package through congress, which would give more assistance to ukraine and israel. we speak to a republican senator about why he's against it. sport, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's marc edwards. thanks. starting with football. saudi arabia is set to host the men's 2034 world cup, after australia opted against mounting a rival bid. the decision was confirmed only hours before fifa's deadline for declarations of interest on tuesday. saudi arabia was the only other country to put their name forward to host the tournament, so they are effectively the sole bidder — something that might shock many, but was expected, as dan roan reports. it's no real surprise, not when you look at the billions

of pounds that saudi arabia has been investing in sport in recent years. the sense is that all of that has been gearing up to this moment, but i think it will come as a shock to people. after all, because of the extreme temperatures, it's likely that the traditional summer slot will have to be moved again, as it was in qatar. with all the disruption that that would entail. there is concern over the way that fifa appear to have paved the way for the saudis�* bid by accelerating and restricting the bidding process rules. and then, of course, because of saudi arabia's notorious human rights record, its discriminatory laws, there are those accusations of sportswashing by campaigners. now, the saudi authorities deny all that. they say this is about growing the game, diversifying their economy, boosting tourism, inspiring their people. they say some of the criticism is hypocritical, but others will say that money has been put before morals here. what is certain is that this once again reinforces that shift in power towards the middle east when it comes to sport. spain have continued their perfect run in the women's nations league with a 7—1 thrashing

of switzerland in zurich. double ballon d'or winner alexia putellas helped herself to two goals, while real madrid forward athenea del castillo also bagged a brace. it means spain stay top of their group, with 12 points from four games, five ahead of sweden, in second place. that's after the scandinavian side, ranked top in the world, were held to a 1—all draw at home to italy. roma forward valentina giacinti put the italians ahead and were heading for a famous away win, but sweden waiting until the last few seconds of added time before they managed an equaliser through linda sembrant. world cup runners—up england are in belgium, just a few days after beating them i—nil to go second in the group. it's 2-2. play was delayed for a long period after a nasty clash of heads between england's alex greenwood and belgium's jassina blom. for those watching in the uk... it's goalless between scotland and the netherlands. hungary leading northern ireland, i—o. earlier, wales lost 2—1 in denamrk.

their hopes of avoiding relegation from league a likely to rest on their home clash with iceland in december. bangladesh have become the first team to be knocked out of the 2023 cricket world cup, after falling to their sixth successive defeat, losing to pakistan by seven wickets on wednesday. bangladesh could only muster 204 all out, after winning the toss. shaheen shah afridi and mohammed wasim each took three wickets. pakistan cantered to their target with 105 balls to spare. openers abdulah shafique and fakhar zaman both smashed quick half centuries. pakistan keep their hopes of reacing the semi—finals alive, with matches against new zealand and england remaining. to rugby, and it's been a heroes�* welcome for world cup champions south africa, as they were mobbed by adoring fans on their return from france after winning the webb ellis cup for a record fourth time. there was an enormous crowd at the airport injohannesburg

to greet their champions�* return. captain siya kolisi said the narrow victory over new zealand was not about the players, but "for every single person in south africa. rich, poor... it doesn't matter where you come from." to the nba, and former mvp — most valuable player — james harden is reportedly on the move, after a long—running dispute with the philpadelphia 76ers. they're expected to send the 34—year—old to the la clippers, alongside two other players, for a package of four players and multiple future first—round picks. and that's all the sport for now. back to you, christian. thank you very much. let's return to the politics in washington and the row that brewing over foreign aid. there is a $105 billion spending package the white house has sent to congress. included in that is more than $41; billion for ukraine and $10 billion for israel. the sweetener is the money the administration included for tighter security at the southern border. trouble is, hardline

republicans in both the house and the senate want a vote on the bill's constituent parts. they want to separate israel spending from the rest and vote on that first. and what's more, the new speaker in the republican—led house wants israel funding to be financed by budget cuts to the irs. a non—starter for the democrat—led senate. so here we are again, a standoff in congress, split government, reluctance to compromise, all of which puts american interests on the line. i have been getting reaction to that from republican senator mike lee, who has been attending a conference here in london. starting with his position on the calls for humanitarian pauses in gaza. 0bviously, peace is always the objective. nonetheless, i believe it's also important to let israel fight israel's war. israel was barbarically attacked by savages on october 7th, and israel needs to have some leeway to fight

the war and to win that war in the manner that it deems most effective. there's been a lot of talk about whether iran was or was not involved. what should it mean, do you think, for america's policy towards iran and its approach to saudi arabia and its gulf allies? well, first of all, i think the notion that iran was not involved in these attacks is utterly absurd. we know that iran was involved. we know that iran has been funding hamas for many, many years. and we know that they have been supplying them, including very recently, with the means by which an attack like this would be carried out. the idea that they've been supplying them with all this training and weapons, but they wouldn't have been involved in the preparation for this attack is just utterly illogical, as i see it. you'll be aware the debate back home today is very much about the funding funding for israel, funding for ukraine and also for the southern border. can i start by asking you,

do you support in principle funding for ukraine? look, the united states of america has spent $113 billion on the war effort in ukraine. it's an enormous sum of money, and that's either two or three multiples of what russia spends on defence in an entire year. americans understandably, are understandably are becoming a little weary of this. in fact, just over the last few months, the number of americans supporting giving more aid, more weapons and so forth to ukraine has gone from about 65% injune down to only about 39% today, just in a few months time. and in fact, this was showcased in this week's cover story article in time magazine, talking about the fact that the american people have grown less enthusiastic about this, at the exact same time

that we've learned of more and more allegations of widespread corruption within the ukrainian government, including corruption involving aid from the united states. so, we've done our part. we've spent more than all the, all of our european allies combined by far. and the american people have given enough at this point. not quite. i think the europeans now have outstripped american spending. but i take your point. there is a case to be made with regards to public sympathy for the war in ukraine. and there's also a question of corruption, which volodymyr zelensky is obviously addressing. right. and here at the conference of the alliance for responsible citizenry, we've been talking about a number of factors and how many things tie into energy. a lot of this war really is being fueled by energy.

we need better energy policy in the united states, we have been exporting, producing and exporting really large volumes of liquefied natural gas to europe. at some point, it would have been enough gas to forestall this invasion and, for that matter, the invasion that happened nearly a decade ago, with regard to crimea. vladimir putin is being funded by energy, and if we had better energy policy, we could stop this thing now. we could have stopped it a long time ago, before it even started. but if the objective is to stop vladimir putin, i want to put to you what general mark milley said. he said that if congress was to stop support for ukraine, it would increase the probability of a great power war in the next 10 to 15 years. it would mean, he said, increasing, if not doubling, the defence budget in the years ahead. so isn't cutting ukraine aid in the end a false economy? in fact, your fellow senator mitt romney in utah would say it's pretty good value for money when you consider what the ukrainians are doing to the russian military.

yeah, a lot of that argument loses its punch, sir. first of all, we received these pieces of evidence about widespread corruption in ukraine involving the money that we're giving them. and you add to that the fact that ukrainian officials and our own officials are increasingly telling us we've got to brace for close to a decade more of this with no end in sight and no reasonable explanation as to what ultimate victory looks like and how it's going to be achieved, much less, achieved in less than a decade. is it not, though, a very odd message to send to the united states allies here in europe that you care about war in the middle east, but you don't care about a war in europe and the threat that poses to allies within europe? yeah. i'm really worried about the message it would send to the american people, the american taxpayers funding this, who recognise that our government is 33 and a half trillion dollars in debt, paying interest on that debt at a rate of nearly $1 trillion a year. and that's only only going to go up dramatically as our interest rates

increase. and that we're going to continue to fund a war effort with no reasonable end in sight, no path toward achievable victory, and a possible decade—long glide path into this amorphous sense of victory. the american people who have been funding this effort really deserve answers, we don't have them. and for that reason, they've got a lot of legitimate reasons to be concerned about this. the new speaker, mikejohnson, the new house speaker, he wants to split israel funding from ukraine funding. but he also, you talk about the debt problem, he also wants to claw back $40 billion from the irs which, of course, goes after tax cheats. that's not going to fly in the senate. so this is going to be a row about funding for israel within the republican caucus. i mean, democrats are, the democrats in the white house are going to reject it out of hand.

doesn't it look, yet again, like the republicans are running with themselves, putting american interests on the line? no. look, what mikejohnson is doing here, i wholeheartedly support. we need, at a time when we're 33 and one half trillion dollars in debt, paying interest to the tune of $1 trillion a year, we need a plan that doesn't involve just printing or borrowing more money. this is a plan. it's a legitimate plan. and there's nothing engraved in stone that says we need the entirety of the $87 billion that democrats, without a single republican vote in either house, rammed through congress just over a year ago in order to pass. there's nothing written in stone about that figure. nothing that says that the irs can't do its job without all $87 billion of that going in this direction,, that if we take out 1a billion or so to fund aid to israel, it's not going to be the end of the world. now, to your point... if democrats don't like that,

then democrats can and should and i believe must come up with their own paper. they don't like this one, let them propose something and we'll consider that. right. 0k. so i'm slightly confused, though, because obviously, if it's rejected, you've talked about the urgency of getting aid to israel. it's a must and it must go now. but if there's a congressional fallout over how this is funded and let's face it, within the house, the fundamentals haven't changed. the motion to vacate is still there. it could just as easily be someone, even a moderate within the caucus that brings down mikejohnson. how does that benefit the republican party? it benefits the republican party to have some consensus around the idea that we've got to start getting our fiscal house in order and that we can'tjust print or borrow more money every time we see another need arise. so, again, if this one doesn't work, i think this is a very legitimate paper. i would frankly love to have an earnest, honest debate with my democratic colleagues and counterparts in the house and at the white house about this.

i think it's legitimate. if they don't like it, i'd like to hear the reasons why. i would love, love to hear their proposal. but, senator, that debate will start with their own borrowing. he is wrong on that and he is outnumbered not only among his republican colleagues in the senate, i believe he is outnumbered among the american people who don't want that. . . r' the american people who don't want that. . ., _, the american people who don't want that. . ., ,, ., .,, the american people who don't want that. . ., ., , ., that. can i ask you a last question about the new _ that. can i ask you a last question about the new speaker _ that. can i ask you a last question about the new speaker mike - that. can i ask you a last question - about the new speaker mike johnson? about the new speaker mikejohnson? i mean, people on this side of the pond, he looks like he's quite an extreme character, if you don't mind me saying. he believes there were dinosaurs on the ark, that is how he squares creationism with evolution. he thinks there was merit to the allegations the voting machines were rigged. he wants a national abortion

ban, he has tried to criminalise gay marriage. he wants to end medicare and social security. is he really the modern face of the republican party? i the modern face of the republican pa ? u, �* the modern face of the republican pa ? �* , ., ., party? i can't stand here and tell ou party? i can't stand here and tell you exactly _ party? i can't stand here and tell you exactly what _ party? i can't stand here and tell you exactly what mike _ party? i can't stand here and tell you exactly what mike johnson's| you exactly what mike johnson's position has been on every issue. i can tell you just based on your recitation of that litany of facts, which has been parroted by the mainstream liberal media in the united states over and over again. you don't think it is true, you don't think he stands for those positions? i don't think he stands for those positions?— don't think he stands for those ositions? ., , , ~ positions? i would be shocked if every piece _ positions? i would be shocked if every piece of — positions? i would be shocked if every piece of that _ positions? i would be shocked if every piece of that ends - positions? i would be shocked if every piece of that ends up - positions? i would be shocked if| every piece of that ends up being true. but regardless, even if it every piece of it were true, mike johnson does have a vision that is shared by most republicans. most republicans in congress, most republicans in congress, most republicans who are americans and many who are not republicans. he's a good man, i have known him for years. he is dedicated to the country, to the rule of law. no, i exists —— i understand the left�*s intention especially through their proxies in the media to attack every conservative in the way they would

never do with a democratic politician, that is part of the air we breathe. but it doesn't make it true, doesn't mean that we should all just true, doesn't mean that we should alljust defer to them on what is unacceptable politician. they don't like republicans, they especially hate conservatives. mikejohnson is both. hate conservatives. mike johnson is both. , , ., ., both. listen, it is good to hear our both. listen, it is good to hear your thoughts. _ both. listen, it is good to hear your thoughts, senator, - both. listen, it is good to hear your thoughts, senator, thank| both. listen, it is good to hear- your thoughts, senator, thank you for coming in the programme, we really appreciate it.— not a voice we often hear, but important to get a direction of travel within the republican party and what they think about ukraine funding because it matters. and as the senator said, a growing number of people think like him in america like him about funding the war in ukraine. we like him about funding the war in ukraine. ~ , ., ,, ukraine. we will perhaps get reaction to — ukraine. we will perhaps get reaction to that _ ukraine. we will perhaps get reaction to that with - ukraine. we will perhaps get reaction to that with our - ukraine. we will perhaps getl reaction to that with our panel later in the programme. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. - it isn't ping—pong, tennis or badminton, so what exactly is pickle ball? pickle ball�*s a great game.

it's a game that's easy to learn and fun to play. and we have players who are not necessarily the best players in the world, but enjoy coming out there once or twice a week, meeting with their friends, having some exercise and feeling much better about their mind and body. here in bolton, hundreds of people of all ages and abilities are taking part in the national championships. it might look easy, but this lot are competitive. i've never had a background in any sort of sport before, any racket sport. it'sjust really accessible to everyone. i'm quite competitive, so i love it for gettingl into competitions and playing tournaments, which i would i recommend to everyone. because as you can see here, i it's just a fabulous day as well. every time i play, ifeel like i learn something new. the rules are simple. underarm serves only, each team has to play their first shot on the bounce and volleying's only allowed in the zone closest to the net. you're live with bbc news. amid those terrible scenes we have

witnessed from the jabalia refugee camp this afternoon, more small body bags. children make up half the population of gaza. the hamas—led health ministry claims that among more than 8,000 killed, there are 3,400 children. often, the hospitals will write their names on their legs before the body bags are sealed, so their parents can identify them. james denselow, head of conflict and humanitarian at save the children uk, joins us live. thank you very much for coming on the programme. i think if i am right in saying you have 25 people working for the charity currently in gaza. those figures i havejust for the charity currently in gaza. those figures i have just given, they are difficult to verify because we don't have enough people on the ground in gaza. we are relying on the hamas led health ministry. but from your people are telling you, do those, does that number of child casualties tally with what they are experiencing? casualties tally with what they are exoeriencing?_ casualties tally with what they are ex-aeriencin ? ., ., , ., , experiencing? unfortunately, in any conflict, the — experiencing? unfortunately, in any conflict, the fog _ experiencing? unfortunately, in any conflict, the fog of— experiencing? unfortunately, in any conflict, the fog of war _ experiencing? unfortunately, in any conflict, the fog of war means - experiencing? unfortunately, in any conflict, the fog of war means that l conflict, the fog of war means that you never have certainty as to the

toll that it is taking and that's true notjust of gaza, but of course of ukraine and other parts of the world. but there is no reason to think if you think about the high density that is present in gaza of a child population and use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, that these numbers are sadly and too tragically accurately —— accurate. and of course, this is a conflict that shows no sign of de—escalating and debating. so i think this time, we do need to start preparing ourselves for the numbers becoming stratospheric, which is a terrifying prospect —— abating. well, quite. to put it in context because that is what we do, i think i read from save the children that if the numbers were anywhere near true, that would be more child casualties from this conflict alone than all the conflicts around the world in the last five years, is that true?— world in the last five years, is that true? , , , ., ., that true? yes. this un verify data for the last — that true? yes. this un verify data for the last few _ that true? yes. this un verify data for the last few days, _ that true? yes. this un verify data for the last few days, the - that true? yes. this un verify data for the last few days, the data - for the last few days, the data coming out of gaza is yet to be

verified, but the images and the video tell us some of what is going on of course. and i think we do need to compare and contrast why that is happening. in ukraine for example, children have been allowed to move away from the front line, from areas of intense fighting, many of whom have left the country. of course, this is a complete tragedy for ukrainian children, but often they are far away from the most intense fighting and they have bomb shelters and other infrastructure that can protect them. in gaza, those things are not available for children. it is an incredibly dense part of the world as we have discussed and these weapons are designed for the open battlefield. and children are particularly vulnerable to them, they have less blood to lose, they have thinner skin, more brutal bones, they are thrown further by the impact of a blast and i think that's why we are seeing such terrible casualties. and as the medical system struggles, it is likely those many who are currently listed as injured or maimed will be killed, too, hence the need to have

some form of humanitarian ceasefire or pause right now.— or pause right now. james, we are out of time- _ or pause right now. james, we are out of time. thank _ or pause right now. james, we are out of time. thank you _ or pause right now. james, we are out of time. thank you very - or pause right now. james, we are out of time. thank you very much | or pause right now. james, we are i out of time. thank you very much for coming on the programme and maybe we will talk more about the fate of the children in gaza. if you're watching in the uk, don't go away. due to the clock change, things are a little different here this week. we're going to say a quick goodbye to viewers around the world, who are leaving us. world news america is up for you next. but we will be staying with you, so don't go far. the official inquiry into the covid pandemic has been told that former prime minister borisjohnson had suggested the pandemic was "nature's way of dealing with old people". sir patrick vallance, the government's former chief scientific adviser, made the comments in his diary on the 14th december, 2020. the following day, sir patrick wrote that the then conservative chief whip mark spencer said, "i think we should let the old people get it and protect others." johnson backed this statement, according to sir patrick, allegedly responding: "a lot of my backbenchers think that and, i must say, i agree with them."

one of the then—prime minister's closest aides, dominic cummings, told the inquiry that the government had been totally dysfunctional. 0ur political editor chris mason was watching. casually dressed, controversial, and not exactly shy when it comes to slagging off other people and institutions. how's your eyesight, mr cummings? oh, and you probably remember dominic cummings for driving 260 miles during lockdown and visiting barnard castle in county durham to test his eyesight. i swear by almighty god that the evidence i shall give shall be the truth... mr cummings comes across in public as mild—mannered. he was rather less than that in his private written observations about people he worked alongside. you called ministers useless bleep, morons, bleep, in emails and whatsapps to your professional colleagues.

my appalling language is obviously my own, but myjudgment of a lot of senior people was widespread. and listen to how dominic cummings described a very senior female colleague. "we cannot keep dealing with this horrific meltdown of the british state while dodging stilettos from that bleep." was that aggressive and foul—mouthed and misogynistic approach the correct way to manage fellow professionals? a thousand times worse than my bad language is the underlying issue at stake, that we had a cabinet office system that had completely melted. boris johnson's judgment caused anger today. he was obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going, wrote patrick vallance, the government's then scientific advisor. it showed mrjohnson was "sociopathic", some of those representing the bereaved said. the overriding impression of what we are seeing here is one of dysfunction.

claims of a shambles at the heart of government, atjust the moment government was more important to more people than it had been for decades and decades. the other man taking questions today was lee cain, borisjohnson�*s man in charge of communications. he reckons his former boss dithered and wasn't suited to leadership in a pandemic. what will probably be clear in covid, it was the wrong crisis for this prime minister's skill set. which is different, i think, from not potentially being up to the job of being prime minister. and what about why it took ten days from agreeing to a first lockdown to actually announcing it? i think it is longer than you would like, but i think it's importantjust to emphasise the amount of things that had to be done and the amount of people we had to take with us to deliver

a nationwide lockdown. borisjohnson has offered no comment on what's been said today. he and rishi sunak are expected to give evidence here before christmas. chris mason, bbc news. we will talk more about the covid inquiry in the second part of our programme, a panel coming up tonight no doubt have some thoughts on that. just a line to bring you a breaking news, the us secretary of state antony blinken is heading back to the middle east on friday. he will be in israel on friday, where he will have meetings with prime minister netanyahu. the white house leaning on the israelis today to try to get more aid into gaza and the king ofjordan telling joe biden on a phone call today that there needs to be a pause, a humanitarian pause so they can get more of those trucks in, so maybe we will pick up that with our panel in the next hour. we will go to a short break to go away,

we will be right back. hello there. the rain in northern ireland has eased, but in 2a hours in county down there was three inches of rain which led to the flooding. there may not be too much rain in northern ireland from storm ciaran as it arrives into thursday, but wet weather elsewhere. saturated ground brings the threat of flooding and the damaging winds are more likely in the far south, where we've got an amber wind warning from the met office. more on that in a moment. still some uncertainty, though, because the storm hasn't developed yet. it's going to grow out of this area of cloud streaming in from the other side of the atlantic. ahead of that, this area of cloud is arriving in the south—west this evening, bringing some wet weather for trick—or—treaters. the rain easing in northern ireland and northern england, but still on the cloudy side. through this evening and overnight, we'll see that rain in the south—west moving back northwards again across the uk.

heavy rain for a while, perhaps, and then some squally, perhaps thundery downpours sweeping into wales and the south—west, driving eastwards early on wednesday morning. a chilly start to wednesday across northern scotland. as the rain moves in here, we could see briefly some snow over the scottish mountains. away from that rain, though, it's going to be a day of sunshine and showers on wednesday. the winds will be a bit stronger. some of the showers could be heavy and temperatures may be a bit higher than today in northern ireland, northern england and also southern scotland. but overnight, and particularly into thursday, this is when we get the impacts from storm ciaran. there's the centre of the low. the storm tracking eastwards across england and wales. strongest winds are on the southern flank of the storm, so this is where, at the moment, we've got the amber wind warnings from the met office, with stronger winds through the english channel, very large waves, dangerous winds, disruption both to travel, but potentially to power, as well. other parts of the uk will be windy, notably where we've got this swirl of rain around the storm. in the centre of the storm, it's not quite so windy, where we'll see some showers, and it may not be so wet across north—west scotland, together with northern ireland. temperatures ten to 12 degrees. the winds start to ease down later in the day in the south—west

as the storm drifts away and weakens, heading up into the north sea in time for friday. things are not looking quite so bad on friday. it's not going to be as windy, it's not going to be as wet. there will be some sunshine and some showers. maybe some wetter, windier weather returning to eastern parts of scotland and later into the north—east of england.

hello, i'm christian fraser. this is the context. translation: they are using their

own citizens as human shields. - we neutralised and shot and tried in every possible way to let their people go. it seems as though the israeli military net around the heavily populated built up area of gaza city is beginning to tighten. the priority is to get aid into gaza. palestinians do not want to leave gaza. they want aid to come into gaza, and that should be the priority. gaza has become a graveyard for children. it is a living hell for everyone else. the bbc has geolocated the precise spot of that explosion in the jabalia refugee camp in gaza, in which hamas says dozens of palestinians were killed.

we will get reaction tonight to that and to the calls for a ceasefire.