the way for free and fair elections in the country. that comes as the us state department is urging citizens to leave as soon as possible with the country bracing for more violence. tensions remain high in haiti, after one of the country's most powerful gang leaders warned that there will be a civil war if prime minister — ariel henry — does not resign. jimmy cherizier, who is also known as barbecue, has been opposed to the prime minister since he took power following the assassination of presidentjovenel moise in 2021. mr henry was not yet elected to his current position. on tuesday, the prime minister landed in puerto rico after his plane was denied permission to land in haiti due to security concerns. the us ambassador to the united nations addressed the situation on wednesday, saying that while the us is not pushing for mr henry to resign, it does wants to see a political transition. what we have asked the haitian prime minister to do is to move

forward on a political process that will lead to the establishment of a presidential transitional council that will lead to elections. and we think that it lead to elections. and we think thatitis lead to elections. and we think that it is urgent, that it is urgent that he moves forward in that direction and starts the process of bringing normalcy back to the people of haiti. meanwhile, the violence in haiti is worsening. the un high commissioner for human rights, volker turk, is calling for international action and says the situation is "beyond untenable". since the beginning of the year, 1,193 people have been killed and 692 others wounded by the gang violence. the un's humanitarian coordinator in haiti told the bbc that gang members are killing and raping indiscriminately, and that bodies can be seen on the streets of the capital. the un says that gangs have stepped up their campaign of violence since the prime minister travelled to kenya a week ago. for more on the situation, i spoke to our central american and cuba correspondent,

will grant. clearly a n clearly an extremely tense situation for haiti with the prime minister being stranded abroad and the leader of the gang, who has led to all of this violence now threatening civil war. what is the latest? it looks like those two positions are very clearly entrenched for the time being. there is no movement from ariel henry stuck in her to rico for now, it is clear that elements of the biden administration want to see him back, not necessarily to continue his prime ministership or to remain in power, in fact quite the opposite they want to begin the transition of power but to be in place to give the country a stage more stability to start the process of first resignation and then free and fair elections. on the flipside you mention the gangs and specifically one gang leader, jimmy cherizier, known as barbecue said he is prepared to

do whatever it takes to force ariel henry from power even if that be civil war. it is an extremely difficult situation in the country and with the airport itself still closed during the state of emergency with the army and the police around the building, looks like nothing will move for the time being but we are alljust waiting and watching at this stage. i waiting and watching at this staue. , ., ., , , stage. i 'ust want to pick up with stage. i just want to pick up with what — stage. i just want to pick up with what you _ stage. i just want to pick up with what you are _ stage. i just want to pick up with what you are saying . stage. i just want to pick up i with what you are saying about washington's message 22, calling on the prime minister expedite the transition of power. what are as possibilities here? power. what are as ossibilities here? ., possibilities here? one of the possibilities _ possibilities here? one of the possibilities as _ possibilities here? one of the possibilities as he _ possibilities here? one of the possibilities as he resigns - possibilities as he resigns from outside the country, that is certainly on the table a possibility, it is probably not one he considers doing i think he does not want to either leave power or not the power under those terms. the pressure is growing notjust within haiti itself from the criminal element but the wider caribbean region, caricom is fixed on the

idea here is a hindrance towards the stability rather than help, we know the state department wants things to go smoothly than that but that would be an ideal world and this is farfrom one haiti at the moment. it is teetering on the moment. it is teetering on the precipice of being a failed state, if he does not resign the question is how does he get back and when can you get back in order to start that process of the transition of power. questions no—one can really answerfor questions no—one can really answer for the questions no—one can really answerfor the time being questions no—one can really answer for the time being stop huge questions, i want to touch on the gang leader. d0 huge questions, i want to touch on the gang leader.— on the gang leader. do we have a clear idea _ on the gang leader. do we have a clear idea of _ on the gang leader. do we have a clear idea of what _ on the gang leader. do we have a clear idea of what his - on the gang leader. do we have a clear idea of what his aims - a clear idea of what his aims are for the country? in a clear idea of what his aims are for the country?- are for the country? in the short term _ are for the country? in the short term as _ are for the country? in the short term as the - are for the country? in the i short term as the resignation of ariel henry, not much more to it than that but there is medium and long—term plans or at least hope and one of them i would not be surprised and i've heard from journalists in haiti that he himself would like to be in power. he sees himself as a man of the people, and

interviews he has given he is emphasising the plight of the poorest of haiti, he speaks in the shanty towns and shows people how bad is our he speaks to the media. he does have designs on power himself and even you were not to be the figure in power is clearly a powerbroker, the pure strength of the gangs that he organises and runs under his coalition of gangs,is and runs under his coalition of gangs, is really a factor in who ever takes power. he has the strength as it were to make or break this political process. yes, ithink or break this political process. yes, i think what he wants somebody who is going to ease life for him, maybe not bring charges against him for the criminality and the charges against him for human rights abuses, if not indeed to take power himself.— abuses, if not indeed to take power himself. thank you very much. thousands of people have fled their homes in port—au—prince to escape violence. serge dalexis leads the office for the international rescue committee in haiti and is currently in montreal

after leaving haiti on sunday evening. the bbc spoke to him earlier. what we are hoping for now it is like to have a safe and secure government where we can deliver aid and assistance to the population of haiti right now. because we have half of the population on the brink of famine due to hunger or going hungry every day right now in the situation on the ground is very dire and now we have gained control more than 80% of the capital city, and as i mentioned earlier, the situation looks very bad for every normal haitian or everyone living in haiti right now. the united states vowed to hold the houthi militia group accountable for the deaths of three civilians after a missile strike hit a commercial ship in the gulf of aden on wednesday. the attack took place about a hundred kilometres southwest of the yemeni

port of aden. four people were also injured. the group has regularly attacked merchant ships in the crucial shipping corridor since the israel—gaza war began, but this is the first such attack to result in any deaths. us state department spokesperson matthew miller accused the houthis of disrupting international commerce, the freedom of navigating international waters and now endangering seafarers. i think it was sadly inevitable, the houthis have continue to launch these reckless attacks with no regard the well being of innocent civilians, who are transiting through the red sea and now they have unfortunately and tragically killed some innocent civilians. we will continue to hold them accountable and we call on governments around the world to do the same. meanwhile, the world food programme says the israeli army thwarted its first attempt in two weeks to take food aid to northern gaza. israel is yet to comment. the us military has released video of another humanitarian aid drop in gaza, 60 bundles of food, which, it says, provides more than 36,000 meals.

the un says a quarter of the population is now close to famine. our correspondent wyre davies is injerusalem. israel says there is no limit to the amount of aid, food and medicines that will allow into gaza, and at 100 trucks full of aid are getting through at the moment, nowhere near the amount needed by the hundreds of thousands of people trapped inside gaza. that's according to aid agencies and other governments. there are example say groups like the world food programme of israel not allowing aid in, there was a convoy in the last 2a hours trying to get through the middle area between israel and gaza going towards the north, that was held up on the border and turned around by the israeli army. there is clearly a lot of international pressure from the americans and the batish in particular to allow much more aid into the people in northern gaza because according to agencies, there is according to agencies, there is a real risk of famine, children

are reportedly dying from malnutrition. the key thing that would allow the saw to happen some sort of temporary peace deal or a truce israel and hamas, israel at the minute is refusing to go to those talks in cairo because it says hamas is not meeting some of its preconditions. principally hamas should supply israel with a list of those hostages who are still alive and would be released as a result of any such peace agreement. that agreement is not forthcoming, there are only a few days now to go before the start of ramadan, that self—imposed deadline for the start of any peace agreement, and there is a lot of growing international concern a peace deal will not be reached. the latest news from cairo there has been no progression with the talks and perhaps no surprise because israel is not there. israel in particular but hamas coming under increasing pressure from washington and from london. wyre davies there.

now ukraine's president and the greek prime minister are unharmed after a deadly russian missile strike on a city that the leaders were touring. the attack hit the port city of odesa, where the country's president, volodymyr zelensky, was showing kyriakos mytsotakis damage caused by two years of war. the two leaders later visited the site of the attack. no—one from either delegation was hurt, but ukraine's navy says five other people were killed. from kyiv, here's james waterhouse. kyriakos mitsotakis and volodymyr zelensky were hosting a joint press conference in the port of odesa it is routinely hit by russia. the kremlin said it carried out a precision strike, in its words, on a hangar containing drones on the same site. now, this is an area that is routinely hit by russia. we just don't know whether both world leaders were deliberately targeted. this is a reminder of the risk

mr zelensky and any leader who visits him the risks they take in times of war. the greek prime minister describing his experience as impressive, he was quite complimentary about it, most would call it petrified. president zelensky said he saw and felt the explosion and if you go on what witnesses are saying, and verified footage of the apparent explosion, it seems as though talking about a matter of hundreds of metres in terms of hundreds of metres in terms of how close the missile was when it struck. president zelensky is no stranger to rest, he visits the front lines, where nemesis might not necessarily be reported, this is the first time it is not a missile has landed curious list —— perilously close to him. and this could have had a very different outcome. five people were killed, no—one from either delegation we are told, but it

shows how it could have been catastrophic for greece, a nato member and catastrophic for greece, a nato memberand ukraine, a catastrophic for greece, a nato member and ukraine, a country still at war, a country still being invaded by russia. that was james waterhouse in kyiv. the world food programme has warned that the world's biggest hunger crisis could develop in sudan. more than ten months of fighting between rival military forces has left thousands dead and eight million people displaced. the head of the un agency called for humanitarian access to reach those facing emergency levels of hunger. in the last day, sudan's military—led government said it would allow some aid to be delivered through neighbouring chad and south sudan. both hunger, as well as displacement, are at the heart of the humanitarian issues stemming from the war in sudan. our deputy africa editor anne soy has been following those issues and reporting on the background of the conflict. it's already the world �*s biggest displacement crisis, and even those who have fled sudan have gone to neighbouring countries are facing issues

getting food. and that is because they are fleeing into countries that are themselves fragile, which have humanitarian crises they have been dealing with, and which are grossly underfunded. so the humanitarian organisations are warning they are struggling to meet the needs of the people on the ground, of the people who are fleeing into neighbouring countries, many of them have been displaced multiple times. it's also incredibly difficult for them to get to those who are sudan, stuck in the door area, up to 90% of them have not been reached, the situation is deteriorating, for weeks now they have not had access to the internet and that means they are cut off from family and friends who have been supporting them. it's an incredibly challenging situation for civilians who had been caught up in this war that has been described as senseless between two military forces, the national army and the rs f,

the national army and the rs f, the rapid support forces, who fell out in april of last year. there have been rounds of talks brokered by regional governments, and the horn of africa and arab states and backed by western nations like the united states, but still they have not yielded lasting peace, and this is what really the head of the world food programme has said will bring respite to people in sudan, will change the situation for them at the moment is to find lasting peace, which at the moment, looks a long way away. that was anne soy there. and as the conflict continues, the spokesperson for the world food programme in sudan leni kinzli says the situation could deteriorate in the coming months. but looking at the current numbers, the spokeswoman said 37% of the sudanese population is facing acute hunger. that's about 18 million people struggling to find food daily. and almost five million people in sudan are facing emergency levels of hunger —

one stage before famine. that number has tripled since the beginning of the conflict. so the question now is about what is being done to fix the problem. william spindler, a spokesperson of the united nations refugee agency, explained that support for sudan is falling behind as the world grapples with multiple wars. well, there are very serious situations elsewhere, of course, and the international community seems to be unable to face more than one crisis at a time. unfortunately, the number of humanitarian situations in the world is growing and we are seeing situations like that of sedan are not getting the attention it needs. in the case of unhcr our needs for sedan this year, both inside the country and in refugees outside the country, it is about 98

million us dollars, so far we have received less than 10% of that amount. our partners of the organisations are similarly underfunded and that his worrying because unlike other situations that are getting the support that they need, sedan seems to be forgotten. william spindlerfrom the united nations refugee agency speaking there. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at the top story in the uk. britain's new budget calls for a cut in national insurance for employees and the self—employed. and the government will increase the child—benefit threshold by £10,000, or nearly $13,000. the plan laid out by chancellor the exchequerjeremy hunt will also include higher taxes on vaping and business class flights. still, the government will take in billions more in tax revenues one the coming decades. the bbc�*s political editor challenged mr hunt on that point. well, one of the reasons that tax receipts is higher is because the economy is set to get back to more growth. but if

ou look get back to more growth. but if you look at _ get back to more growth. but if you look at the _ get back to more growth. but if you look at the thresholds - get back to more growth. but if you look at the thresholds for l you look at the thresholds for paying various rates of tax, they are frozen as people's incomes are rising.- they are frozen as people's incomes are rising. they are -a in: incomes are rising. they are paying more- _ incomes are rising. they are paying more. even - incomes are rising. they are paying more. even if- incomes are rising. they are paying more. even if you - incomes are rising. they are l paying more. even if you take account of the thresholds what you will see next year is a big part in taxation for families earning just as the average income is a significant cut. labour leader keir starmer called the budget a "last desperate act" with people paying "more and more for less and less". it's likely the last budget before a general election. you're live with bbc news. alabama's republican governor kay ivey signed a bill aimed at protecting ivf providers and patients, moments after lawmakers gave final approval to the legislation wednesday. in a statement, ms ivey said: the legislation would protect entities from lawsuits and criminal prosecution

for the "damage or death of an embryo" during in vitro fertilisation treatment. the approval comes less than a month after the state's supreme court overturned fertility practices with a ruling that frozen embryos are legally protected as children. the woman in charge of weapons on the set of the movie rust, where a cinematographer was shot dead, has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. hannah gutierrez—reed loaded a gun for actor alec baldwin, before it fired and killed 42—year—old cinematographer halyna hutchins. this took place during a rehearsal on the set of rust in new mexico back in 2021. gutierrez—reed is now facing a sentence of up to three years in prison. following the verdict, the hutchins family released a statement saying we are satisfied that the jury, based on the evidence, found hannah gutierrez—reed guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for her part in the taking of halyna's life.

one of thejurors in the trial spoke to media after the verdict. pretty much is just that never did the safety checks, never checked the round to look —— look at them, shake them, check them. never happened. they think that was share. and if someone died, i mean, you've got to take responsibility, especially when you are handling weapons and you are in charge of those. that's your job. and lack of experience or whatever you want to call it, you took the job. as for alec baldwin, this verdict is likely to be seen as good news. his attorneys can now argue that baldwin could not have foreseen there was a live round in the gun because that was the responsibility of the weapon handler, hannah gutierrez—reed. baldwin will head to trial injuly to face manslaughter charges. let's turn to some important news around the world. in mexico, a group of protesters have driven a pickup truck through a door to the country's presidential

palace. they were met by police officers, who used tear gas on the protesters. the group was protesting the 2014 mass disappearance of 43 mexican students. president andres manuel lopez obrador was inside the building at the time, giving a daily press conference. he said the door will be fixed, adding that the protesters will meet with members of his government. 750 national guard soldiers and 250 state police officers will be deployed to the new york city subway system. new york governor kathy hocul announced the measure to help combat an uptick in violent crime on the subway. governor hochul said the officers are expected to patrol platforms and check commuters' bags for weapons. prosecutors in new york have dropped a case against three men charged with conspiring to sell handwritten lyrics to the famed eagles hit hotel california. former eagles member don henley had claimed a notepad with the song's lyrics lyrics was stolen before being put up for sale in 2012. new evidence called the case's fairness into question. the three men had pleaded not

guilty to the charges. us republican presidential candidate nikki haley officially suspended her campaign a day after 15 states held primaries and caucuses on super tuesday. ms haley only managed to win in the state of vermont and trailed far behind former president donald trump in other states. mr trump is now virtually assured of clinching the republican nomination for president. in her speech, nikki haley congratulated the former president and wished him all the best but stopped short of endorsing him. i have always been a conservative republican and always supported the republican nominee, but on this question, as she did on so many others, margaret thatcher provided some good advice when she said, "never just follow the crowd. "always make up your own mind."

it is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and i hope he does that. our north america correspondent tom bateman gave some analysis on how the general election is shaping out following the suspension. well, what all of this means is well, what all of this means is we are heading for a rematch, joe biden and donald trump now cruising ahead and all but certain to clinch the nominations for both of the parties. i thought it was interesting as nikki haley withdrew from the race in her speech she stopped to really the themes that she campaigned on throughout this year—long challenge and attempt to try to take the nomination, very much presenting herself as the responsible, conservative republican, in stark contrast to donald trump, and the juggernaut really of his movement that has swept aside the other candidates in the race for the republican nomination. she didn't endorse

donald trump and that is really significant, saying, rather, that he had to earn the support of her followers of conservative republicans, as she put it. that could become a really interesting and quite a decisive group of people. some of the polling is suggesting that around 40% of republican and republican leaning voters who supported nikki haley would not be prepared to vote for donald trump for president. now, these are people who see themselves traditionally as republicans, but don't think that donald trump, basically, fits their values, to the extent that they would be prepared to vote for him. and what you are seeing now is an attempt byjoe biden to try to lure over those people, tweeting out that they are welcome in his campaign. "there is a place for them in my campaign." notjust the voters,

but crucially some of the donors that were giving money towards nikki haley and that part of the republican base. tom bateman reporting. the next big event on the us political calendar is president biden's annual state of the union address on thursday. it's an opportunity for mr biden to set the legislative agenda for the year ahead. you can catch the bbc�*s extensive coverage on air, online and on our mobile app. and before we go, we want to share one of the most—read stories on our website, involving dogs and diets. scientists in the uk say that a genetic mutation makes some labradors and flat—coated retrievers constantly hungry while burning fewer calories. the so—called "double whammy" effect means dog owners must pay special attention to keeping their pets trim. more than 80 pet labradors dogs took part in the study. they were given various tests, including the �*sausage in a box�* test, where they were tempted with a hidden treat they could see and smell. dogs with the mutation tried much harder to get at the sausage than dogs without it, indicating greater hunger.

that's all from the team here in washington. i'm helena humphrey. thank you for watching. i will see you soon. hello there. over the next few days, the winds going to be picking up from the east or southeast. it's going to be particularly windy on friday. we'll have more of the cloud affecting eastern parts of the country. i think western areas will see most of the sunshine. that's because high pressure over scandinavia will be pushing westwards against this low pressure system, so we'll start to see the isobars squeezing together. so for thursday, it's a bright start across northern and western areas. quite a chilly start, mind you — early mist and fog will clear as the wind begins to pick up. eastern areas seeing thicker cloud at times. it will stay rather grey here, maybe some spots of drizzle. a few showers into the afternoon across the midlands, into east wales. otherwise, many places should stay dry and we should see sunny spells. top temperatures 11 degrees but cooler along north sea coasts with that increasing onshore breeze. the winds continue to pick up through thursday night, pushing more cloud into the midlands,

northern england, large parts of scotland. but there will still be some clearer skies, particularly through southern and central areas. so where the skies are clear, it's going to be cold. where we have the cloud, the breeze, then less cold — generally, i think two to five degrees. now, more isobars on the charts for friday. a strong east, south—easterly wind picking up as this low pressure system starts to push back against the area of high pressure, so a blustery day for all. there will be quite a bit of sunshine around, we think for, england and wales. more clouds for northern england, certainly central and eastern scotland, and some good spells of sunshine for western scotland, northern ireland. but the winds a feature for all areas, particularly so along north sea coast. so that will peg the temperatures back. although we're looking at single digits on the north sea, it could feel even colder than that. further west in the sunshine, ten or 11 celsius. into saturday, this area of low pressure sideswipes the south and southwest of the country. again, it stays quite blustery, quite a few isobars on the charts for saturday. and we'll see showers or longer spells of rain affecting parts of the west and the southwest. some sunshine around too. it's not going to be a wash—out. a lot of cloud, though, for northern england and large parts of central and eastern scotland. a bit of drizzle on the hills there.

feeling quite chilly in the north, but 11 to 13 in the south, some milder air being pulled into this area of low pressure which will — by sunday into monday — pull out into the near continent. you'll see the isobars opening out. so we should start to see some drier weather, lighter winds as we head through sunday, certainly into monday and tuesday. but east—facing coasts will always see more in the way of cloud, perhaps still with a little bit of drizzle over the higher ground.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. russia's anti—putin opposition has lost its inspirational leader. thousands of russians ignored repressive police tactics to publicly mourn the loss of alexei navalny. but was that the last gasp of a fatally wounded opposition, or a sign of collective determination to find new means of resistance? well, my guest, leonid volkov, was navalny�*s chief of staff. his boss is dead.

putin is almost certainly about to be resoundingly re—elected. is it game over for the anti—putin movement? leonid volkov, currently in washington, dc, a very warm welcome to hardtalk. thanks for the invitation. you've had, what, roughly three weeks to process the death of your political boss, alexei navalny. tell me, what are your overriding feelings right now? well, i still can't believe it, frankly.

there is a deep, bleeding hole in my heart.