voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. i'm in the presidential palace in buenos aires to interview the new president, javier milei. javier milei went viral during his campaign around the world for campaigning with a chainsaw, which was his symbol for his desire to slash the state and slash public spending. after years of high public spending, high debt, high inflation, he has slashed the value of the currency, slashed subsidies, slashed government departments. he says this radical programme of austerity is needed to fix the economy, but lots of people in argentina are struggling, and he's said that things will need to get worse before they get better. he's called himself a libertarian and anarcho—capitalist. he hates the state, he loves elon musk.

he's a big fan of the rolling stones. some of his fans and critics alike have described him as "cr azy" but who is the real javier milei? president milei, thank you so much for speaking with bbc news today. i'd like to start this interview firstly by talking about the economy, which you've made a priority. you have got inflation down, but you promised that the political class, not the people, would pay. i spoke to a pensioner here who told me that — in tears — that this, in her words, was "a lie", that with cuts to pensions, salaries, the value of people's money, it's people like her who are paying. what would you say to her? translation: well, | actually, that is false. the largest adjustment is being paid by the political corporation. when we took office,

argentina's economy had twin deficits amounting to 17% of gdp. besides, the previous administration, during the last year, had printed about 13% of gdp to finance fiscal deficit. and when we took office, inflation was at 7,500% a year. and in december, wholesale inflation reached 54%. the most regressive tax that most afflicts people is the inflation. but with respect, president, most analysts do agree that one of the biggest cuts, one of the ways you have achieved the fiscal surplus is through cutting pensions. it's made up about 35% of the cuts that have been introduced. translation: i'm aware of the criticism. - so, let me give you the answers to that unfounded criticism that is levelled against me.

the impact on pensions is only 0.4% of gdp. so, 90% of the cuts actually fall on the "caste" and 10% of the cuts on the pensions. but i want to know specifically, what would you say to people right now? would you say sorry, would you say thank you to the people who are having to pay a lot more than they were previously as a result of the adjustment that's happening? translation: the mass media will deliberately lie, _ and people will believe those lies they get through the media. probably the part of the world where the press and journalism is most rotten and pursues political interests is argentina, where many journalists are liars — downright liars, serial liars. do you think women like her, for example, are lying, though, when they say they are now struggling to buy their basic groceries in the shops?

translation: you can't make a macroeconomic evaluation i based on the situation of an individual. there, you are taking one of the parts, rather than the whole. actually, a particular situation may be influenced by the sort of information that the individual also has access to. and the fact is, those things do happen. i think, excuse me, president, and with respect, the information people have access to is the prices they're seeing in supermarkets. i mean, for example, do you know how much a litre of milk costs now in buenos aires? translation: do you know how many goods assets exist - within an economy? so, you don't do economics based on the price of an individual asset. president, i'm sorry, ijust... i want to make sure we're speaking in terms that normal people will understand, because our audience, people on the streets here are not economists. how does somebody who has seen the price of milk double since you came to office —

what would you say to them specifically, the people who are struggling and say that they feel like they are paying for the adjustment? even if you believe that it is the right one, what would be your message to them right now? how long should they wait specifically, for example, for things to feel better? translation: in the last month, salaries started i to beat inflation. they went up by 14%. inflation was ii%. next month, inflation would be even lower, and salaries would continue to improve. and pensions, under the new formula, will be adjusted on the basis of past inflation. in fact, that is already happening because it's not that this is something we hope will happen. we have doubled the food welfare programme, the support programme for pregnant women. we have quintupled the amount of assistance for children

to continue to study. so, the programme has a strong social support component. so, would the message... just for those people you've mentioned, would the message be, in simple terms, "wait a bit longer"? and...could you just give me a timeframe of how long you'd like people to wait who are struggling right now? translation: the first thing is that in economics, - miracles don't exist. if you try to work a miracle — which would be blasphemous in economics — you end up a lot worse off. what would have been the alternative? to continue to print money like the previous administration, that generates inflation and ends up affecting the most vulnerable? that was not the way to go. the way to go was to put the economy back in order. if we had continued to pursue populist policies today, our inflation would be around 15,000%, and we would have about 95% of people in poverty, and 60% extremely poor.

it wouldn't be just one case of someone not having enough to eat. it would be 60% who wouldn't be able to eat. so, just in a sentence, if you can, how long would you say that people should wait before you think they will be able to feel better? translation: in fact, economic indicators are improving. - in the last month, salaries beat inflation, and this will continue. so, as inflation continues to trend downwards. so, in a year, or two years? translation: the recovery l process is already under way, because if inflation is going down and your salary — your pay — is being adjusted according to past inflation, you start winning in real terms. the improvement is already taking place. it's not that we have to wait for anything — as we continue to lower inflation, that happens. there's no magic. this is not a textbook exercise where you just solve a dynamic or static comparative

analysis exercise on paper and the problem is gone. real life needs time. but you can't work miracles. trying to apply monetary and fiscal policies, like the ones that were pursued until now before us, led to disaster. so, using fiscal policies like that is a mother of all bad. argentina, during 103 years of the last 123 years, had a fiscal deficit, from 1901 until now, had 22 crises — of which 20 were the result of fiscal issues. so, what you need to do is to compare with the scenario of 15,000% inflation, the 95% poverty and the 60% extreme poor. you will see that what we have done is wonderful. i'd like to move on to foreign policy now, if that's ok. you have promised argentines a road map to making

the falklands — known here as malvinas — argentine. what specifically does that road map look like? translation: we believe that has to be within - the framework of peace... ..within the framework of peace, and as a result of a long—term negotiation process, as part of which a mature discussion takes place between two countries that have a whole lot in common, that have one point of disagreement that we need to try and deal with in an adult fashion. and of course, there is no instant solution. it's going to take time. we are not going to relinquish oursovereignty, nor will we seek conflict with the united kingdom. what we aspire to is a solution that involves engaging in dialogue, so that at some point, the malvinas islands

come back to argentina. what makes you think that the uk would agree to that? because they've been very clear that they do not want to negotiate this. translation: they might not want to negotiate today. - at some later point, they might want to. many positions have changed over time. but how will you convince them? what would you use to convince them? translation: | will try - to convince them of the fact that territory belongs to argentina, and that, according to the specification that i use for definition purposes, argentina has the right to sovereignty over the islands. what kind of timeframe would you offer argentines for that? translation: these things are not about setting - deadlines, when dealing with situations that are not so easily definable. i think it's a long time to go, and that this may be approached in the same way as in the case of china and hong kong.

so, something can be done. so, it could be decades? translation: yes, of course. you need to think in terms of the mindset of countries, not individuals. the timelines shouldn't be restricted to the lifetime of a human being. a country lives so much longer than an individual, and so this is for the long—term state issues. and we want to pursue solutions through peaceful means. otherwise, it would be hypocritical. so, we are not going to give up our sovereignty. but if it's not the time to discuss it now, it will be discussed later on. but we will discuss it, and at least we are sincere. we speak openly and we don't lie. i think that's a much more serious position, and we have a whole lot more issues on the agenda that we can work on.

so, i think that's the adult way to do it, and painlessly. was it a provocation, in your view, for david cameron to visit the islands in february? no. why not? translation: well, it wasn't. if that territory is now in the possession of the hands of the uk, he has a right to do that. i don't see that as a provocation. your foreign minister seemed to be unhappy with his visit. do you disagree with her on that? translation: you know, you can interpret things i in different ways. i don't see that as a provocation. and, of course, each one of us will defend the interest of our own countries, which is understandable. and i don't see why he couldn't have possibly visited the islands. and would you still say you also admire margaret thatcher, who was the prime minister

during the falklands war? translation: there was a war, and we ended up losing. - but that's not to say that we couldn't possibly consider that those who were on the other side were doing theirjob well. and not only do i admire margaret thatcher, i also admired ronald reagan in the states and winston churchill. so, what's the big deal? criticising someone because of their nationality or race is very intellectually precarious. i have heard lots of speeches by margaret thatcher. she was brilliant. so, what's a problem? what is a problem? i'd like to move on to a different foreign policy topic now. you've positioned yourself as a very close ally to israel. do you agree with some of israel's other close allies, like the united states, that israel should show some restraint in its conflict

at the moment in gaza? translation: we defend - and support israel's legitimate right to self—defence. and israel conducts its operations in keeping with international rules. so, if there are a set of international rules to act in the face of such event, and they are abiding by that, why should this be objected to? it's like if you are in a football game, and a player touches the ball with the hand — well, that's a penalty kick. would you say, "no, let's not do the penalty kick" because the team that is being given the penalty kick is very powerful? what matters here is justice. you've said the rules of the game. if someone touches the ball, it's a penalty kick,

regardless of the beneficiary and who suffers. i think that, provided you respect international guidelines in your actions, there's nothing to be said. do you still think that israel's not committed a single excess in the conflict so far? translation: of course, - because there hasn't yet been a formal condemnation, as you would expect when such things happen. when there is a formal condemnation — a serious one, notjust an ideological condemnation, or one by a noisy group — the conversation would change then. what about when seven aid workers were killed by an israeli strike in clearly—marked vehicles? that was condemned by a lot of nations around the world. would you consider that an excess? translation: iwould have to look at that in detail - and study it. do you still plan to move your embassy to jerusalem ? translation: we intend to move the argentine embassy in israel i to westjerusalem.

do you fear that your stance risks making argentina — which has the biggestjewish community in the region — a target to terrorist groups like it was back in the 19905? translation: that is false. that is completely false. argentina has already suffered two terrorist attacks, and other countries that — a second point — have expressed positions contrary to israel, others, neutral positions, and still they were attacked. so, it's not a condition that makes you a target as such. let's move to a different part of the world now. could you describe to me, in a sentence, what you make of xijinping? translation: | do not- favour communist systems. i strongly believe in freedom. but him personally, what do you make of him? translation: i haven't met him in person, so i couldn't _

possibly passjudgment. that would be inappropriate on my part. all i can say is that i have no problem with our private sector in argentina doing business with the private sector in china. but the values on the basis of which the chinese case has been built are not the values of the west. do you still believe, like you said in your campaign, that the chinese are, in your words, "assassins"? translation: i said, "communism is a murderous regime." _ you talk very tough about china, but is the reality that you can't really change anything regarding your relationship with them because you rely on china for trade, forforeign investment, forforeign currency? chinese money at the moment is a lifeline to argentina. translation: the only lifeline for argentina is to do things - the right way — and we are actively pursuing that, irrespective of our relations with any individual country.

would you still use that word "assassins", though, to describe the government there? translation: i will continue to use the word �*murderous'| to describe communism. moving to the us now — who would you like to win the us election? translation: actually, regardless of who wins, | i'm an ally of the united states, whether they are democrats or republicans. it was reported that you told donald trump at a conference in the us that you wanted him to win, you hoped he would win. is that true? translation: well, actually, i bumped into donald trump l in a hallway. i get on very well with him, but he was on his way out, and i was on my way to the stage for my conference. and we actually ended up running into each other in a hallway. so, it wasn't even a formal bilateral meeting. it's just that two people who knew each other said hello to each other. and since we got on very well,

there was a very informal chat. no protocol involved. what do you think of him? because he spent a lot of money when he was in government, he increased the debt, he's a protectionist — he increased tariffs. he doesn't seem to have that much in common with you. what do you think you have in common with him? translation: what matters most is the fact that he clearly _ identifies who the enemy is — socialism — as the enemy. but i'd like to move on to a different pledge that you made during your campaign. will you appeal abortion rights that have been recently gained in argentina? translation: that wasn't one of my campaign promises, - even though i am clearly pro—life. but it wasn't a campaign promise. that is not on argentina's agenda today, even though i have a clear pro—life position. and one thing about government and about myself is that i've

always said what i think, and i've always done what i said i would do. no—one should be surprised at what i'm doing. i said i was going to use the chainsaw and, well, from 15% of fiscal deficit, we have brought it down by 13% already. we are doing it, so we are making possible what many said would be impossible. i want to turn now to the future. you've campaigned with a chainsaw, as you mentioned. you've modelled your image at times on elvis, on the rolling stones. do you fear that your reputation as el loco — "the crazy one" — means that some people don't take you seriously? or do you think that crazy is what this country needs? translation: those who are supposed to be sane took - the richest country in the world to the country number 1110. so, whatever the losers that made our country sink called me, i don't really

care about at all. and actually, all those who have called me all sorts of things are now suffering terribly and crying all over the place because i am getting international recognition. and, above all things, they look at what i am actually doing. you will not find it easy to see this kind of 180—degrees change, like i am doing in favour of a libertarian identity. i really don't care about what all those liars are saying, all those serial liars that criticise me. i want to ask you — liz truss recently said that you were her favourite conservative leader. do you admire her? translation: who? i don't have elements to give an opinion, but what in the uk

is defined as conservative, well, we libertarians have a lot of common ground with that. you're a big fan of the rolling stones band. what is your favourite song by them, and why? he chuckles translation: it�*s very hard to pick a single rolling stones song that i like the most. but certainly, i do believe that the one i love is rip this joint... ..which is the second song on side a on disc one of the album exile on main st. and that album was recorded in paris in a basement, while they were escaping the burden of asphyxiating fiscal pressure in the uk. so, this album has a very strong libertarian component in its history.

i'm a true fan of the rolling stones. i actually had a rolling stones tribute band i sang in, so i deeply admire mickjagger. and finally, president, i want to ask a question about the future. so many presidents have said that they will be the one to turn around argentina's economic woes. what makes you think that you will be able to succeed where so many others have failed to do so? translation: |f| didn't| believe that i could do it, i wouldn't be sitting here. the difference, vis a vis other cases, is that i know what needs to be done, how to do it. and i have the courage to do it. but above all things... ..i have the raw material that others have not had.

i am convinced, it is my conviction that we can get over this... ..by espousing the ideas of freedom. i don't mind how many stones i might find along the way, how many traps and things that might go against me. i will keep going north. and my north is freedom. and i will move forward whatever happens. and the best evidence is that, after four months in office, despite all politicians working to prevent things from happening, we have achieved the impossible — which was to avoid what could have been the worst crisis in argentina's history. just to finish, i'd like to return to what we discussed right at the start. what would you say to the people who, despite your conviction, despite your belief that this is the right thing

to do, feel that they are personally struggling as a result? what message would you offer them at this difficult time? translation: we are actually| already coming out of the dock. we have avoided damage that would be unprecedented in argentina's history. we have passed through the bottom, and now we are starting to recover. it won't be immediate, it will take time, and people are starting to see the results, because inflation is really coming down. risk has fallen a lot. the prices of argentine financial assets are on the rise. some sectors are already expanding. in addition, the salaries are winning against inflation. so, a betterfuture is getting closer. president milei, thank you very much

for talking to us at bbc news. translation: it's been my pleasure. gracias. thank you. hello there. settled and warm again on friday, with plenty of late spring sunshine around and temperatures rising across the four nations into the low 20s in celsius. the warmth is set to last as we head through the weekend. temperatures will remain above the seasonal average, warmest towards the east. and it's still dry for the vast majority of us on saturday. a scattering of showers, with the real breakdown happening on sunday. heavy, thundery showers out towards the western half of the uk.

further east should stay largely dry. and here is the area of high pressure that's keeping these dry, settled conditions for the time being. it will eventually push further eastwards into scandinavia. but we've got a bit of an easterly breeze, and that's been dragging some mist and low cloud in from the north sea. but that will lift and clear across the south—east of england and east anglia through saturday morning. still maybe a hang—back of cloud towards parts of the yorkshire lincolnshire coast, though. lots of sunshine to start the day and we'll keep the sunny skies for most through the afternoon. but a scattering of showers across scotland pushing northwards, perhaps some heavy and thundery, but they'll be fairly isolated. it's still very warm — 2a degrees celsius in glasgow. chance of a shower, too, across northern areas of northern ireland and north wales. a little cooler towards these north sea—facing coasts, with some of the cloud possibly lapping onshore again at times. 25 or 26 degrees celsius in london and south—east england. so the high pressure starts to push further eastwards as we head through sunday. that allows for these low pressure systems to roll in from the west.

and this weather front will bring us thickening cloud across the south—west of england, western wales, on sunday morning. some showers across the western isles and western scotland, pushing into northern ireland, and the chance of some thunderstorms developing all across the western half of the uk. but it should stay drier further east. again, there will be a lot of sunshine here, and once again we could see temperatures in the low to the mid—20s in celsius. but cooler out towards the west, of course, underneath the cloud and with the eventual rain. and here comes that low pressure system swinging in as we head through monday. it's going to give us quite widespread rain on monday, especially through the afternoon, so expect it to turn a lot more showery as we head through next week. and there'll be a drop in temperature, too, so unsettled and cooler as we head through next week. bye—bye for now.

live from washington, this is bbc news. a us state department report criticises israel's conduct in gaza but stops short of recommending the us halt weapons supplies. in gaza, the territory's main un aid agency warns it only has three days' worth of food remaining. and russian forces launch a surprise cross—border attack on ukrainian territory near the city of kharkiv. hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. the us has released a report to congress finding that israel may have used american—supplied weapons in breach of international humanitarian law during the war in gaza. the document says, however, that the us government does not have complete information to verify its assessment. it also finds that, despite israel not fully