the headlines.. a us drone strike on baghdad kills a senior leader of a pro—iran armed group — it was launched in retaliation for the attack last month that killed three us soldiers. israel's prime minister strikes a defiant tone — saying he'll settle for nothing less than the total defeat of hamas. polls open in a couple of hours in pakistan, after two exposions near the offices of election officials killed 28 people prince william thanks well wishers as he speaks publicly for the first time since king charles�* cancer diagnosis. i like to take this opportunity to say thank you for the kind messages of support for catherine and my father, especially in recent days, it means a great deal to us all. as millions in china make their move to celebrate the lunar new year, freezing rain and snowstorms cause travel chaos.

it's eight in the morning in singapore, and 3am in baghdad which has been struck by a us drone attack which killed a senior leader of an armed pro—iran group. three people were killed in the attack, including a commander of the group that us officials say was behind recent attacks on us bases in iraq and syria. this was the scene in baghdad earlier tonight. angry crowds surrounded the burnt out vehicle — chanting "america is the biggest devil". our senior international correspondent orla guerin is in baghdad for us tonight — she tried to get close to the scene of this attack.

this was a high—profile strike inside the capital. it happened at 930 at night to local time there were distinct explosions that were audible from our hotel we reached the scene very quickly. an angry crowd had gathered around the charred wreckage of the car which had been hit we know a drone strike a powerful pro—iranian official. with the attack in jordan that killed three service personnel. they were chanting anti—american slogans, but we where surrounded quite quickly from angry protesters who said foreigners have done this and you are foreigners, you're not welcome here. they pushed back and we had to pull back to the security cordon.

now, we were not harmed, but it was a small example of the anger on the streets. we have seen tonight because from pro—iranian militia for supporters to come out on the streets and to move towards the us embassy. we have also had an anger response from a spokesman for the iraqi army saying that this will threaten security and stability here. it is hard to see how it can do other than increase the tension in iraq. the us' top diplomat, secretary of state antony blinken says there�*s �*still space for agreement�* on a deal to release israeli hostages in gaza. secretary blinken met with regional officials today — including israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu and president isaac herzog. the secretary of state also met palestinian leader mahmoud abbas. it�*s his fifth visit to the region since the war began. talks have focused on the latest proposal for a new ceasefire in gaza. here�*s some of what secretary blinken had to say.

what i can tell you about these discussions is that while there are some clear nonstarter is in hamas�*s response, we do think it creates space for agreement to be reached. and we will work at that relentlessly until we get there. by contrast — israel�*s prime minister benjamin netanyahu was defiant — he said hamas�*s demands were delusional and that �*total victory�* was possible possible within months. translation: tonight i'm here to tell ou translation: tonight i'm here to tell you one _ translation: tonight i'm here to tell you one thing, _ translation: tonight i'm here to tell you one thing, we - translation: tonight i'm here to tell you one thing, we are - to tell you one thing, we are on our way to a complete victory. the victory is within our reach. it�*s not about years or decades, it�*s about two months. mr netanyahu says he intends to pursue the conflict intends to pursue the conflict in the region. i think the official is quoted as saying hamas is prepared to deal with all options and that a

delegation will visit cairo to pursue cease—fire talks. an egyptian official source told the bbc that a egyptian official source told the bbc tha— egyptian official source told the bbc that a new round of negotiations _ the bbc that a new round of negotiations is _ the bbc that a new round of negotiations is expected - the bbc that a new round of negotiations is expected to | negotiations is expected to start tomorrow sponsored by egypt and qatar. 0ur correspondent is injerusalem correspondent is in jerusalem and correspondent is injerusalem and sent us her analysis. the israeli permit _ and sent us her analysis. tue: israeli permit ministers and sent us her analysis. tte: israeli permit ministers really seem to slam the door shut on a cease—fire and hostage deal. he dismissed thomas�*s proposals as delusional. he said that surrounding to them would only lead to another massacre and he said that total victory against the group was within reach. so it was a pretty defiant statement and quite a public rebuke of antony blinken �*s remediation efforts. he sort of took his —— stuck his toe in the door. he said some of their turns where nonstarter is, as he called them but said that he felt there was enough space to pursue negotiations and that he would do so relentlessly. he also said that he pressed the israelis to strengthen

protection of civilians and to maximise efforts to get humanitarian aid into gaza and he highlighted key steps on how they could do that. now, neither man spelled out the hamas demands to which they were objecting, but the group did say that any temporary truce would need to lead to a permanent cease—fire and an israeli withdrawal from gaza, and that is something the israelis reject. mr blinken agreed with them that hamas could not or should not have a role in gaza after the war. but he has made pretty clear that he�*s seeking quite an extensive cease—fire and he is holding it leads to wider peace talks to end the conflict. let�*s move away from the middle east to ukraine, where russia launched the biggest attack in recent weeks on wednesday — with at least five civillians killed and over 40 injured across the kyiv, mykolayiv and kharkiv regions in the last 2a hours. it comes asthe us senate blocked new bipartisan legislation tying tougher border restrictions with aid to ukraine and israel, which has been months in the making. it has also regularly been criticised by donald trump.

well, one bill has already failed in the senate today. now, that bill would have granted billions of dollars to additional security, additional measures for the us southern border. now, that is a very contentious political issue here. there is a crisis at the border. illegal migration has reached a record levels. 0n reached a record levels. on some days in december, there are up to 10,000 illegal crossings a day and that border. they granted billions of dollars in foreign aid. 60 billion to ukraine for team israel, more money to taiwan and a few other that bill did not pass senate republicans

voted against that. that version of the veil is essentially dead. with essentially dead. with essentially the border elements kind of stripped out to just with the foreign aid elements of that bill remaining. the situation with that bill is unclear at the moment. 50 unclear at the moment. so politically _ unclear at the moment. 50 politically speaking, unclear at the moment. so politically speaking, then, republicans originally wanted to tie border security to the bill that would fund both ukraine and israel, but they voted against it?— ukraine and israel, but they voted against it? yes. a bit of a complicated _ voted against it? yes. a bit of a complicated situation, - voted against it? yes. a bit of a complicated situation, isn'tl a complicated situation, isn�*t it? if we focus on last year, president biden asked congress to prove a new branch of military aid. —— approved. congressional republicans oppose that and said no, we�*re not going to give any more money to ukraine. so president biden said, fine, let�*s tie together the foreign aid, money

for ukraine, for israel and for those others with border security. the democrats and republicans then spent months negotiating a new deal on that basis. in that agreement was published a few days ago. now, enterformer president published a few days ago. now, enter former president donald trump. he urges congressional republicans to oppose this deal. it seems that mr trump doesn�*t want to give president biden a political victory so close to the election so that president biden can say, you know, i stopped president biden can say, you know, istopped people president biden can say, you know, i stopped people at the border. donald trump almost certainly be the republican nominee. of course, publicly, republicans in congress say, well, actually, we oppose this deal because it doesn�*t go far enough on border security. at democrats in the white house are saying, look, you wanted this. he said will help ukraine if there is additional money and measures for the border. and now all of a sudden you oppose it. but we need to see

now whether there is a new version of the bill, but that there is a vote on it, even if there is a vote on it, even if there is a boat in the senate and it does pass, then i think it will be very difficult for that new version of the bill to pass the house of representatives as we know, the republicans dominate that. i think that will be difficult. again, the whole situation, the whole question of whether there will be a new version of this tale is not clear at the moment. let�*s take a look at some other stories in the headlines.... at least five people have been killed and more than 30 injured after two buses and several houses were buried by a landslide in the southern philippines. rescuers are searching for 46 people still missing. the landslide happened outside a gold mining site in the town of maco, where the buses were picking up employees. the coffin of the former chilean president, sebastian pinera, has arrived in the capital santiago, where it will lie in state in congress ahead of his funeral on friday. he was killed on tuesday when a helicopter he was

piloting crashed into a lake in the south of the country. the united nations�* humanitarian coordinator says the leaders of the two warring factions in sudan have agreed to meet for talks, possibly in switzerland, on the delivery of aid. martin griffiths said the un had very limited access, and at least 25 million people were in urgent need of assistance as a result of ten months of civil war. the population of sudan needs humanitarian assistance. 25 million people — far too many of them children. 18 million people are "acutely food insecure". qatar has beaten iran 2—0 to progress to the final of the asian cup on saturday. the men�*s team will now facejordan in the final on saturday. polls open soon in pakistan�*s general elections — it comes the day after two bomb explosions near candidates�* offices in the pakistani province of balochistan killed at least 28 people and wounded dozens. the vote has been marred

by violence and claims of poll—rigging. former pm imran khan is barred from contesting. 0ur pakistan correspondent caroline davies reports. these are the images the pakistan government didn�*t want to have in the public mind before the election. two explosions at two election offices the day before the polls open. isis has now claimed responsibility for one of them. pakistan has seen an increase in militant attacks, and that comes on top of economic problems and political instability. but the question that�*s hung over these elections is whether they are free and fair. former prime minister imran khan is disqualified and injail — sentenced to 1a years. 0n the 9th of may last year, his arrest led to violent protests. since then, his party say they�*ve seen a sustained

campaign of harassment against them. key leadership have left, many supporters are in jail. but the party has kept going. like yasmin rashid, now running her campaign from prison, charged with inciting violence on the 9th of may that she denies. her husband of 55 years visits her most days. it�*s nine months now. it�*s...not easy, i tell you, especially for our children who are not in pakistan. for them, it�*s a torture. her brother—in—law has been organising her campaign. you know, our people have been sometimes removed from the scene, sometimes at night their houses are being raided. we are not being provided a fair level playing field. the authorities deny any campaign against the party, calling the allegations baseless and absurd. many see a repeat pattern in pakistan�*s politics. ms rashid is running to win

a seat from the three time prime minister nawaz sharif. his party is now seen to be the one in favour. he was in prison last election when khan won. 0n the eve of the elections, pakistan is facing questions about its future. many fear the result will still not answer them. caroline davis, bbc news, lahore. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. the uk labour party is ditching its policy of spending £28 billion a year on its green investment plan if it wins the next general election. an official annoucement will be made on thursday. it marks a major u—turn and it is expected labour will argue that they have to focus on being fiscally responsible. germany�*s main airline, lufthansa, has had to cancel at least 80% of its flights on wednesday, due to a strike by ground staff

in a salary dispute. the company says more than 100,000 passengers have been affected. it�*s the latest in a wave of protests and industrial action in germany since the start of the year. the family of murdered teenager brianna ghey is being invited to a meeting about online safety with the prime minister rishi sunak. it comes as brianna�*s father said mr sunak should apologise for a jibe about sir keir starmer�*s position on trans people at prime minister�*s questions. the pm ridiculed the labour leaderfor u—turning on the "definition of a woman". you�*re live with bbc news. in the uk the prince of wales has spoken publicly for the first time since the king was diagnosed with cancer. prince william thanked the well—wishers as he arrived at a charity gala dinner in central london. 0ur royal correspondent daniela relph was there — a warning there are flashing images in her report. returning to royal duty — tonight the prince of wales was at a fundraising dinner for the london air ambulance.

and a first comment from prince william to the bbc during what is a challenging time for the royal family. your royal highness, how grateful are you for the public support you�*ve received in recent weeks? i really appreciate all the messages, thank you. prince william is a former air ambulance pilot himself, so this evening�*s event had personal meaning to him. and there was a touch of top gun glamour, too. tom cruise, the star guest, and another experienced pilot in the room. the prince gave a speech to guests at the fundraiser, his first since his wife had surgery and news of his father�*s cancer diagnosis was made public. i�*d like to take this opportunity to say thank you also for the kind messages of support for catherine and for my father, especially in recent days. it means a great deal to us all. it�*s fair to say the past few

weeks have had a rather medical focus, so i thought i�*d come to an air ambulance function to get away from it all. laughter. while one prince was on public duty, the other, who arrived yesterday, is already on his way home. prince harry spent around 45 minutes with his father at clarence house after the king�*s cancer diagnosis. he didn�*t meet his brother, prince william, during his flying visit to the uk. the king is now on his sandringham estate in norfolk, away from the public gaze, where he�*ll spend much of the coming weeks. in the commons today, there was support for the royal family. i know the thoughts of the house and the country are with the king and his family. we wish his majesty a speedy recovery and look forward to him resuming his public facing duties in due course. prince william�*s first engagement back earlier today was at an investiture at windsor castle. amongst those being honoured, the former lioness ellen white, england�*s record goal—scorer. that�*s two engagements done today, but the prince of wales�*s return to public duty will be a steady one. there are gaps in the royal

diary with the king unwell, but the priority for prince william is supporting his wife through her recovery after surgery. it was a glamorous end to the prince of wales�*s first day back on royal duty. not all engagements are as glitzy as this one, but with the king and the princess of wales stepping back, the royal family needs the profile and the pull of prince william. daniela relph, bbc news, central london. this weekend marks the start of the lunar new year, and millions across the world are gearing up for celebrations. the holiday sets off the "largest annual human migration", as millions in china travel to their home towns. however, snowstorms and freezing rain have disrupted transportation in large parts of the country — potentially ruining plans for many. simijolaoso has more. saturday marks the lunar new year, which is the beginning of a new year in the lunar and lunisolar calendar. it�*s also known as the spring

festival, and it�*s celebrated by millions across the world and in countries like singapore, thailand, vietnam, japan and china. streets are illuminated with grand, colourful displays. in fact, in indonesia, displays have already been set up to usher in this year of the dragon. in china, the 15 day holiday creates what many call the largest annual human migration, and that�*s because millions will be making journeys to their hometowns in order to celebrate with theirfamilies. it�*s estimated that 480 million journeys are set to be made this year. that�*s 40% higher than last year. however, it�*s proving very difficult, and that�*s because of the weather conditions, particularly in southern and central parts of china, where there�*s been freezing rain and snow storms. take a look at this. motorists stuck on the highway. flights and trains have been cancelled. people have been stuck at railway stations as well as in trains themselves because of power

lines being cut. in fact, the chinese weather service has said that this has been the worst winter weather since 2008. and 255 cities across the country has seen their average daily temperatures drop below zero degrees. that�*s far colder than in previous years. the national broadcaster has said that the central government allocated 1111 million, that�*s around $20 million towards snow being removed from major roads and highways. people have been sharing on social media their gratitude and their thanks towards those who have offered hot drinks and hot food, to commuters who have been stuck on the motorways. now, the weather is set to improve over

the next couple of days. the major severe blizzard warnings were lifted on wednesday, but snow will continue to fall, but it is expected to get warmer by friday. just in time for the lunar new year. this next story has been one of the most read on our website. take a look at the video. it shows a pod of killer whales appearing stuck in the drift ice off the coast of japan. the drone footage showed a group of at least ten orcas about half a mile from the shores of rausu, in hokkaido. but we can now tell you they —seem to have escaped. (read 0n) earlier i spoke to andy rogan — science lead at 0cean alliance — and asked him just how dangerous situations like this are for orcas yeah, it is really dangerous. there are a handful of incidents of this happening around the world in a few places. it doesn�*t happen in many. certainly when it does happen it can result in death either through starvation or drowning. and from what you know of orcas and their behaviour, how do you think they got

themselves stuck in the drift ice in the first place? that has happened in the past, a number of occasions where this has been documented. it�*s possible that it�*s happening increasingly with naive animals, animals that haven�*t spent as much time in this environment if things like climate change are pushing them into new areas, warming waters pushing them northwards into areas where they are not as familiar with this ice. it�*s certainly possible, but we could be seeing more of it, yeah. why would they struggle to free themselves? can�*t whales hold their breath for periods of long—time? yeah, these ice flows are quite unpredictable. i have been in some myself on a boat and they can really move around very quickly. they be very strong, even though it appears to be these broken up pieces of ice. these whales can�*t hold

their breath as long, 15—20 minutes and even then, they still don�*t know if there is a gap in the ice. it�*s hard for them to really know where that gap is, so it�*s a lot of trial and error presumably of diving under, searching for a place and then coming back to that breathing hole that we see in the drone video. i don�*t suppose that could lead to exhaustion as well to some extent. how common is this? you mention it doesn�*t happen often. what should we know about the orcas and their habitats? it doesn�*t happen very often. there have been a couple of papers that have documented that. it�*s been documented in a few certain places, a few bays in particular where you get the sort of unpredictable ice flows. again, orca have been moving northwards both in the north hemisphere and the southern hemisphere, moving into waters that they might not be as familiar with. you know, any animal, it is not going to live

in a place where there is great danger. evolution will teach them that this is not a good place for them to live. as animals encroach into new areas, they might increasingly face threats such as this, that they have little experience in dealing with. the winning images in this year�*s wildlife photographer of the year competition — have been made public. this stunning picture of a young polar bear sleeping on an iceberg — captured by the british amateur photographer — neema sari—kani was the people�*s choice — among a roll—call of fabulous pictures. it took 3 days searching for polar bears in norway. this is a balkan pond turtle — that was walking in shallow water when a dragonfly landed on its nose. these starlings were captured in the suburbs of rome. suddenly the flock swirled into the shape of a giant bird. this image is from kenya — after two lionesses came back from an unsuccessful hunting mission, they called the cubs out to the open grassland and began grooming. these photos and more are on display at the natural history museum

in london untiljune. and the last photo is from northern norway. moon jellyfish swarmed in the cool autumnal waters, illuminated by the aurora borealis. a quick recap of our top story this hour, a senior commander of an iran—backed militia has been killed in an american drone strike in baghdad. a leader of the group kataib hezbollah and two of his guards were in a vehicle in the east of the iraqi capital when it was targeted. all three of them died. the pentagon said the militia leader was responsible for directing attacks on american forces in the region. stay with us. you have been watching newsday. goodbye for now. hello there. there is some snow in the forecast over the next couple of days, but it�*s certainly not

going to be everywhere. most of the snow — the disruptive and heavy snow — will be mainly for northern parts of the uk and particularly over the hills, where there�*ll be some drifting as the easterly wind picks up. and that�*s going to bring some travel disruption, particularly for transpennine routes. now we�*re seeing colder air move across most of the uk, but things are a bit milder towards the south and southwest, and where we�*ve got that boundary, we�*ve got this weather front here, and that�*s bringing wet weather up from the southwest, and as it hits the colder air, so this is where we�*re going to see it turning to sleet and snow. and the coldest air early on thursday morning is certainly going to be in scotland. we�*ll have a frost for a while in northern ireland and northern england. and we�*ve got this amber snow and ice warning from the met office for thursday covering north wales, northwestern parts of shropshire, also the peak district and the southern pennines. and you can see it�*s mainly over the hills, but there could be a lot of snow over the higher ground. it�*s going to be more likely rain as you head further south across wales,

the midlands and southern england. but as you move that wetter weather into the colder air, so we�*ve got the threat of some snow mainly over the hills of northern england and also northern ireland, perhaps heading into the far south of scotland by the end of the day. could be some sunshine for the rest of scotland. chilly day, of course, with that wet weather, although it does turn much milder across the south, as that first band of wet weather moves through, briefly turning drier, but more rain coming into the south and more snow over the northern hills of england into southern scotland as well. now, this area of low pressure is bringing all the wet weather. it is pushing milder air northwards, but we�*ve still got the cold conditions on friday in scotland. so this is where we�*re more likely to have some sleet and snow. there�*ll be a cold easterly wind picking up. could still be some snow over the northern pennines, but on the whole, across the rest of the uk, it�*s going to be too warm for snow. we�*re more likely to have some rain from time to time as temperatures are starting to rise. but it�*s still cold in scotland. but even here, temperatures are going to be rising on saturday. the colder air is really only in the far north of scotland,

so there could be some sleet and snow here. otherwise there may well be some sunshine, may well be some showers. these are more likely to be of rain. temperatures are rising in scotland and reaching double figures across much of england and wales and also northern ireland.

to the scene of this attack. disney�*s cost—cutting strategy pays off.. the house of mouse unveils its quarterly results.. and its biggest move yet into the gaming sector. plus... is the world�*s second largest economy at risk of more deflation? we look into why prices have been falling in china. hello and welcome to asia business report. i�*m steve lai. hello and welcome to asia business report. i�*m steve lai. we begin with disney because the media and entertainment giant has reported earnings that beat estimates, sending its shares soaring nearly 7% in after hours trading. the company also unveiled what is its biggest bet to date in the gaming industry... 0ur north america business correspondent, erin delmore, has more from new york. disney says it�*s on pace to bring in more money this fiscal year and that it expects earnings at least 20% higher than last year. and the company says it�*s on pace to cut costs. it expects to meet or surpass its goal of cutting $7.5 billion by the end

of this fiscal year. the news comes as pressure mounts from an activist