welcome to bbc news. i'm monika plaha. our top stories: lisa marie presley, the musician and only daughter of elvis presley, dies aged 5a after suffering cardiac arrest. president biden faces tough questions from reporters after a second set of classified records are found, this time in his garage. what were you thinking? my corvette is _ what were you thinking? my corvette is in a locked garage, so it_ corvette is in a locked garage, so it is— corvette is in a locked garage, so it is not_ corvette is in a locked garage, so it is not like it is sitting out — so it is not like it is sitting out on _ so it is not like it is sitting out on the street. ukraine says heavy fighting with russian forces continues in the eastern town of soledar with a senior defence official calling the situation there �*difficult�*. as more storms are forecast to hit california,

the human cost of the floods becomes apparent. #as it # as it was... and the brit award nominations are out, but with a notable absence of women in the category of artist of the year. the singer—songwriter lisa marie presley has died in hospital in california. her mother, priscilla presley, is believed to have been at her bedside. the 54—year—old daughter of rock—and—roll legend elvis presley had reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest. she was last seen in public on tuesday when she attended the golden globe awards. peter bowes is following

events from los angeles. we heard some hours ago that she had been taken to hospital. she lived in the los angeles suburb of calabasas, just on the outskirts of the city, and she was, according to multiple reports, she was found unconscious at her home. paramedics were called and an attempt was made to save her life, to get her heart going again, and we know from priscilla presley, her mother, who put a message into social media a couple of hours ago that she had been taken to hospital and she was asking at that time for people's prayers. but, as i say, we now hear tragically that she has died. the only daughter of elvis presley. and as you say, we saw herjust a couple of days ago here in los angeles at the golden globe awards, posing for photographs with priscilla presley and austin butler, the actor who plays elvis

in the latest film, the new film about elvis presley. so this is terribly sad news. lisa marie presley of course a successful singer and songwriter in her own right. she was married several times, including for a short period of time to michaeljackson. i know people had very fond thoughts of her and been hoping for the best, and this will come as a terrible shock at such a young age to so many people. we can now speak to sandro monetti who is a friend of the presley family. hejoins us now from los angeles. thank you very much for speaking with me on bbc news. but it is really sad news, isn't it? the daughter of one of the most famous men on the planet and the wife of another, but she was also famous in her own right, wasn't she?- but she was also famous in her own right, wasn't she? yes, and she spent _ own right, wasn't she? yes, and she spent the — own right, wasn't she? yes, and she spent the last _ own right, wasn't she? yes, and she spent the last week - own right, wasn't she? yes, and she spent the last week of - own right, wasn't she? yes, and she spent the last week of her i she spent the last week of her life celebrating her father's legacy, last sunday at

graceland with adoring fans, it would have been elvis's birthday, and last tuesday at the golden globes, celebrating the golden globes, celebrating the award—winning movie, elvis, which she thinks has done so much to keep herfather�*s memory alive. and so did she as well, inheriting graceland, shepherding elvis presley enterprises, and really making herfather enterprises, and really making her father and enterprises, and really making herfather and enduring icon her father and enduring icon while herfather and enduring icon while following in his footsteps with her own three albums. than footsteps with her own three albums. �* . ., footsteps with her own three albums. �* _, ., , footsteps with her own three albums. �* u, .,, i. albums. an icon indeed, as you mentioned. _ albums. an icon indeed, as you mentioned, and _ albums. an icon indeed, as you mentioned, and priscilla - albums. an icon indeed, as you mentioned, and priscilla 's - mentioned, and priscilla �*s presley, her mum, said she was the most passionate, strong and loving woman, and many across the world attest to this, don't they? the world attest to this, don't the ? �* , , ,. ., , they? as is priscilla herself. i have been _ they? as is priscilla herself. i have been lucky _ they? as is priscilla herself. i have been lucky enough i they? as is priscilla herself. i have been lucky enough to i i have been lucky enough to meet with the family various times. they must be devastated, as are the millions of fans around the world. we look back on lisa marie's life, it is one of high—profile marriages,

heartbreaking divorces, family drama. really, what a script, what a life, what a legacy, but what, most of all, what a special person, and devastatingly sad. {iii special person, and devastatinul sad. , devastatingly sad. of course, and ou devastatingly sad. of course, and you mention _ devastatingly sad. of course, and you mention that - devastatingly sad. of course, and you mention that lisa - devastatingly sad. of course, i and you mention that lisa marie presley, that you last saw her at the golden globes, and that was to celebrate a biopic about her father. was to celebrate a biopic about her father-— her father. she was so incredibly _ her father. she was so incredibly proud. - her father. she was so incredibly proud. shel her father. she was so i incredibly proud. she was saying that when she first saw austin butler's performance, it just completely blew her mind. she needed days to get over it, because when you think about it, everybody in the world doesn't elvis impersonation and she has heard millions of them, but she said that austen was the one who got closest to her father's essence, spirit and voice. she was actually thinking it was elvis's own voice singing in the movies but most of that was actually austin as well. and one of the happiest moments in her later years was getting a new friend

in austin, and for a way, it must have almost have been like having your father back in some strange way, and, yes, so it is very sad news, but her last days were happy ones as she celebrated the movie and her father's legacy and surrounded by her loving family. than father's legacy and surrounded by her loving family.— by her loving family. an many --eole by her loving family. an many peeple are — by her loving family. an many people are taking _ by her loving family. an many people are taking to - by her loving family. an many people are taking to social- people are taking to social media to pay tribute and also pay their respects. what is the reaction? ., . ., , pay their respects. what is the reaction? ., , , reaction? the reaction is 'ust one, i reaction? the reaction is 'ust i mean. i reaction? the reaction is 'ust one, i mean, we often h reaction? the reaction isjust one, i mean, we often say. reaction? the reaction isjust i one, i mean, we often say this, the sad times of celebrity passing is, butjust ausmat so incredibly sudden and so sad and what an epic dramatic life and what an epic dramatic life and just everyone is reflecting on the incredible elvis family story, and this is another very sad footnote on it. wonderful person gone too soon. {iii person gone too soon. of course- — person gone too soon. of course. just to reiterate, a wonderful person gone too soon.

thank you very much forjoining me on bbc news. the us atturney general has appointed a special counsel to investigate whether joe biden broke the law in his handling of classified records from his time as vice president. it comes after a second set of documents was found in a garage at mr biden's home in delaware. a first batch had been discovered earlier in his former office at a washington think tank. here's our north america editor sarah smith. after admitting he was keeping classified documents at his delaware home, stored in the garage alongside his vintage sports car, president biden has a lot of explaining to do. classified materials next to your corvette — what were you thinking? my corvette's in a locked garage, ok, so it's not like it's sitting out in the street. people know i take classified documents and classified materials seriously. i also said we are cooperating fully and completely withhe—

justice department's review. earlier this week, we learned that classified documents had been found in a washington office mr biden used after leaving the vice presidency in 2017. that prompted his lawyers to search his residence in wilmington, where a small number of documents were found, and immediately turned over to thejustice department. wholly different, says the white house, to the hundreds of classified documents uncovered when the fbi raided former president trump's florida home last year. president biden condemned trump's actions then as "totally irresponsible". not once, but now we're finding in two different locations, classified information just out there in the open. anotherfaux pas by the biden administration, but treating the law differently based upon your political beliefs. america's top lawyer, the us attorney general, has to be seen to apply the law equally. he has already appointed one special counsel to investigate mr trump's actions. today, he appointed another, to look at mr biden's retention of documents. the extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel

for this matter. this appointment underscores for the public the department's commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters. the white house insists that the case of the biden documents is nowhere near as serious as the trump document saga, but parallels keep emerging. classified material being stored at home and now a special counsel being appointed to investigate. that means this story will now drag on for months, and could well overshadow any plans president biden had to announce soon that he was running for president again in 202a. the white house says it is confident a thorough review will show the documents were inadvertently misplaced, and were handed over as soon as they were discovered. sarah smith, bbc news, washington. we can now speak tojennifer kerns who's a republican strategist and host on the all american radio network. hi, jennifer. thanks for

joining me. first of all, what is your reaction to this news? well, it is absolutely shocking that a man who spent 50 years in washington dc as united states senator received classified briefings and went on to serve as bryce cashman vice president of ideas could have been harbouring documents at one, not two locations, but three locations, and the worst of which was in the garage. i think we have reached a new low in american politics, or at least the national security side of it. least the national security side of it— side of it. but let's not foruet side of it. but let's not forget about _ side of it. but let's not forget about donald i side of it. but let's not i forget about donald trump side of it. but let's not - forget about donald trump here as well, and actually come his retention of the classified documents, because more than 325 files were found at mr trump's florida estate, and thatis trump's florida estate, and that is a bit of a very big contrast to the ten also reported by president biden. well, remember, it is notjust the number that counts, it is what is actually contained in

the classified documents. i think there are a number of questions at the biden administration answer to the american people for. first of all is the who. who might have been traipsing through these locations, through the garage location. could it be hunter biden has clients in russia and china and even clients in natural gas in ukraine in 2017 and those documents would have beenin and those documents would have been in the biden garage. he also have these documents sitting idle in an office where joe biden reportedly rarely visit at the university of pennsylvania think tank, it is in a corporate office building with 100 other businesses. that is pretty remarkable. i also think we need to know what is actually using the documents. if you remember the time period that the 0bama biden administration served, that was during a time of great national security concern. we had the war in iraq, the war in afghanistan, a war in syria, we had an arab spring with the fall of yemen, the fall of libya, and we had a us

embezzler killed along with other special forces killed on a rooftop in benghazi, and not to mention the assassination of a summer bin laden in the first russian invasion of ukraine. the secret that might be containing just a dozen documents could actually be quite extensive. let documents could actually be quite extensive.— quite extensive. let us talk about the _ quite extensive. let us talk about the response - quite extensive. let us talk about the response of i quite extensive. let us talk about the response of the i about the response of the missing documents, because president biden responded to the investigation saying that he takes this matter very seriously and he will fully co—operate. what do you make of that, and in comparison, donald trump willfully that, and in comparison, donald trump will fully obstruct the efforts to recover the document. so it is clear that president biden is clearly showing some more willingness to co—operate here as well. perhaps, but biden is trying to haveit perhaps, but biden is trying to have it both ways i think. missing on one hand he doesn't know what is in the documents, and he made a statement today that he told his lawyers he didn't want to know what was in

the documents, but i think the fact that you had the trump documents injust one fact that you had the trump documents in just one location is significant versus three different locations at the biden residents, the garage and the think tank a few hundred miles away. this does indicate that someone was one of sorting through these files, so somebody knows what is in those files and we need to find out exactly where that is. i think the american public is quite disappointed, though, because we were not made aware of these, the first batch was found before the mid—term elections, and i believe people of the united states deserved to know about that when they were going to the polls and making the mid—term decisions. then another batch was found 720 and it is almost a month later and we arejust 720 and it is almost a month later and we are just learning about this today. think the transparency has been quite 0k... both in the administration and the doj. thank you for your time here on news. in brazil, president lula has accused the security forces

of opening the doors of the presidential palace for thousands of opposition protesters who vandalised the building on sunday. in a news conference, he said there was no evidence of forced entry. supporters of the former president, jair bolsonaro, also stormed the congress building and the supreme court headquarters, calling for a military coup. president lula described the attacks as a huge warning. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: could this arctic town in sweden become europe's most important source of critical raw materials? day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air attacks since the second world war. tobacco is america's oldest industry and it's one of its biggest, but the industry is nervous of this report. this may tend to make people want to stop smoking cigarettes.

there is not a street that is unaffected. l huge parts of kobe - were simply demolished, as buildings crashed into one another. i this woman said she had been given no help and no advice i by the authorities. she stood outside - the ruins of her business. tens of thousands of black children in south africa have taken advantage of laws passed by the country's new multiracial government and enrolled at formerly white schools. tonight sees the 9,610th performance of her long—running play, the mousetrap. when they heard of her death today, the management considered whether to cancel tonight's performance, but agatha christie would have been the last person to want such a thing. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: lisa marie presley, the musician and only daughter of elvis presley, has died aged 5a after suffering a cardiac arrest.

the usjustice department has appointed a special counsel to investigatejoe biden's handling of classified documents from when he was vice president. a russian mercenary group fighting in ukraine claims to have found the body of one of two uk aid workers who have been reported missing. the bbc hasn't been able to verify the claim. 28—year—old chris parry, seen here on the left, and andrew bagshaw, who is a8, were last seen on friday — reportedly heading to the town of soledar in the east of the country. soledar is currently the scene of fierce fighting, along with the neighbouring town of bakhmut. the bbc�*s james waterhouse, who's in kyiv, gave us his assessment of the situation. the town of soledar and nearby bakhmut, a city, have become the focal points on the eastern front of ukraine. it is an area where contract soldiers, a private army called the wagner group, is doing the bulk of russia's fighting and they are throwing everything at the town of soledar and bakhmut to try and achieve some immediate gain.

we're in a phase of this conflict where they are throwing everything at it, at a huge human cost. and i wouldn't be surprised to see ukraine make some kind of tactical retreat to wait for russian forces to exhaust themselves, if you like. for now, kyiv is adamant the defensive lines are holding and they say the wagner group are putting some of their best soldiers into soledar to try and make more immediate gains. the russians are claiming that it has control, but there are, as ever, conflicting reports in terms of the military significance. i wouldn't place too much on soledar. this is about a propaganda trophy for vladimir putin to present to critics back inside russia. the direction of the war i don't think will be influenced greatly by what we are seeing in the east. but the fighting is fierce

and the human cost is great. that was james waterhouse reporting from kyiv. cyclones continue to batter the us state of california, with the tragic stories behind the headlines beginning to emerge. they include that of five—year—old kyle doan, who has been missing since floodwaters swept him awayjust minutes after he reassured his mother that they just needed to be calm. at least 19 people are now known to have been killed by the flooding and mud slides, which began in late december. 0ur correspondent james clayton reports. a brief lull in the rain in northern california has allowed authorities to assess the damage from successive storms. a search had been under way for kyle, a five—year—old boy living in sonoma. he liked people. he liked to dance. he was very outgoing, active. on monday, the floods submerged the car he and his mother were in as she drove him back from school.

rescuers were able to get to his mother, but kyle was swept out into the water. and my wife just happened to be closer to them. and when she was able to reach out to the rope that they were able to have and the flow of my son was farther down and they saw him. he was face up. he was floating face up. it's hard to process. elsewhere, a 43—year—old woman, daphne fontenot, was found dead in her car after floodwaters submerged her vehicle. in san francisco, some of the city's homeless have been living through relentless rain. we're at a flyover here. and as you can see, it gives a little bit of shelter to people who were living on the streets. but even here, it's been raining so much that a lot of ground water has swept in. and we've been told that some of the tents here were flooded over night. the flood water came up to morris's tent. was this bit here was flooded last night? yeah, the centre island here. the water was coming over the top. so these are your clothes here?

yeah. yes. and are they 0k? are they dry? all wet. ashley has been sleeping rough and says she's used to her tent flooding now. has your tent been flooded at all? yes, it has. terrible. everything has to go most of the time. it's not raining at the moment, but there's more rain forecast here for friday and the weekend as the city and those who don't have homes brace for yet more flooding. james clayton, bbc news, san francisco. heavy rain has caused widespread flooding across parts of the uk. in wales, the national grid said about 600 homes were without power. and in scotland, 8 flood warnings remain after stormy conditions battered some areas today. meanwhile, in the west of england two train lines were blocked between bristol parkway and swindon. a swedish mining company says it's found europe's largest deposit of rare earth elements in northern lapland. it contains at least1 million tons of the minerals, which are needed in various

high tech products. tim allman reports. —— europe is mostly dependent on china for these products. tim allman reports. close to the arctic circle in the far north of sweden lies the city of kiruna. they've been mining iron ore here for more than a century, but now they've found something else. this computer—generated map shows the existing mine. buried nearby, and named after a famous swedish scientist, is the per geijer deposit, previously undiscovered. tons and tons of rare earth elements, or rees. what we can see today is by far the largest deposit of rees in europe — totally vital for our transformation from combustion engines to electric engines. there are more than a dozen so—called rare earth elements which have proven to be

incredibly useful to the modern world. amongst other things, they have been vital to the development of wind turbines, smart phones and electric cars. but the problem facing europe is, until now, the main source of rees has been in china. this discovery could change all that. there is really a great potential for europe to now take the lead in the green transition. we can reduce carbon footprint and strengthen our competitiveness at the same time. none of this will be quick. it could take ten or 15 years to start producing minerals for industrial use. but the hope is this discovery will eventually transform the global economy and help protect the environment. tim allman, bbc news. senior members of the british royal family have carried

out theirfirst public engagements since prince harry's memoir, spare, went on sale. king charles visited community groups in aberdeenshire in northern scotland, while the prince and princess of wales met healthcare staff at a teaching hospital in liverpool. there was no comment about the controversial publication. nominations for one of the music industry's biggest annual events, the brit awards, have been announced, with the former 0ne direction star harry styles and indie rock duo wet leg emerging as front runners. but close observers have noted the absence of women in the prestigious artist of the year category. here's our music correspondent mark savage. # holdin' me back # gravity�*s holdin' me back # i want you to hold out the palm of your hand...# gravity can't hold him back. harry styles had the biggest selling single and album of last year, and now he is up forfour brit awards, including song of the year... # as it was...# ...for as it was.

# hey, you, over there # on a chaise lounge in your underwear...# also picking up four nominations are wet leg, the isle of wight band who burst onto the scene 18 months ago with the hit single chaise longue. we started the band and we just thought we would get to go to a few festivals, so to go to the brits and to be nominated, it'sjust... it's a bit more than we bargained for. # if i was an astronaut, i i'd be floating in midair...# sam ryder makes history. he's the only eurovision act ever to be nominated for best newcomer. that's bonkers. i truly had no idea about that. sometimes, like, the stats and facts and figures pass me by but i didn't know that one. that's bonkers. that's amazing! # ijust can't explain...# but a year after the brits got

rid of gendered prize categories, women are entirely missing from the best artist prize, with acts like stormzy and george ezra taking all the slots. 0rganisers say female artists and female fronted bands do account for 42% of the overall nominations, with acts like cat burns up for multiple awards. the winners will be announced at a star—studded ceremony on saturday, 11 february. mark savage, bbc news. one more story to bring you. in australia, a local man has well and truly earned the title of wildlife warrior after rescuing a cuddly native. this is the moment queensland man will thornton dashed out on to a busy highway barefoot to escort a koala safely across four lanes of traffic. he spotted the animal from his balcony and bolted down to stop the cars. after all that, mr thornton says he's just glad the koala made it safely.

there you go. will the wildlife warriors. you are watching bbc news with me, monika plaha. hello there. week two of january 2023 has been another wet one, and in fact we are starting to see the signs of that. out to the west, there's been some localised flooding. this was carmarthenshire thursday afternoon. and through north—west england and parts of wales, some areas have already exceeded their monthly average rainfall totals and we're not even halfway through the month yet. now, thursday's low pressure continues to pull away. this little ridge of high pressure builds and quietens things down for friday until the end of the day — more wet weather waiting in the wings. so we'll start off with a northerly wind, driving in some showers on exposed coasts here. a narrow band of showery rain into northern ireland, south—west scotland, north—west england. but elsewhere we will still see blustery winds, but some sunny spells coming through and pleasant enough, mostly dry, with temperatures peaking between 6—11 celsius. but as we move out of friday,

into the early hours of saturday morning, we'll start to see more wet weather. and unfortunately, the heaviest of the rain is likely to push across those areas that have already exceeded the monthly rainfall totals, so that mightjust exacerbate any potential flooding. so that frontal system is going to move away and then a trail of showers tucks in behind. so it's a wet start for england, wales, for northern ireland, southern scotland. the rain pushes off to the north sea, a trail of showers packs in along north and west—facing coasts, but there will be some sunny spells into the afternoon. still mild in the south—east, with 12 celsius, but somewhat cooler conditions starting to kick in now across the far north. and that is going to be the tone into the third week of january. so, from sunday onwards, noticeably colder. we will start to see some frost and we haven't seen those so far this year. and, yes, any precipitation may well turn wintry because we're going to see that northerly flow.

and with any little weather fronts moving into that cold air, some of those showers could turn wintry even at lower levels, so you need to keep abreast of the forecast over the next few days. on sunday, we'll see some showers, rain, sleet and snow along north and west—facing coasts. a noticeably colder afternoon — just a couple of degrees above freezing in scotland, highs of 7 celsius further south. cooler with further wintry showers to come, monday into tuesday. take care.

this is bbc news. the headlines: lisa marie presley, the musician and only daughter of elvis presley, has died after being taken to hospital in los angeles having suffered a cardiac arrest. she was 5a. she was last seen in public attending the golden globe awards on tuesday. the usjustice department has appointed a special counsel to investigate joe biden's handling of classified documents. he told reporters that a second batch of papers had been found in the garage of his delaware home. mr biden said he would cooperate fully with the counsel's investigation. and ukraine's military says heavy fighting continues in the largely destroyed eastern town of soledar near bakhmut.

a spokesman said ukrainian forces were fighting what he described as the best—prepared units