live from washington. this is bbc news. florida governor ron desantis formally launches his presidential campaign, and lays out his platform to take on his republican rival donald trump. but his highly anticipated twitter chat with elon musk is plagued by technical difficulties. uvalde remembers — one year on, after 19 students and two teachers were killed in a school schooting in texas. # simply the best... and tributes to the queen of rock'n�*roll tina turner, who's died at the age of 83.

hello, i'm helena humphrey, great to have you with us. we begin with the us presidential race. florida governor ron desantis becoming the latest republican to launch his bid for the party's 2024 presidential nomination, and the chance to challenge sitting democratjoe biden. on wednesday, debuting this campaign video in a bid to position himself as a donald—trump—style conservative without the drama. mr desantis is widely seen as donald trump's main republican rival in the race for the white house. but the former president remains the dominant force in the republican party. now, ron desantis�* announcement itself wasn't a suprise, but the wayhe made it was unorthodox — a conversation on twitter spaces with elon musk. here's some of what mr desantis said. i am running for president of the united states to lead our great american comeback.

we know our country is going in the wrong direction, we see it with our eyes and we feel it in our bones, our southern border has collapsed, drugs pouring into the country, cities hollowed out by spike in crime, the federal government making it harder for the average family to make ends meet and to maintain a middle—class lifestyle, and our president lacks vigour and flounders in the face of challenges and he takes his cues from the woke mob. the live twitter chat with elon must run into difficulties from the very beginning delaying the announcement by 20 minutes. this is what listeners heard when they first tuned in. now it's quiet... ron desantis is officially _ now it's quiet... ron desantis is officially entering _ now it's quiet... ron desantis is officially entering a - is officially entering a republican field dominated by

one man, former president donald trump. this poll released today by cnn shows donald trump has a big lead, 53% of conservative voters prefer him as their top choice. governor desantis in second with 26%, then former south carolina governor nikki haley and current senator tim scott trailing in the single digits at 6%, and 2%. this poll was conducted before ron desantis and tim scott had officially declared. i discussed all of this with a group that had a lot to say. debbie wasserman schultz, a current democratic congresswoman in florida, francis rooney, a former republican congressman from florida, and in the studio christian hall, a reporter with bloomberg covering the republican campaign. i want to get some reaction to that twitter announcement. you are reporting on this campaign, christian, what did you make of it?

the announcement was a mess. i'm sure it wasn't what desantis had anticipated. his allies and supporters... but i think the big question here is can desantis still win the gop primary? i think so. many things that still remain true for desantis is he has brought appeal within the gop base. a lot of the issues that matter the most to gop voters he had stood still on, anti—wokeness, anti—covid restrictions. it's very early, we are six months away from the iowa caucus. a lot still remains to be seen. francis, your take? first of all, it's great that the governor tried something different. not the traditional announcement speech... perhaps it didn't work perfectly but he did use technology to show he is a young guy and and a leading big guy,

but at the end of the day, he is a formidable alternative to trump. you get conservative policies without the baggage of trump's behaviour. and debbie, i can see you shaking your head, what did you make of what your colleague had to say, and also the announcement? well, i have to say, i guess. if there was going to be a less surprising announcement, you would be hard - pressed to find one. ron desantis is the mosti distant and unpersonable candidate and elected official i have ever encountered - in my time in public service. no wonder that he would do an audio announcement... . and certainly metaphorical, because he has crashed - and burned on stage. his announcement l crashed and burned. you'd have to look far and wide to find a more deplorable - and damaging figure than ron desantis. i

he has a voting rights and civil rights in our state... i francis, it's good to be - with you, but quite frankly, the positions ron desantis has taken, it they are certainly- not ones that you took i when you were in office. i am hoping you are just doing political analysis i and not aligning yourself with his policies. - francis, how do you feel about some of the policies? debbie, it's always good to have a chance to talk to you. there are people out there who have important views... we will see how they do... i think some of the things governor desantis has done has been good, and some have gone pretty far. a mixed bag about that... 0k, some issues raised, then, with the execution of this announcement, but i want to dig into some of the substance and get your take. let's listen to what he said with specific regard

to education, and then i want to get your reaction. when you see some of the outrageous stuff generated in terms of sociology departments at universities, that didn't happen out of thin air, there is a reason we got to that point. i think there are some tools with the federal government where you can push back and try to get these institutions in a more foundational direction, pursuing the truth here, and not trying to impose a niche ideology on the entire student body. christine, he was talking about imposing a broad idea and rallying against that with the entire student body. essentially, railing against what he sees as a woke ideology. we know that is his florida platform, do you think that can work nationally? i think that's a really good question. i am a floridian myself. what works in florida might not

work on a national stage. desantis is going to have to show the voters that he can stand strong on the issues that matter the most to the gop base. but he has to do it in a competent way. that's the question we have to see. how is he going to prove that to the voters? six months out from the primaries? debbie, your take on that? desantis�*s stop woke act and the diversity ban bill he just signed, what it's resulted in is amanda gorman, the poet who spoke at barack 0bama's inauguration, that has been banned in a school in south florida as a result of a parent's complaint and the law now allows that under the policy of desantis. they have banned books on african—american history, the holocaust, the diary of anne frank...

it is draconian and extreme, and what ron desantis is trying to do is whitewash history. americans are not going to let him do that, they are not going to let him march across women's rights and end women's reproductive freedom, like he has done in florida, and erase lgbtq+ history and give tax dollars to the wealthy and fortunate americans to pay for private schools, while we rank 48th in teacher pay, and our public schools need more teacher resources, not less. francis, how would you respond to that? well, i think debbie makes important points. but at the end of the day, to have fifth graders reading some of the things our teachers, union—led teachers are trying to push upon them is not right, and i think the governor's exposed something about that which has actually become a national movement. like in virginia, and now it's

across the country... how much are we going to expose little kids in their formative years? but francis, they expanded the law all the way to 12th grade now. they have no intention of stopping there. now children across the public schools all the way to high school can have books yanked off the shelves, they are banning textbooks on holocaust education, science, history, maths, because of some woke pursuit of getting rid of anything that represents a diverse and more ideological viewpoint, so that we are going to basically blanch all the education that our children have and teach them one note history. that is unacceptable and it is going to produce

children who don't understand to function in a world that is getting more device, not less. i have been more focused on the younger kids, and giving them the chance to grow up and be able to discern... when you get beyond that, i'm not so clued in. ok, let's talk about how it will play out nationally, and the numbers we already have, if we are taking a look at the current polling data. a poll by cnn today shows donald trump with a big lead, 53% of conservative voters for him, as the top choice. desantis is in second with 26%, so christine, following this campaign, do you think he can catch up when there are so many people in the field as well? yeah, i mean, i thinkhe can do that. if you look at history, you see john mccain, barack 0bama... they started out as the early front—runners and fizzled

out, and came back in. it's not over for desantis. he has a lot of time to prove the voters that he is the right person for the gop nomination. i don't think it's over yet. a quick response from you, francis. do you think he can close the gap? i would agree with debbie. with ron, you get the same conservative thinking and i policies without the baggage. what about you, debbie? who do you think potentially could catch up with trump? honestly, the entire field of republican candidates are all extreme. they all subscribe to the same policies that would crack down on diversity and education, that would go backwards when it comes to trying to make sure that we can save social security and medicare, and preserve it as a safety net for our seniors. in florida, that's a huge deal.

ron desantis took the position that it is private... turn medicare into a voucher system. the whole field has really walked on that kind of extremism, so i don't know if it matters who the nominee is. americans will embrace joe biden because he has their back, he's brought us out of covid, restriction on drug costs, and they are going to embrace that with him as president. the view of debbie, the current democratic congresswoman in florida, joined tonight by francis, a former republican congressman from florida, and in the studio, christian, reporting with bloomberg covering the republican the republican campaign. thank you so much for being with us tonight. super typhoon mawar has hit the pacific island of guam, battering it with hurricane—force winds and heavy rain. the eye of the storm is just

north of guam, a us territory and important military outpost. it's already knocked out most power supplies. there are fears of storm surges, landslides and flash floods. guam's governor has called it the worst typhoon in decades. six civilians in pakistan have been sent for trial in a military court. they're supporters of the former prime minister imran khan, and are being prosecuted for their alleged involvement in recent violent protests. human rights campaigners have called it an intimidation tactic. the duchess of edinburgh has said she's deeply saddened by the death of a woman who was hit by a motorbike, which was part of her police escort. the family of 81 year old helen holland say she suffered massive internal injuries in the collision in west london two weeks ago. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

when australia was out of reach due to pandemic travel restrictions in 2020—21, producers of the reality show set up camp in the 19th century castle. although the sets have been cleared away with the show�*s return, it is popular with tourists and weddings. it has a licence until 10pm, and the trust which wants to restore and conserve the castle applied for a licence to stay open until 1am at weekends and serve alcohol and have live music. locals cited noise concerns which the council considered. those who support the proposals say other local businesses and stoma licenses and it would help create jobs in the area. we and it would help create “obs in the areai and it would help create “obs in the area. we had a wedding that wasn't — in the area. we had a wedding that wasn't very _ in the area. we had a wedding that wasn't very loud - in the area. we had a wedding that wasn't very loud until - in the area. we had a weddingj that wasn't very loud until 1am for 150 people. you probably won't hear anything. the for150 people. you probably won't hear anything. the castle trust hepes _ won't hear anything. the castle trust hopes it _ won't hear anything. the castle trust hopes it will _ won't hear anything. the castle trust hopes it will soon - won't hear anything. the castle trust hopes it will soon be - trust hopes it will soon be able to raise a glass to

celebrate its new—found status. it's been one year since a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers inside a classroom in uvalde, texas. the shooting was the deadliest in the state's history and a criminal investigation is still ongoing into the slow response by law enforcement. 0n the day the shooting happened, presidentjoe biden said he was sick and tired of the gun violence and that more needed to be done. here he is at the white house today. the number one killer of children in america, guns. 0ver children in america, guns. over the last year since uvalde, our country has experienced a staggering 650 mass shootings. 0ver staggering 650 mass shootings. over 40,000 deaths due to gun violence. 0ur correspondent will grant first reported from the scenes of the massacre last year, and has gone back to

revisit the parents of 10— —year—old alicia ramirez. just a warning some viewers may find this report distressing. alicia's parents are recreating her old bedroom in their new home. such was the pain of living in uvalde, the city where she was murdered in her classroom a year ago with 18 classmates and two teachers, they decided to move away. this is the reality, we are going to be carrying this for all our lives. the memories of their vivacious daughter are everywhere, and anything can transport them to that awful heartbreaking day. hearing an ambulance, anything with sirens, school buses... kind ofjust triggers us sometimes. itjust brings us back to that day where we are trying to figure out,

where is alicia? but beyond the crippling grief, their main emotion is anger. they are furious that, as this bodycam footage shows, 376 heavily armed law enforcement officers waited in the hallway outside the classroom while the gunmen was inside murdering children. worst of all, children inside the classroom had called 911, and were on the phone to police dispatch. please help... 77 minutes passed before they reached the door and neutralised him. my blood just boils... they would have been here if they did something. they would have. it makes me so mad that they were just crying and screaming while they were out there... they were out there...

knowing alicia'sjust there, mummy, daddy... theyjust want help, theyjust want to get out of there. theyjust didn't think to care... seem to care... common sense, be a hero, go in there. do what you've got to do. get injured, get killed... that's a part of putting on a badge, to protect answers. they didn't do the first thing, protect. didn't do the first thing, protect-— didn't do the first thing, rotect. ., , ., ., protect. the failings of that da has protect. the failings of that day has been _ protect. the failings of that day has been described - protect. the failings of that day has been described in l protect. the failings of that | day has been described in an interim report as egregiously poor decision—making. families still waiting for answers and accountability. do you feel that anyone will ever be held accountable for the

mistakes that were made? we are still waiting for answers, and as soon as we have our report, which should have been done but it's not, i can promise you, whatever action that needs to be taken, we will take. a memorial was put up in the wake of the attack, when there was no space for more flowers at the school. it's a constant reminder that uvalde has been through the worst possible experience in modern america. children torn from their parents by a lone gunman on an ordinary day at school. an update on the fighting in sudan now. there are reports of clashes that could shatter the fragile ceasefire in the country. these are some of the latest pictures we have from inside sudan, some of them released by the militias themselves. the violence is making it near impossible for humanitarian aid to reach those who desperately need it.

reports suggest militias allied to the rapid support forces have been targeting army positions, businesses and homes. barbara plett usher sent this update from nairobi in kenya. this ceasefire is looking more and more fragile. witnesses have been reporting shelling and artillery fire in different parts of khartoum, and they've also been reporting that a sudanese warplane has crashed in the nearby city of 0mdurman. the rapid support forces militia has released footage appearing to show the incident. in one video, you see a man dressed in an air force uniform. it seems it might be one of the pilots. he's looking dazed. he's sitting in the back seat of a car and he's surrounded by men with guns who are celebrating the two powers who are monitoring the cease fire, tte united states and saudi arabia, had earlier released a statement in which they said they were trying to verify other reports of violations and they demanded that both parties abide by the truce, which, of course, was called in order to facilitate facilitate

the delivery of much needed aid. now, that hasn't started flowing in any significant way because humanitarian workers have been waiting for security permits and guarantees. police investigating the disappearance of madeleine mccann have continued their search at a reservoir in portugal. it's focused on a peninsula on the western side of the reservoir. the area is around 30 miles from where she went missing 16 years ago. the operation is looking for evidence to link a german sex offender, christian brueckner, to her disappearance. he was made a formal suspect by portuguese prosecutors last year, and is known to have visited the spot around the time of madeleine's disappearence. the three year—old, from rothley in the uk, went missing from her family's holiday apartment block in 2007. 0ur correspondent navtej johal has been to the algarve, to the site of the search. the searches today have been focused on the peninsula that you can see behind me on the western side of the arade reservoir. you may be even able to see

the white tents that have been set up by the police to help with the search operation over there. and that search so far that's been conducted today has very much used a variety of equipment. we've seen police clearing undergrowth, using strimmers. sniffer dogs have been deployed. it appears to be a more intensified search than what we saw yesterday, although it's very much focused on the same sort of area. and this is about 30 miles away from praia da luz, where madeleine mccann went missing in 2007 while on holiday with herfamily. and the reason why we are all here is because of the convicted german sex offender, christian brueckner. last year, he was named as an official suspect in the case by portuguese authorities. german police have also said and they are the ones who have instigated this search operation, that he regularly visited this area around the time that madeleine mccann disappeared. christine brueckner, however, has always denied being involved and has never been formally charged over madeleine mccann�*s disappearance. what we do know is that

this search will be going into a third day. it will be resuming on thursday morning. the german state prosecutor said yesterday that they have grounds to believe that they may be able to uncover some evidence here, although he hasn't gone into details about what that evidence might be or what they're hoping to find. but that has meant that there has been lots of global media interest into this case. we've seen reporters and camera crews from all around the world, and that is because there is so much interest in finding out the answer to the question what happened to madeleine mccann? the queen of rock and roll tina turner has aged at the of 83. she rose to fame in the 1960s, with songs including proud mary and river deep mountain high, and was famed for her raunchy and energetic stage performances and husky poowerful vocals. she spent the last few years of her life in switzerland and suffered a number of health issues in recent years. tributes have been pouring in throughout the day. she's been described as a force of nature,

a total legend, and somebody who paved the way for so many women in rock music. we'll leave you tonight with some of her music. # take my heart and make it strong # you're simply the best # better than all the rest # better than anyone # anyone i've ever met # what's love but a second—hand emotion? # what's love got to do, got to do with it? # who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?

# nutbush city... hello. the weather looks set to stay mostly fine and settled over the next few days, but there will be subtle differences in the feel of the weather from place to place. on wednesday, parts of south—east wales saw highs of 23 degrees. but on the east coast of england, yes, the sun was shining, but the breeze was coming in off a chilly sea and so it felt a little bit cooler. and over the next few days that will continue to be the case. high pressure will be in charge, but the winds around the high pressure flow in this clockwise direction. and that means that for some of us, at times, that wind will be coming in off the chilly waters of the sea. for thursday, temperatures around some northern and eastern coasts just 11 to 14 degrees. compare that with 22 again with some shelter

in the south of wales. this is how the weather looks for the day ahead. quite a lot of cloud at times across parts of england and wales, but not all the time. northern ireland, i think, will tend to see a fair amount of cloud feeding in as well, but there'll be some spells of sunshine. i think the best of the sunshine will be found across the northern half of scotland, but in the far north, it will be windy and on the chilly side at 11 in lerwick. as i've already shown you, the highest temperatures will be in shelter across south wales, maybe south—west england, up to around 22 degrees. now during thursday night, we'll keep some areas of cloud here and there. there could be a few mist patches and more generally cloudy weather will spill into the far west of scotland, particularly the western isles, with the odd spot of rain. it mayjust turn a little bit chilly in places, temperatures typically between 5 and 9 degrees, but our area of high pressure still with us as we head on into friday. around the southern flank of that high, particularly across parts of south—east england, we are going to have a noticeable northeasterly breeze which will make it feel actually really quite chilly

if you're spending your day on the east coast. but england, wales, northern ireland, southern scotland seeing some spells of sunshine. northern scotland likely to have a bit more in the way of cloud, maybe just the odd spot of rain or drizzle. 14 degrees for stornoway, but 20 for glasgow, for liverpool, for birmingham, and 21 degrees in cardiff. and then for the weekend, well, again, around some of the coasts, if you're exposed to that onshore breeze, it will at times feel rather cool. but where you have some shelter, inland and down towards the south—west of the uk, temperatures climbing to 22 degrees.

hello and welcome to this edition of the media show, and this week's guest needs very little introduction. jeremy bowen joined the bbc as a trainee journalist in 1984 and he is now bbc news' international editor, one of the bbc�*s most recognised faces. welcome to the show. thanks very much for having me. you have a new series for radio 4 called frontlines

ofjournalism, billed as your reflections