in the south of gaza. plus, a new yorkjudge fines donald trump for violating a gag order in his hush money trial. hello. i'm sumi somaskanda. thank i'm sumi somaskanda. you forjoining us. it has been another evening of unrest on campuses across the us. we want to show you some images from new york. this was the scene at columbia university tuesday night. the nypd confirmed that an operation was under way there. according to cbs news, there were 50 arrests made. local radio reports said that students were told to shelter in place. and according to a university email, administrators told students that "non—compliance may result in disciplinary action." the university's president is asking police to stay on campus until may 17.

we can show you the moment when police officers begin to enter hamilton hall — that is an academic building that was occupied in the early hours of tuesday. nypd officers in riot gear entered the building through a window. several officers used a ladder to reach an upper floor, crawling through the opening to enter the hall. the protesting students had smashed their way into that building to gain access and had barricaded themselves inside. meanwhile, those who were detained were moved to police buses you can see here. students were led off campus with their hands behind their backs. new york police said that no tear gas was used. in a letter to the new york police department, columbia university said, "we believe that while "the group who broke into the building includes "students, it is led by individuals who are not "affiliated with the university. the university had requested help by local police to clear the scene. just to remind you of the events

that led up to this police operation — anti—war protests have been ongoing at columbia university for multiple weeks. on monday, administrators gave students a 2pm deadline to leave the encampment and commit to all university policies or face suspension. protesters have demanded columbia cuts financial ties with israel. in a statement, the white house condemned the actions of students, saying, "president biden respects the right to free "expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful. "forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful, "it is wrong." live now to rajan menon, director of the grand strategy programme at defense priorities, as well as a senior research fellow at columbia university. very good to see you. we usually talk to you about geopolitical affairs and today i want to ask you about the new live very close to columbia university. what have you been experiencing? it university. what have you been experiencing?_

experiencing? it is at 116 and broadway. — experiencing? it is at 116 and broadway. so _ experiencing? it is at 116 and broadway, so the _ experiencing? it is at 116 and broadway, so the campus i experiencing? it is at 116 and| broadway, so the campus we experiencing? it is at 116 and - broadway, so the campus we are talking about, 120 north to south and west broadway, that is the area you are talking about, there have been protests going on as you know for quite some time. going on as you know for quite some time-— going on as you know for quite some time. , h, ., ., ., some time. they came to a head. tell us what _ some time. they came to a head. tell us what you _ some time. they came to a head. tell us what you experienced - tell us what you experienced with this massive police presence that arrived at around 9pm local time. what was a like from what you could tell? i think the catalyst was that the students in the encampments entered hamilton hall, which is a all that over the years has been taken over by students. they barricaded themselves inside and then the police arrived on the scene. i have lived in this neighbourhood for about 20 years and i have never seen this many police and buses

and police cars and police officers in riot gear, so it has been very eventful. the whole campus neighbourhood has been a scene of two module helicopters flying overhead, today has been an exceptional day. police started converging and asked people to stay inside their homes. pare and asked people to stay inside their homes.— their homes. are you surprised to see such _ their homes. are you surprised to see such a — their homes. are you surprised to see such a presence, - their homes. are you surprised to see such a presence, as - their homes. are you surprised to see such a presence, as you| to see such a presence, as you said, something you haven't seenin said, something you haven't seen in this neighbourhood before. i seen in this neighbourhood before. �* ~' ., seen in this neighbourhood before. �* ~ ., , before. i didn't know exactly who called — before. i didn't know exactly who called the _ before. i didn't know exactly who called the police, - before. i didn't know exactly| who called the police, when, but it certainly was visible if you went out on the street and you went out on the street and you could hear the sirens and could hear students and democrat is chanting. police were doing what they came to do. were doing what they came to do, ,, ., were doing what they came to do. ., , ., , , ., do. some of the protesters have said that they — do. some of the protesters have said that they want _ do. some of the protesters have said that they want to _ do. some of the protesters have said that they want to stay - do. some of the protesters have said that they want to stay on i

said that they want to stay on campus of course until the university divests from its ties to israel, and apparently the university has asked police to stay until may 17. did you see the situation continuing to remain as tense as it has been? i am not going to speak in an official capacity, but my understanding is that the university has decided it will not divest from israel. that was one of the demands of the administrators. when the police leave, it is hard to say. when people from hamilton are cleared, the other hand, there have been so many arrests and it will not sit well with some of the students. it remains to be seen what tomorrow brings. already, things have quietened down. it is late at night here. you have made clear you are not speaking for colombia university, but there has been criticism of the type of

crackdown that we saw from colombia, especially two weeks ago when more than 100 students were arrested. do you think that the university has been handling the situation well, especially with some of the clashes we have seen? there is a that i don't — clashes we have seen? there is a that i don't know _ clashes we have seen? there is a that i don't know on - clashes we have seen? there is a that i don't know on the - a that i don't know on the inside so i am not confident to comment on this. i will say the situation is unfolding and getting worse than better. inaudible. some encampments removed. then the camps came up again and a year or so ago there was an ultimatum that if they left, they wouldn't face abstention. some may have but others chose to stay. and then we arrived at what happened most recently, which is students entering hamilton hall and barricading themselves.

then the police came on campus. we have seen these protests spread to universities across the country. what do you think this tells us, that is has become such a flashpoint on such, so many campuses. i can't remember. — such, so many campuses. i can't remember. and _ such, so many campuses. i can't remember, and looking - such, so many campuses. i can't remember, and looking back- such, so many campuses. i can't remember, and looking back to l remember, and looking back to the vietnam war, that has left student protest so wildly on campuses across the country, and in other countries, inaudible. the police entered the campus because there were people on campus who refused to leave. whether this will energise the students and they will continue protesting here and elsewhere or whether things will die down, i don't know. graduation is coming and students will come this may go

home for the summer and that will i suspect reduce some of the tension. many university presidents and administrators would be very happy with that. thank you so much forjoining us and giving us your perspective tonight. us and giving us your --ersective tonirht. ., ~ ,, campus demonstrations have also erupted on other campuses, including at the university of texas at austin, where police clashed with demonstrators on monday. but brown university in rhode island says it's made a deal with protesters — if they pack up, its governing body will hold a vote on divestment from companies with ties to israel. anti—war protests are also spreading to campuses in other parts of the world. in canada, demonstrators set up encampments at mcgill university. other canadian universities have warned activists that similar camps will not be tolerated on their properties. in france, school officials at sciences po closed part of campus following the occupation of the premises. and in lebanon, hundreds of students gathered on campuses to protest against israel's campaign in gaza, the country's first

coordinated university protests over the war. as universities grapple with balancing free speech and student safety, i spoke earlier with legal scholar and former president of the american civil liberties union nadine strossen for her insight. you are very much a champion for the need to protect free speech, and i want to ask you, do you think that the protests in the form that we are seeing them now at places like columbia university, that these should be protected? thea;r should be protected? they should be protected? they should be _ should be protected? they should be protected - should be protected? they should be protected to - should be protected? iia: should be protected to some extent, but the devil is in the detail. 0ne extent, but the devil is in the detail. one is entitled to engage in peaceful, nondisruptive protests even to express very controversial, even offensive and insulting messages. but the university may and should enforce what we lawyers call content and

viewpoint neutral time place and manner regulations, in other words, that certain expression in certain places at certain times in certain matters may not be engaged in because it disrupts the functioning of the university. give us an example of what that would be. pm give us an example of what that would be. �* i, would be. an overnight encampment. - would be. an overnight encampment. the - would be. an overnight - encampment. the university, along with most universities, has content and viewpoint neutral rules that say no matter what view you are advocating on, no matter what issue, you may not camp out overnight for sustained periods for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with disagree with your message. they have to do with blocking access important parts of the campus for other students and faculty members, they had to do with a diversion of police and public safety and resources that detract from the ability to protect safety and provide

resources and other areas of the campus, they have to do with displacing other expressive activities by other students and groups that should... students and groups that should. . ._ students and groups that should... ., , , should... could i 'ust “ump in there because h should... could i 'ust “ump in there because i h should... could ijust “ump in there because i want _ should... could ijustjump in there because i want to - should... could ijustjump in there because i want to ask l should... could ijustjump ini there because i want to ask - there because i want to ask — to students who have been protesting that it was a university that escalated the situation by calling on the police when they were exercising their right to free speech. what do you think of that? ., , ., . . ., that? to use the old cliche two wronrs that? to use the old cliche two wrongs do _ that? to use the old cliche two wrongs do not _ that? to use the old cliche two wrongs do not make _ that? to use the old cliche two wrongs do not make a - that? to use the old cliche two wrongs do not make a right, i wrongs do not make a right, first of all, the university did have a legal right to call in law enforcement, that is not mean that it was the correct thing to do. one would hope that in an educational institution, one would try to use persuasion and negotiation and calling police officers only as a last resort. i completely agree with you that a tactic backfired but it does not negate the fact that the

university has a right to remove those students from those places. and then last night students occupied, broke into, physically broke into, creating vandalism and property destruction, it broke into an administrator building the blocked access not only to the functions that would usually occupy the building, but resulted in the university barring access to the campus for other students and faculty members. so this is a severe interference with not only the free speech rights of others, but the rights to pursue an education. we have to leave the conversation there, but thank you so much forjoining us today. my pleasure. thank you so much. in the middle east, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has again vowed to invade the southern gazan city of rafah despite international pressure. the white house says just two

days ago us presidentjoe biden reiterated his clear position to prime minister netanyahu in a phone call. mr biden previously called a ground invasion of rafah a red line. another warning came from un secretary general antonio guterres, who said an assault on rafah would be an "unbearable escalation." the doubling down from benjamin netanyahu comes as israel and hamas work towards an agreement for a ceasefire and hostage releases. but in a meeting with relatives of hostages, mr netanyahu said he would invade rafah "with or without" a ceasefire deal. translation: we will enter rafah because we have no other choice. we will destroy the hamas battalions there. we will complete the war, including the repatriation of all our abductees. there have also been reports from israeli officials that the international criminal court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for mr netanyahu. 0ther israeli government leaders and military commanders could also be charged for actions related to the war on hamas. in response to that speculation, the israeli prime minister said his arrest would be a scandal on an historic scale.

0ur security correspondent frank gardner is injerusalem following developments. ok, so, a lot of things are happening or about to happen here in this part of the world over the coming hours and days. antony blinken, the us secretary of state, has arrived here. he's only spending less than a day in israel, but he will be pushing for the ceasefire deal. i do not think he would be too impressed by the statements coming out of prime minister netanyahu today, talking about going into rafah whether or not there is a ceasefire deal, a truce deal, because the us is opposed to israel going into rafah. you've also got the icc. this is a real threat being taken very seriously by prime minister netanyahu and his cabinet. this is the threat by the international criminal court

that israel believes is about to issue arrest warrants for a number of senior israeli military and political figures, including prime minister netanyahu for — or at least in relation to — israel's treatment of palestinians both in gaza and in the west bank. prime minister netanyahu is absolutely livid about this. he has issued a furious rebuttal to it, saying that this would be a historic mistake, but he is clearly very worried because even though israel, like the united states, is not a signatory to the icc, if these warrants were issued, that is121l countries that he cannot visit and it would essentially make israel something of a pariah state. against the backdrop of all of this, you have got hamas studying the text of the ceasefire deal and they could well be announcing their acceptance or rejection of it in the next 21l hours.

if the deal was signed and we started seeing israeli hostages coming out, let out peacefully from gaza in return for large numbers of palestinian prisoners, then it's unlikely that the rafah operation would go ahead, at least not immediately, and that would give everybody some breathing space, something that gaza desperately needs. for more on the latest developments, i spoke to gina abercrombie—winstaley, president of the middle east policy council. if you look at what we discussed in the region, prime minister netanyahu vowing to go ahead with an offensive in rafah, that there is an agreement with hostages or not, what do you think of that? i think he has several reasons for saying that. he can keep saying it until he changes his mind or until he announces that he is not going to do it. it helps him to keep his coalition together, it keeps pressure on hamas, and this is important as the negotiations go on

and both sides are jockeying for a position, not only to get what they want out of the negotiations for the israelis and the united states, certainly the hostages are a primary concern, but hamas also needs to be seen to be getting what it wants out of these negotiations. the release of an extraordinary number of prisoners, the return of gazans to their homes in the northern part, and not leaving an occupation, a visible one, worse than what was in place in october 7. they are both jockeying for position. what about the role of the white house in this? we spoke to a representative a few weeks ago and he said president netanyahu was embarrassing the white house by not heeding these calls to stop the offensive on rafah. do you agree with that? i think it is a challenging time for president biden and hejoins a pretty lengthy

list of american presidents who have been in this position, placed there by prime minister netanyahu. he is putting up what he wants and it will be the president's decision to determine how he makes good on what his red lines are and what the united states will do in response to and in defiance of the israeli prime minister. we have seen reports that the icc is preparing arrest warrants, possibly, for prime minister netanyahu and perhaps other officials from the israeli government. that would be a significant step. what would that mean? well, first of all, it is an extraordinary step, decline, leap from where the world was on october 7 with regard to israel, israelis, prime minister netanyahu and how the israeli leadership got the country from such a position of sympathy from the rest of the world

to having arrest warrants being considered for the leadership. this is going to make it difficult, not so much for the united states, because i am certain that us leadership is not going to pay a great deal of attention to the decision of the icc, but of course other countries do, and that will have to be navigated. it is an extraordinary position for the israeli leadership to be in. we have to leave the conversation there, but it is always good to have you on bbc news. thank you so much forjoining us. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making headlines. a 14—year—old boy has died after a man armed with a sword went on the rampage in northeast london. four other people, including two police officers, were injured. police were called to reports of a car crashing into a house and people being stabbed at around 7am on tuesday. a 36—year—old man is in custody. police say the incident is not believed to be targeted or terror—related. lucy manning reports.

22 minutes after they were called, 0fficers tasered him. this was a dramatic moment they brought him to the ground and arrested him to the ground and arrested him on suspicion of murder. this man witnessed the attack and the moment officers stopped him. ., , ., and the moment officers stopped him. ., ., ., , him. people ran towards the station and _ him. people ran towards the station and one _ him. people ran towards the station and one got - him. people ran towards the | station and one got stabbed, him. people ran towards the - station and one got stabbed, he was holding his neck and was, like, i have been stabbed. the other victims _ like, i have been stabbed. the other victims are _ like, i have been stabbed. the other victims are all in the hospital but are not thought to have life—threatening injuries. there were around 250 fatal stabbings in england and wales last year alone. you're watching bbc news. a new yorkjudge fined former president donald trump a total of $9,000 on tuesday, for violating a gag order nine times. it was put in place with the aim of preventing mr trump from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and court staff.

thejudge warned the former president that further violations could result in prison time. donald trump is accused of trying to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult film actress stormy daniels ahead of the 2016 election. mr trump has pleaded not guilty to sa counts of falsifying business records and denies the affair. on thursday, mr trump will face another hearing over four additional instances where prosecutors alleged he again violated the gag order. officials in kenya say more than 160 people are now known to have been killed by weeks of flooding and a landslide following heavy rainfall. more rain is forecast and officials are warning that dams in other parts of kenya are already precariously full. around 50 people died monday when an overflowing reservoir washed away part of the town of mai mahiu. on a visit tuesday, kenya's president william ruto said that anyone living in areas at risk of flooding or landslides must move to a safer place. he said the army has been mobilised to help with evacuations.

0ur africa correspondent barbara plett usher has been to the affected areas and shared this report. we saw a woman in front of us suddenly doubled over, crying, because she heard her child was my body had been found. she wouldn't speak to us understandably and it was a very terrible moment for her stocks to another man who had just returned from the morgue where he had... where he had seen the body of his nine—year—old son and his daughter told us their story, how the water had rushed into their house, the daughter who was 17 was carried away but hung onto a tree branch. the father was hit in the head and he let go of the nine—year—old boy and he drowned. there are so many stories like that here. they are searching for the bodies and it is closure, it tells you what the numbers are in that sort of thing, but it is just such in that sort of thing, but it isjust such a in that sort of thing, but it is just such a tragedy.

haiti's transitional council appointed the former senate leader, edgard leblanc fils, as its president on tuesday. fritz belizaire, a former youth and sports minister, will become the country's prime minister. his appointment apparently surprised some of his fellow council members, with one saying he'd never head of the new prime minister. president ariel henry was effectively ousted from office by gangs in late february. the resulting power vacuum plunged the country into deadly gang warfare that saw hundreds of thousands of haitians displaced. mr fils has limited authority to act independently. the position of haiti's of head of state is vested in the entire seven—member transitional council. the council has a mandate from the caribbean community to run haiti until elections are held in 2026. let's ta ke let's take a look at some of the headlines now. following on from a russian missile attack on an educational institution in ukraine's port city of 0desa that killed five people on monday, another russian missile attack has killed three people and injured three in 0desa early on wednesday the regional governor 0leh kiper said.

mr kiper wrote on the telegram messaging app that the attack damaged civilian infrastructure. authorities have confirmed the deaths of three federal us marshals and one north carolina state law enforcement officer who were shot while serving a warrant when a suspect opened fire inside a house in charlotte on monday. he was shot dead in the front garden before more gunfire erupted from inside. the siege eventually ended with police storming the house. reports say police are questioning two other people who were inside the home. a failed asylum seeker has become the first in the uk to be voluntarily sent to rwanda bbc news understands. the migrant was flown on a commercialflight and given £3,000 — roughly $3,700 — to help relocate to kigali. it is separate from the uk government's rwanda plan to deport those arriving illegally in the uk to the african country. rwanda is where their asylum claims would be processed rather than the uk. returning once more to our top story following the latest university anti—war protests here in the us. hundreds of police officers have entered the campus

of columbia university in new york to disperse pro—palestinian protesters. dozens of arrested have been made. nypd officers in riot gear entered hamilton hall through a window. that's where demonstrators had barricaded themselves inside. anti—war protests have been ongoing at columbia university for multiple weeks. the university's president is asking police to stay on campus until may 17. you can head to the bbc website bbc.com/news for all the latest developments on this story. thank you for watching bbc news. stay with us. hello. well, it has been gradually warming up over the last couple of days, at least for most of us. the weather, on the other hand, a little hit and miss. and in fact, that is the

outlook for the next few days. some warm sunshine, yes, but also, a chance of catching some rain. now, weatherfronts are close by — you can see it here on the satellite picture — and that also means some damp weather through the early hours and into wednesday morning, particularly around the irish sea coasts and also around the north sea coasts. but for most of us, it's a dry start to the day, a little misty and murky in places. here are the temperatures first thing — around 9 in london, 8 in belfast, maybe the glens of scotland around 4 or 5 degrees. now, many of us will wake up to some sunshine, maybe hazy skies in places. and i think it should stay generally dry through the day, although a few showers are possible inland, in central parts of the uk, and also damp conditions at times are possible along the north sea coast where it'll be coolest. temperatures in newcastle, only 11l degrees. deeper inland, it'll be closer to 18, perhaps 20. and then wednesday night, we're expecting some heavy rain to come in from the south. this could be thundery rain and downpours are likely almost anywhere across

southern england, perhaps into the midlands and also southern parts of wales, and flashes of lightning certainly a possibility. so that's how we start thursday. then here's that weather front, which could bring the thundery weather for a time across some southern parts of the uk. now, the air�*s relatively warm — it's actually coming in out of the east—southeast. but because the north sea is quite cold, see that wind blowing off the north sea? it will actually drag in that cooler air to the north sea coasts. so that does mean that places like newcastle and hull could only be around, say, 13, 14, 15, whereas out towards the west, it could be as high as 20 degrees celsius. so that was thursday. this is friday, still a possibility of some showers brought in by that easterly breeze, maybe the odd crack of thunder as well. the best of the weather probably in western parts of scotland on friday. and in one or two spots, we could even see highs reaching 20 degrees celsius. the north sea coast, once again, will be fairly chilly. so that outlook then, yes, it is going to be

a bit of a mixed bag. it's not going to be particularly cold — temperatures, in fact, closer to the average for the time of the year. that's it for me. bye—bye.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. where does israel's military assault on gaza go from here? the signals are mixed. diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire have intensified, as have idf preparations for a big push into rafah where more than a million displaced palestinians are sheltering. no matter what happens next, there is still no sign

of a plan for what happens when the fighting, the death, and the destruction do finally end. my guest is ami ayalon, former chief of israel's shin bet security agency, now a fierce critic of the netanyahu government. is israel fighting an unwinnable war? ami ayalon, in northern israel, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for inviting me. it's great to have you on the show, mr ayalon. you have a long, distinguished career at the top of the israeli security forces. 0bviously that ended some time ago.