arab—americans in michigan's presidential primary. the south korean birthrate figures out shortly. how low will they go? and tiktok starts removing songs after the world's biggest record label withdrew permission for them to be used. thank you forjoining me. we start this hour in the us state of michigan, where polls will soon close in the presidential primaries. there's no mystery about the winners joe biden and donald trump will be the leading democrat and republican respectively. but the scale of mr biden�*s win is being closely watched. michigan has a high proportion of arab—americans who disapprove of the way he's handling the situation in gaza. and in a key swing state, that could be significant.

our north america editor, sarah smith, is in detroit. let me hear you say i'm voting uncommitted. all: i'm voting uncommitted. i'm voting uncommitted. all: i'm voting uncommitted. "voting uncommitted" is a protest against the president. you wouldn't know it from these signs, but these are normally joe biden supporters. furious, though, about his support for israel's war on gaza. they want him to call for a permanent ceasefire before he'll win their votes again. no matter how many people refuse to support him today, joe biden cannot lose this democratic primary contest. but if the same people don't vote for him in the presidential election, that could be decisive. michigan is a key state that he only won very narrowly last time, and he really needs to win again this year. many students and young voters are also distressed by what they see happening in gaza, notjust here at michigan's wayne state university, but on campuses right across the united states. america sees what's happening. it's heartbreaking. and to not see, at the very

least, a ceasefire being advocated for by our president, it's maddening and it's very sad. do you think president biden could use his influence, his leverage with israel more than he is doing to try and achieve a ceasefire? yeah, he can. we all know that if united states pulled funding, they would not be killing people at the rate that they are. so do you worry that the "uncommitted campaign" is going to put people off voting for biden who might not vote for him in november? it might let trump into the white house? that is a worry of mine. one of the most scariest things i could possibly imagine. telljoe biden, we do not support him. we cannot support him. campaigners know energising voters againstjoe biden now could have consequences later this year. are you worried at all that you're actually helping donald trump into the white house? because anything that damages joe biden makes it easier for him to become president. if biden doesn't act now, and listen to the 80%

of democrats and the 66% of americans that want a permanent ceasefire right now, it is going to be biden, his administration and the democratic party that are going to be accountable for handing the white house to trump in november. getting out the vote in key states like michigan will be one ofjoe biden�*s biggest challenges in november. anything that discourages people from supporting him, even if they just stay home, could cost him the election. sarah smith, bbc news, detroit, michigan. quinn klinefelter is senior news editor at wdet detroit public radio. i asked him if what's happening in gaza was dealbreaker for voters in michigan. it is being said quite a bit in this area. how effective it is going to be as we go towards the november general election remains a good question. as we heard, there's been a lot of talk about whether or not a vote for "uncommitted" which is part of a ballot, now, that you

can circle four, will actually make a dent intojoe biden�*s support. they weren't about 10,000 people to vote for that and sent a message that they should not continue to support israel as they have been in the war in gaza. but you speak to political experts and they said there is a sizeable arab and muslim population in michigan and they have been staring towards republicans to an extent over the last couple of issues, over conservative issues, over conservative issues like schools, lgbtq issues. the democrats need to recapture that, number one. and as you get closer to the general election, the biden campaign is saying that people remember donald trump about muslim band, and when push comes to shove and you have to pick who will be in the white house, joe biden will be in a stronger position at that point. stronger position at that oint. ~ . . , stronger position at that oint, m ., stronger position at that oint. a . point. michigan is a crucial swin: point. michigan is a crucial swing state. _ point. michigan is a crucial swing state. donald - point. michigan is a crucial| swing state. donald trump point. michigan is a crucial-

swing state. donald trump one in 2016 and joe biden in 2020. what other issues could affect their votes aside from this one? ., , ., one? people vote with their pocketbooks. _ one? people vote with their pocketbooks. it _ one? people vote with their pocketbooks. it is _ one? people vote with their pocketbooks. it is a - one? people vote with their pocketbooks. it is a cliche l one? people vote with their| pocketbooks. it is a cliche to some extent, but a lot of people have raised that in this area in particular. even though there are economic indicators suggesting the economy should be doing well with unemployment down and inflation trying to drop, yet people say they don't feel that in their own home, that prices are skyhigh for many things. many business owners say that as they did in 2016 and in 2010 -- 2020, they would prefer a businessman, and, as they trouble is, and think they would do a better job of running the government. they said it was better four years ago. ——as they say trump is. things are improving quite a bit. there are people who are receptive to that. they say that they think some of these prices may have been artificially inflated just to scare voters as they head towards the polls today and in

november, when the general election would happen, and they believe that ifjoe biden was allowed to continue on his economic course, things will improve dramatically, notjust improve dramatically, not just as improve dramatically, notjust as this year goes on but into a second term, if you were re—elected. second term, if you were re-elected._ second term, if you were re-elected. just quickly, if ou re-elected. just quickly, if you could _ re-elected. just quickly, if you could elaborate - re-elected. just quickly, if you could elaborate a - re-elected. just quickly, if| you could elaborate a little bit more on donald trump and the kinds of things that you are hearing people talking about him in michigan? the are hearing people talking about him in michigan? the - is base of support _ about him in michigan? the - is base of support remains - about him in michigan? the - isj base of support remains strong. for the most part, the maga people have dominated the republican party, which is in a bit of disarray at the state level in michigan. they were supporting him intros, coming out in thousands at a recent rally for donald trump. he said he wanted people to make a big showing at the polls, and even though he is far ahead, by all accounts, he said to send a message to democrat that "a freight train is coming in november and admitted get out of the way because the trump is coming for re—election."

let's turn to the gaza conflict itself. more than 20 weeks into the war, aid agencies are saying their work is becoming impossible. israeli forces are accused of blocking convoys and lawlessness within gaza is also affecting the distribution of supplies. as part of special coverage across the bbc of daily life for palestinians in gaza, fergal keane sent this report from jerusalem. 0n the iasrd night of the war eight people were reported killed here. among them, a seven—year—old girl. in an area hosting five times its normal population, israel hunts for the hamas attackers who killed and kidnapped its citizens. and for civilians in rafah, grief follows.... screaming ..pushed from place to place, always losing. screaming today, amid talk of a ceasefire for gaza, we followed the lives of three people — a doctor in the north,

a grandmother in central gaza, and a 12—year—old girl in rafah in the south. malak al—dhabi heard the bomb that killed the seven—year—old girl in rafah. but this morning, as every day, she was up early to start work. her mum and brother have a lung disease. they use a little of their flour to make crisps, which malak sells to buy them medicine. there is a loud desperation. and the quiet kind.

samira nurala is a 65—year—old grandmother, first filmed for us back in october. she was also taking care of her sick husband. with no medicine, her husband died, lying on the ground in the refugee camp. samira deals with her grief by caring for her frightened grandchildren. now, samira's days are spent hiding herfear. translation: we are constantly terrified, like in a movie. - every night, we sleep in fear, trying to assure our children, telling them not to be scared. i'm talking to you, and the drone is flying above us.

israel blames hamas for the suffering, saying civilians are being used as human shields, and it has vowed to destroy the organisation in gaza. in the process, thousands of civilians have been made casualties. in the al—shifa hospital, the suffering — the boy holding the saline drip above his father — and the healers. dr mohamed elsheikh says he's only left the hospital twice since the war began four months ago. translation: we're working 24/7. - we don't go to our homes. we're disconnected from our families. all the volunteers and medical staff stay in the same room. as far as food goes, only a few items are available. we provide whatever we can.

in another ward under dr mohamed's care, three—year—old jude, who lost his leg in an explosion. nine—year—old adam's leg was amputated after being infected with gangrene. another day of war. still only talk of a ceasefire. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. we go to south korea where figures later today are expected to show the country has, once again, the lowest birthrate in the world. based on 2022 figures, the average south korean woman is expected to have 0.78 children in her lifetime — for a population to hold steady that number should be 2.1. comparing that to other countries, japan�*s birth rate was 1.26 children per woman in 2022 and decreased by 5.1% in the past year. whereas in the uk, that average number currently sits at 1.49. we'll hear south korea's updated figures in a an hour. —— we'll hear south korea's updated figures in a couple of hours.

earlier i spoke with dylan motin, who's a researcher at the centre for international and strategic studies, based in seoul. i asked him why south korea's birth rate is particularly low. there are a lot of different issues, and it has been in the making for the last a0 years. butjust to give you a number of issues, first, the working days in korea are extremely long, and people work very late at night, and even during the weekends, and it is very hard to build a family or even to meet a new partner. and another issue is the very high costs of private education and people sometimes investing hundreds of dollars each month to pay for private academies and discussing economy, it can prevent you from wanting children. —— and when you know

this cost is coming, it can deter children. and south korea remains a relatively conservative country, it is expected that a woman or the child will take care of that child. and when you are an educated young young woman who wants to have a career, having a child can be a huge impediment in progressing your career and just to make the comparison, in france, 60% of children are born outside of marriage and south korea it's only 2%. and people are not getting married and the number of children is going to decrease dramatically. south korea's president has called the situation an emergency. does that mean the government is taking emergency measures? well, you've seen in the last 20 years, a lot of money has been added to each childbirth and the government putting in place longer parental leaves both for mothers and for fathers and also, they've talked

about the economic collapse and taking a lot of measures for healthcare and making life more convenient. —— demographic collapse. but unfortunately, fertility remains very low, and notjust putting money in will solve the problem. there's a lot of issues, including cultural issues which will need a big rethinking, notjust some money on the table. the post office has confirmed its current boss is under investigation.

—— the post office has confirmed that its current boss, nick read, is under investigation, after it was revealed by henry staunton its former chairman. mr staunton was at a hearing to discuss compensation payments to sub—postmasters at the centre of the horizon scandal. the post office confirmed it in a statement, saying there were complaints against mr read and other staff. mp lee anderson has refused to rule outjoining the reform uk party after he was suspended by the tories. the ashfield mp refused to apologise for suggesting london mayor sadiq khan is controlled by islamists. prime minister rishi sunak called the comments by the former tory deputy chairman wrong, but avoided saying if he thought they were islamophobic. and the owners of a pub which was known as "the wonkiest in britain" before it was gutted by fire have been ordered to rebuild it in its originalform. the 18th—century crooked house pub in staffordshire was a popular attraction with visitors who came to see its distinctive lean. you're live with bbc news. in the uk, prince william has

unexpectedly pulled out of a remora service for his late godfather, king constantine of greece. the prince had been due to give a reading at the service, at windsor castle. kensington palace said his absence was because of what it called a "personal matter" — but didn't elaborate. our royal correspondent daniela relph has this report. and we must warn you, it contains flashing images. leading the royal family's walk to st george's chapel. the duke of york, no longer a working royal, and his former wife sarah the duchess of york. this is a royal family whose numbers are down. inside the chapel, queen camilla led the royal party at the service to remember king constantine of greece. the prince of wales was due to be with her. king constantine was his godfather, and prince william had planned to give a reading at the service, but he unexpectedly pulled out around an hour before it was due to start,

because of an undisclosed personal matter. christmas day at sandringham — this was the last time we saw the princess of wales in public before she was admitted to hospitalfor surgery last month. kensington palace were keen to stress today that she is doing well. prince william has been focused on his wife's recovery, but he's beginning to resume royal engagements, including here at the baftas, where he hinted at family pressures. i've done the fewest i've ever done before. that is all right. the absence of prince william here showed just how unstable a time it is for the royal family. there is a nervousness and an unpredictability around every public event they currently do. it continues to be a turbulent few weeks. this evening, buckingham palace announced the death of thomas kingston, the son—in—law of prince and princess michael of kent. the husband of their daughter, lady gabriella. the kents were guests at the thanksgiving

service in windsor today. in a statement, the king and queen sent their heartfelt thoughts and prayers to his family. his death is not thought to be suspicious. for queen camilla, this has been a period where she's had to step up. the public face of a royal family grappling with a number of challenges. daniela relph, bbc news, windsor. one of russia's best known human rights campaigners has beenjailed by a moscow human rights campaigners has been jailed by a moscow court forward discrediting the russian army. —— for discrediting. oleg orlov, who's 70, has been given a two and a half year sentence. he's previously written that president putin has led the country into fascism. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, sent this report from moscow. he knew very well he could be about to go to prison. but oleg orlov, one of russia's most prominent human rights campaigners, had no intention of staying silent. translation: my first trial, and now this retrial, - and all the other

people on trial for similar so—called crimes, they show that russia has become a totalitarian state. he'd been charged with repeatedly discrediting the russian army. that's one of several laws brought in to punish public criticism of the war in ukraine. a show of support from foreign ambassadors in the gallery, and from his lawyer, as they sat waiting for the verdict. "guilty," said the judge. he was sent to prison for two and a half years. seconds later, on went the handcuffs. then oleg orlov, the co—chair of a human rights group that once won the nobel peace prize, was taken away and locked in a cage. among supporters outside, the mood was sombre. they see this as another blow to civil society in russia.

it's the first time when such a well—known figure in human rights community is sentenced to prison, just for his opinion. what does this say about what is happening in russia today? it's going worse. when oleg orlov was convicted on these charges last year, he was fined — too lenient, said prosecutors. hence the retrial and the tougher punishment today. in court this week, mr orlov said russia was sinking ever deeper into darkness, with the death in prison of alexei navalny and judicial reprisals against government critics. freedom, he said, was being suffocated. across town, russians were remembering boris nemtsov. a fierce critic of vladimir putin, he was shot dead near the kremlin nine years ago today. the authorities deny any connection to his murder, just like they deny any involvement

in the death of alexei navalny. in court, oleg orlov had quoted alexei navalny�*s slogan, "don't give up", and then sent his own message to russians — "don't lose heart." steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. let's look at some other news in the headlines. several nato countries have ruled out sending ground troops to ukraine. it comes after french president emmanuel macron said "nothing should be excluded" in support of kyiv. the white house insisted that the us would not deploy soldiers to fight the russian invasion. the leaders of germany, italy and britain made similar statements. police in germany have arrested a former member of the far—left red army faction who had been in hiding for 30 years. daniela klette was detained in berlin and taken to a region near bremen where she's awaiting trial for her suspected involvement in several robberies.

the anti—capitalist group, also known as the baader—meinhof group, is accused of more than 30 murders. a dna test has confirmed that a terminally ill man who claimed to be one of japan�*s most wanted criminals was telling the truth. satoshi kirishima said he wanted to face his death last month using his real name. he was a member of a radical, left—wing group behind a series of deadly bombings in the 1970s. kirishima had been on the run for nearly 50 years. and two men have been convicted of the murder ofjam masterjay, from the american hip—hop trio run dmc, more than 20 years ago. ronald washington and karl jordanjr were found guilty on all counts, including drug trafficking. jam masterjay, whose real name was jason mizell, was shot dead in his queens studio in new york in october 2002. the men face at least twenty years in prison. a court in the netherlands has sentenced the leader of a brutal drug cartel to life in prison after a wave of murders

and attempted murders. the judge whose identity was kept secret for his own security said the man decided who should be killed and spared no—one. i6 be killed and spared no—one. 16 other members of the gang received sentences. they said to be behind the of a well—known journalist. —— they are said to be behind the murder of a well—known journalist. the video—sharing app tiktok says it has started removing many songs from its platform. it comes after the world's biggest record label, universal music, withdrew permission for them to be used on tiktok, in a row over money. our music correspondent, mark savage, has the details. music this is all about the business end of the music business. if your company wants

to use a song that's owned by a record label, you have to pay them. and universal music says tiktok isn't paying enough. as a result, earlier this month, songs by universal�*s biggestartists, including taylor swift, the beatles and billie eilish were all muted on the app. some estimates say 80% of the songs on tiktok could vanish. the app argues that the figure is closer to 30%. in a statement, universal said it was taking this action because tiktok is building a business based on music without paying fair value. in response, tiktok accused the company of putting their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters. now, tiktok is also having to remove music by songwriters signed to universal, and that could affect artists on other labels, the likes of adele, beyonce and harry styles, who frequently work with universal�*s writers. music mark savage, bbc news.

finally this hour, i wanted to show you one of the most watched videos on the bbc news website, and it certainly isn't something you see every day. take a look. a pod of dolphins in the river thames near kent. volunteers from the royal national lifeboat institution saw the two adults and a calf on saturday and described the site is incredible. the river thames is home to 125 species of fish, marine, and terrestrial mammals. —— the sight as incredible. incredible, isn't it? hello. temperatures have been falling quite quickly over the past few hours. we've got some cold air in place and there's some mist and some fog patches around for some of us to start your wednesday morning.

so some fog patches, particularly through parts of southern and central england and east anglia, and then rain is going to be spreading its way gradually eastwards. that rain pushing in across northern ireland by the early hours of wednesday, during wednesday morning pushing into scotland, wales as well. fog for parts of central, eastern and southern england — that should clear away by the middle of the morning. and then these bursts of rain could be quite heavy as they push across wales, into central england as well. far southeast and east anglia, staying dry for a good part of the day. but a return to a few more showers from the northwest. temperatures, though, between about 9—13, so certainly milder than they have been. now, through wednesday evening and overnight, then, this next pulse of fairly heavy rain at times pushes its way eastwards. could be quite squally. thunderstorms possible on that line of rain as it crosses its way south—eastwards across many parts of the uk. clearer skies following on by thursday morning to northern ireland, scotland and the far north of england, where we could see some wintry showers over the higher ground of scotland. so wednesday's mild air will clear away towards the east, and into thursday, we've got these colder conditions, this cold air

mass following on behind. some heavy rain where those air masses meet that'll linger through parts of central and southeastern england, i think, through thursday morning, only gradually easing away. but towards northern england, scotland, northern ireland, some clearer spells, a rash of heavy, blustery showers, though, moving in from the northwest. and i think north of the central belt, they could be a little bit wintry, above around about 200 metres or so. so we're back into single figures towards the nort—hwest of the uk on thursday. and then into friday, we've got low pressure very much in charge, moving in across that colder air mass. so we could see a little bit of snow on friday, mainly over the high ground north wales, perhaps the pennines, into the southern uplands as well. down at low levels, i think it's going to be falling as rain and we'll see brisk winds rotating around this area of low pressure, so blustery, particularly around the peripheries of the uk, less windy for central parts, but a little bit colder certainly compared to wednesday. so we're looking at single figures for many of us. further ahead, as we end the weekend

and into the weekend, then, we're going to stick with those slightly lower temperatures and it's looking fairly unsettled and showery for many of us as we head into the start of meteorological spring. bye for now.

apple is reportedly watching down production of its electric cars as plans of competing with

tesla in a speedbump. in artificial intelligence is changing the retail world, we find out how a us chip giant nvidia is leading the charge. welcome to asia business report. big stories in the us, it seems like apples electric and visions have hit the major speedbump. the company has reportedly begun winding down its dedicated to measuring electric cars. our business correspondence file this report from york. correspondence file this report from york-— from york. apple still with lofty ambitions. _ from york. apple still with lofty ambitions. for- from york. apple still with | lofty ambitions. for years, from york. apple still with i lofty ambitions. for years, it lofty ambitions. foryears, it was rumoured that it wanted to build its own electric cart, one with a steering wheel or any paddles. driverless experience. but after spending billions of dollars on the decade—long project, it now appears the iphone maker, it's about to get altogether. we reached out to apple for, but we haven't heard back from them

yet. the team working on the project were on the iphone