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and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". anchor: this is "bbcs america." the u.s. thousand to respond after a drone strike in jordan. israeli intelligence details allegations of members of an 80 agency intent -- involved in hamas. countries have caused funding. taylor swift is the latest victim of fake images. a growing concern. ♪ welcome.

the u.s. says there will be a consequential response to the drone strike that killed three american troops on sunday, they named reserve soldiers as a 46-year-old, 24-year-old and a 23-year-old. a u.s. military base near the syrian border was the target. president biden blamed the attack on iran. antony blinken says the u.s. will respond decisively. "bbc world news america." from the outset, we have been very clear in warning that anyone looking to take advantage of conflict in the middle eas and trying to expand it, don't do it. we have taken steps to defend ourselves and partners as well as to prevent escalation.

we will hold responsible t people who attacked our troops. anchor: let's go to our correspondent who is standing by at the state department. good to see you. you were listening at the press conference, how much clarity did he give about what might happen next? >> i have just come out of the briefing room where mr. blinken was speaking at some length. the question has been asked all day. what are they going to do next, how are they going to respond? most of the language was mirrored by president biden yesterday, they say the response

will be decisive. there was some new language, the response could be multi levels in stages and be sustained. that felt like the kind of thing you would say if you are expecting to do this over a period of time. the hawkish calls from republicans have been calling for direct attacks. the administration is going to try and calibrate this. what they are trying to do is deterred the groups from anymore deadly attacks, but not spark a wider war. trying to give some measure of things enough to deter the militias.

anchor: this is the latest in a series of potential escalations. >> they say the shipping attacks are in solidarity, americans say there is no connection. at the same time are trying the

the civilians israel has killedt in gaza, so the administration is finding it hard so course there is a direct between the wider attacks. the new situation now where president biden is under increasing pressure to show a forceful response also, trying to add to the pressure trying to scale things back and ultimately to try and come to a deal with hamas. anchor: at the state department. thank you for your reporting. we heard him mention reactions from members of congress. we spoke to a congress member

about the attack and response. the white house says it's weighing options for a response. you wrote, we must have an effective strategic response on our terms and our timeline. what would that look like? >> exactly what it looks like is what the administration is debating. the goals are tsend a clear, decisive message, and if it doesn't happen, the response could empower people who want to go to war. this is relevant with iran. there are competing factions, factions that want to reconcile with the west and factions that want to start a war. we do not want to empower war

makers. anchor: congressman, we had seen u.s. forces striking houthi targets as a message of deterrence, it has not appeared to work. why do you think that is? >> it has been effective just not as effective as we have like. i think we can also agree it has not been as effective as we like, one thing forces have been careful to do is take out missilesnd facilities without killing people launching these missiles. maybe that is a change we need to send in the future. a message that if you are going to attack international shipping, you might lose your life. anchor: you're talking about targeting not just factories and weapons depots but specific

people. >> that's right. this strategy has been effective in the past. we often took out specific terrorist leaders. sometimes you are more effective taking out the foot soldiers. figure out. anchor: the quote was, they are in a proxyar with us and not only can they get away with it but to the extent we do respond it will be feckless.

>> iran was tacking as every day in iraq, we understand the history. over that time, the republican and democratic administrations have wted the same goal. it's not easy to criticize and get it right. deterrence is hard, war is worse. anchor: one more question. we have seen the qatari prime minister visiting washington, he said a possible retaliation would have an impact on hostage talks and regional secity.

what do you make of that? is it true they are interrelated? it can be. what the united states needs to do is be clear. be clear about our interests, our interests and allies. respond on our terms. we are not going to let the enemy dictate >> connected and what is not, i believe that's what we will see from president biden. anchor: thank you so much. let's get you to congressman don

bacon. i want to start with getting your perspective on what the u.s. response should be. you told axios we should target smart iranian targets and teach a lesson. what with the low risk targets be? >> we have to realize the proxy forces half it americans 150 times. our response just to hit proxy forces does not get iran's attention. iran cares when they get a black eye. i would pick low risk targets that would exact a heavy price. i'm thinking oil terminals.

maybe some navy targets. the main goal is to exact a price on iran without having pilots taking prisoners of war. when you go after the folks who are targeting us, they don't care. they are expendable. i would agree on one thing. this has been going on for decades.

many americans and allies were killed by iranian proxies in iraq and i felt like we did not do enough. iran has to pay the price. there are some smart options. and they will exact a toll. anchor: let's talk about the risk. >> it's likely iran will fire back ballistic missiles at bases we have, general soleimani deserved to die. they're going to retaliate and they should fear us more than we should fear them. they have to start learning to respect america and great

britain, and the west. they are attacking and they don't fear us. anchor: 165 attacks since october 17. athis point, this is not original conflict. >> iran is the head of the state , the lower part of the snake, these militias in iraq, most

people don't care what they say, its actions. there has to be from action. that's a lot. anchor: qatar is pressuring de-escalation. the negotiations have been described as conductive.

he says a deal is taking shape. significant gaps remain. japan and austria are the latest pause. secretary blinken called allegations deeply troubling. most who have been displaced were sheltering at unwra facilities and a spokesperson said it's desperate.

a new statement said seven staff members stormed into israeli territory, the allegations are being investigated in new york, the secretary-general is appealing to countries to guarantee the continuity of operations. in a statement on sunday, he said of the 12 implicated, nine were immediately identified and terminated. one is confirmed dead and the identity is being clarified. moving on to some other news, rishi sunak announced plans to ban the sale of disposable vapes across the u.k.. germany and france announced similar plans in hopes of preventing the health of young people. australia also announced plans but so far, new zealand is the only country had -- that has implemented the band.

the idea is to make it less attractive to children, but manufacturers say e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking. >> this is all about children's health. preventing future harm. >> they look like sweets. >> clampdown. >> this is something that some people want to implement very quickly. that's on about an election, to >> right. >> retailers are saying some contain toxic chemicals, trading chemicals have called for more resources. >> trading standards still have not received their share.

>> this is going out not just trading standards but other enforcement agencies. they want to be easy to levy fines. >> they are appealing to young people. they're being smashed up. >> ahead teacher showed us they

reveal concerns about confiscated vapes. >> the announcement talks about protecting children's lives. taking steps is a really big step. >> child health experts have welcomed the crackdown. >> i am delighted at the news. they been has tripled and most of them tell us the in way is through disposable vapes. >> the industry says vaping has an important are to play. >> the key is to allow smokers to access. >> labor says it will support the measures.

anchor: here in the u.s., there has been a noticeable improvement since 2020 among middle and high school students. that drop-down to 10% in 2023. he started when -- the majority of young people never smoked before vaping according to the centers of disease control. let's turn to some other news. a court in hong kong ordered the liquidation of evergrande, the real estate developer is at the forefront of the real estate crisis. it showed more than $300 billion in debt. still, it's unclear whether the hong kong ruling will have a significant impact in mainland china. king charles has left the hospital.

buckingham palace said some public engagements has been canceled. earlier, kathryn said they were making good progress. fake, explicit images spread about taylor swift. it's thought artificial intelligence is behind the pictures. our technology editors report on the deepfake images. >> fake images have gone viral. they don't come up in google search and you can search for her on x. deplatform has blocked her name in a bid to stop more people from finding the pictures.

her fans called out the abuse, but what do you do if you don't have the platform? >> the names of the accounts that you are seeing. if you can get the date or if you could have a smartphone, it could come a full-time investigative job. if you take this information. how easy is it you could make a convincing fake? none of them are real, i use them -- made them in a free service. many of these do not let you make images of people but it's not impossible. we use deepfake to make it look like someone real is doing something they would not.

>> a lot of the ai generated images have a kind of hyperreal feel to them that looks a bit uncanny. textures are smoothed, certain angles look a bit strange. also, certain body parts although it has gotten much better, these models struggle to generate convincingly. >> in the u.k., the sherry of deepfake porn became illegal last year. anchor: before we go, there is some good news from japan's mission to the moon. scientists say they have reestablished contact with the landing craft. after a bumpy landing, the communications shut off. scientists believe the glitch has been resolved.

thank you so much for watching "world news america." you can find more on our website. stay with us. narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... 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. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that'secause the free pbs app lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

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. geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is on assignment. on the “newshour” tonight, president biden vows to respond to a deadly drone attack on a u.s. base in jordan, and blames an iranian-backed militia for the latest escalation. the secretary general of nato discusses the uncertain future of western support for ukraine as the beleaguered nation's war with russia grinds on. and the biden administration cites climate concerns as it puts the breaks on a major liquid natural gas project and pauses new exports. ♪