♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by...

woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. george: actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. narrator: funding was also provided by, the eeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". >> i am caitriona pen washington and this is bbc world news america. israel vows to continue its

world effort regardless of whether the international community is behind them. thousands are injured in one of the worst attacks on ukraine's capital in months. house republicans vowed to bring contempt of congress charges against the president's son after he refuses to testify behind closed doors. hello and welcome to world news america. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, is vowing israel will go to the end to victory despite pressure from the international community. his foreign minister says the war in the gaza strip will go on with or without international support. they were responding after the un's general assembly overwhelmingly adopted a nonbinding resolution urging a humanitarian cease-fire. the u.s. among only 10 members to vote against it.

u.s. president joe biden warning that israel is starting to lose global support because of indiscriminate bombing. for the first time, president biden met in person with the family members of american hostages being held by hamas. the family members said it was a terrific meeting while adding they were hoping for a christmas miracle. in gaza, the humanitarian situation has worsened has heavy rain impacts those sleeping in makeshift shelters and tents. the u.n. palestinian refugee agency is warning that its ability to help is on the verge of collapse. i spoke to our middle east correspondent, hugo, from jerusalem. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been responding to some of this growing international pressure that we have seen on israel's approach including from the united states. just what has he been saying? hugo: we heard from prime minister netanyahu today saying that the war continues, that the goal of the israeli military has

not changed, and that is the it was very interesting that he said nothing's going to stop us. he was referring to international pressure. obviously, this comes after the vote at the u.n. yesterday calling for a cease-fire and also after those very strong comments by president biden saying that israel was losing support around the world because of the indiscriminate bombing of gaza. so that was prime minister netanyahu. we also heard from the foreign minister who said the war is going to continue with or without international support. so there is still a lot of support here domestically for the war but i think, you know, international pressure is growing on the israelis, especially because of the widespread destruction of gaza, the immense humanitarian crisis happening in the territory, and

also the high numr of civilian casualties. i think over the last few days, we have heard a number of american officials raising concerns about the situation in gaza. just days ago, secretary blinken said there was a gap between what the americans -- secretary blinken said there was a gap between the authorities and israel, what they were saying, and the situation on the grounds of the israelis are saying they will continue with the war but i think there will be a moment in which those calls for a cease-fire will become too loud to be ignored. caitriona: that all sets up the conversation that will happen when president biden's national security advisor, jake sullivan, and the secretary for defense, lloyd austin, travel there tomorrow. what are we expecting to come from those talks? hugo: it's very interesting that these meetings are going to be happening right after comments by president biden, there's very strong comments by the president yesterday. i think with the israelis here

are saying is one of the topics of those discussions is a possible timeline for the end of the war in gaza. it's also interesting that behind-the-scenes, some americans -- american officials are saying they don't believe they have the power to tell the israelis what they need to do, that they don't have the power to dictate, if you like, the israeli strategy. they say even if the americans were to support a cease-fire right now, the israelis would simply go ahead with, you know, any plan they have. but there's also been disagreements about what is going to happen in gaza after the war. these are plic disagreements between the biden administration and prime minister benjamin netanyahu and some people here in israelay that the prime minister is playing politics, trying to address concerns of his right wing allies. so a lot to be discussed during these meetings but again, i

think the timeline for the end of the war is going to be at the top of the agenda. caitriona: all the while, of course the humanitarian situation is continuing to deteriorate. just briefly, can you tell us what is the latest situation? hugo: exactly. and you know, the weather has changed. it has been raining a lot in the last day or so and temperatures have dropped so obviously, this is just making things worse for hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced in gaza and again, hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and the u.n. today has warned of a public health disaster in gaza because of the situation. and very little humanitarian aid is getting into gaza and again, the u.n. says aid distribution has virtually stopped because it's almost impossible to reach those areas where people need this kind of assistance because of the fighting.

and so, it continues to be a very difficult situation. catastrophic, in the words of the head of the u.n. agency for palestinian refugees. caitriona: hugo in israel, thank you so much for the updates. on capitol hill, the republican chairman in charge of the impeachment inquiry into u.s. president joe biden says they will start contempt of congress proceedings against mr. biden's son, hunter. today, he defied a subpoena from the house of representatives to testify behind closed doors, instead holding a news conference in front of the capital, he said he was willing to testify but only before an open hearing. three committees of the republican-controlled house are investigating hunter biden's business dealings in ukraine and china. republicans in the house also want to link president to his son's alleged his deeds. attempting to impeach joe biden for supposedly benefiting financially from the arrangement. the president's son, who is a

recovering drug addict, accused the republican party spending six years trying to embarrass him simply to damage his father. >> for six years, i have been the target of the unrelenting trump attack machine, shouting "where's hunter?" well, here is my answer, i am here. let me state as clearly as i can , my father was n financially involved in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member, not in my partnership with the chinese private businessman, not in my investments at home nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist. during my battle with addiction, my parents were there for me. they literally saved my life. they helped me in ways that i will never be able to repay.

and of course, they would never expect me to. in the depths of my addiction, i was extremely irresponsible with my finances. but to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. it is shameless. caitriona: to talk about this some more, we are joined by our north america correspondent. what happened after hunter biden refused to testify in private session? how is that message we just heard received. >> unsurprisingly, the republican was moved by an emotional statement, the first time we have heard hunter biden speak in that way. they have looked at it as another way that hunter biden is trying to get out of it. they seized on the comment he made about when he said my father was not financially involved, saying previously, he

has said his father was not involved so what does that mean for -- they are picking at the comment he has made. they want to know exactly what capacity his father was involved in. they say he is in contempt of congress and as you mention, they are going to push forward with pursuing that. it is a risk for hunter biden to take this morning by not appearing. democrats -- we saw in the january 6 committee that -- the hearing where you had those who did not comply with the subpoena not showing up, the most high-profile one with steve bannon, donald trump's former advisor in the white house who was found guilty of not -- not complying with the subpoena and he was sentenced to four months in jail, something he is currently appealing. republicans are saying they are going to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress. >> what does that mean for the various investigations?

>> i think the investigations continue right into next year and they have become part of the election campaign. we are already seeing republicans using this. even back in 2020, hunter biden has become an obsession for the republicans. portraying the biden family as a crime family, all these allegations about corruption and bribery and so, i think it does become part of the campaign. they will continue with this impeachment inquiry into president biden. democrats are saying this is a baseless political stunt and int to the fact that so far, no evidence has been provided by republicans making this accusation against president biden and his family. caitriona: dubai, known as cop ,

secured signatures from all 190 seven participating countries to reach the deal along with day. many countries hoped for a stronger stance, calling for the phasing out of coal, oil, and gas. justin reports from dubai. justin we waited and we waited and then -- >> hearing no objection, it is so decided. justin: the deal was done. [applause] justin: and it got a standi ovation. corks that is the fastest that an agreement text has ever been agreed. the presidency is calling this an historic agreement but it is edged around with questions and doubts.

it calls on countries to contribute to ambitious actions to tackle climate change. i could -- would you consider that i have really pulled my weight? >> the president of these talks was in no doubt how important it was. collects now, -- >> now, we can truly say that we acted ande truly delivered. justin: there was support from many countries especiall richer nations. >> to have a strong a document as has been put together i find is cause for optimism, because for gratitude, and because for some significant congratulations to everybody here. justin: and congratulations from saudi arabia, which had pushed hard to weaken the commitment. small island states are on the front line climate change.

many of their representatives were not in the room when the hammer went down and they were not happy today. there is a litany of loopholes, they said, and it won't do enough to tame climate change. >> the course correction that is needed has not been secured. what we really needed is an exponential change in our actions and support. justin: that got a bigger round of applause than the president's speech. [applause] justin: but the consensus does appear to be that this is a significant step forward. that is certainly the view of him. >> historic landmark, game changing agreement. only time will tell. thank you. justin: he told delegates today that now the deal is done, it is up to them. they need to go back to their countries and take action on climate change. that is how the promise of this

agreement will be delivere caitriona: as justin mentioned there, this climate agreement still gives the fossil fuel producers space to keep working despite setting ambitious goals. whether those climate goals are obtainable is the question to be answered. our analysis editor gives us some context. >> the idea of an annual global climate summit was first established in rio in 1992. it was there that countries agreed on the ambition of stabilizing emissions. five years later, in character, the first targets to cut emissions were set although the u.s. opted out. in copenhagen in 2009, hopes were high of a new deal. they ended in failure and frustration and afterwards, they noted it would take more than this to tackle climate change. there was a lot more in paris in 2015. there was a new common goal for all countries to limit global warming to well below two

degrees above the industrial levels and ideally, 1.5. >> we came together around the strong agreement the world needed. justin: the paris agreement improve reporting of emissions and drove some shifts in climate policy. further progress was made at the glasgow summit in 2021 though some were disappointed the words were not stronger and by 20 22, the u.n. secretary general said unless countries dramatically scale up their eorts to counter the climate crisis, the world faces a global catastrophe , and while there is often a gap between commitments at these summits and the actions that follow, these gatherings do bring a regular local focus on climate and sometimes that can ift the globally approach. in dubai, countries have for the first time agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. this is new but in the end, it is not words that impact the climate, its actions and the money to fund them and you may be wondering what impact all the past climate summits have had.

emissions were going up when the world met in rio in 1992. they are still going up now albeit more slowly because of global action that has been taken which is why cop 28th real significance will be decided by what follows this latest deal. caitriona: dozens of people including children were injured in a wave of missile strikes on the ukrainian capital, kyiv. a kindergarten at hospitals were damaged by debris as authorities say 10 russian ballistic missiles were shut down -- st down. it is the third attack this weekend the worst russian strike in months. it comes as president zelenskyy continues touring wild capitals with a plea for more money for the war. today, he was in oslo, meeting the leaders in denmark and finland where he made a renewed push to join the e.u. jess parker has the latest from kyiv. >> you would not think that just a few small steps from here, there would be this, but that is

how life looks today in kyiv. in last nights explosion, her skin was pierced by shards of glass. >> it was horrifying, a nightmare. i could not believe it had happened. we don't have a house anymore. we don't have a car. what to do, where to go, it is not clear. jess: throughout noah gray -- throwing away the debris, packing up without anywhere to go, a terrible, familiar routine, and one for which there is less global attention and dwindling pledges of aid. see what the russians are doing to us, says alexander. help is needed. he is in shock after seeing injured children. he thanks god his own grandson did not stay last night.

president zelenskyy arriving in norway. big decisions on e.u. support into membership talks ellume after he failed to clinch a crucial defense funds in the u.s. following a faltering counteroffensive. >> aircraft to artillery, doesn't matter. you needed and of course you can have it if the world, if europe in around ukraine. of course, you can't win without help. jess: ukraine is used to dealing with destruction by now, picking up the pieces and carrying on but every attack leaves shattered lives behind. a question is hanging over this country. some of those promises of long-term support, in the end, where they just words?

all this has collided with a massive cyber attack on ukraine but people i talked to still have belief that the necessary aid will come to help them fight a war they cannot conceive of losing. jessica parker, bbc news, in kyiv. caitriona: argentina's new president is trying to fix the worst ecic crisis there in decades with a series of measures being built as economic shock therapy. these includ weakening the value of the currency by more than 50% against the u.s. dollar. the country is dealing with soaring inflation with prices going up by about 150% over the past year. argentina is also struggling with high government debt and currently owes the international monetary fund 44 billion dollars. all of this comes as around 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. our south american correspondent, katy watson, sent this report. >>'s administration said it

would be implement and shock therapy and they are wasting no time in doing so. in a televised speech, the new economy minister announced this decision to devalue the peso by about 50%. 800 pesos to the dollar and it was part of a series of measures which also included cutting subsidies in the energy and transportation sectors and slashing government ministries and jobs. the government has talked about short-term pain. devaluation initially could increase imports and it also makes it harder to service foreign debt and could push up inflation which is already around 150% per year in argentina. but it can also decrease the cost of exports and boost the local economy. yes, it might be short-term pain and that is what a lot of argentinians are really worried about. how much will this push the country into more crisis? the imf in argentina is usually

indebted and said this was a bold move and said it would help stabilize the economy in the long term. caitriona: tesla is issuing a software fix for the autopilot feature in more than 2 million of its electric cars sold in the united states. regulators say there are problems withhe driver's assistance system which is supposed to detect whether the driver is paying proper attention while the car is driving itself. this follows a two-year investigation into the autopilot led by the national highway traffic safety administration after a series of crashes involving tesla cars. as part of the investigation, 956 crashes were reviewed where the autopilot was in use beforehand and then reviewed a narrower set of 322 crashes. the autopilot may have been accidentally activated. >> this recall affects nearly every tesla sold in america. after a two-year investigation in which it reviewed nearly 1000 crashes involving autopilot,

u.s. car regulators concluded the problem with tesla's driver assistance software is that it is easy for people to misuse. the national highway traffic safety administration is basically telling tesla to put better guard on when and where autopilot is safe to use and also to enforce those rules better. now, it recall is when a manufacturer or the regulator determines a vehicle does not meet certain safety standards and to resolve this issue, elon musk's electric car company has agreed to send a free software update to fix the problem. revising and pushing out new software is not free but it is a lot cheaper than a mechanical repair where you have to bring your car to the shop and while tesla does not agree with the federal agencies conclusion, it can still keep selling autopilot whilst it continu to work on. driving technology. some car industry experts are calling this a win foresla. the electric car maker has long

claimed autopilot saves lives by helping people avoid accidents but re is the thing, the data does not count crashes that did not happen. it looks at those that did. caitriona: michelle reporting there. let's have a look at some of the day's other news. the u.s. supreme court is hearing two significant cases, one on the access to a key abortion drug. it is the most important contraceptive case sin the justices overturned the constitutional right to the procedure in june of last year. the other is an appeal on a ruling involving the capitol riot's that could affect at least 325 people who had participated. the u.s. federal reserve has decided to have -- let's leave interest rates unchanged. amid cooling inflation. in a first-ever glimpse into audience engagement on streaming platforms, netflix released

viewer figures for thousands of its shows and movies. netflix said they will release the report every six months, a surprising vulnerability for a company that has closely guarded its data. before this milestone, the company regularly updated their weekly top 10 lists leaderboard which launched in 2021. before we go, american talk show starprah winfrey is being immortalized in the halls of the smithsonian national portrait gallery in washington. she joins the ranks of presidents, major people from history, scientists, stars, and others. in the painting, she is holding an olive sprague in the garden of her california home. sean warren painted this and it is just narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors.

narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. ♪ >> good evening. on the newshour tonight, several israeli soldiers are killed in an ambush in northern gaza. further south, floods add to the suffering in crowded refugee camps.