the red bull formula one team boss christian homer, has been cleared, after an allegation of "inappropriate behaviour" by a female colleague. thousands of residents have been forced to leave their homes in texas, where wildfires have been burning out of control. hello and thank you for being with us. we begin in the united states with some breaking news. the supreme court has agreed to decide if donald trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges. the charges involve mr trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

but the supreme court's decision to take up the case could delay it beyond the election in november. earlier, i asked our north america correspondent peter bowes if this announcement comes as a surprise. i think it was inevitable that this would end up in the supreme court. donald trump's claims averted been rejected by a lower court and he claims he is immune to this kind of criminal prosecution because he was president at the time. this relates to the allegations that he tried to overturn the result of the 2020 election and mr trump faces multiple charges including one that he conspired to defraud the come of this was a trial does do to start very soon next month and it is been delayed and it is now on hold reading from the supreme court

that they intend to hear arguments in april, the third week of april and a decision expected at some point injune and we know now that this trial, if indeed it goes ahead, it will not be happening until at leastjuly and were getting into political convention season in the election is looming in november and one of donald trump tactics has always been to try to delay these legal proceedings against him while he focuses on his campaigning. while he focuses on his campaigning-— while he focuses on his camaiuanin. �* ~ , campaigning. and mr trump appointed — campaigning. and mr trump appointed three _ campaigning. and mr trump appointed three judges - campaigning. and mr trump appointed three judges on i campaigning. and mr trump i appointed three judges on the supreme court making it 63 conservative majority.- supreme court making it 63 conservative majority. conservative ma'ority. yes, the su - reme conservative ma'ority. yes, the supreme court— conservative majority. yes, the supreme court has _ conservative majority. yes, the supreme court has a _ supreme court has a conservative majority and you would think therefore might be inclined to rule in his favour but there have been decisions runs conservative supreme court

in recent months that have not necessarily agreed with donald trump's policies and they have been decisions related to him in person but they haven't already always sided with the conservative views. i dropped the can necessarily read too much into the makeup of this when trying to speculate as to how they are going to rule on this particular issue. that's not the only big poltiical development in the us, senator mitch mcconnell, one of the most powerful republican leaders of recent decades has announced he plans to step down later this year as the party's senate leader. it's a hugely significant decision — that could have major consequences for us politics — heading in an election year. here is mr connell announcing his decision. is to know when it is time to

move on to life next chapter. i stand before you today, mr president and my colleagues, to say this will be my last term as republican leader of the senate. i am as republican leader of the senate. iam not as republican leader of the senate. i am not going anywhere anytime soon. however, i will complete myjob and what my colleagues have given me until we select a new leader in november and they take the helm next january. earlier, i spoke to stephen neukam, who covers the us congress for axios. i think there was why it expectation within washington that this would be leader mcconnell�*s last term at the helm of the senate. i think the timing here and him announcing this in february is surprising to a lot of people. will have to a lot of people. will have to hear from

to a lot of people. will have to hearfrom him and those close to him on what spurred on the decision but i think in general, the development that he will not be at the front of the gop any longer after this year is not all that shocking given his age, he is in his 80s and the fact that it came so early on in the election cycle month before the election is surprising. i5 month before the election is surprising-— —— he has fallen out with the lot of people and what does this mean for us politics? former president donald trump is the leading candidate for the republican nomination in 2024 and likely will have a rematch between him and joe biden in november. the republican party has been undergoing an ideological transformation since 2015 and

2016 when president trump was first elected. you're right, senator mcconnell had a falling out with the former president and they differed on from's claimed that the 2020 election was stolen in the january six capital riots here in dc. so, senators, senate republicans are going to have a choice in front of them to pick someone who is more along the mainstream of the party and old—school republican, someone like mitch mcconnell. move towards someone who is leading then that is closer to the trump wing of the party. can i 'ust aet trump wing of the party. can i just get a _ trump wing of the party. can i just get a quick _ trump wing of the party. can i just get a quick view _ trump wing of the party. can i just get a quick view from - trump wing of the party. can i just get a quick view from you | just get a quick view from you by the us supreme court decision on hearing the case about mrtrump. i decision on hearing the case about mr trump.— about mr trump. i think a victory for _ about mr trump. i think a victory for the _ about mr trump. i think a victory for the trump - about mr trump. i think a - victory for the trump campaign in terms of possibly delaying it through the election and people have wanted democrats and they wanted they tried to

go on as quickly as possible and the reaction from a lot of folks in washington are just the fact that this is a favourable outcome for mr trump in his campaign. talking about who might replace mitch mcconnell and there is an article on the bbc website and apparently three of the main candidates and also check that out as well. the widow of the russian opposition leader alexei navalny has made an emotional address to the european parliament, in which she claimed her husband was tortured for three years on vladimir putin's orders and then murdered. the long—standing critic of the russian president died suddenly in prison earlier this month. nick beake reports. it's not even two weeks since she lost her husband, but yulia navalnaya says she has to keep fighting. the latest stop on her path tojustice, the european parliament, where she condemned

vladimir putin for actions that had bereaved russians, ukrainians and her own family. putin must answer for what he has done with my country. has done to a neighbouring, peaceful country. and putin must answer for everything he has done to alexei. alexei navalny died in his siberian prison, where he was serving a 19 year sentence that was widely seen as being politically motivated. his family say he was murdered. the russian authorities claim it was natural causes. yulia navalnaya said europe's leaders must stop treating vladimir putin like a normal politician and deal with him as a mafia boss. she said passing endless resolutions and the same

old sanctions wouldn't have any impact. she said there needed to be a new effort to go after the money of his inner circle in the way you deal with organised crime. but before that, alexei navalny�*s family say they want to bury him here in southern moscow on friday. it's unclear what sort of public display of grief the police will tolerate. putin is capable of anything. yulia navalnaya says she will now go and recruit yet more supporters to her cause, promising that russia does have a beautiful future once it is rid of evil. nick beake, bbc news, strasbourg. as hong kong moves forward with a tougher national security law, the uk government has issued a statement, saying that it breaches its international obligations including the handover deal signed by the uk and china. article 23 is designed to close what officials call loopholes that remain after china imposed its security law on the territory in 2020

following mass protests. ted hui, an activist and lawyer who was a legislator with hong kong s democratic party, now living in self—exile in australia. i asked him if the uk statement changes much. it doesn't have any changing of the reality of hong kong of the legislation is going to be passed and of course, after the consultation period in the head of hong kong saying that it is overwhelming support in societies consensus for the legislation and of course, that is after the disqualification of all of us democratic legislators and also the putting injail of legislators and also the putting in jail of the activists and other dissidents and now, it can do whatever it wants. ., ., ., wants. the hong kong government sa s that wants. the hong kong government says that the — wants. the hong kong government says that the law _ wants. the hong kong government says that the law does _ wants. the hong kong government says that the law does not - says that the law does not

target media and one country to systems will remain, what is your response to that? it is a lie. it your response to that? it is a tie it is _ your response to that? it is a tie it is a _ your response to that? it is a lie. it is a complete - your response to that? it is a lie. it is a complete lie - lie. it is a complete lie because while it is saying it is not targeting the media, now, even without legislation, the media is not free at all and many meteors and organisations forced to leave hong kong and their working visas are not renewed and so, also the founder of media organisations are being trialed and lingering national securities and we expect people like jimmy securities and we expect people likejimmy lie will go to jail like jimmy lie will go to jail for likejimmy lie will go to jail for running media organisations and definitely go to jail for decades. even without legislation, it is already very bad and with legislations, i think it targets more than

media and events of external interference it may target ngo like greenpeace, it is targeting civil foundations and organisations like those involved in training, education and enhancements of freedom and democracy, they are all targeted. hong kong is cutting ties with international communities.- ties with international communities. �* , . , communities. after the security law in 2020, — communities. after the security law in 2020, hong _ communities. after the security law in 2020, hong kong - law in 2020, hong kong authorities have now put a 1 million hong kong dollars bounty on your head along with other democracy activists living overseas, do you worry about the extraterritorial breach of the legislation was enacted think you will be affected?— affected? yes, definitely because _ affected? yes, definitely because in _ affected? yes, definitely because in 2020 - affected? yes, definitely| because in 2020 national security law, i'm already targeted and with this new

legislation there are heavier penalties and expect more persecutions from different aspects of my life and these legislations are draconian law and marking a new hong kong of completely new freedoms and also, it is deterring people speaking out from overseas and international advocates like me and also targeting me and my colleagues who continue to speak for hong kong's freedom and democracy. police scotland have apologised for failings in a long running investigation, that left a killer on the loose for almost 20 years. the hunt for the murderer of emma caldwell, who was 27 when she was strangled in 2005, was one of the longest in scottish history. today, iain packer, who's 51, was found guilty of her murder and jailed for life with a minimum of 36 years. lorna gordon has more emma caldwell, a vulnerable

young woman who was murdered in terrifying circumstances. her killer was this man, iain packer, who for a quarter of a century carried out a campaign of sexual violence. you would look for vulnerability and exploit it. you also abused women who were not necessarily vulnerable but were in a vulnerable position. your conduct has caused extreme and enduring suffering for so many women and theirfamilies. emma had a happy upbringing but when her sister died from cancer, in her grief, she turned to drugs and then prostitution. she'll always be in our thoughts. she'll always be there. she'll always be my emma. the trial heard of her mother's anguish, of how she and her late husband scoured the streets of glasgow searching for emma in the weeks after their daughter went missing. packer was a jekyll and hyde character, a violent, obsessive user of sex workers. i don't think i'll ever stop being angry at the police.

i'm disgusted with how women were treated back then by the police. they made us fear them rather than see them as safe people that we could go to and make reports. emma's mother was in court to hear packer sentenced for her daughter's murder. afterwards, her solicitor said margaret caldwell had never given up fighting for her daughter and packer's other victims, too. police failed so many women and girls who came forward to speak against packer. instead of receiving justice and compassion, they were humiliated, dismissed and, in some instances, arrested, while the police gifted freedom to an evil predator to rape and to rape again. police scotland today apologised and said those who spoke up at the time

did not get the support they deserved. it is clear that further investigations should have been carried out into emma's murder following the initial inquiry in 2005. the lack of investigation until 2015 caused unnecessary distress to her family and all of those women who came forward to report sexual violence. as emma's killer was sentenced, thejudge praised her family for their courage. they now have justice, but say they will never have closure. lorna gordon, bbc news, at the high court in glasgow. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news the body of a migrant has been recovered from the english channel by french rescue workers. two other people are reported missing. authorities in france say a number of rescue operations took place on wednesday to help

around 180 people who were attempting to get to the uk on boats. a power company that has received six billion pounds in uk green subsidies has kept burning wood from some of the world's most precious forests. a bbc panorama investigation has found that drax took timber from rare forests in canada it had claimed were "no go areas". drax says its wood pellets are "sustainable. the rapperja rule says he has been denied entry into the united kingdom just days before his tour was due to start. the us musician was about to kick off the british leg of his latest tour in the welsh capital on friday. he says his criminal record was the reason for the refusal. you're live with bbc news. the boss of red bull's formula one team, christian horner,

has been cleared of �*inappropriate and controlling behaviour�* towards a female colleague. it follows an internal investigation which red bull said had been "fair, rigorous and impartial". laura scott reports. christian horner has been at the helm of red bull racing for nearly two decades, holding the team into a dominant force and becoming one of the most recognisable faces in the paddock, often alongside his former spice girl wife. but his future in the sport was put in jeopardy when allegations of inappropriate behaviour were made against him by a female colleague. at the recent season launch, he emphatically maintained his innocence. can you guarantee you have never behaved inappropriately towards a colleague? i deny any accusations made against me. with the season looming, key figures in the sport had called for swift resolution. it's very concerning, the allegations are serious and it certainly seems like things should be coming to an end here quickly because we really need to be talking about formula 1 as we

go into the start of the year. just 72 hours before the first race in bahrain came the news he had been cleared of misconduct following an independent investigation. rentable will continue striving to make the highest workplace standards for everybody here in milton keynes has been tried operate as close to business as usual as possible but christian horner acknowledged this matter has been a distraction as the start of the season looms. only time will tell if results on the track reflects that. this was horner in bahrain last week for testing. he has now returned know he will stay on as team principal and chief executive. he and the sport organises will be relieved the investigation

was complete before the lights go out for the first grand prix of the year but, given the chance of an appeal, this might not be the end of the road. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. ghana's parliament has unanimously passed a bill that further restricts the rights of gay and transgender people. it also imposes a maximum five—year jail term for forming or funding lgbtq+ groups. gay sex is already against the law in ghana, carrying a three—year prison sentence. the attorney general�*s office in ecuador says five suspects accused of involvement in the assassination of an anti—corruption presidential candidate will go on trial. fernando villavicencio was shot dead in quito last august. one gunman was killed at the scene and seven other suspects were murdered injail.

stand—up comedian and curb your enthusiasm co—star richard lewis has died aged 76. lewis announced last april that he had been diagnosed with parkinson's disease. known for his self—deprecating humour, lewis first rose to prominence in the 1980s. his publicist said he died peacefully in his home in los angeles on tuesday after a suffering a heart attack. the company that made history by becoming the first from the private sector to land a spacecraft on the moon, has been giving more details about the mission. the odysseus space craft, made by a company in texas, touched down last week, but its not so smooth landing meant its communications with mission control were limited. pallab ghosh has more.

a perfect launch. a faultless separation. over comms: lunar lander separation confirmed. - and a smoothjourney to the moon. but landing is always the hardest part and so it proved. on the lunar surface, you can see one of the legs on the left broken. and this image shows a spacecraft leaning over. this evening, the head of the private company that built the lander explained why the landing was so hard. innovation came from being absolutely over constrained, where you didn't have enough time, you didn't have enough money, and you were trying to tackle a problem that seemed almost intractable. so, what actually went wrong? an hour before landing, engineers announced that the lasers that measured the distance to the ground weren't working. as a result, flight engineers had to rapidly develop a back up system. unfortunately, the computer couldn't keep up, and it thought the spacecraft was 100 metres higher than it really was so it hit the ground harder than planned. one of its six legs broke and the spacecraft tilted with its main solar panel facing the ground. so, does this count

as a success or a failure? fantastic success, you know, superb. first time a commercial company's ever managed to do this. and, you know, they've done it right first time. the landing was a little bit wonky. it doesn't really matter in the bigger scheme of things. they've got all the data, so next time they'll get it 100% right. and i think they're ready to go again already. intuitive machines are scheduled to have a more ambitious moon mission injust a few months time. the company says it's learned from the experience and plans a faultless landing next time around. pallab ghosh, bbc news. let's go to norway now as a 80—year old mystery may be about to be unfolded —

at the very bottom of a lake lies a wreckage. some say it's a ufo, but researchers have decided to finally find an answer. here's sam harrison. it looked like a rocket it made quite a commotion, and it turned 180 degrees and landed in the lake behind this year. what next legend has it the object was a ufo which crashed into this lake and for the true believers out there, the diving team has thousands out of this world. the we found an object world. the we found an ob'ect read world. the we found an object read underneath the whole of their and it's 30 metres long and three metres wide and we are not here to believe, we are here to reveal.— here to reveal. the ob'ect revealed i here to reveal. the ob'ect revealed by i here to reveal. the ob'ect revealed by sonar is h here to reveal. the object - revealed by sonar is suspicious to say the least but the local ufo society is necessarily

convinced. i ufo society is necessarily convinced.— convinced. i think it is something _ convinced. ithink it is something known, - convinced. ithink it is| something known, not convinced. i think it is _ something known, not something unknown — something known, not something unknown from space and something from this earth but who knows,. something from this earth but who knows"— something from this earth but who knows,. whether you're a believer or— who knows,. whether you're a believer or not, _ who knows,. whether you're a believer or not, history - who knows,. whether you're a believer or not, history will. believer or not, history will believer or not, history will be one step closer to being solved. and before we go — let's head to texas where wildfires continue to burn out of control. it is believed to be the second largest fire in the county history. thousands of residents forced to leave their homes. county officials said that the fires could burn for days, as more adverse weather are on the horizon. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello there. sunshine was a scarce commodity across the uk on wednesday — but we had most of it in eastern scotland, with just over four hours of sunshine in edinburgh. however, the rest of us, rather cloudy, gray and at times wet — but it was mild with it. however, as the rain continues to push south and east,

the wind direction is changing. we'll see a return to some colder air across our shores. so thursday will start off mild but wet across southeast england and east anglia. quite a lot of cloud generally across england and wales, with the best of any brighter skies into northern ireland, scotland — northwest scotland seeing a real rash of showers, accompanied by gale—force gusts of winds through the day. it will start to turn colder generally across scotland, 6—9 celsius, maybe double digits for a time before that front clears through in the southeast. but, as we move out of thursday into friday, we see this next frontal system moving in — and, as temperatures fall away through the night, bumping into that colder air which is sitting in place across the country, yes, we could see a return to some wintriness. it'll going to be across higher ground — generally temperatures will be sitting around freezing first thing on friday morning, perhaps below in eastern scotland. but there'll be a risk of some snow above 200 metres in northern ireland, scottish borders, across the pennines, and into north wales. we could see a few

centimetres accumulating, so that might cause some minor disruption, but it will be rain elsewhere. so you can see, circulating around that low pressure, is that frontal system — and it will bring some sunny spells and scattered showers, a mixture of rain, sleet and snow at times across wales and southwest england, perhaps drier into the far north of scotland. but temperatures a little bit down — 6—9 celsius. don't forget, friday is the first day of march, so these values just below par for this time of year. then, as we move into the start of the weekend, we maintain the sunny spells and scattered showers — and the wind direction still coming from the north, so it will feel quite cold, and we could still have a wintry flavour with any elevation. so again, 6—7 celsius the expected high. but as we move out of saturday into sunday, we see another frontal system bringing a spell of more organised rain for a time — again, on the leading edge, there could be some wintry showers — but it will be rain eventually as that front moves through. so the weekend will stay pretty unsettled for most of us. take care.

disney strikes a deal with asia's richest man. but will it help the entertainment giant beat its competitors in india's rapidly growing streaming market? and we'll speak to the top boss of air india —

and find out about how its reboot is panning out. hello, and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. we begin our programme in india — where a mega—merger has been reached between the walt disney company and reliance industries. they are combining their india tv and streaming businesses in a $8.5 billion deal. the media unit of reliance, controlled by billionaire mukesh ambani, will own 63% of the new streaming giant, with disney holding the rest. ornando parfitt is the senior news editor of screen international. he says this deal will be an industry disrupter. well they are talking about having a 40% market share — so

obviously a 40% market share of india