live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. us presidentjoe biden vows to protect access to a widely—used abortion pill, as two judges issue conflicting rulings. us vice president kamala harris meets the two tennessee lawmakers expelled for protesting about gun control. and china begins three days of military exercises near taiwan in response to the taiwanese president's visit to the us. we begin here in the us, where president biden says he will fight a new ruling out of texas to halt the approval of the abortion pill mifepristone in seven days.

in a statement, joe biden called it "another unprecedented step in taking away basic freedoms from women and putting their health at risk." adding, "if it stands, it would prevent women in every state from accessing the medication, regardless of whether abortion is legal in a state." earlier thejustice department had also announced that it will be appealing the court's decision and will look into separate ruling out of washington state. that ruling is seperate and contradictory to the one in texas, but was handed down about the same time. in a partialand preliminary injunction, the washington judge prohibited the fda from immediately pulling the drug off shelves. let's take a closer look at the medication. the drug, mifepristone, is a medicinal pill which can be taken at home. it's used in more than half of us pregnancy terminations, and was first approved for use more than 20 years ago in 2000. live now to mary ziegler, professor of law at uc davis in california.

we know now that the justice department will appeal the texas ruling. where do we go from here? what happens next? most likely the fda is not _ what happens next? most likely the fda is not going _ what happens next? most likely the fda is not going to - what happens next? most likely the fda is not going to take - the fda is not going to take any immediate steps to try to begin the process of withdrawing this drug from the market, because the fda cannot comply with both decisions by doing that, the best of the fda can do is simply say we have discretion in terms of how we enforce things and we're going to use their discretion because we don't know what the right answer is until the us supreme court intervenes. we will expect to see appeals and we would expect to eventually, given the split nature of these appeals so they will enter the supreme court. the appeals so they will enter the supreme court.— appeals so they will enter the supreme court. the split nature of these rulings, _ supreme court. the split nature of these rulings, that _ supreme court. the split nature of these rulings, that is - supreme court. the split nature of these rulings, that is a - of these rulings, that is a washington court that has ruled to ensure that medical abortion drugs are available in at least 12 liberal states that had sued

the fda, so does that mean for now, access is guaranteed in those states? it now, access is guaranteed in those states?— those states? it seems that wa . those states? it seems that way- there _ those states? it seems that way. there is _ those states? it seems that way. there is a _ those states? it seems that way. there is a lot - those states? it seems that way. there is a lot of- way. there is a lot of uncertainty, obviously it seems that way for now, but it seems for the next week the judge in texasis for the next week the judge in texas is not seeking, he is staying his ruling, until, giving the government a chance to appeal to the status quo will last at least another week, but i think the question really is going to be in those that liberal states that we would expect access to be preserved but even in other states it will be a question about how and to what extent judge casimir�*s rulings can be enforced. in judge casimir's rulings can be enforced. ,., , judge casimir's rulings can be enforced. ,. , ., judge casimir's rulings can be enforced. , ., ., , enforced. in the past, what has happened _ enforced. in the past, what has happened when _ enforced. in the past, what has happened when you _ enforced. in the past, what has happened when you have - enforced. in the past, what has happened when you have two i happened when you have two conflicting rulings like this? part of the problem is in the us we have seen more judges issue nationwide rulings that purport to bind notjust their own communities or states of districts, but the country as a whole, and so often what you

will see is a court ruling to say we're going to leave the status quo in place while we figure this out, and the us supreme court doing the thing, so that at least there is a pause while the higher courts figure out what they think the right answer is. if figure out what they think the right answer is.— right answer is. if we come back to the _ right answer is. if we come back to the ruling - right answer is. if we come back to the ruling in - right answer is. if we come back to the ruling in the i right answer is. if we come i back to the ruling in the court in texas, this is one being watched very closely across the country. what reasoning did the judge give for his ruling? the 'udue judge give for his ruling? the judge relied _ judge give for his ruling? the judge relied on _ judge give for his ruling? tue: judge relied on two judge give for his ruling? tte: judge relied on two independent arguments, the first that he foregrounded was a federal law called the comstock act, and antibias law, and he focused on part of it, that's at essentially any drug that is intended or adapted for abortion is non— mailer bore, meaning it is illegal to mail it to. there is no question that this is intended produce an abortion. he ignored what had been the kind of leading interpretation of the act that

had been around since the 19205, had been around since the 1920s, he ignored some constitutional concerns around the interpretation he was raising, but that was his first argument. his second argument had to do with the way the fda actually approved this drug in 2000, essentially, he argued that the fda had lacked the authority under a relevant regulation to approve the drug in the first place, but both of these are pretty extraordinary things to rule, his rhetoric is pretty extraordinary as well, very reminiscent of rhetoric you would see for the anti—abortion movement. it's pretty stunning, if you are steeped in the movement's history as i am, to see a ruling like this, and both aspects of the opinion could have far—reaching ramifications, just beyond this case itself. ramifications, 'ust beyond this case itself.— case itself. let's talk about this ramifications, - case itself. let's talk about this ramifications, because| this ramifications, because abortion rights activists say the taxes ruling could pave the way for abortion in all 50

states. is that true? yeah, the comstock _ states. is that true? yeah, the comstock act _ states. is that true? yeah, the comstock act ruling, _ states. is that true? yeah, the comstock act ruling, the - states. is that true? yeah, the comstock act ruling, the logic| comstock act ruling, the logic is that any drug intended or adapted for abortion can't be mailed, any drug or device, the logical and point for that if you interpret this act as this job does is your abortion is illegal in 50 states, because there are no abortions that take place they don't involve some item put in the mail, there are no abortion clinics that make their own medical devices or drugs, they all get things from medical device and drug manufacturers through the mail, and so if that interpretation is correct, abortion is already illegal or would be illegal in california, new york, anywhere in the united states regardless of what voters wanted.- what voters wanted. some serious consequences - what voters wanted. some i serious consequences here... professor of law at ucd was in california, thank you for joining us on our show. turning to developments in tennessee, where us presidentjoe biden has tweeted this photo, which shows him meeting with the tennessee three.

he thanked them "for their leadership and courage in the face of a blatant disregard of our nation's democratic values." also, us vice president kamala harris has made a speech in nashville on a surprise visit after two state lawmakers were expelled yesterday over their protests on gun control. justinjones and justin pearson, as well as a third lawmaker gloria johnson, who narrowly survived, have become known as "the tennessee three". they called for gun reform after the nashville school shooting that killed six people. in the last hour, kamala harris has been talking — let's listen. earlier we spoke with justin jones, one of the two state representatives expelled yesterday. he told me how the national attention on tennessee could affect efforts for stricter gun control. i am still here at fisk university where kamala harris, the vice president, just spoke to our students and the community to show her solidarity with what occurred in our state yesterday. she made an emergency visit, so that offered a lot of hope for people that the federal

government will not sit by and allow states like tennessee to run rupture of the state and federal constitution and take the unprecedented step of expelling duly elected lawmakers simply because we stood with our constituents to demand an end to mass shootings that happened here in this city. tell us more about your meeting with the vice president and what she told you. we had a private meeting with the vice president and it was really meaningful that she took the time to come talk to us and let us know that the world is watching what's happening in tennessee and what happened, we are not alone, and that was the most important message is that yesterday was not the end, the republican supermajority that expelled us thought it was the end but it has put a spotlight on tennessee, a spotlight on authoritarianism in our state, and i know this broadcast goes across the world and what i think is so important is that people look to the united states and our democratic process, but what we saw yesterday was a very dangerous step, a very dangerous trajectory in which our democracy

is at risk and it may signal some very dangerous days ahead if we don't act to reclaim our democracy. that's being led by young people in our state who came to the capital to demand we act and who stood in solidarity with last week to say that we need to take action so young people don't have to fear for their lives in schools, from mass shootings. we call for an end to assault rifles and an assault on oui’ democracy. that's exactly what the vice president said as she spoke to people in nashville. i want to follow—up on that. did the biden administration make promises to you and your fellow lawmakers about, for example, taking action on gun control? i want to leave our conversation with the president and vice president confidential and respect that, but what was important was that we have an administration that's willing to act in solidarity. that's important, so whatever happens next is that the state government here, which is so extreme, a body i used to serve in until yesterday,

is not the ultimate arbiter of our rights, so i hope, i'm speaking with legal counsel and constitutional lawyers, i plan to run in a special election. what happened yesterday is not the end, but we will continue to fight it, and it's so important and meaningful to have the president and vice president show solidarity with us, despite what happened yesterday. you mentioned running in a special election. we know there is been massive backlash over the expulsion of you and your colleague, justin pearson, nationally and a lot of international attention, as you said. there are reports that you'll be an interim representative going back to the statehouse on monday. is that correct? nothing is for certain. i know the city council is calling an emergency meeting but we know the speaker of the house gets to make the final decision if we are able to be resat of the chamber.

he has his administration, his office has expressed that there may be some objections to that, so a lot of uncertainty right now, but all i can say is that we will continue to fight for democracy, continue to stand with these young people who are afraid who are afraid for their lives, it is a uniquely american problem, these mass shootings. what i'll ultimately commit to, whether i'm inside the chamber or not, standing on the outside with people, we will continue to hold this legislature accountable for the action that brought us there in first place and was this mass shooting and against the proliferation of weapons in our community. have republican legislators reached out to you after the backlash? no—one has reached out to us. this speaker doubled down to justify what he did but the world is watching and ashamed of what he did. as speaker cameron saxton — i saw a message from one of his fellow former republican members calling for a vote of no confidence in him, that's an interesting development here on tennessee that his own party, people are saying this is a step too far, even forthem, perhaps. but we hope to see accountability in that

the speaker who led this expulsion, this kangaroo court, this mockery of democracy, hopefully there will be accountability if not from his own coffers but at the ballot box from these young people turning out to vote to use their democratic power. for you personally, what was it like to sit with the vice president? it gave me encouragement and hope that we are not alone. that was the most important act of solidarity, a great signal for our nation that we will not allow these attacks on democracy to happen without a response. because what would happen is it that it sets a very dangerous precedent, that if this happens in tennessee, if lawmakers, the two youngest black lawmakers can be expelled for standing with students, saying we must end this proliferation of guns, we want to feel safe in our schools, then this can happen anywhere in the nation. we hope this is not a dangerous trend of undemocratic for forces of authoritarianism, we hope they don't feel emboldened by this.

we hope there is accountability and enough backlash for this to stop it happening anywhere else. last question. the whole point of this is to achieve reform on gun control. we know there is a republican supermajority in the house, as you say. are you optimistic that at the end of all of this you will be able to achieve that? it is not a matter of if but when, because what we see in tennessee is a movement like we haven't seen a decade, all the thousands of young people who came to the state capital fighting for their lives. what they did to us has awakened and galvanised people to reclaim democratic movements and hold them accountable, because what's happening are these laws, universal background checks, red flag laws, a ban on assault weapons which no—one needs, these, no—one needs in a civilian setting. this these are very commonsense policies that the majority of americans in tennessee support. you have a small fringe

of extremists who hijack democracy, who are beholden to special interest groups like the nra and tennessee firearms association, who will block any type of, even conversation, because they are so afraid of losing campaign contributions. we have a small group of extremists who hijack democracy, like cameron saxton, like republican leader jeremy faison, who hijack democracy and put our children's lives at risk. i have seen mothers — suburban white mothers, urban black mothers, people across state from rural and urban areas come to the capital to demand action on the issue and we have the majority of people on our side in tennessee, calling for systemic change, calling for policy change, who are fed up with moments of silence, fed up with their empty prayers, saying this ends now, enough is enough. justinjones justin jones speaking to justinjones speaking to us earlier that. now to the country at the center of some of the world's biggest news this week — china. the chinese military has announced that its holding three days of patrols and live—fire drills off the coast opposite taiwan, starting today.

chinese maritime authorities have warned ships to keep out of the taiwan stait during the drills. taiwan's defence minsitry responded by saying china has "used president tsai's visit and transits in the united states as an excuse to conduct military exercises, which has seriously undermined peace, stability and security in the region." it comes just hours after taiwan's president tsai ingwen returned home from a visit to the us where she met the house speaker kevin mccarthy. the visit caused anger in beijing, which claims taiwan, which is self—ruled as its territory. earlier, i talked to congresswoman haley stevens, who has met taiwanese president tsai this week. take a listen. thank you very much forjoining us. we mentioned just there what china's response has been to this visit, so moving warships, but in general, the response has been relatively muted — even though china had had threatened countermeasures. what do you make of that? well, they certainly had the chest thump, and we knew that they were going to do that.

i went into this meeting hearing their false threats and i was very proud to sit down with president tsai and hear her vision for taiwan, talking about semiconductors and the workforce that goes into semiconductors, the investment that tmc is making in the united states because we passed the chips and science act and yesterday — or two days ago — was also a celebration of democracy the united states' speaker of the house, in a bipartisan fashion alongside a democratic—elected official in taiwan, highest—ranking president tsai. so we had the opportunity to speak to congressman seth moulton just after the taiwanese president's visit. he was also sitting in on those meetings, as you were, and he told us that president tsai had asked for the weapons deliveries to be speeded up. is that going to happen? well, there's certainly lessons learned from other situations around the world —

most notably what has taken place in ukraine. that is a different situation as it pertains to taiwan but we are in a mode of deterrence and we are also in a mode of listening and gathering information and making sure that our allies feel heard. we do not want to see the straits invaded. we do not want to see any type of military conflict. and we also want to see taiwan remain taiwan. and so, hearing from the president in terms of what she's asking for on the military preparedness front and also, hearing her confidence was deeply important in a private, non—press meeting. she certainly spoke to the press publicly with speaker mccarthy and our meeting laid out a foundation of things on the economic front and on the deterrence front that commit to our shared goals of peace and responsibility. 0k. but specifically on that question of weapons deliveries, because this is something that we understand president tsai

had asked for, what can congress do to speed up those deliveries? well, we certainly need to not shut down our government. we need to go through a defence appropriation period in a responsible and reasoned way. if you recall when russia entered ukraine, we hadn't passed a defence budget and so, the united states needs to stop playing catch—up and we need to start leading strategically on all fronts. if it's on weapons preparedness front and hearing from our allies, leveraging other allied relationships — and i know mr moulton, from his position on house armed services, is going to take that right back to committee, and that committee process is going to be deeply important to the final product that comes through the house floor — that is the defence authorisation that we will vote on in a bipartisan, joint way and send it to the president's desk for signature.

let's turn to israel now, where prime minister benjamin netanyahu has ordered the mobilisation of police and army reserves after an attack in tel aviv which killed one person and injured five others after a car rammed into a group of people. the attacker was shot dead. earlier, in the occupied west bank, two british—israeli sisters were killed and their mother injured in a gun attack on a car. both attacks have been condemned by us and israeli officials. this all comes after a week of escalating tensions between israelis and palestinians. on wednesday and thursday, israeli police stormed jerusalem's al—aqsa mosque. israeli forces fired stun grenades and clashed with palestinians as they gathered for ramadan prayers. then, rockets were fired from lebanon into northern israel — the biggest such attack in 17 years. israel responded with air strikes on the gaza strip and southern lebanon. i spoke to the former united states ambassador to israel, martin indyk, about what we could expect to see as the conflict in the region continues.

beyond this current spiral of violence, should be biden administration be doing more to establish peace? well, there's always the idea that, you know, you need in order to stop this, you need a political horizon, a peace process. but you just — the biden administration just doesn't have the means to do that with a far—right wing government that's not interested in negotiations with the palestinians and a palestinian authority that has extremely limited legitimacy amongst its own people. it's very hard to see how you could launch out of this situation a meaningful negotiation. maybe that will come later. it's certainly necessary over time. but at this point, what has to happen, first and foremost, is to try to put a lid on the violence. and last question, ambassador, how optimistic are you with the current factors at play?

you mentioned ramadan and passover and the israeli government that there is a way to put a lid on this violence. i'm quite pessimistic. i'm afraid that it's going to get worse. the violence that we've seen in the last day, the terrorism that's coming from the west bank and from jerusalem, maybe even inside israel itself, is something that is not easily controlled. the palestinian authority doesn't have the ability to stop it any more, or the will. and if the israeli army tries to go in and stop it, that just increases the friction. and as we've discussed, the confluence of religious events all concentrated in jerusalem just creates a powder keg and in those circumstances, it's hard to see how things are going to settle down.

i'm afraid we're going to see a continuation of this violence forsome time, untilallsides can recognise that it's better to try to find a political way out of this conflict than to continue the killing. martin indyk, former ambassador to israel, thank you forjoining us on bbc news. thank you. let's turn to north korea, where state media released this —— a statement, saying the county had successfully tested what it called an "underwater nuclear attack drone". it released these pictures they say of the test that took place this week. we've seen increased activity from pyongyang's nuclear programme in recent weeks since the united states and south korea began carrying out more joint military drills. earlier, i spoke withjean lee, a writer and commentator on north korea and host of the bbc podcast the lazarus project. i asked her whether the biden administration

—— i asked her why the biden administration was being relatively muted in its reaction to these tests. when we look back at the trump years, what we like to call the fire and fury, we saw a lot of tension in 2017, just to go back to that period, when there was a provocation from kimjong—un, then president trump would react with a volley of threats and that would just spur kim jong—un to wage even more dangerous provocations. so, i think there is an idea, let's not spur this activity, let's do what we can to really clamp down on it. what we see now from the united states is to try to get its allies to work with the united states doing what can to try to stop north koreans from building weapons and part of that is trying to find a way to stop the flow of money into the... crosstalk. and just ask about the question of expats because you mention the envoys from japan, the us, south korea,

want to make sure that expats are sent back to north korea. why? what will happen? this is what i cover in my podcast and i hope people will be encouraged to go back and listen to season one because what we talk about is how north korea has invested in these young men and turned them from math geniuses into computer geniuses and kimjong—un has really trained a whole generation of young men to fight on their country's behalf with laptops, and this is a way of using science and technology which does actually really light a fire under north koreans as well. it is hard for us to imagine that in a country so cut off and so isolated, it does not have a regular source of electricity, most people are not connected to the internet, but they have invested in a small group of men to become real computer geniuses. they've sent a lot of them overseas as it workers with valid work visas.

some of them are working as hackers, so may be it workers by day and hacking by night. the un security council, in a bid to try and stop the flow of money, they did ask member nations to send north koreans back by december 2019, but thousands have not made it back, thousands are believed to still be out there, hacking on behalf of the north korean state. and where that money goes, a chunk of it is believed to go into the nuclear programme. so, that is how this ties together. so it's interesting. crosstalk. and finally bringing that to light and recognising that that is what they have to stop the flow of money. very interesting. jean lee, thank you for speaking to us. that was writerjean lee, she mentioned that she hosts the lazarus project podcast. please check that out. thank you for watching bbc news. don't forget to go to our website for all of the latest news and information

and headlines from around the world. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. good friday was a pretty decent one across the country. plenty of sunshine around. there was still a bit of a chill in the air but i think as we move deeper into the easter weekend, it'll start to warm up as we pick up our air source from the south. it's going to stay dry, plenty of sunshine, then, it's all change for the bank holiday easter monday as this area of low pressure begins to spread across the country. but it's high pressure dominating the scene to start the easter weekend, so a lot of dry weather to begin with. 0n the chilly side, mind you, but temperatures will rise fairly quickly. cloud across eastern scotland and eastern england will tend to break up and burn back to the coast, so we should be looking at plenty of sunny spells into the afternoon as a little bit of fair weather cloud will bubble up here and there. bit more of a breeze, generally, particularly towards the south and the west. and temperatures a notch up — ranging from 13 to maybe 16 degrees.

and then, as we head through saturday night, it stays fine and dry. lengthy clear skies. bit more of a breeze — even more, i think, through saturday night — variable cloud, so i think we should be frost—free to start sunday. another fairly cool one with temperatures of 2—6 celsius. so, for easter sunday, we're looking at this area of low pressure edging further eastwards. it will be affecting northern ireland late in the day. more isobars on the chart, so a windy day to come for many, particularly towards the west. that said, it's another fine one with plenty of sunshine around and ourairsource coming in from the south, so it should feel a little bit warmer, i think. we could be up to 17 degrees but generally, in the mid—teens for many, but it will be turning wet and windierfor northern ireland and then, that rain pushing into western britain later on sunday. through sunday night into the early part of monday, that band of wind and rain will spread across the uk. it should've cleared by the time we head into easter monday morning but we've got a day of sunshine and showers.

some of these showers will be heavy, perhaps thundery, particularly in the north and the west, and it'll feel cooler as well. we could be up to the mid—teens in the south—east, given some sunshine, but generally, we're looking at 10—13 celsius, so noticeably cooler. and then, for this upcoming week, it will remain pretty unsettled with low pressure always nearby. we could even see a risk of gales around the middle part of the week. but you can see the unsettled theme here if i show you the icons and with temperatures just about making double figures, factor in the wind and rain, it'll feel cooler.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories