republicans in the us congress take aim atjoe biden, saying they'll open a formal impeachment inquiry into the president. the north korean leader kim jong—un will reportedly hold talks with vladimir putin at a space centre in russia's far east later today. hello. the red crescent says that at least 10,000 people are missing in eastern libya after the region was devastated by floods. in the port city of derna, where two dams and four bridges collapsed, rescue teams are struggling to retrieve bodies swept out to sea in raging flood waters. turkish and egyptian planes carrying medical supplies, doctors and body bags have arrived in the city of benghazi.

but with many roads destroyed, getting the aid to survivors will be a big challenge. joe inwood reports. nothing could resist the waters. as the river derna swelled, then broke its banks, entire districts of the city were washed into the sea. those caught in its path didn't stand a chance. translation: people were asleep and no-one was ready. _ my whole family lived next door to each other. we were all neighbours. we lost 30 people so far, 30 members of the same family. we haven't found anyone. from above, you can see the devastation done to this city. more than 100,000 people lived here as the waters rushed through. as storm daniel swept across north africa, it dropped a huge amount of water onto the hills, swelling the river derna, and then causing two dams to burst.

"there used to be a dam," this man says. "now it's just soil." it seems it was that failure that has caused such carnage. this is a disaster both natural and man—made. libya has never really recovered from the civil war that overthrew colonel gaddafi. rival governments claim to rule this country. neither really does. translation: after this| incident, we will look back at ourselves and the reasons for the devastating flood in a calm and intelligent way. we have allocated just over 2.5 billion dinars to start the reconstruction of this area. that figure is around $500 million. all the while, the death toll mounts. mass graves fill up. hospitals turn into morgues. translation: we've already had 1700 dead just in this _ section of the hospital.

we counted them as they were lying in the hallways. we buried anyone identified by their family or friends. things are very bad. the hospital is dilapidated. some aid is already on its way. but with relief operations already stretched by the earthquake in nearby morocco, help will not come as fast as the needs here will grow. of course, saving lives in this moment is critical, but then the next steps are also pretty concerning because, again, we're talking about thousands of people who lost everything. so what about their health, theirfood, their water, their livelihoods? and then it's not something that will be solved in a couple of hours or days. this emergency response will last for months, if not for years. so there is a huge need of solidarity and support for the people affected. the true scale of this disaster, the number of lives lost, is only slowly emerging. we know it is vast, and will only get worse. joe inwood, bbc news.

let's get more now from our world service africa editor camilla mills. thank you for coming talk about the this. this is very much the impact of storm daniel, isn't it? it had continued to roll across the whole region. what accounts for the catastrophic level of damage and loss of life we have seen in libya? figs life we have seen in libya? as ou life we have seen in libya? as you say. _ life we have seen in libya? sis you say, son life we have seen in libya? is you say, son daniel, it's a mediterranean storm which hit greece, turkey and bulgaria, but there we saw just greece, turkey and bulgaria, but there we sawjust over a dozen deaths, but here the death toll is in the thousands. so the only thing we can ascertain from this is libya has poor infrastructure. the two dams collapsed, a free client as a result of storm daniel... the lack of infrastructure. —— a freak

flood as a result. it comes from the lack of public services as a result of these two governments, both backed by their own militia, and a lack of communication. a lack of communication ahead of the storm, people weren't told to prepare for it. and now we see that continuing with the rescue operation. that continuing with the rescue o eration. , , that continuing with the rescue oeration. , , .,, that continuing with the rescue oeration. , , operation. this is it, as you sa , operation. this is it, as you say. over— operation. this is it, as you say, over 2000 _ operation. this is it, as you say, over 2000 people - operation. this is it, as you - say, over 2000 people estimated to have died, another 10,000 missing. a government official telling a news agency, i'm not exaggerating when i say 25% of this port city has disappeared. just remind us of the state of affairs of this country, that finds itself tackling a crisis of this magnitude.- finds itself tackling a crisis of this magnitude. derna has a pepulation _ of this magnitude. derna has a pepulation of— of this magnitude. derna has a population of 100,000. - of this magnitude. derna has a. population of 100,000. reports that the city is underwater.

so, with these two different political governments, one is internationally recognised, one is not. so this is going to haveissues is not. so this is going to have issues when it comes to the rescue and the aid. we don't know at the moment whether the eastern government, which is where derna is, is going to accept aid from various countries.- going to accept aid from various countries. this is it, isn't it? _ various countries. this is it, isn't it? a — various countries. this is it, isn't it? a lot— various countries. this is it, isn't it? a lot of— various countries. this is it, isn't it? a lot of people - isn't it? a lot of people looking at the storm and saying, is it climate change? how much was the storm to blame for the destruction of the infrastructure and the burst dams. you mentioned the two different governments, how does a rescue operation work across the country run by two different governments backed by two different militia? we different governments backed by two different militia?— two different militia? we will have to wait _ two different militia? we will have to wait and _ two different militia? we will have to wait and see. - two different militia? we will have to wait and see. there i two different militia? we will| have to wait and see. there is no previous example of this. libya doesn't have rescue teams. they weren't prepared for a natural disaster like

this. it has had years and years of conflict and war. since the fall of colonel gadaffi, almost ten years, over ten years, we have had this political dispute between the two. so it's whether or not they can come together to form some kind of rescue team and rescue operation, joint with international help. the un has called it a calamity of epic proportions. the red crescent has said 40,000 people are displaced. the rescue mission is going to have to try to overcome that, the political issues, and also the logistical issues. the roads have been completely swept away. entire neighbourhoods have been swept into the sea. so we have to wait and see how they are going to gain access, and as you say, how politically that's going to work. . , , ., ~ work. really interesting. thank ou for work. really interesting. thank you for taking _ work. really interesting. thank you for taking us _ work. really interesting. thank

you for taking us through - work. really interesting. thank you for taking us through that. | you for taking us through that. there's plenty more on this story available on the website. these are the crucial hours in which it is important to get aid through, and to try and help this country. 0k, aid through, and to try and help this country. ok, let's move on. in the us, the house of representatives is going to open a formal impeachment inquiry into presidentjoe biden. speaker of the house kevin mccarthy said it would focus on "allegation of abuse of power, obstruction and corru ption". impeachment by the house is the first step in a formal process to remove a president from office. but any effort to do that is unlikely to succeed. republicans have been investigating president biden since they took control of the house injanuary. the hearings have found no concrete evidence of misconduct, but have highlighted business dealings by the president's son hunter biden and what the president knew about them. the white house has condemned the announcement, calling it "extreme

politics at its worst". live now to david willis, who's in our los angeles bureau. extreme politics at their worst. what did the white house mean by that? the allegation here is thatjoe biden, when he was vice president to barack 0bama, took part in multiple telephone conversations and multiple other interactions with his son hunter's business associates. and then he, biden senior, lied about the extent of his knowledge of his family's business dealings. the house speaker kevin mccarthy said it amounted to a culture of corruption, as he put it. what mr mccarthy failed to identify today was any evidence of a sort of smoking gun, the dna results of tests on a blue

dress, for example, or a transcript of a telephone conversation with the president of ukraine... the sort of evidence that might amount to a so—called high crimes and misdemeanours. democrats have said there is not a shred of evidence thatjoe biden committed any sort of impeachable offence. you mentioned the extreme politics at its worst comment from the white house. but it's worth noting that the majority of the american population believes that hunter biden did receive preferential treatment when it came to his business dealings. what there is so far no evidence of however, victoria, is thatjoe biden himself profited from those business dealings or indeed that he, president biden, broke the law. interesting, isn't it, the distinction between allegations and evidence. the speaker has

been signalling this move for weeks. but he's done this now unilaterally and without a formal house vote... quite a change of strategy for kevin mccarthy, why do you think he has gone about it this way? i can sum it up in two words, political survival. there were trump supporters and members of the hard right in the republican party who were threatening to unseat kevin mccarthy if he didn't instigate this impeachment investigation. he's been under pressure for quite some time. the dam it seems was about to break, which left kevin mccarthy with very little option. as you say, there was no vote on this which is potentially quite significant. the chances long term ofjoe biden actually being unseated because of this are slim to nonexistent. there have been three previous such

impeachment investigations of this kind, three previous presidents have been involved, none has ended up being removed from office. it would require a majority vote in the house of representatives plus two thirds of the senate in order forjoe biden to be impeached. given that the democrats have the majority in the senate, it's simply not going to happen. david, thank you for that analysis. live now to bruce wolpe, senior fellow at the united states studies centre at the university of sydney. thank you very much were joining us. he's also a former democratic staffer in the house of representatives. in a statement, kevin mccarthy said: "house republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into president biden�*s conduct." yet, despite months of digging, republicans have found no evidence of financial wrongdoing or corruption by the president.

how credible is an investigation based on the discovery of allegations, as opposed to the evidence? as it stands right now, victoria, very good reporting from your colleague in the united states. as it stands, it's not a smoking gun. hunter biden clearly is a troubled person legally, and he faces indictments and a trial and so forth. republicans are trying to use his situation to take down president biden. they are saying there are ties between the two men, and money that hunter biden got which ended up with president biden. they keep saying it but they are not proving it. in the absence of that, it really looks like a political stunt more than anything else, with a larger purpose of trying to takejoe biden down to donald trump's

level. trump has four indictments and faces four trials, the republicans want to level the field and say, donald trump is under pressure, we are putting you under constitutional pressure. republicans will no longer need to justify this as part of their list legislative work. so how bored will their powers now be to request documents. —— how broad will their powers be to request documents? how powerful is this? it request documents? how powerful is this? , ,., �* is this? it is powerful. an impeachment _ is this? it is powerful. an i impeachment investigation is this? it is powerful. an - impeachment investigation takes precedence over almost anything else in the house of representatives, so if the administration and executive grants is not forthcoming in supplying information to the house committees, they can go to the court and have it on an expedited basis, so it puts pressure on the administration to provide information that is requested. but everything to date has been seen as, again,

smoke, no proof, there is no culpability on president biden�*s part. if there is, if they find ukrainian money in his bank account, we are in a whole different ball game. but most experts looking from a dispassionate point of view say that's not going to happen. thank you very much for your time. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. ajudge in pakistan has ruled that sara sharif�*s siblings, who travelled from the uk with herfather, should be sent to a government childcare facility in the country. the five children were found at the home of their grandfather in pakistan. 10—year—old sara was found dead at herfamily home in woking in surrey last month, a day after her father, uncle and step—mother left the uk. the regulators of england's water companies are being investigated over whether they failed to enforce the law over sewage discharges. the office for environmental

protection says that 0fwat, the environment agency and the government may have misinterpreted the law, allowing sewage releases to take place too frequently. the owner of poundland has agreed to take on the leases of dozens of wilko shops. pepco group, which owns poundland in the uk, is expected to convert up to 71 wilko stores to the poundland brand. the company said that wilko staff would have priority when applying for newjobs at the poundland shops. you're live with bbc news. some breaking news now. south korea and japan say north korea has fired a ballistic missile off its eastern coast. there are no details so far about the size or range of the missile. it comes as the north korean leader prepares to hold talks with president putin in russia.

those talks are in fact imminent. the two leaders have greeted each other at the space site according to russian news agencies. putin arrived at the site less than 30 minutes ago. kimjong—un crossed into russia on an armoured train on tuesday morning, accompanied by military leaders. it's his first trip abroad for five years. in the last hour, putin and kim jong—un are reported to have arrived at the space centre. we understand this to be the location of the talks. according to the us, moscow wants to buy north korean ammunition for the war in ukraine. the new york times is reporting that mr kim wants advanced satellite technology, nuclear—powered submarines, and food aid. live now to our seoul correspondent, jean mackenzie. these two men meeting, people will be looking at this around the world. how much do you think these two men have in

common? is think these two men have in common?— think these two men have in common? as they have both become increasingly - common? as they have both j become increasingly isolated over the past year or so, they have come to have increasingly much more in common. i think it's because they now have needs that the other can fulfil. the us has been very clear that it thinks the reason the men are meeting is so they can finalise an arms deal that has been in the works for some time. that north korea is preparing to sell mr putin, the weapons, the ammunition and the artillery shells he needs for the war in ukraine. and in return, north korea needs an awful lot. it has spent four years completely isolated from the world. border closures brought about by the pandemic and strict international sanctions mean it is desperately short of food and fuel and just money, revenue streams. but on top of this, mr kim is expected to ask the russian leader to provide him with advanced weapons technology that is going to

help him make progress with his own nuclear weapons programme. if ever we needed a reminder as to what a big pirating north korean nuclear weapons were to the leader, it is that in the last hour north korea has fired two short—range ballistic missiles off the coast. —— what a big priority north korean nuclear weapons were. until recently, russia had been four—square behind un security council sanctions against north korea over its nuclear weapons programme. how has that changed so rapidly and significantly? we how has that changed so rapidly and significantly?— and significantly? we have seen and significantly? we have seen a situation _ and significantly? we have seen a situation since _ and significantly? we have seen a situation since russia - a situation since russia invaded ukraine where the security council resolution system has broken down. for the last year, russia has not been willing to sanction north korea, despite attempts made by the united states. this obviously goes against what we've seen up until this point, where russia was one of the key supporters of these sanctions on north korea. that is why an arms deal between russia and north korea would be so

significant, because russia would essentially be violating these resolutions that it has tried and supported in the past. importantly that might be why we do not find out what is agreed at the meeting between putin and kim because it would be a huge breach of the sanctions. russia may not be prepared to violate them quite so openly. prepared to violate them quite so openly-— prepared to violate them quite sooenl. ., , . so openly. thank you very much. we will bring _ so openly. thank you very much. we will bring you _ so openly. thank you very much. we will bring you up _ so openly. thank you very much. we will bring you up to _ so openly. thank you very much. we will bring you up to speed - we will bring you up to speed with any developments on that meeting between vladimir putin and kimjong—un. they meeting between vladimir putin and kim jong—un. they are meeting right now at that space station. uk rescue teams have been searching for survivors after the devastating earthquake in morocco, which has killed almost 3,000 people. more than 60 british personnel are on the ground with rescue dogs, but conditions have proved exceptionally difficult. bbc correspondent tom bateman joined a team in one of the worst—hit villages in the remote high atlas mountains.

good lad. searching for the scent of life. colin scours the ruins of one of morocco's most devastated mountain villages. we followed the uk's rescue team on a journey to the earthquake's epicentre, and this british crew — here to search for survivors — know they are working against all odds. yeah, unfortunately, colin — he's an experienced dog, he was in turkey earlier this year — he only goes on live scent. unfortunately there's been no indication, there's no interest. so, unfortunately, it doesn't look like there's any live casualties in this area. so now it's all about recovery. how do you cope with everything you know destroyed? hussein digs out the remains of his home, hoping to get to his possessions and his family's clothes. translation: iwas here with my family. we were having dinner.

the ceiling fell on me. it's god's decision. my brother died. there is nothing they can do. i'm just going to take my clothes out and go to the tent. and this is their home now. people are having to find a way to live with the foul air of death all around them. they say more than 100 were buried instantly when the quake hit here. the destruction is near absolute. well, only the minaret of their mosque remains. everything else — homes, streets — a whole community is reduced to this. it is overwhelming. and everyone we've spoken to here says they believe everyone that was missing has died, there is no hope left of finding survivors.

some supplies are arriving for people who have lost everything. all but cut off from the outside world, residents say they need much more. translation: there is no house to live in. - if there is no help from the government, we have nothing. and what the earth took away, they are already trying to rebuild. these are people shattered by loss, but having to find the ways to keep going. tom bateman, bbc news, morocco. now a remarkable story of theft and recovery. this van gogh was stolen in 2020 from a museum in the netherlands, but then — three and a half years later — handed back in a pillow

and an ikea bag to a dutch art detective. jon donnison takes up the story. it's amazing what you can pick up at ikea these days. for art detective arthur brand, it's a big moment. bundled up in the famous blue and yellow bag, a pillowcase and a bit of bubble wrap is the stolen treasure he's been hunting for for more than three and a half years. hopefully this is it, he says. and it is — vincent van gogh�*s 1884 masterpiece parsonage garden at nuenen in spring. vincent van gogh. "he's back," he says. "what a day." the work was stolen in 2020 during covid lockdown when a thief used a sledgehammer to smash into the singer laren museum near amsterdam, making off with the painting under his arm. he was arrested a year later and eventuallyjailed,

but the painting was never recovered — until now. arthur brand says the piece was perhaps too well known to be of any value to criminals wanting to try and sell it on. and after three and a half years of trying to track it down, he was contacted by a man who wanted to give it back. it took 1,300 days, but here it is, and i will hand it over in a few moments to the museum director and i think he will be happy. i'm sure he will. the painting, thought to be worth up to £5 million, is expected to be back on display next year. john donnison, bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news.

after a chilly start, some lovely sunshine. a beautiful afternoon in aberdeen. sunny spells in scotland and northern ireland with isolated showers, but the heaviest rain across east yorkshire, lincolnshire, north norfolk and a few sharp showers ahead of it. the weather slant will gradually drift south and east, and clear the humidity from the south—east corner. high pressure will build, keeping things largely quiet. a chilly start again in scotland but dry and sunny weather to begin with. eventually clouding over from northern ireland into western scotland. some of the rain turning heavy. 14—16 , noticeably fresher, we've lost the humidity in the south—east. 21 the high. wednesday evening, some rain turning heavy as it pushes east, and some gale force winds at the time is closest to the low pressure.

moving through thursday, the weather front will continue steadily south and east, and it will weaken considerably. in the south—east corner, again we will tap into more heat and humidity. temperatures climbing again. we could see 24, 70 five fahrenheit. further north and west, we keep the pressure feel, 14—17 celsius. thursday, we see the weather front pushing up from the south—west. the position still subject to a bit of change. it's certainly the dividing line between the warmer, more humid airfrom england and wales, and a fresher air through scotland and northern ireland. you will notice the difference with the temperatures as we go through friday. friday, some rain, pretty slow moving, so could be some issues with rainfall totals. to the north of that, cool and pressure, to the south we could see 25 degrees, 77

fahrenheit. the frontal system causing issues into the weekend. it looks likely that the weekend is going to stay showery with heavier rain at times further north.

live from london, this is bbc news the head of oil giant bp has resigned with immediate effect amid a review of his personal relationships with colleagues.

uk productivity figures are coming up. how's the british economy holding up under the weight of big inflationary pressures and a sluggish backdrop. the panama canal may face further shipping restrictions as a drought threatens the flow of water to the trade route. as apple unveils its latest iphone, we'll explore what's going on for the industry, 16 and a half years one from the very first iphone. the energy company bp has announced the resignation of its chief executive bernard looney, stepping down with immediate effect. it follows a review of his previous personal relationships with colleagues. mr looney had set out a plan to make the energy giant net zero by 2050 but had more recently come under fire

from environmental groups for watering down his initial targets.