and that putin accepted. plus, an ai forum, a potential government shutdown, and the threat of an impeachment. we'll wrap up a busy day on capitol hill. more than 5,000 people are now known to have died in libya after a storm unleashed a torrent of floodwater on sunday. these drone shots from the city of derna give a sense of the devastation, and the difficulties getting aid to where it's needed. the city of around 100,000, on the mediterranean coast, at the mouth of a season river called wadi derna — was particularly badly hit. these satellite images show the scale of the damage after two dams and four bridges collapsed. thousands of people are still missing —

the mayor of says he fears as many as 20,000 people may have died. many people were asleep when their homes collapsed around them — and many people were washed out to sea in the torrent. earlier, i spoke to ciaran donnelly, senior vice president for crisis response, recovery and development at the international rescue committee. i understand that the international rescue committee has around a dozen teams on the ground there in libya. what are those teams seeing right now? what are they telling you? we have been _ what are they telling you? - have been operating in libya for quite a number of years working in a dozen locations of the different programmes covering health care and essential protection. 180 staff in total across the country. not operative there but we are to the west of the derna, which is also affected by the floods. 0ur is also affected by the floods. our staff are all safe other many of the family have been

put at risk and many of them have lost belongings and home so we are obviously, first priority, taking care of our stab at second they looking the needs so we are sending an assessment team towards derna trying to get a sense of on the ground needs. everything we are hearing points to overwhelming devastation, confirming the kinds of images that people have been seeing in the media, entire neighbourhoods washed away in these neighbourhoods and parts of libya that have suffered from the direct and indirect effects of conflict over quite a few years now. and so these are not places that had particularly resilient or strong public infrastructure, public service provision, 800,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance in libya on any given day and so, what we are seeing is a real disaster of really tragic proportions on top of quite a

significant degree of underlying fragility and underlying fragility and underlying humanitarian need. i want to touch on that fertility because, as you have pointed to, libya has been experiencing a great deal of tumult for over a great deal of tumult for over a decade now. has that impacted preparedness and response, the fact that you have two rival governments there?- fact that you have two rival governments there? well, in terms of _ governments there? well, in terms of preparedness, - governments there? well, in terms of preparedness, anyl terms of preparedness, any country that has experienced a conflict, the division, the political turmoil that libya has, inevitably suffers in terms of service provision, public infrastructure, maintenance, the basic duties and functions of everyday life that we often take for granted in europe are in the us. simply they are not really there for many of the communities and so there is definitely been a direct impact of conflict there in terms of preparedness, not just prepared us in physical infrastructure but in terms of local services and civil

protection teams ability to respond. we are working closely with our libyan government partners who are mobilising effectively so the second part of your question in terms of the response, we are seeing a lot of goodwill, we are seeing some political divisions, not directly impeding, despite, hopefully, the response. a real opportunity for the parties in libya to put their differences aside and really motivate common mobilise and demonstrate good intent in enabling a ticket and as quickly as possible. it is very difficult logistically to get to the people who are directly affected, especially with the quantities of support that people are is likely to lead and so there it needs to be a real political will, then come across that conflict spectrum of everybody involved in libya to the make this happen. tells mar, to the make this happen. tells mar. then. _ to the make this happen. tells mar, then, about _ to the make this happen. tells mar, then, about the - to the make this happen. tells mar, then, about the immediate needs. the support that really needs. the support that really needs to get right now. $5 i needs to get right now. as i said, needs to get right now. as i said. we — needs to get right now. as i said, we are _ needs to get right now. as i said, we are still _ needs to get right now. " l said, we are still assessing,

we'll learn more in the coming days. our we'll learn more in the coming days. 0urteams we'll learn more in the coming days. our teams are on the ground today sending to reports overnight. but we know that medical support is going to be needed. the libyan health care system is already quite fragile and so we anticipate needing to get medication n. basic health supplies, trying to get health facilities up and running for people and we'll be looking at safe water provision, the floods themselves, once the floods themselves, once the flood waters recede will find that water supplies been affected and those kinds of environments, it is very common to see disease, cholera, those kind of things break out. we will be looking to keep people safe from that perspective. thousands of people, as we have heard, tens of thousands of people have been displaced and many of them have lost their homes and livelihoods. and in very short order they are going to be needing basic supplies, food, things to cook with, blankets, we are working with local civil society organisations in libya to assess what supplies are there already, what can we get to the

affected areas as quickly as possible. we are also paying particular attention to the needs of women and girls and we know that, in any humanitarian disaster, women and girls disproportionately suffer and find the very beginning of our assessment by looking at the needs of women and what can we do, particularly to support them in terms of particular programmes, safe spaces, access to education for girls, for boys as well, obviously, that is a big part of what is going to be needed but given the level of devastation, in places like derna will have to start from scratch so it is every aspect of human life in those places needs attention and aid effort over the coming weeks and months.— effort over the coming weeks and months. �* . , , ., ., and months. being as up-to-date and months. being as up-to-date and that devastating _ and months. being as up-to-date and that devastating situation. . and that devastating situation. thank you. and that devastating situation. thank vom— and that devastating situation. thank yon-— thank you. north korean leader kimjong—un invited russia's president to visit his country, during their talks on wednesday.

that's according to pyonyang's state media. the report added that putin accepted the invitation, without providing further details. the pair held talks at russia's vostochny space centre on wednesday. putin said the they discussed the "possibilities" of military cooperation. in return, moscow has indicated it will help pyongyang with space technology, seen as a critical part of its wider nuclear weapons program. vladimir putin and kimjong—un. is this now a fine bromance? at the very least, both leaders believe they'd benefit from a closer relationship. their day began with a tour of a russian space centre. launch pads and rocket systems. north korea's reclusive leader was all ears. no surprise there — he wants help to develop his space and missile programmes. later, president putin said their talks would cover

the economy and humanitarian issues. but was there a hidden agenda? in its war in ukraine, russia has been burning through ammunition. us officials believe that the kremlin has been trying to do a deal with north korea for munitions. if it has been, this former russian foreign minister is unimpressed. it's very humiliating that a russian ally is now north korea again. a great power would not go to north korea for an alliance or military supplies. but the kremlin seems to believe that a great power is one that stands up to america. so, was there an arms deal or wasn't there? we simply don't know. but what is clear, i think, is that the kremlin is using closer ties with north korea

to send a message to washington — that russia may be under pressure, undersanctions, but it still has the capacity to cause problems, big problems, for the west. in other words, is moscow using north korea to scare russia's opponents? that's what we are going to show you, that you disregard us, but we still have this incredible leverage around the world and you don't even... we haven't even scratched the surface of how much we can do damage, potential damage, or at least freak you out. if that happens, i think that's putin's greater weapon than actual physical weapons. kim and putin, it's a marriage made not in heaven but in a geopolitical maelstrom. having a shared enemy, the west, has brought them together. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. just in the last hour, local media reported that

south korea's unification minister — in charge of relations with the north — expressed concern over military cooperation between north korea and russia, and urged the two nations to abide by the un resolutions. ukraine said it struck russia's navy in crimea, in one of its biggest strikes on the russian navy�*s black sea fleet since the war began. the attack caused a large fire at a shipyard in the city of sevastopol, a major port in crimea. 2a people were injured. moscow has also confirmed the strike. sevastopol is home to russia's black sea fleet, which the kremlin uses to block some of ukraine's food exports. this latest strike highlights kyiv�*s growing missile capabilities, as russia bombards from afar with its own missiles. 0ur diplomatic correspodent paul adams says this attack is significant not only because it was in crimea, but also because of the weaponry used. there are a number of interesting aspects to this.

one, this was one of the most significant attacks on russia's black sea fleet at its home in sevastopol since the war began. secondly, as you say, the weapons used, we understand, because of the wording of a comment by the head of ukraine's air force, that these were western—supplied cruise missiles, almost certainly the british storm shadow and/or the french scalp missile. it's essentially the same weapon. it's air launched, and the head of the ukraine air force congratulated his pilots for their role in this. third, this seems to be the first time ukraine has actually hit a russian submarine. it was one of two vessels that we know were in a dry dock and becoming repairs in sevastopol. if you look at satellite images that have emerged today, that whole area looks like it was engulfed in flames. what we don't know is the extent of the damage. russia says both ships will return to

service in due course. here in the us, a two—week manhunt for an escaped killer came to a dramatic end on tuesday. police in the us state of pennsylvania recaptured danelo cavalcantay, a brazilian native who had been sentenced to life last month for murdering his ex—girlfriend. more than 500 officers were involved in tracking him down. some posed with him after the capture. cavalcante had survived since his escape by robbing people's homes, even taking possession of a gun. he escaped from prison by crab—walking up between two walls, in video that captured the attention of the world. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. a us federaljudge in texas has once again ruled that the deferred action for childhood arrivals policy, which protects undocumented immigrants or dreamers who were brough to the us

as children, is illegal. that the deferred action for childhood arrivals policy, which protects undocumented immigrants or dreamers who were brough to the us as children, is illegal. the ruling does not impact anyone currently protected by the policy, but the judge banned the government from approving anyone else. one of the largest unions in the us says it's preparing coordinated strikes at auto plants if new labor agreements aren't reached with automakers by late thursday. the united auto workers says it has rejected pay raises of as much as 20% over four and a half years for its 146,000 us autoworkers. strikes could begin as soon as friday. palestinian health officials say an explosion has killed five palestinians. it happened when dozens of gaza youth held a demonstration along the border to israel. a palestinian group says the blast was caused by a device some of the protesters had planned to use during the rally. you're live with bbc news. here in washington, it's been a busy day on capitol hill for both politics and policy. we'll get to the politics in a moment, but we'll start on the policy side

with lawmakers and tech giants sitting together in one room for a forum on al. the talks were a first—of—its—kind private summit to discuss regulations. tech billionaire elon musk was at the summit and said the meeting was �*historic�*. ai has seen a boom in investment and popularity since the release of 0penai's chatgpt. but lawmakers and tech leaders are grappling with the potential dangers of the emerging technology. bbc�*s north america correspondent was also on capitol hill, and spoke to people who were in that closed—door session. this was a real who's who of tech tycoons gathered behind me. they met all 100 senators in order to discuss ai, discuss the benefits, the risks and how to regulate it. the meeting was bipartisan, but so has been the criticism, with some lawmakers on both sides questioning why

the meeting was closed to the public, closed to the reporters, there was also concerns over how this wasn't a congressional hearing, such, so they weren't subject to a grilling, they were given questions beforehand to answer them and had their lawyers with them. earlier i spoke to a senator during a break and i asked him if he and the older senators understood ai and the risks of it and how to regulate it and he made an interesting analogy with the bbc, saying, look, bbc listeners don't understand how radio waves work, but it doesn't stop them from receiving news that is fair and impartial. so i think what he is implying is that you don't need to know the minutaie of the technology in order to understand the risks of it all the benefits of it. but how to regulate it, that is something that they need to reach a consensus on and no closer to understanding how they plan to achieve that. it's been an eventful day on the capitol hill. republican senator

mitt romney of utah — a republican moderate — says he will not seek reelection. senator romney announced his retirement from congress on social media. romney, whojoined congress in 2018, ran a campaign for presidency in 2012, losing to barack 0bama. before that, he was governor of massachusetts. he is also one of the most outspoken critics in congress of former president trump and his political movement. he was the only senate republican to vote to convict the former president in the senate after mr trump was impeached in the house both times. the senator told the press that it was time to step aside.

he said he thinks both president should stand aside and let their parties pick someone in the next generation. meanwhile, over the in the house, speaker kevin mccarthy spent his day trying to shore up support for his impeachment inquiry into presidentjoe biden. the inquiry accuses the president of lying about knowledge of his son hunter biden's business dealings and other allegations. republicans have not found any concrete evidence of misconduct. but mccarthy is working hard to justify his reasoning, holding a private meeting today with republicans to do just that. some gop hardliners are threatening mccarthy's leadership position if they don't get what they want. the white house has repeatedly dismissed it. that's all happening against the backdrop of a looming government shutdown that's just 18 days away. to talk about all of this, i spoke with louisiana republican congressman clay higgins, who's on the right flank of the republican party. speaker mcarthy met today

with the republican conference. what did he say about the impeachment inquiry and what comes next? speaker mccartney has decided that we should begin a formal impeachment inquiry, to enhance the work that we have been doing on oversight, committee now for the balance of this year. and some of us were looking into, through our own offices, since, really, last year and before but the impeachment inquiry gives us particular rights to request and to subpoena information and data and evidence that, without the formal declaration of the impeachment inquiry, we are limited to what is called a legislative purpose, so the oversight committee on which i

sit, we are leading the investigations into biden criminal actions, and his... his actions have... with determined that they are impeachable, clearly impeachable. so it was time to begin a formal impeachment inquiry and, that is what speaker mccarthy has initiated. we don't yet know whether there are criminal actions and four months, as you have been talking about, republicans have been investigating the bidens. biden directly profited off his son's foreign business deals. your colleague has also said that they haven't seen any evidence linking president biden to his son's business activities, so what do you say to members of your party and outside of your party as to whether impeachment should be on the table? you should have a clear understanding of what the constitutional parameters of impeachment are. impeachment was never

a process that was used by government to control the actions of executives that had breached the trust of the people. it has its own set of standards and that is loosely defined in the constitution as high crimes and misdemeanours, which actually is an old british description that was used for hundreds of years by parliament. you tweeted yesterday, after this quote, impeach him, after we saw that announcement by speaker mccarthy. and speaker mccarthy, the process is going about is taking this to the committees which essentially slows this down without a floor vote. are you happy? are you satisfied with the way he is handling this? it i think we should be, at this point, very

aggressive, and the speaker has chosen a judicious and cautious rout and the evidence that we have harvested and revealed has been quite shocking, and incredibly condemning of the president and his family and the president's involvement, primarily, when he was vice president, a great deal of corrupt monies has been exchanged, we identified shell companies and millions and millions of dollars funnelled into the biden family banks through very suspicious financial transactions that, six banks, six major banks have identified as laundering money. congressman, i have to say that not everybody in your own party agrees on that. and, at this stage, these are allegations, not evidence. i respect my colleagues.

but personal background, i was a police officer before congress. i'm an investigator. i'm fifth in seniority in the oversight committee, and have seen the evidence. i've watched it unfold and have looked at it very calmly, through the eyes of an investigator. and although i respect my colleagues, anyone that disagrees about that we should righteously move forward with impeachment, is not grasping the significance of the evidence. we already have. and we are getting more, as the days and weeks unfold. 0ur investigative effort continues, and is quite productive because bank records are... it is like gold for investigators. there is no republican bank records or democrat

i want to move on because we do have to talk about the fact that the government is due to shut down, essentially, if congress does not take action by the end of the month. would you support a continuing resolution to keep the government funded and give congress more time to come up with their spending deal? not under the current circumstances, i would not support a continuing resolution. we require a more comprehensive agreement with leadership. when i say we i mean the most conservative amongst us demand, respectfully, but we demand a larger, more conservative and comprehensive concurrence on what we shall do with the 12 appropriations bills that we have written and that we are prepared to pass but there has to be a larger plan and strategy. let me ask you, then, about that plan. a kind of deal on federal spending do you want to see and

can ukraine continue to rely on funding from the united states going forward? we agreed to 2022 spending levels by and large. it is how the media has phrased it. not exactly true. we divide discretionary spending into categories that does not restrict defence spending and does not touch social security and benefits, etc, but, basically, the freedom caucus, which i am a member of, most conservative of us, we recognise that america requires a change of the trajectory of spending. we're just asking for a reasonable and wise adjustment to the trajectory of our spending. we insist upon that. so, congressman, should americans than prepare for the prospect of a government shutdown? a government shutdown is not an accurate description of what would happen. it would be a pause of nonessential services. we reached that abyss before, and stepped back from it.

but this is where gentlemen of distinguished accomplishment and deep principled stand upon those core principles and be ultimately come to an agreement. i believe that will happen. none of us want a government shutdown or a temporary pause of the essential services. we don't want that, and we don't have to have that. what we require, in order to avoid that, is a conservative agreement on how we move forward with spending in america. congressman clay higgins, thank you for being with us. thank you. stay with us here on bbc news. the weather remains calm over the next couple of days including libya where, of

course, we have seen devastating flooding. the recent satellite _ devastating flooding. the recent satellite pictures show is largely clear skies overhead and it should stay largely that way over the next few days. through thursday and then to friday we will see further showers and storms across central and western portions of africa. could be enough rain in places forflash africa. could be enough rain in places for flash flooding. always some drier gaps in between. frontalsystem between. frontal system bringing cloud between. frontalsystem bringing cloud and rain into the western side of south africa and temperatures in cape town up to with it further ahead we will see the increasing chance of showers in casablanca. cairo stays dry and sunny with highs of 33. patchy cloud and sunny spells form of think should dry up a little bit in cape town.

to the south of that, some spells of sunshine and some warmth, highs of 23, 2a, maybe 25 degrees. now, through thursday night, our rain band will tend to pep up again and it will also drift northwards across northern england, into northern ireland, southern and central parts of scotland by the end of the night. to the south of that, clear spells, 11 or 12 degrees. to the north of that, actually rather chilly in the north of scotland. but for friday, well, it looks very wet indeed across northern ireland, rain also affecting southern and central parts of scotland. and underneath the cloud, with the outbreaks of rain, temperatures in glasgow only getting to 13 degrees, 1a there in belfast. compare that with 25 in london. some warmth and humidity building down towards the south. into the weekend, this area of low pressure swirling to the south—west of us will try to throw some showers or longer spells of rain in our direction. and with that, some relatively warm and humid air. that said, many places on saturday will see a fair amount of dry weather. a little bit of cloud, some bits and pieces of rain here and there, maybe some thunderstorms in the channel islands and the south—west of england. but towards the south—east corner, in the sunshine, highs of 26 or 27 degrees. always cooler and fresher

further north, but some warmth and humidity for many of us on sunday. with that, some heavy showers and some thunderstorms. that's all from me. bye for now.

radio: local news and information i

on wpro, providence. nicholas ala hverdian. he grew up in foster care here in rhode island. he has passed away from a long battle with cancer. nicholas alahverdian was 32. can't say this enough, how bizarre this next story is. yeah, as we've been telling you, authorities say - a rhode island man faked his own death and then i hid out in scotland. nicholas rossi has gone by a variety of names over the years, one being nicholas alahverdian. he told me, "he is a dangerous man. "he's wanted in numerous states." then later on, i find out that he's alive. i said, "i don't believe it." i was like, "wow." a court in scotland has ruled that a man who claimed - he was a victim of mistaken identity is the suspect - in a series of sex crimes in the united states. - mr rossi. i'm not mr rossi at all.

ok, then.