flooding reportedly wiped out entire neighbourhoods. and a landmark trial begins here in washington, as google is accused of abusing its power to create a monopoly. the tech giant denies it. hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. we start the programme here in washington, where the us house speaker has ordered an impeachment inquiry into president biden. kevin mccarthy claims there are "serious and credible" allegations of corruption. the white house says the probe is "extreme politics at its worst". mccarthy said he would task three committees with carrying out the inquiry into the president and his family. he has been investigating the president for months and has still found no concrete evidence of misconduct. at the centre of this inquiry is president biden�*s son, hunter biden, who is currently

under federal investigation for possible tax crimes related to foreign business interests. speaker mccarthy said these allegations facing the biden family paint "a picture of corruption". the american people deserve to know that the public offices are not for sale. and that the federal government is not being used to cover up the actions of a politically associated family. i would encourage the president and his team to fully co—operate with this investigation in the interests of transparency. the biden administration and some democrats have come out against the investigation, saying the house should focus on legislative work. in a statement on social media, white house spokesman ian sams said:

well, earlier, ispoke with senator chris coons, a close ally of president biden, about the inquiry, plus kim jong—un�*s visit to russia, and the war in ukraine. thank you forjoining us. if i can start with breaking news that senator mccarthy is launching an impeachment inquiry into president biden without holding a vote. what is your response?— your response? frankly, iwish the house _ your response? frankly, iwish the house gop _ your response? frankly, iwish the house gop would - your response? frankly, iwish the house gop would focus . your response? frankly, iwish the house gop would focus on i the house gop would focus on the house gop would focus on theissue the house gop would focus on the issue in front of us, avoiding a shutdown just a few weeks from now. of all the coverage today of speaker mccarthy's announcement, my favourite was in a local newspaper called the hill titled senate gop says house republicans like evidence. that is about the best summary i could provide, which is that

frankly this is a fishing expedition. there isn't enough evidence to launch a formal inquiry, which is why there will not be a vote on the house floor. this is just putting a wrapper around the existing inquiries house republicans have been engaging in now, without clear outcomes or evidence for several years. you touched on it there, but what will this mean for relationships on the hill between the democratic and republican members? you have to agree the funding bill to keep the lights on in the government. i am a member of the appropriations committee in the senate, and there's sharp contrast between the senate and the house — in the senate we passed all of our appropriation bills with broad bipartisan support. in the house, they have accomplished that for none of their bills. this week, the senate are taking up three of our most important bills and we will pass them out of the senate. the house will not do that for any of their bills. frankly, we should be building a bipartisan consensus,

passing the essential spending bills to keep our government open, rather than going on partisan fishing expeditions. do you think the move by speaker mccarthy will damage those relationships? yes, i think it will be harmful, not constructive. but frankly, i recognise he has a very slim majority, and in the event after event, speaker mccarthy shows he is being held hostage by the most extreme elements of his republican majority. are you expecting a shutdown, then? i think the odds of a government shutdown are going up with each passing day. there isn't a clear path forward or a clear plan for how to resolve this. both democrats and republicans in the senate have a path forward and have a plan, but the house does not. when the speaker pulls a stunt like this, into a fishing expedition for partisan purposes, it increases the likelihood that we again embarrass the people of the us,

that we fail to do our work on time, and that we weaken our nation by showing that partisanship prevails over productivity and bipartisanship. it's my hope we will avoid that and find a path forward and we will not shut down the us government on september 30, but given the announcement today, i'm more concerned than ever. and if i can ask you about another developing story, kim jong—un has arrived in russia with a meeting with president putin. should the us be concerned? yes, there are positive and negative sides. on a positive light, vladimir putin is desperate for reinforcements and resupply for his artillery. he is not meeting kimjong—un out his artillery. he is not meeting kim jong—un out of fondness or shared goals, but because north korea is sitting on massive stockpiles of ammunition for artillery,

something russia badly needs to sustain their world war i style barrage of artillery over entrenched defenders in eastern and southern ukraine. but i will remind you, every member of the security council including russia has, for years, sanctioned kimjong—un�*s years, sanctioned kim jong—un�*s regime years, sanctioned kimjong—un�*s regime in north korea over their nuclear ambitions and nuclear weapons programme. and i am deeply worried about what the bargain will be here, what sort of high—value technology, nuclear —related technology kim jong—un will extract from vladimir putin as the price of his becoming the new supplier to russia's war machine. as we heard there from senator coons, it's a big moment for kimjong un, and for his host, vladimir putin. state media reports that mr kim is calling his visit across the border a clear show of the "strategic importance" of the two countries' relations. kim arrived by armoured train to the border town of khasan, greeted by senior russian officials. he then got back on the train

and continued en route to an undisclosed location, where he is set to meet putin. the pair are expected to negotiate a weapons sale to aid russia in its war in ukraine. the us has warned against any such deal. let's get the perspective from both moscow amd south korea now. our russia editor steve rosenberg and our seoul correspondentjean mackenzie have more on why these two leaders want to build on their relationship. russia's vladimir putin. and north korea's kimjong—un. why might they want to be friends? number one — they've both got things the other wants. north korea can offer artillery rounds and other weapons to russia for its war in ukraine. for north korea, years of border closures and strict sanctions have left it desperately short of food, fuel and money. it might also ask russia to share with it sensitive technology so it can improve its nuclear weapons. number two, well, they have a shared enemy — the west, the united states. both russia and north korea are

under international sanctions. both face a degree of international isolation. in russia's case, the war in ukraine accelerated this. but it began before — incidents like the salisbury poisonings hardened attitudes in the west towards russia. ever since talks between kim jong—un and donald trump broke down in 2019, north korea has been somewhat of an international pariah, and they've had to sit and watch uncomfortably as the us closes ranks with south korea and increases its military presence here in asia. number three, china. in the face of sanctions, russia has become increasingly dependent on beijing. now, that sounds familiar. north korea has come to rely more and more on china, and it's uneasy about this dependency. it always helps to have more than one friend. deal or no deal on weapons, russia, i think, is sending a message here to the us — that moscow is going to choose its own friends, and no—one could influence that.

pyongyang is likely sending a warning to south korea not to get too close to the united states. ahead of the big meeting, north korea has launched at least one ballistic missile, according to south korea's military and japan's coast gaurd. it has already fallen into the sea, no details of the range and the size yet. in libya, devestating floods have killed more than 2,000 people, and aid agencies say at least 10,000 are still missing. the united nations has called it a "calamity of epic proportions". in the port city of derna, a pair of dams burst from the flooding, leading to a massive surge of water. civil war in libya has left the country divided, operating under two goverments for almost a decade. this means it's been difficult to circulate information and relief efforts have been slow. earlier, i talked to the spokesperson for the international federation of the red cross and red crescent societies,

tommaso della longa. thank you forjoining us. devastating scenes coming from libya. what kind of conditions are your team encountering on the ground? the conditions are pretty difficult. i would say the scale of this disaster is really incredible. the footage is shocking, but the stories from oui’ volunteers are even worse. i mean, priority at the moment is life—saving, saving lives, and take food to safety people, and shelter, but we are talking about thousands of families that have lost everything. and how is the life—saving, life protecting recovery mission going at the moment? well, with a lot of challenges, logistical challenges, capacity challenges. we have to think about a country, libya, that has endured almost 12 years of conflict, violence, economic crisis, division.

infrastructure is very weak. so of course this immense flooding is just another layer of suffering on an incredibly difficult situation. those challenges seem to have impacted the city of derna in particular where the two dams burst, no warnings or alarms due to the poor infrastructure there largely. in derna it's concerning, and the rural area in the region, because what we have heard from the teams, that entire region, completely washed away and destroyed, but also some villages are not any more there. so yeah, the situation is really complicated. of course, saving lives in this moment is critical, but then the next steps are also pretty concerning, because again, we are talking about thousands of people

who lost everything, so what about their health, food, water, their livelihoods? it's not something that will be solved in a couple of hours or days. this emergency response will last for months, if not years. so a huge need of solidarity and support for the people affected. and in a practical way, what is needed? in a practical way, what we are needing on the ground is medical equipment and personnel, search and rescue teams. for instance, our colleagues from the turkish red crescent landed today and working with other personnel. and in the mid—term, shelter, tents, but this can be only temporary because in the long—term it is not enough, it's not the answer for thousands of people. a sustainable solution because, again, food, water... water sanitation, to avoid what we call a disaster inside a disaster, it's critical.

we need to start doing things and planning for the future. so quite the operation there, but your agency and plenty of others like it are busy helping people after disasters and tragedies right around the world at the moment. do you have what you need to help everyone who needs your help? it's a very good question. we saw morocco, and now libya, and many other emergencies around the world. we need the support of our people and our donors. the needs of the people are just increasing. we really need to have a sustainable help, and if i may say, i know our colleagues of the british red cross, both in morocco and libya... probably if i can ask people to support the british red cross appeal, because this money will go directly to support our operation in libya.

tommaso, thank you so much forjoining us. with recovery efforts under way in libya, just a couple of thousand kilometres away, the nation of morocco is recovering from a natural disaster of its own, after a powerful earthquake caused widespread devastation. moroccan state television reports that 2,900 people have died from the quake. another 5,500 were injured. the 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the high atlas mountains late on friday. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. a us grand jury has indicted five former memphis police officers on federal civil rights violations and other charges in the death of tyre nichols. the 29—year—old black man died three days after being beaten in a traffic stop in january.

his death prompted nationwide protests. the five officers, also black, have pleaded not guilty to separate state charges. venice is planning to try out a fee for day—trippers. the city is trying to reign in over—tourism. rein in over—tourism. visitors over the age of 14 will have to pay five euros to enter the city, that's a little over $5. the trial is expected to run during peak tourist periods next year. apple has unveiled its new iphone 15. the biggest change has to do with the charging port, which has been changed from a lightning port to usb—c. many other apple products, including newer macbooks, already use usb—c. the change follows a new european union law mandating that all smartphones must include the ports by next year. you're live with bbc news. here in washington, a landmark antitrust trial has begun that could test the fate of big tech. google is accused of monopolising the internet

search engine industry. during opening statements, the usjustice department argued that google has weaponised exclusive, multi—billion—dollar deals with companies like apple and samsung to stifle the competition. google's defence has said that it is popular not because of anti—competitive practices, but because it offers a superior product. my colleague helena humphrey spoke earlier to tim wu, a columbia law professor and former advisor to president biden on technology and competition policy. tim wu, thank you forjoining us. this is undoubtedly a big case, but how significant do you see it as being? i think it's a very big case. it is one of a sort of trilogy of big cases that are coming. another one against facebook, another one against google, and one against amazon. clearly it's a centrepiece of the biden administration's campaign against big tech.

let's have a look at the case, it accuses google of being a classic monopoly, saying it has used wrongful means to ward off the competition. how has it allegedly gone about that? the core of the case is the idea that google used its money to protect its monopoly in search. the idea is it did that by paying apple and mozilla and a lot of other companies to ensure google remains the default product. to hold market position. that is the core of the case, an anti—competitive set of deals. help us understand, because i think many consumers might look at this, and certainly the argument from google would be that the service google provides is free, it's useful for so many of us, that they haven't been charged, let alone been charged over the odds, when it

comes to anti—trust. so how does this harm them? nobody doubts that google makes a good product. people love google, it has been successful. i don't think that's the allegation. the complaint is centred on the maintenance of monopoly. it's illegal in the us to hold onto your monopoly using anti—competitive means, including contract that might be anti—competitive. so to ask whether consumers like google is the wrong question. they also liked microsoft back in the day, they liked standard oil well enough, even further back. the question was whether they are deliberately preventing competition. in the 2010s, when you saw a google competitor show up and start to offer a different product, maybe one more respective of privacy for example,

and you know, that didn't happen. we have one monopoly, and even if it's a popular one, it's still a monopoly, and the point of the anti—trust law is to combat monopolies. i want to take a look at the anti—trust complaint filed against microsoft in 1998. does this give us any indication into how this case could go? it's a very similar complaint. in some ways, modelled after the microsoft case. the basic argument there was that microsoft used its power and money to make sure a small company known as netscape, with its navigator product, wouldn't get anywhere. in fact, they were successful. navigator, which had a strong market share, dropped off and microsoft replaced it. the main difference between these two cases is, with microsoft, the federal government effectively had a dead body to point at.

in google's case, one of the challenges for the government is a sense that google just restrain competition, no—one was really able to get a start against google's search products. the core legal theory is similar, it's the theory of monopoly maintenance. if you take a look at this internationally, google has to comply with regulation in the european union for example, so isn't this more an issue with the us government as opposed to google itself, in terms of not having the legislation there? well, the europeans, the european commission has been aggressive and mainly have targeted google's shopping services and others. the us federal government is going right at the core of the google monopoly. i think in some ways the american case is more aggressive. europeans bring more cases.

americans tend to bring bigger, stronger cases and have more of a taste for break—ups, and aggressive remedies. that's an important distinction between what's happening here and in europe. and ultimately what do you think a remedy would look like? it's a great question. i think they could ask google to sell its chrome browser. as you may know, google controls the browser market at this point, the way microsoft did, which makes it harderfor other companies to get a start. i also think one of the most important things about this case is, even though it's centred on search, in another way, it's about artificial intelligence. everyone knows the rules set by this case will directly affect the contest for al becoming a commercial product. so if i were the judge or thejustice department, i would be thinking about remedies to make sure google fights fair when it comes to artificial intelligence.

thank you so much. in other tech news, on wednesday the us congress will hold its first ever ai insight forum. the event will bring together lawmakers and industry leaders to discuss technologies like chatgpt. they include the likes of elon musk and mark zuckerberg. as part of our conversation earlier with senator chris coons, he spoke about congress' role in regulating ai. you have been looking and, as i say, very concerned about american citizens' data being used to train these ai generative algorithms. what kind of protections can you put in place against that happening? we're in the early stages of legislating here in the united states congress about artificial intelligence. look, ai has been around for decades. in its more sophisticated forms, it's been embedded in cutting—edge technology and services for years now. but chatgpt brought it to the screens of millions of americans, and brought it to the consciousness

of congress. here, tomorrow, we're going to have a long session with dozens of leaders, critics of artificial intelligence, those who are leading ai companies and firms, and those who are on the cutting—edge of technology development. i think we need to show that we can legislate and legislate in a balanced, bipartisan and responsible fashion in a relatively swift fashion. the united kingdom, the eu, other countries around the world are showing an intention to move forward with al regulations, and my subcommittee — which deals with intellectual property — we've had a series of hearings and discussions and i will soon be releasing a discussion draft of legislation that would help protect individuals' likeness and image and voice from al impersonation in the performance space. but getting this right is as important as moving swiftly. you just mentioned there ai in the performance space — we see this in a very practical way with the hollywood writers' and actors' strikes and the concerns they have about their images

and their writing credits being overtaken by machines. what do you say to them? what can congress do for those people? well, tomorrow we're going to hearfrom both the head of the screenwriters guild and the motion picture association — essentially both sides on that ongoing strike — and i think we need to find a constructive path forward that helps make sure that those who make their living from acting, from singing, from writing, from performing, can know what sorts of protections and what sort of rights they have from their image, their likeness, their voices, their work being used without their knowledge, consent, or compensation. i also think we need to make sure that we don't over—regulate. the united states has long been a place of great innovation in technology, and now in artificial intelligence. so striking that right balance is going to be a key part of my work in this area in the coming weeks. we'll leave it there for the moment. senator chris coons, thanks so much forjoining us. thank you. we turn now to an art heist

with a happy ending. dutch art detective arthur brand said he was handed back a masterpiece by vincent van gogh, three and a half years after it was stolen. the 139—year—old painting was returned in a pillow and an ikea bag, bya man who came to his front door. it had been stolen from a museum south—east of amsterdam during covid lockdown. the thief smashed through two glass doors at the singer museum with a sledgehammer. in 2021, a career criminal was jailed for eight yea rs. thats all from us here in washington, i'm caitriona perry. we leave you with these live pictures of london. thanks for watching. hello. for at least part of wednesday, we can expect a window of fine weather overhead. if we take a look at the satellite picture, we can see the rain—bearing

clouds that affected parts of england and wales during tuesday. behind me, there is another weather system that will be working into the north—west later on wednesday. but in between, a slice of clear skies, quite a cool, in fact, chilly start for some on wednesday morning, but some spells of sunshine. starting the day then across the highlands, very close to freezing with a touch of frost in places. compare that with 16—17 around some coasts of eastern and south—eastern england, where we start the day with a bit more cloud, still some humid air in place, but it will turn fresher and brighter here as the day wears on. a big slice of sunshine, but then by lunchtime we'll see rain splashing into northern ireland and then that will get into western scotland by the middle of the afternoon with a strengthening wind. temperatures north to south, 14—21 degrees. and then as we head through wednesday evening, we'll see very wet weather for northern ireland, western scotland. that rain overnight getting down into parts of northern england, eventually parts

of wales, turning very windy in the north—west of scotland with gales for a time. it is going to be a mild start to thursday, certainly much milder in the highlands, but generally 11—14 degrees. thursday, this area of low pressure to the north—west of scotland bringing some very strong winds. this dangling weather front bringing a band of cloud and rain. that front to start off sitting across parts of mid—wales and into the midlands. it may well be that the rain peps up again as we head into the afternoon. to the south of that, some sunshine and some warmth. to the north of our weatherfront, a mix of sunny spells and showers. and then for friday, it looks as if our weather front will start to move northwards again. so some heavy and persistent rain for parts of northern ireland and perhaps most likely southern and central parts of scotland. feeling pretty disappointing in glasgow and edinburgh underneath that rain. further south with some sunshine, temperatures up to 25 degrees. and then as we head into the weekend, well, it looks like low pressure will try to push up from the south and that

will bring showers or longer spells of rain in our direction. there could be some pretty intense downpours, maybe some thunderstorms and turning a little warmer and a little more humid.

tonight online scams, new iphone again and surfing dogs. the uk's biggest pub chain will start charging you more for a pint when it's busy. stonegate group, which owns brands like yates and slug and lettuce will add 20p at peak times as part of new dam and pricing in 800 of new dam and pricing in 800 of its pubs. will similar thing from apps like bieber or when booking hotels and flights. i

demand means higher prices. it comes as prices are rising, average up 7.8% on last year, the same as inflation. it is the same as inflation. it is the first and that is happening two years, meaning your money is not losing its value for now but prices have been rising faster and for longer, so pay is still behind. let's get some other news. more than 2000 people are thought to have died in floods in libya. at least 10,000 more are missing after a huge storm hit the country. boys as young as 13 are being increasingly targeted with sextortion, being targeted with explicit images and told they will be shared online if they don't send money. police scotland say it is a growing problem. another new iphone is coming, the f and 15 along with new airports will have a usb see portishead of the usual iphone cable. tonight i will

leave you with ten