sirens wail. dutch police arrest a gunman in rotterdam after three people are shot dead. and thousands are fleeing nagorno—karabakh as the leader of the self—declraed republic says it will cease to exist by the end of the year. —— self—declared. i'm sumi somaskanda. it is good to have you with us. the us house of representatives passed a bill to fund the state department, part of late—night votes called by house speaker kevin mccarthy. it's just one of 12 spending appropriation bills that, on its own, won't avert a government shutdown at midnight on sunday without senate action. republicans spent thursday launching their impeachment inquiry into president biden. they accuse him of profiting from his son hunter's business

ventures while he served as vice president. the house oversight committee has uncovered how the bidens and their associates created over 20 shell companies — most of which were created whenjoe biden was vice president — and raked in over $20 million. now, what were the bidens selling to make all this money? joe biden himself. so, let's get it straight. we're 62 hours away from shutting down the government of the united states of america and republicans are launching an impeachment drive based on a long debunked and discredited lie. witnesses said there's no evidence president biden committed impeachable offences. several previous investigations, including one by the justice department, haven't found any evidence that mr biden abused his role or accepted bribes. for more on the impeachment inquiry, we spoke with house oversight committee member democratic representative jasmine crockett. congresswoman, very good to have you on bbc news today.

what did you think of what you saw presented at the impeachment enquiry today? scoffs. i'm not really sure what was presented. you know, there were no fact witnesses that were brought forward and i would anticipate in an impeachment enquiry where they are lacking any evidence that they would try to bring witnesses that could bring evidence. their witnesses admitted that they had no evidence to bring and, in fact, their witnesses admitted that, at this point in time, there was nothing that they had seen that would lead them to believe that there was enough to move forward with anything on the president. so, unfortunately, ifelt like this was yet another hearing in oversight in which the taxpayer dollars were wasted. so, the man leading this committee, of course, james comer, has said they are using this opportunity to look into more evidence and he also said that they have released a timeline ahead of today's hearing that shows influence—peddling in the biden family and that the biden family and their associates have received more than $20 million in payments from foreign entities. do you have concerns about how

that money might have been used to possibly influence the president? i do not have any concerns, and i'm gonna tell you why. i've been sitting on this committee since i swore into congress and if they had the evidence, it would've come out already. they are not waiting for the evidence to just show up. i mean, they don't have it. we know that any of the fact witnesses that they have talked to have been unable to connect the president, joe biden, to any wrongdoing — and when we are talking about an impeachment, the impeachment is about the officeholder, it's about the president. it is not about his family members and, honestly, thank goodness it's not about family members because we know of another president that may have a few issues if it were about his

associates of family members. it is about the president. if there was evidence, it would've been brought forward by now and we've yet to uncover any evidence. and i do want to reiterate, we have had opportunities to speak with actual fact witnesses and those fact witnesses, the best that they could do was provide innuendo. innuendo does not meet the standard. so, congresswoman, if that's the case, why not let the enquiry run its course and reveal that there hasn't been any wrongdoing? because it's one of those things that, for whatever reason, they would love to put their spin on and if we do not go ahead and confront the misinformation and the disinformation as it is being spewed out of their mouths, then that's what they will do. they will continue to lie to the american people, like we have seen the maga republicans do. and so, unfortunately, there was a lot that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle had a lot to say but we had to educate and/or remind the american people that what my colleagues say isn't evidence and the witnesses that they brought also are not fact witnesses, so they cannot

provide any evidence. we have to make sure that we hold their feet to the fire and we don't start changing what the standard for impeachment. there are just a few days left for congress to avoid a shutdown. we know that kevin mccarthy is trying to reach a deal with the far—right of his party, the hardliners, republicans. are you confident that a shutdown could be averted? oh, no, i absolutely anticipate we are going to be shut down and when we shut down down, it will be because mccarthy literally is unable to make sure that this republican party can govern. and the reason that i tell you this so confidently is number one, they have not passed the 12 appropriations bills that are necessary — that's number one. we've not even come close to even all hearing or laying out 12 appropriations bills. then, the backup would be a continuing resolution that also has not been put forth. so, how do we avoid a shutdown?

our only way of avoiding a shutdown with the time that's left on the clock is if we take up the continuing resolution that has been passed in the senate in a bipartisan way and the speaker's already said... crosstalk. and congresswoman, if i could jump in there to ask you about those continuing resolutions because we spoke to a colleague of yours from the other side of the aisle, republican congressman tim burchett earlier this week and he said, "look, we get here every year and i'm not "going to vote for another continuing resolution "because it's time to actually pass a budget bill "and cut spending". what's your response to that? listen, i mean, i don't necessarily disagree. the problem is that the democrats aren't in control and so, what's happened is they have not passed the 12 appropriations bills. so, the idea that we should just shut down because of their ineptness is a problem because that is hurting our economy, that is hurting government workers and that is hurting all of our constituents that rely on the federal government to continue to function. so, this isn't on us, you know? and the question to pose to them is why haven't you laid out your 12 appropriations bills? and they haven't. so, what can we do if they haven't done theirjob?

our only fallback is a continuing resolution and right now, they've not even put that on the floor. so, the only way to keep the government open is if we follow the lead of the us senate, who has actually passed a continuing resolution and they're sending it over and it will be timely, but they are not going to take it up. and one more question — you're on the house aerospace caucus and we know the federal aviation administration is faced with a possible lapse in its statutory authorisation — that would be the first time since 2011. can you just quickly tell us what the impact of a shutdown would be on flying? well, let me be clear about this — it was air traffic controllers who saved us the last time there was a shutdown because we are — the air traffic controllers fall under ourjurisdiction and those are federal employees, so for all those planes that we need flying, whether they are flying people because they're going on vacation, because they're going on business

or because they are involved in our supply chain, that all has a direct effect on if we will be able to continue business as usual — and as far as i'm concerned, the answer is an emphatic no. not to mention that right now, air traffic controllers are down 30%. we have already heard from them that the shutdown will affect those that are in training. that means that we will be further behind on even trying to get to the capacity that we need to make sure that we are safe as we are flying. congresswoman, thank you so much forjoining us with your insights on bbc news today. thank you. as the impeachment inquiry got under way on capitol hill, president biden was visiting the election battleground state of arizona. in a speech honouring the late republican senatorjohn mccain, with whom mr biden was very close, the president accused former president donald trump of plotting to subvert the us constitution and branded him a danger to democracy. democracy means rule of the people, not rule of monarchs, not rule of the money, not rule

of the mighty. regardless of party, that means respecting free and fair elections. accepting the outcome, win or lose. it means you can't love your country only when you win. cheering and applause. as for the former president himself, donald trump and his team saw some legal developments on thursday. mr trump's lawyers say he will not seek to move a criminal case in georgia from a state court to a federal court. the former president denies the allegations that he was part of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. meanwhile, a court in new york rejected mr trump's attempt to delay a civil fraud trial against him. proceedings are now due to begin on monday with a judge already ruling that mr trump repeatedly overstated the value of his business empire. dutch police have arrested a 32—year—old gunman after three people were shot dead in rotterdam. the gunman first fired shots at a house, then at a university medical centre. fires broke out at both locations.

police believe the gunman was acting alone, and say his motive is unclear. anna holligan sent this update. the suspect has been named tonight by the justice department as fouad l, a student. rotterdam's student community is in shock — one of their own members suspected of multiple killings, one of their teachers among the dead. staff here at the erasmus medical centre say the killings have left a scar on the entire community. a place where people learn how to save lives. he came to take them. the suspected gunman was a student studying at the erasmus university, which is affiliated with the hospital. as shots rang out, staff were rapidly evacuated, some pushing their patients to safety. others, terrified and trapped, taped calls for help to hospital windows, "we can't get out".

translation: we heard | that there was a shooting. first, we all had to stay inside and then suddenly, we all had to go outside. i was working with children and we had to get them all out of the consulting rooms and then, we ran outside. siren wails. elite police units, including snipers, stormed the hospital as the suspect rampaged through. a 43—year—old male lecturer was shot dead in one of the classrooms. footage has emerged, showing a man in camouflage clothing being taken from the hospital building in handcuffs. a mile away, this was the site of the first shooting. he's suspected of killing a woman, who was 39, and her 14—year—old daughter, then lighting a fire. the motives are still unclear. all the indications are he was acting alone. anna holligan, bbc news, rotterdam. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

let's look at some other stories making news. sweden's prime minister has summoned the head of the armed forces to help address a surge in gang killings. in a televised address, ulf kristersson said the country is witnessing an unprecedented rise in violent crime. he was speaking after three people were killed in separate incidents overnight on wednesday. a trial started in california on thursday into allegations that tesla's autopilot feature was responsible for the death of a driver. the firm is accused of selling the car, despite knowing that the system was defective. tesla denies this, saying it's not clear that the autopilot feature was being used at the time of the crash. the verdict could shape similar cases across the us. more than 2,500 migrants died or went missing while trying to cross the mediterranean to europe so far in 2023 — that's according to new data from the un high commissioner for refugees. the number marks a significant increase over the same period in 2022. hundreds of thousands of migrants every year make the perilous journey from the tunisian and libyan coasts.

you're live with bbc news. now to the crisis in nagorno—karabakh. the separatist leader of the region declared an end to the struggle for independence from azerbaijan, concluding more than 30 years of separatist rule. more than 70,000 ethnic armenians — that's well over half the population — have now left for neighbouring armenia. nagorno—karabakh is located between azerbaijan and armenia. the territory was seized by azerbaijani forces in a military operation last week. it is internationally recognised as part of azerbaijan. those fleeing fear persecution, but azerbaijan has rejected accusations of ethnic cleansing. our eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford has more. the children of nagorno—karabakh have known two wars in their short lives. now, they've fled as refugees. the land they grew up on has been disputed for decades but for them, it was just home.

theirfather, gevorg, fought for karabakh in 2020 and again last week, so i ask how he feels about leaving, about surrender. translation: very bad. it feels terrible? terribly bad. should it have been done differently? could you have got more help? what else could we do? i don't know. i'm too upset. i can't answer these questions. the armenian border town of goris has taken in so many refugees, some are sleeping in their cars — vehicles that now carry a life's worth of possessions. the exodus happened so quickly, many here still seem stunned. there is a giant scramble to help the tens of thousands in need, including the most vulnerable.

donations are flooding in, scooped up by exhausted families who've often travelled for days to reach here. sophia and angelina are still recovering from their trip and from a day under fire in their village, right on the front line. mariam's husband was hit by shrapnel then, but he didn't want to be filmed. the family are being hosted by a woman who fled nagorno—karabakh in the last war. now, she's helping a new wave of refugees. today, they all saw the official decree that their separatist republic, which they call artsakh, was being dissolved. translation: 30 years building our lives there, j then they say there is no artsakh any more. that is a tragedy for the armenian people. but we have no strength left to fight because we were left alone. we were abandoned.

nagorno—karabakh is rapidly emptying out. but as they go, the ethnic armenians are not only leaving their homes and their property... spasiba. ..they are also surrendering their long dream of independence. we're here in goris tonight. this refugee centre, reception centre is extremely busy as families continue to arrive right through the night. if armenia couldn't do more to support nagorno—karabakh politically and militarily, then it is certainly going all out with the aid effort and the need here is absolutely enormous. today, the armenian prime minister said he believed that everyone, all ethnic armenians, would eventually leave nagorno—karabakh, that the enclave would be emptied out. and certainly, tonight, here in this border town, that is how it feels. for more on this story,

i spoke with mary glantz, senior advisor of the russia and europe center at the us institute for peace. very good to have you on bbc news today. as we just heard the leader of nagorno—karabakh has said he is dissolving the breakaway state, all institutions, by the end of the year and the struggle for independence is over. what will it mean? what impact will it have? the most immediate impact is that the armenians living in nagorno—karabakh, and it is a majority armenian area, will not have the security of having the forces that were controlled by the separatist government in nagorno—karabakh. in the azerbaijani government has said they will be moving the azerbaijanis who have been displaced 30 years ago by the first war back into nagorno—karabakh. we have seen tensions in this area lead to war in 2020. are you worried about the current flare—up escalating into a broader conflict? there certainly is that danger and it is something the international community

needs to think about and be aware of. the most immediate thing is to take care of the human rights and stop ethnic cleansing in the region and ensure that the armenians there are safe but then, the second thing is to create an environment of peace by working with azerbaijan and armenia to settle their overall conflict, to avoid this expanding into perhaps armenia itself. so, i will come back to that environment of peace but on the point of ethnic cleansing, azerbaijan has said it is not happening and it says it wants armenians to stay and become what it calls its multi—ethnic society. what do you make of that? what azerbaijan has said, and the problem is at the same time they are moving azerbaijanis back into the region which is understandable, they are internally displaced people, but there is no way to guarantee that they will not be conflict between these two groups and i do not think that

azerbaijan has shown that they are serious about protecting the human rights of armenian civilians in the region. what about the armenians who are now fleeing to armenia? can armenia support the tens of thousands of people who are arriving? as your correspondent noted they seem to be overwhelmed and some members of the international community are trying to get support and help to them but you are talking about a massive number of people in a fairly poor country, armenia, so it will be a large task for the armenian government. coming back to the international community and what you said needs to be created an environment of peace. both armenia and azerbaijan have close ties to russia. could russia mediate a solution? i think that russia has shown over the last two years that they really cannot, they mediated a solution to the war in 2020 but since

then they have invaded ukraine and their response to this latest war in nagorno—karabakh is to say it is an internal issue even though they have peacekeepers on the ground there, they did nothing. the russia has shown itself to not be a good broker for peace in this region. what role do you think the united states could play? the us has tried to conduct negotiations and has been active over the last few months in trying to facilitate pacts between azerbaijan and armenia and they need to continue that. additionally us aid has provided help for the refugee crisis that armenia is facing. but the us should be a broker for peace, should work with turkey and armenia and azerbaijan to try and get armenia and azerbaijan to recognise that they need to reach a peace agreement to ensure the protection of civilians in the region.

any solution in the past has not helped so what would a diplomatic solution that is sustainable and lasting look like? i think it will involve painful concessions. armenia will probably have to give azerbaijan access to its exclave. in order to get there, azerbaijanis now have to fly over armenia or travel through iran. they will need a land corridor and access to that exclave and i think that the concession to azerbaijan will be turkey and the eu and the us helping to facilitate transit of their territory, i mean, of gas and other economic issues creating a transit border in the south caucasus. interesting to get your analysis. thank you forjoining us today. barbiemania has made its way to russia, where moviegoers are flocking to

secretive screenings. after russia's invasion of ukraine, hollywood studios stopped releasing films in russia. but cinemas are covertly showing unofficially dubbed copies of barbie. the theatres sell tickets to russian—made shorts, then show the barbie feature film as the preview. some russian politicians are not amused by barbie and her western values. bbc news russia editor steve rosenberg reports. russia's leaders accuse the west of destabilising russia. and of plotting to dismember russia. they claim there is something ungodly about western values. so they are not exactly tickled pink by her arrival. the barbie movie has made it to moscow despite hollywood sanctions. a pirated version, that is. russia's culture ministry has criticised it for not promoting what it calls traditional russian values.

this mp wants barbie dolls banned from russian kindergartens. and as for the film? for me it is so far from reality that i don't think it promotes what russia wants to bring to the world today. what does russia want to bring? some people call it traditional values. how can you talk about traditional values as a representative of a country that has invaded its neighbour? we have a different position on that. we believe that nato was so aggressive to us. you hear this so often from those in power here. even though it was russia who invaded ukraine they say it is not russia who is the aggressor, it is not russia who is the aggressor, it is america, nato, the west who are threatening russia. the authorities use this alleged threat to rally russians around the flag, to boost patriotism. it is about love for the motherland, not barbie land.

and so you get more of this kind of entertainment. a three—hour drive from moscow we find paratrooper popstars. singing of russia's invincibility. for this top of the patriotic pops, it is almost a full house. on the screen behind them, no barbie or ken, just vladimir. do these patriotic notes strike a chord? to find out i asked people about the barbie movie. "right now we need patriotic russian films to raise morale" andrei tells me. "and we need to cut out western habits from our lives." this woman thinks art is universal. "to become a more commercial cultured and sociable person," she says, "you need to watch films from other countries."

but being cultured and sociable are not russia's priorities now. those are boosting patriotism and winning a war. steve rosenberg, bbc news, russia. in the uk, a famous tree that stood for hundreds of years — has been chopped down, in an apparent act of vandalism. a 16—year—old boy has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. the sycamore gap tree, on hadrian's wall, featured in the 1991 film, robin hood: prince of thieves. stay with us here on bbc news. that's all from us here in washington, we leave you with these live pictures of london as we hand off to our colleagues there. hello there. after all the cloud around on thursday and the heavy overnight rain, friday looks to be dry and brighter

for many of us, thanks to a ridge of high pressure some good sunny spells around to start the day but there will be some showers developing mainly in the north and west of the uk and these will be most frequent across the north and west of scotland, close to this area of low pressure. a squeeze on the isobars here so another windy day to come across scotland with gales here and later went further south. there could be a weather front clearing the far south—east through the morning. it will do so and then there is plenty of sunshine around. winds more of a feature further north and here is where we will see most of the showers with some of them heavy and thundery and blustery and gales up to 55 miles an hour. in the south, showers peppering western coastal areas otherwise it is mainly dry. 20 degrees in the south—east, not quite as warm and humid as it has been. a fresher feel to things. as we head through friday night with the slightly cooler air mass, clear skies and winds turning lighter for a while we will see mist and fog develop and it will also be a chilly night to come. single figure values across the board, as low as three orfour degrees

across rural aberdeenshire. as we head into the weekend we have high pressure bringing fine and settled weather to start with and this next frontal system will sweep into central western and northern areas through the day. so we start chilly and dry with sunshine, early mist and fog clearing, and then the sunshine will become hazy as the frontal system moves in. but most of the rain will be across northern ireland and wales, northern england pushing into southern scotland. the far north of scotland, southern south—east england should stay dry with sunshine albeit hazy at times. 20 degrees and mid—teens where we have wind and rain. into sunday it looks like that front clears its way into the north sea and we will have a hang back with the weather front across england and wales. sunday probably a bit cloudier for england and wales with splashes of rain through the morning. brightening up in the afternoon and brighter sunshine, a couple of showers in the north and west of scotland here the mid— high teens but warmer and muggier across south, up to 23 degrees. it is mixed into the new week and it will start off unsettled with settling down around the middle part of the week and we will start to see showers across northern areas

by the end of the week and it stays fine and settled in the south.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour,

which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. my guest is pakistan's caretaker prime minister, anwaar—ul—haq kakar, who's on a visit here in london. in august, he was put in charge of the pakistani government until elections are held in the new year. this comes at a time of extreme political turmoil, huge economic challenges and growing insecurity. does he have what it takes to steer the country through its current difficulties? and can he stand up to the power of the military? anwaar—ul—haq kakar, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. thank you for having me.