live from washington, this is bbc news. lawmakers on capitol hill are closing in on passing a long—awaited, billion—dollar aid package for ukraine and other american allies. tennessee lawmakers pass a bill allowing the state's teachers to carry concealed handguns at school. and the usjustice department agrees a multi—million dollar settlement with more than 100 survivors of larry nassar, the former usa gymnastics doctorjailed for sex abuse. we'll hear from the first woman to publicly come forward. hello, i'm caitriona perry. billions of dollars worth

of foreign aid is set to clear a final hurdle here in washington as the us senate is set to vote to advance long—delayed assistance for american allies. this is a live look at the floor of the us senate as they prepare to vote. president biden says he'll sign the bill into law as soon as it reaches his desk. the final passage of the aid package is expected in the next few hours. the legislation includes nearly $61 billion in aid to ukraine, over $26 billion for israel and more than $8 billion for the indo pacific. its passage follows a months—long stalemate in the house of representatives, where some republicans held the bill up, arguing domestic issues should be dealt with before foreign ones. the developments here in washington coincide with a similar announcement from uk prime minister rishi sunak. he said britain would spend an additional £75 billion, or $93 billion, over the next six years on defence.

speaking alongside nato secretary generaljens stoltenberg in poland, the prime minister emphasised the need for deeper weaponry stockpiles, citing the war in ukraine. live now to catie edmondson, a congressional correspondent for the new york times. she is eagerly watching what is going on at the floor of the senate tonight. it has been a long time coming but it looks like the senate will get to this tonight. do we expect them to pass it? we this tonight. do we expect them to pass it?— to pass it? we expect a vote on the final passage _ to pass it? we expect a vote on the final passage in _ to pass it? we expect a vote on the final passage in the - to pass it? we expect a vote on the final passage in the next. the final passage in the next couple of hours and we expect it will be an overwhelming bipartisan vote. there was an earlier vote earlier today that was a test vote to see how much support the measure might have another vote received 80 votes so this will be a that glides along. so this will be a that glides alonu. ~ ., so this will be a that glides alon.. ., .,, , so this will be a that glides alona.~ . , ., so this will be a that glides alon.. . ., .,, , ., ., along. what has been going on over the past _ along. what has been going on over the past few _ along. what has been going on

over the past few hours - along. what has been going on over the past few hours that i over the past few hours that caused the delay from that point to what we are waiting on now? it point to what we are waiting on now? , ., . , now? it is not anything in particular. _ now? it is not anything in particular, we _ now? it is not anything in particular, we arena - now? it is not anything in particular, we arena peak senate hours, it is a deliberate body of the us congress, they often take a while to approve these measures but while we saw in the vote earlier today was a huge outpouring of support for aid to ukraine. we saw eight republican senators who previously had voted against the senate aid bill change their vote and moved to support its, so although there have been some tactics by opponents of aid to ukraine on the republican side, we expect it will be an overwhelming vote. you mention the senate republicans. there was opposition to aid from house republicans and speaker mike johnson coming up with a workaround to get the bill passed, but will he pay a political price for that? that is the question _ political price for that? that is the question and - political price for that? that is the question and one - political price for that? trisgt is the question and one of political price for that? twat

is the question and one of the reasons why for many weeks we saw speaker mikejohnson try to punt on bringing aid to ukraine to the house of lords, there are several hardliners in his conference, chief among them marjorie taylor greene, the far—right lawmaker from georgia who threatened and said if you allow a vote on to ukraine before forcing present widened to swallow some harsh and sigh immigration measures, we will move to depose you from the top post just like the move to depose you from the top postjust like the deposed kevin mccarthy last fall. they did not move to do that shortly after the final passage in the house on the aid package to ukraine, it is a threat they continue to dangle over his head but what we heard from a lot of even conservative republicans in the house is that following the drama and chaos that followed kevin mccarthy must make us thing that they do not have much of an appetite to do that again,

particularly months before the november elections.— november elections. briefly, joe biden _ november elections. briefly, joe biden said _ november elections. briefly, joe biden said he _ november elections. briefly, joe biden said he is - november elections. briefly, joe biden said he is poised . november elections. briefly, l joe biden said he is poised and ready to sign this bill should be passed through the senate and it looks like it will be. how quickly can that happen? can we get to the resolute death can be signed? it can we get to the resolute death can be signed? it depends on how late _ death can be signed? it depends on how late president _ death can be signed? it depends on how late president biden - on how late president biden foresee often open he indicates he plans to sign immediately. he called the ukrainian president of volodymyr zelensky after the house of representatives passed the bill in the ukrainians have been watching the floor action very closely given the magnitude of this aid package for their forces, and we understand that president biden told zelensky as soon as the centre pass is that he is ready to sign it. p, that he is ready to sign it. a long night ahead. thank you so much forjoining us. lebanon's iran—backed hezbollah group says it has launched a drone attack targeting israeli military bases north of the city of acre,

its deepest attack into israeli territory since the gaza war began. lebanese state media says it comes after an israeli air strike in southern lebanon killed a mother and girl from the same family. tuesday marked the 200th day of the conflict in gaza, with israel carrying out air strikes in the northern, central and southern portions of the territory. the united nations has said it's working to corroborate reports from palestinian authorities that at least 310 people have been found buried outside the nasser hospital grounds in khan younis. palestinian officials say some of those who were killed were elderly or women, and others were found with their hands tied. israel's military has rejected accusations that its forces buried the bodies. the un is calling for an independent investigation. we feel the need to raise the alarm because clearly there have been multiple bodies are discovered. we do not know how

many. there are reports some of them had their hands tied which of course indicates serious violators of international human rights law and humanitarian law, and these need to be subjected to further investigation. to tennessee — the state legislature has passed a bill that will allow teachers and school staffers to carry guns in schools — one year after a shooter killed six people at nashville's covenant school. including 39—year—old students. there was an argument that this bill would create a deterrent for future tragedies. live now to justin jones, democratic tennessee state representative. thank you for speaking to us. what does this new law permits? good to be here with you. unfortunately a horrible day in our state. today a law was

passed to allow teachers to carry firearms in classrooms without ever notifying the parents that there were guns student classrooms, the gallery was full of protesters, teachers, parents, protesting against this, hundreds of people came out to oppose the bill. they were not heard. they pass the bill and the majority of people in my seat are against it because they know will make our schools more unsafe and more at risk of children being shot in classrooms.— children being shot in classrooms. , , . classrooms. the bill requires a lots of permits, _ classrooms. the bill requires a lots of permits, approvals - classrooms. the bill requires a lots of permits, approvals and | lots of permits, approvals and training before a licensee chicken have a handgun in the classroom. is there a specific point to that back give you cause for concern? h0 point to that back give you cause for concern? no amount of trainin: cause for concern? no amount of training can _ cause for concern? no amount of training can make _ cause for concern? no amount of training can make up— cause for concern? no amount of training can make up for- cause for concern? no amount of training can make up for the - training can make up for the fact that while one handgun do against an assault weapon. that is the concern, they say they want teachers to not only be teachers and counsellors and every otherjob but now they want them to be school

security. if someone comes to a school, with an assault weapon, and other school shooting, they want the teachers to get in the fight in a classroom where teachers are not trained law enforcement. even law enforcement. even law enforcement are afraid to engage people with assault weapons with alex edney want to force teachers into these predicaments. teachers are saying they do not want this, they want to be armed with books and resources on school supplies, none of the teachers want to be able to carry a gun. this law says that teachers can carry guns is something that even the teachers of our state have opposed. even the teachers of our state have opposed-— even the teachers of our state have opposed. there was a law assed have opposed. there was a law passed in _ have opposed. there was a law passed in 2006 _ have opposed. there was a law passed in 2006 in _ have opposed. there was a law passed in 2006 in two - have opposed. there was a law passed in 2006 in two counties they did allow for guns on campus with the schools in these counties have decided not to take up that right.— to take up that right. yes, because — to take up that right. yes, because everyone - to take up that right. yes, because everyone here . to take up that right. yes, - because everyone here knows this is morally insane. it is insane a year after a mass shooting took the lives of 39 —year—olds and adults that the

only gun law that was passed is to put more guns in our schools. the majority of people want common sense gun laws, a ban on assault weapons, background checks, and is that of those they say no, we will put guns in our schools as a solution to school shootings. the people of our state know this is insane, they said so today, they chanted as the speaker clear the gallery, ordered them to clear the gallery for chanted you will have blood on your hands, because of this law a child will be shot. it is only a matter of time because it is about the storage of firearms, so far we have seen examples of students finding a gun in a post that was not secured, and if a student finds a gun a teacher may have not secured, what do? it will lead to harm and that is what we fight against. is that of allowing us to bring these concerns, we are not able to properly debate in the house for today. this not able to properly debate in the house for today.- the house for today. this bill

now goes _ the house for today. this bill now goes to _ the house for today. this bill now goes to the _ the house for today. this bill now goes to the governor . the house for today. this bill now goes to the governor to | now goes to the governor to sign into law. has he indicated he will do that, he would do that immediately? what has he said? ., ., . , ., said? the governor has not indicated — said? the governor has not indicated but _ said? the governor has not indicated but his _ said? the governor has not indicated but his silence i said? the governor has not indicated but his silence -| said? the governor has not| indicated but his silence - it indicated but his silence — it will take effect without his signature. it looks like it will go forward. anywhere around the world people think we are insane we allow teachers to have guns, this is an american problem, gunshot wounds of the number one cause of death of children in our country, being shot, the leading cause for children in america, and that is shameful and we must do everything we can to stop that are not what more guns in schools. we need to get guns of our three surpassed laws to protect kids are not guns. surpassed laws to protect kids are not guns-— the second day of testimony in donald trump's first criminal trial got off to a contentious start. mr trump denies charges that he falsified his business records to conceal hush money he paid to cover up an alleged affair with a porn star.

he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted by the new york state court. nada tawfik was following proceedings in manhattan. a rough day for donald trump as he got his damaging evidence and thejudges says he got his damaging evidence and the judges says his team is losing all credibility. during a fiery here, prosecutors argued that trump wilfully violated a gag order the party from attacking potential witnesses orjewellers from attacking potential witnesses or jewellers at from attacking potential witnesses orjewellers at least ten times. they ask you be held in contempt of court and fined up in contempt of court and fined up to $10,000. his lawyer said he was responding to political attacks but struggled to offer any supporting evidence. the judge making his frustration known, seeing the lawyer was losing all credibility with the court. the first witness in

this case, david becker, was back on the stand. his testimony contradicted donald trump's claim that the payment to stormy daniels is all about protecting his family, reputation and brand. he said that rob and his lawyer at the time of asked him to meet in august 2015 to see what he could do to help his campaign. an agreement among friends, as he put it, he offered to help publish unflattering stories about trump's opponents and to catch and kill negative stories about him. the defence will have their turn to ask questions was the prosecutors are done. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making news. the inquiry into it failings at the post office that led to hundreds of prosecutions has heard from the company's former top in—house lawyer, susan crichton. she has been asked about the handling of horizon it problems — in particular, the language used to describe them. meeting notes from meetings

showed the post office's board appear to debate language referring to "bugs" within the horizon system — let's take a listen. it's absolutely 0rwellian, isn't it, the use of the word "exception" now instead of "bug"? changing the language within the company, crafting a briefing that now refers to exceptions. did you not take responsibility for that briefing, given that you were one of the people drafting it? if i had solely drafted it, it had been my work, then i would have taken responsibility, or would take responsibility for it. i don't have... i can't remember that. susan crichton was general counsel until 2013, as the horizon scandal developed. you're live with bbc news. in the uk, mps have passed the government's rwanda bill, which designates the eastern african nation a safe country. if successful, migrants could be granted refugee status and allowed to stay there.

if not, they can apply on other grounds or seek asylum in another safe third country. no asylum seeker would be able to apply to return to the uk. prime minister rishi sunak has been pushing the legislation for months — but it's been fiercely criticised by opposition and rights groups. let's take a look at the uk's migration numbers. in 2023, around 30,000 people arrived to the uk via the english channel. the same year, the british government issued 1.4 million visas for people getting to the country legally. hours after the vote, five people died while trying to cross the channel in a small boat. 0ur paris correspondent andrew harding was on the french coast where the boat left. a warning, you may find these scenes in his report disturbing. shouting a skirmish early this morning on a french beach. 0k, we'rejust running to catch up with some migrants here. the police are trying

to stop a small boat from leaving the shore. it turns violent. and the police are failing. the boat is dangerously overloaded. it looks like the migrants who did get onto that boat are in trouble. but as we watch, we have no idea that people on board are dying, including a seven—year—old girl. to understand how this happened, we need to go back to yesterday afternoon, with crowds jostling at the bus station in calais, anxious to get to the beaches outside town, the smugglers muscling in. the forecast is for a clear, calm night in the channel, perfect conditions for a crossing. young men from syria, from sudan, none put off by news that they might end up being deported from britain to rwanda. are you worried that you might be sent to rwanda by the british? "no, if it's safe and i can study in rwanda, then "that's fine too," he says.

you hear that? yeah. you don't want that? no, i don't want. no. nothing will stop you? no, no, won't stop me. waiting for the migrants along the french coast line, a high—tech force, funded now by britain, which is spending millions of pounds on drones and other gear to help the french police find and stop the small boats. and yet, compared with the same period last year, the number of crossings has risen. "we need more equipment and more staff," says mathilde, who co—ordinates the police effort here. "0ur officers are brave, but the number of people getting on each boat is rising." 0fficial footage of french border police in the channel earlier this year — a difficult rescue operation in rough seas. as the number of attempted crossings rises, so does the death toll among migrants.

adding to the sense of crisis here, a new development. hundreds of vietnamese have recently begun arriving at the coast. we met this group camped in a forest. the vietnamese people here seem quite confused about where they're going. they don't even know if they're supposed to end up in england. all they do tell us is that they are escaping from gangsters back in vietnam who they owe money to. two years ago, it was albanian migrants. now it's these people from vietnam, swelling the numbers. and so to events overnight. we head to a beach south of calais, a popular launch site for small boats. and we sit for hours in the moonlight and wait. he whispers: there's somebody walking there. i can hear somebody walking nearby there. two shadows, almost certainly smugglers, come to check we're not police.

above us, a police plane circles. we've arranged for a bbc cameraman to be on board. the crews spot two groups of migrants on their thermal imaging camera. they're in the sand dunes and moving towards each other. 0n the beach, a french foot patrol quickly arrives. surely, the migrants will give up now, but they don't. shouting. suddenly, the beach erupts with shouting. 0k, we are running with the police as they try to intercept a group of what looks like 60 or 70 migrants. and now things turn violent — fireworks thrown at the police. several young men pulling out crude weapons. you can see the smugglers here,

some of them have sticks, they're trying to protect the migrants as they head towards the sea to stop the police from stopping them. and it works. a few stragglers are left behind, but the boat is allowed to move out towards open water. look at the child on someone's shoulders on the right. could the french police have done more to stop this? we ask one officer. "we're not allowed to go in the water," he replies, "did you notice they had sticks and there were children too? so, we had to be careful." the boat is wildly overloaded. 0n the right here, you can see another child being led out in an orange life jacket. more than 100 people are trying to squeeze on board. somewhere in the scrum, a seven—year—old girl's last moments.

faint shouting. it sounds like someone crying for help. rescue boats do arrive a little later — the five dead are taken away. half the passengers stay on board and lead to head off towards the english coast. the usjustice department says it will pay out almost $140 million to survivors of disgraced team usa gymnastics doctor, larry nassar. he was jailed after being convicted of sexually assaulting hundreds of athletes. the fbi was found to have botched its investigation into nassar leaving him free to continue his assaults for months. nasser abused more than 300 women and girls in total, over 18 years — the olympic champion simone biles was among them. earlier i spoke to rachael denhollander, a lawyer and former gymnast, who was the first woman

to publicly accuse larry nassar of sexual assault. thank you forjoining us. by speaking out, you started what has been called a tidal wave of allegations against agree to. what is a settlement today mean to you? it what is a settlement today mean to ou? . , , to you? it means everything. it represents _ to you? it means everything. it represents justice _ to you? it means everything. it representsjustice and - to you? it means everything. it representsjustice and more . represents justice and more than anything it represents a task of acknowledgement by the fbi that they did not do what they should have and there were devastating consequences for not following through on these reports. the question we have to ask now, given all of this, is what do we do differently the next time that this does not happen again?— the next time that this does not happen again? does the settlement _ not happen again? does the settlement today _ not happen again? does the settlement today bring - not happen again? does the | settlement today bring some level of closure to the victims that he molested after the fbi failed to adequately respond to those allegations?— those allegations? there is a multi faceted _ those allegations? there is a multifaceted question. - those allegations? there is a| multifaceted question. there is absolutely an element where there is closure because it does communicate that a severe

mistake was made. in addition, what we do see happening in a situation where the fbi, while they have settled, has not said much of anything at all. there has not been a robust discussion about what will change going forward. there has not been any verbal or written apology that acknowledges the death of what happened to the survivors, what could and should have been prevented. no criminal charges were levied. fbi ages acted in an unethical manner. they did things that if any civilian had done, could have resulted in criminal charges. i am have resulted in criminal charges. iam brief have resulted in criminal charges. i am brief of what i have seen today but there is so much more that needs to be done. �* . ., done. the fbi director delivered _ done. the fbi director delivered an _ done. the fbi director delivered an apology, | done. the fbi director i delivered an apology, but is this on some level not accountability for you? it is the beginning _ accountability for you? it is the beginning of— the beginning of accountability. what we have to grapple with is what we have seen happen in this case is a blown up a picture of what is

happening all over the country. the question of why survivors do not report, we see exactly why. 0ut do not report, we see exactly why. out of every 300 rapes reported to the police, on average than those that are prosecuted is 25 in a given year. 25 out of 300 at our best. what we see happening here with the fbi is what victims deal with every single day, most survivors never see the justice that the victims of larry nassar have seen today. what i hope this does is spur us on to a much greater conversation about what is to change the law enforcement to have a level of accountability and have a culture and society where we prioritise investigating sexual assault allegations, like it matters. it takes incredible bravery and courage for any victim to speak out. do you think in this case because you spoke out at some of your other colleagues as well from team usa that you are able to shine an extra spotlight of what had happened here? we spotlight of what had happened here? ~ . , .

here? we have seen a significant _ here? we have seen a significant amount i here? we have seen a significant amount of. here? we have seen a - significant amount of coverage and publicity and conversation are generated in ways that we often do not see around sexual assault cases. the reality is that over 500 survivors and multiple 0lympians to generate this conversation, so what is happening to the survivor who does not have the kind of support? what happens to the survivor who does not have a famous name attached to it? what we have seen happen with the fbi, the unethical conduct, the fbi, the unethical conduct, the like are prioritising an investigation of valuing something more than doing what was rivals are what we saw happy with the fbi is what is happening all over the country more often than not with your enforcement and so we need to start having a much bigger decider conversation about what has to change in the way that we investigate and prosecute sex crimes are what has to change in order to bring greater government accountability also most survivors do not have the level of publicity that we had and do not see this kind ofjustice. we will leave it there. thank you for speaking to us on a bbc

news. that is it for the moment. thank you for watching, stay with is here in bbc news. hello there. it's not a particularly inspiring weather story at the moment, is it? but we still got that west—east divide across the country. on tuesday, we had the highest temperatures across south wales with 16 degrees, and there was some glorious sunshine at times with a little bit of shelter from the breeze. but out the east, it was disappointingly cool. a brisk northerly wind, temperatures struggled — only around seven degrees across the east yorkshire coast. we're going to keep quite a lot of cloud as well over the next few hours that will prevent temperatures from falling too far. lowest temperatures to start the day on wednesday morning will be in the far north and west of scotland. we could have some thicker cloud and a little bit of drizzle first thing wednesday morning, easing away from south wales and south—west england. but again, west will be best in terms of sunshine. a brisk northerly wind feeding in cloud from time to time,

few scattered showers, and keeping those temperatures pegged back to single figures. so a top temperature of nine degrees along east coast, further west we'll see 12 or 13 degrees. now, clear skies will continue through wednesday evening and overnight, and that's going to allow those temperatures to fall away to low single figures. so thursday morning, perhaps a chilly start quite widely across the country. and temperatures low enough in rural areas further north and west for a touch of frost, so gardeners and growers take note. but into thursday, this little weather front here could introduce a slight change. it will certainly bring more in the way of cloud as we go through the latter stages of the morning into the afternoon, and maybe some dribs and drabs of showery rain pushing its way steadily south. so there'll be more cloud a little bit further west, and the temperatures really disappointing for the end of april, 9—13 degrees once again.

moving out of thursday into friday, sees low pressure starting to push in from the south. that will introduce some wetter weather across central and southern england, but potentially a little less cold. so as we close out the month of april, perhaps temperatures in the south back to where they should be for the time of year. but don't expect anything dry, settled and sunny. it's going to stay pretty unsettled. but we could see temperatures back up into the mid—teens for some.

a bill to ban tiktok in the us is making its way through congress. we take a look at the battle it could face in the courts. tesla's profits tumble after the ev giant introduces deep cost—cutting measures as it faces stiff competition. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko 0i. the united states that is voting on a bill to potentially ban tiktok, that show you live pictures at the legislation if

approved would and the popular