. president biden says the attack took place - respond. president biden says the attack took place in - the attack took place in northeastjordan, close to the board and with syria but a jordanian spokesperson says the attack took place at the location of a larger us base in southeast syria. since october 7 there have been more than 160 attacks on us troops or bases in the region but this is the first time us soldiers had been killed in those abstracts. no—one has claimed responsibility for the attack but biden said it was carried out by migratory militant groups in syria and iraq. jordan, a close ally of the united states, has condemned what it called a terrorist attack and said it is cooperating with the us to secure the border. it is raising fears of a wider regional conflict. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams has more. the americans say the attack happened at a base known as tower 22, right on the syrian—jordanian border. it is one of many american bases across the region.

there have been dozens of drone and missile attacks in recent months, but no american personnel had been killed until now. joe biden, seen here attending church this morning, was quick to point the finger. "we know it was carried out by radical iran backed militant groups operating in syria and iraq," he said. it's not necessarily a tipping point into uncontrolled escalation between the united states and iran, but is another very dangerous step because, as i say, the us will have to respond more strongly than it has done to previous attacks. carefully cultivated over years, iran has a wide network of allies and proxies operating in countries across the middle east. they are all opposed to israel and the united states — it's sometimes called the axis of resistance. there are pro—iranian militias in lebanon, the palestinian territories, gaza and the west bank, plus iraq and syria, and far to the south there's also the houthis in yemen.

over the weekend, the houthis have been launching their own attacks, hitting a tanker in the gulf of aden. last night, a british warship, hms diamond, used an air defence missile to bring down a houthi drone. with british help, the us had been hitting houthi military targets for weeks, so far the houthis seem undeterred. they say they will stop attacking ships if and when there's a ceasefire in gaza. the problems america is dealing with across the region aren't all about gaza, but the war there has left the whole middle east a lot more dangerous. paul adams, bbc news here is a reaction from members of the us senate. chris goons posted on x saying "the us must respond to protect our nation and send a strong response to our adverse areas that such

attacks will not be tolerated." dan sullivan on the armed services committee said "iranian proxies have crossed a line." i spoke to barbara starr for her take. barbara starr, welcome to the programme. do we have any sense of what the biden administration's red line is? it is very traditional that for the us government the red line is if us citizens or us military personnel are killed as a result of an attack, and that is exactly what happened in this case. we have three us soldiers killed in action, a great number wounded and injured, and now the biden administration is in the position finally of having to determine what it wants to do to respond to that because we have seen all of these attacks over the last several weeks by these iranian—backed militias.

there have been drones, there have been missiles. the us has been able to counter them, shoot down the incoming that is fired by the iranian—backed militias. today, that did not work. us troops got killed, and tonight here in washington all eyes are on what the next step will be. we know president biden has said the us will respond and the question is what is that going to look like? earlier this month a senior militia leader was killed in baghdad and secretary lloyd austin and president biden have said that they will vow retaliation at a time and place of their choosing. so, given that none of that worked to deter them, what options are we looking at now? that is really the critical — and unanswerable for the rest of us — question right now. you are right. deterrence clearly has not worked. this was a military escalation by these iranian—backed

militias. the us has been collecting intelligence on them, surveillance reconnaissance, pinning down where their locations are, where they are firing from, where the fighters are assembling, their command and control — all the targets that you might expect the us to now turn around and hit, but will that be enough? i think that is a very significant question. it has not been enough so far. hitting the iranian—backed militias in syria or in iraq simply has not deterred them. but the alternative of basically going into iranian airspace and striking targets in iran has the possibility of an escalation, entering the middle east into security chaos even further than it is right now. that is the key dilemma, isn't

it? barbara, isn't it the fact that the biden administration right now are trying to establish whether this wasn't meant to be some sort of escalation in the area or whether it possibly could have been an accident? or, perhaps, a militia gone rogue and one thatis a militia gone rogue and one that is acting without proper backing of iran in this decision?— backing of iran in this decision? ~ ., ., decision? well, both are all certainly — decision? well, both are all certainly think— decision? well, both are all certainly think that - certainly think that us intelligence is going to try to answer. now, was it a militia gone rogue? this has been a consistent issue that the intelligence community hasn't looked at, which is they don't believe that the sensual iranian government has basically been able to control some of these militias that they are controlled by — the irgc - they are controlled by — the irgc — and other rogue elements inside iran so they will try and find out whether this is

something ordered by the central iranian government. the iranian government can reach out through channels and send a message to the us are stating their position and their case on this. whether the us will believe them or not is another question but there are channels that the iranian government could use to communicate with the biden administration to washington. whether they choose to do that we do not know at this hour, and it may not make much of a difference because this was also a strike on it — even though it was right on the border — it was technically on jordanian territory and this putsjordan, an important ally of the united states, in an extremely sensitive position. thejordanians are trying to walk a fine line with their unquestioned support for the palestinian civilians in gaza, but yet also knowing that they need to rely on the us for some of their security posture. so, this becomes a very, very difficult situation.

barbara starr, thank you so much for your time. thank you. for more on the situation i spoke to former us army attache tojordan, retired adam clements. iran backs hamas, hezbollah, militias as well as the houthis. at what point does the united states need to hit back directly? thank you very much for having me, and i want to extend my condolence to everyone who was killed or injured. this is a good question and i think the biden administration does face something significant here now because us forces have been injured and killed. unfortunately, this has happened many times where these iranian—backed groups have attempted to kill or injure us forces deployed in the counter—isis campaign, but there is a point now where they will have — where there will have to be further strikes just to show the us will not stand for when its servicemembers have been, in this case,

injured or killed. but there have been strikes since october 7, is still happening. as barbara starrjust said, it has not acted as a deterrent. could you argue, as republicans do at congress right now, that the strategy of containment and the approach the biden administration is taking towards iran is failing? i am not sure necessarily that as far as detainment 01’ even deterrence — these are subjective words. it is hard to measure. it is hard to measure and know where the lines are drawn, but i do think suggesting a strike inside of iran, that would definitely be escalatory, and given the context of what is happening on the lebanese border with israel, what is happening in the red sea, what is also happening elsewhere in the region, that that would be escalatory, and so i think there is a balancing act here that needs to take place, and there are other strategic priorities that the us has to address as well going on with ukraine and russia. right. can i ask — troops have been killed. if this were a concerted

decision by iran to escalate things rather than perhaps a militia gone rogue from that direction, would that, in your view, make a difference in terms of the required military response? in my mind right now, it depends, and of course i don't have access to all the intelligence to understand some of the thinking, but it is very difficult to understand this thinking and line of thinking for national leadership in iran, but there are other contextual issues at play here as well. very definitely war and conflict is not an interest for other gulf states, for other states in the peninsula, forjordan. i think it is in their interests as well that there is not a conflict. so, there are very definitely incentives on all sides that we find a way to lower the temperature, find some way to de—escalate, and i think that starts a lot in gaza of finding a way to get these hostages released and that

at least gives political space for the israeli government and also from a military standpoint as well, because that is right now a very difficult thing in the military context because there are so many hostages still in gaza. can i ask — because you mentioned russia and china there — what will president vladimir putin as well as xi jinping be looking at right now when they are looking at the way things are escalating in the middle east? i think strategically this is the most important question that we are asking because it is notjust about military escalation in name or some type of tactical operational operation here. we are talking about resources, so when the united states and other allies like the united kingdom and other allies had to remove resources such as from ukraine then that is a victory. that is something positive for russia, and, of course, china is watching very closely, and so the more resources that the united states has

to devote, in this case at the middle east conflict, that plays into russia's and china's favour. we are running out of time but can ijust ask — if we know now that us troops have been killed, that there has been this escalation, do you believe that the biden administration should continue with the strikes? is there a red line in your view that would require more response? it's very difficult to say. i think it depends on the location. if we have more escalations, obviously something we had in the past where iran's proxies are targeting services or resources in the united states, or our other bases, notjust in the middle east or other places in europe or around the world, so i think those are other things to consider as we evaluate what this red line means. it can be a difficult thing to ascertain where that is in the grand picture

of strategy in the geopolitical understanding of what is going on. colonel adam clements, thank you very much for your time. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. nmp has been suspended from the labour party after those in which she listed gaza as well as other genocides. she represents edmonton and north london and apologise for any offence caused the comments. the jewish labour offence caused the comments. thejewish labour movement has condemned the inappropriate and offensive remarks. two boys aged 15 and 16 have died after being stabbed in mr last night. police say they were attacked by a group of lead the norwest area of the city. a 44—year—old man and 15 year —year—old boy have been arrested. and the chairman of the post office, henry thornton, was sacked by the business secretary kemi badenoch, she confirmed today, following what she called various disagreements with the company's board. she said his departure was more than about the horizon it scandal, where

hundreds of supposed masters and mistresses were wrongly accused of fraud and false accounting. many were also jails. ——jailed. you are accounting. many were also jails. —— jailed. you are live with bbc news. hundreds of thousands of people across germany have taken to the streets again this weekend to protest against the rise of the far right. the rallies were sparked by activists allegedly discussing the mass deportation of immigrants, even if they hold citizenship. the controversy has fronted questions for the far right alternative fur deutschland party, which is polling strongly right now, capitalising on concerns about the economy and immigration. our correspondencejessica parker reports now. in her 80s, but undaunted by a crowd, renate speaks at one of the many protests sweeping germany. she survived the holocaust.

many of herjewish family did not. translation: it's very important that we jews | raise our voice. the situation in germany has become threatening because of alternative for deutschland and other far—right groups. notjust for usjews. these demos were sparked by revelations that senior figures from the alternative for deutschland party met with right—wing extremists where the mass deportation of asylum seekers and so—called non—germans was allegedly discussed. there's a debate about whether to ban the afd or deprive them of state funding. where do you stand on that? i'm against the ban of afd. i think we have to tackle them on the political wave because if we ban them, i fear that they attract more attention and that more people try to support them. for all these shows of staunch mass resistance against the afd, there is great uncertainty, even a nervousness

about how to tackle the rise of the far right, particularly here in germany's east. a sense of disaffection lingers in the once—communist part of this country, where the afd is leading the polls ahead of key elections. translation: they never had a chance to be in power - because no—one wants to work with them. maybe if they got into power, it would be good for us. the afd, designated by domestic intelligence as extremist in saxony, says it's being smeared by its opponents. what do you think about the fact there are hundreds of thousands of people protesting against your party and some people at those demonstrations saying they're scared by what they've heard? translation: we're aware of it. but we believe that many of these demonstrators do not know our programme. we are in the absurd situation where people demonstrate with the government against the opposition. that's unheard of.

this city of chemnitz was once named after karl marx. that was reversed, but the monument remains. the father of communism now watching over the rise of the far right. jessica parker, bbc news in chemnitz. well, some developing usefully we know. a high courtjudge in hong kong has ordered the liquidation of the chinese property giant evergreen comment was once one of china's biggest real estate firms but was marred by hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. thejudge said there billions of dollars in debt. the judge said there had billions of dollars in debt. thejudge said there had been billions of dollars in debt. the judge said there had been a lack of progress in coming up with a viable restructuring plan —— evergreen. it is likely to send ripples through china's financial markets, trading in evergrande's financials through the hong kong stock exchange. now, the jaunter led governments of three west african governments have discussed their withdrawal from

ecowas. it is in response to the coups carried out in their own countries. nigeria, mali, burkina faso have already been suspended from the block which has been urging them to return to democratic rule. the country hasissued to democratic rule. the country has issued a joint statement accusing ecowas of failing to provide support for what they called the existential fight against terrorism and insecurity in the region. translation:- insecurity in the region. translation: �* ' , ., , translation: after 49 years the value peeple _ translation: after 49 years the value peeple of — translation: after 49 years the value people of burkina _ translation: after 49 years the value people of burkina faso, - value people of burkina faso, mali, nigeria regretfully and with great discipline observed that the organisation has drifted from the ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of pan africanism, they argue that ecowas, underfinancials, that ecowas, under financials, betrayed that ecowas, underfinancials, betrayed its founding influence and became a threat to the member states and populations which were supposed to ensure the well being of —— niger. this is a further blow to

ecowas's alice river saseras a military takeover to get west and central africa in recent years. despite sanctions and threats of military intervention, thejunta leaders intervention, the junta leaders have intervention, thejunta leaders have hardened nastasic —— stands by distancing themselves from their former colonial power, france, and strengthening ties to russia. in september they formed a mutual defence pact called the alliance of the health state, lisa hallett is considered one of the most conflict ridden reasons. the leaders say they want to contain jihadist insurgencies want to containjihadist insurgencies link to al-qaeda and the islamic state before organising elections in their countries. ecowas has since responded to their decision to leave the block, saying it remains committed to finding a negotiated solution to the political impasse. joining me live is a former us ambassador to niger, peter williams. thank you so much forjoining us. they really do appreciate it. could you spell this out for us, it does like this is a real

clash between whether democracy or military rule is the solution to the violence in the region. solution to the violence in the re . ion. ~ ., ., solution to the violence in the reuion. ~ . ~' solution to the violence in the reuion. ~ ., ~ i. ., region. well, thank you for havin: region. well, thank you for having me _ region. well, thank you for having me on. _ region. well, thank you for having me on. i— region. well, thank you for having me on. ithink- region. well, thank you for. having me on. i think you've got one pack your question into several layers. the decision by the three states, niger, burkina faso, and mali to cut ties with ecowas comes after the strange relationship between those two groups because of the sanctions which were imposed upon the three because of the booze in those three respective states. while ecowas had attempted to do some negotiations with the states, there really wasn't any significant progress except recently for the release of the president of niger's son, his son and wife are being held

hostage in niger, one small concession was the release of his son. but no concessions to ecowas on democratic progress, on written statements of rule of law in any of those three state and a transition to an elected government's. so that's one thing that's happening. the notion or the fact that this hell is a region that is tormented by violent extremism, by terrorism, and also by extreme poverty, those are also true and the solutions that these states are choosing, which is basically to change military partners, is actually the same sort of solution they were complaining that the former partners music, that there was to much concentration on military solution into reading the area of

terrorism... ,, ,, �* reading the area of terrorism... ,, ,, ~ , ., terrorism... crosstalk instead of sunporting- -- _ of supporting... and they ask, what incentive does leaving the block leave these countries return to democracy at all? i these countries return to democracy at all?- these countries return to democracy at all? i don't think that's the _ democracy at all? i don't think that's the goal _ democracy at all? i don't think that's the goal and _ democracy at all? i don't think that's the goal and nor - democracy at all? i don't think that's the goal and nor have i that's the goal and nor have they said it is the goal. so there isn't any particular incentive because it doesn't seem to be the object of. their objective, the stated objective at this point was to separate themselves from their "former colonial power", which is the french, and address more urgently, in their view, the terrorist threat. they have not said that they have made any of this move in order to advance democratic rule in any of those three state. democratic rule in any of those three state-— three state. and russia, of course. _ three state. and russia, of course. has _ three state. and russia, of course, has growing - three state. and russia, of i course, has growing influence in the region, as we mentioned.

what are they going to be looking for right now as they see this fall apart in some ways? see this fall apart in some wa s? ~ ., ., see this fall apart in some was? .. ways? what are the russians auoin to ways? what are the russians going to be _ ways? what are the russians going to be looking _ ways? what are the russians going to be looking for? - ways? what are the russians going to be looking for? or l going to be looking for? or what are the states?- going to be looking for? or what are the states? yes, will this development _ what are the states? yes, will this development be - what are the states? yes, willl this development be welcomed what are the states? yes, will. this development be welcomed by president vladimir putin and that impact his influence in the region?— the region? clearly the development - the region? clearly the development has - the region? clearly the development has been j the region? clearly the _ development has been welcomed by vladimir putin. the russians have sent delegations, very significant delegations to the region recently, both military delegations as well as political delegations and african leadership from the three states have also visited moscow, a believerfrom all three. ioannou the nigerians have visited and the mullions have visited and the mullions have visited, i'm not sure the burkina faso have visited... crosstalk has gained already with the...

where does that leave ecowas? ecowas does not want this break and ecowas has stated it is going to continue to try to negotiate with its member states until the. ambassador, biologist. _ states until the. ambassador, biologist. we _ states until the. ambassador, biologist, we have _ states until the. ambassador, biologist, we have to - states until the. ambassador, biologist, we have to leave i states until the. ambassador, biologist, we have to leave it| biologist, we have to leave it there. thank you so much for your time. we appreciate it. —— we have delivered there. please stay with us on bbc news. thank you so much. hello there. we did expect it to get a bit warmer today, but it may well turn out to be a record—breaking day with some sunshine and a southerly wind ahead of a band of rain. in highland scotland, temperatures reached close to 20 degrees earlier on, and that would smash the previous january temperature record in the uk. now, the winds are dropping, actually, and the temperature is going to be dropping too. this band of rain moving through scotland and northern ireland is heading into northern parts of england and wales. and following on from that, in the lighter winds, we're getting into colder air — so much so that in northern

parts of scotland there's likely to be a frost overnight tonight, whereas ahead of the rain across england and wales, it's still a mild start to monday. but this rain is going to hang around in northern england and wales, heavy over the hills, particularly in the northwest of england. much of scotland and northern ireland likely to be dry with some sunshine, lighter winds but much colder than today. temperatures typically 7 or 8 degrees, whereas where it's dry across the midlands and southern england, it's still mild, temperatures of 14, maybe 15 degrees. now, it's notjust rain that we're going to see, though, on monday. after dark, there could be some snow in the southern uplands leading to icy conditions by tuesday morning, by which point that area of low pressure will have taken the wet weather away and we're left with a cloudy start for england and wales. some sunshine for scotland and northern ireland will push its way southwards through the day. that very mild air is going to get pushed away, but 12 degrees is still possible in the southeast. but for many in the afternoon, it's going to be nearer 8 degrees or so. so it's turning chillier from the north. but if we look to the north again by the middle part of the week, we've got more isobars, some weather fronts. it's turning wet and windy, particularly in scotland. widespread gales here on wednesday and across northern ireland, northernmost parts of england.

the really strong winds are in the far north of scotland, but over the highlands this time we could see a couple of inches of rain. that wet and windy weather in scotland will sink down into northern ireland. england and wales looking dry, the winds much lighter further south and some sunshine, temperatures of 10 or 11 degrees. now, the weatherfront bringing that rain is going to move southwards overnight. the rain petering out. chilly weather for a while, but then we change the wind direction by thursday, bringing in a milderair and also more cloud.

a hong kong court has reportedly asked for the liquidation of evergrande. we look at what this means for the embattled chinese property developer. plus, moving to a country, we look at why thousands of men in india are signing up to work in india.

—— plus, moving to a country at war — welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. we begin with breaking news from hong kong by a high courtjudge has reportedly ordered the liquidation of chinese property developer evergrande after the developer failed to come up with an acceptable restructuring plan for its overseas creditors. trading in evergrande's shares has been suspended on the hong kong stock exchange. let's bring in mariko oi. what does this mean for evergrande going forward? the past hour we now have a confirmation that this liquidation order has been made stopjunction linda chan saying enough is enough. of course this case was filed more than 1.5 years ago and the company was told to come up with a better restructuring plan every single time the decision was delayed up until now that the judge has decided to order the

liquidation of the company. it basically means its assets will be seized,