thanks forjoining us. we start with maine's top election official barring former president donald trump from the state's republican primary ballot next year. shenna bellows, a democrat, wrote that he is not qualified to hold office, under the part of the constitution that bans individuals, who engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the us, from running. this decision will not take effect until a court has heard an appeal. a trump campaign spokesman responded to the decision, promising to challenge it in state court. earlier this week, the state of michigan decided to keep trump on the primary ballot next year. it follows last week's decision in colorado, where the state supreme court disqualified the former president as well. the decision is ultimately expected to be made by the us supreme court. earlier, i spoke with secretary of state bellows about her decision. secretary bellows, very good to have you on bbc news. good evening to you. i just want to start with your decision to disqualify the former president from the primary ballot

in maine because, as you've decided, he engaged in insurrection. what made that decision? what convinced you he is ineligible? good evening and thank you for having me. first, it is really important for your viewers to understand maine law, maine process. because every state is different. under the united states constitution, elections are held in different ways, we have different voting rights are different ballot access laws. and different ballot access laws. under maine law, if a candidate qualifies for the ballot, any registered maine voter may bring a challenge. that is what happened here. i qualified trump for the ballot and there were three challenges brought, by citizens of maine, in a couple cases, two former democratic state senators. that requires me under maine election law to hold an administrative hearing to review the evidence and facts. both parties may be presented by counsel, indeed mr trump was represented by an attorney,

as were the challengers i mentioned. they brought forward witnesses, exhibits. i was then required to review that evidence and the hearing record, the law and the constitution and ultimately that is my sacred obligation. it is my duty to uphold the constitution. and the constitution. make a determination. a quick follow—up, you are talking about the evidence you reviewed. you know the former president is facing cases both federally and state level, in georgia, on election interference. why not wait for a ruling on one of those cases to give this decision that legal foundation? again, it is specific to maine law. under maine law, once a challenger brings a challenge, i am required to hold that hearing within five days, and then issue that decision within a compressed deadline. i was not allowed,

under maine law, to wait for the united states supreme court. understood. i know maine law is different to other states. i want to ask you what we have seen from other, including michigan, that made the decision not to disqualify the former president from the ballot, and we spoke to the secretary of state there yesterday, who says she does not believe it is the role of secretaries of state to make this decision. i want to play you the clip. we have to remember, for matters like this, which involve an interpretation, a novel interpretation of the us constitution, it is the us supreme court whose job it is to ultimately make that call and make that determination. what do you think of that, secretary bellows? i cannot speak to michigan and certainly i hope the united states supreme court will settle this matter, nationwide. that being said, every secretary of state must uphold the election laws in their state. that is why i explained so clearly maine state law and the legal requirements

i am held to. but do you expect it to end up in front of the supreme court? certainly, under maine law, the next step is mr trump can appeal to a superior court, and he or the challengers can appeal to the maine supreme judicial court and then to the united states supreme court. if or the us supreme court, | an appeal made in colorado, or the us supreme court, an appeal made in colorado, they could issue a ruling that could be determined in may. and i as secretary of state will follow the law. always. i want to ask about some of the criticism of this decision already. what do you say to voters in your state who cast their ballots for donald trump in 2020? more than 40% of people in maine and believe the decision is disenfranchising them. i am mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on section three of the 14th amendment. but i am also mindful no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.

the events of january 6 were tragic and unprecedented. and the evidence presented in hearing before me that i was duty—bound to roll upon indicated january 6, 2021, was in fact in insurrection and mr trump did in fact engage in that insurrection. what about what the former president himself has already said? he has pointed to you specifically and said he worked for the aclu, that you are hyper—partisan, a virulent leftist. what is your response to that? my duty and obligation is to uphold the constitution, and i made the determination that i did, my decision is thorough, and based on the rule of law, the facts before me. bias, my political affiliation, or prior experience plays no role in my position.

one more question, if this is successfully appealed, we know the trump camp is likely to appeal and he remains on the primary ballot. do you expect there to be another challenge if he becomes the republican nominee? so, in my decision i addressed this issue. to my knowledge, this challenge procedure is the only mechanism under maine law by which someone can challenge a presidential candidate placement on the primary ballot, and indeed, this is not unusual in maine. i have in the past, in 2022, held a similar hearing, and ultimately made a decision that was upheld, to disqualify a district attorney candidate, based on failure to qualify. similarly, last week, a superior court upheld the decision i made to prohibit placement of mr chris christie on the ballot because he failed to meet qualifications of signature requirements.

so this is something that is fairly routine, and i think it's very specific to maine and yet at the same time i do hope and certainly the country like washington to see if the united states supreme court will weigh in. thank you forjoining us. really appreciate your time. thank you. i also spoke to former federal prosecutor, joe moreno. joke of a very good to see you. i guess i first want to get your reaction from what we heard from the mane secretary of state there.— of state there. good to see ou. of state there. good to see yom with _ of state there. good to see you. with all— of state there. good to see you. with all due _ of state there. good to see you. with all due respect . of state there. good to see | you. with all due respect to the secretary of state of maine, it is breathtakingly arrogant for her to unilaterally decide that someone has committed insurrection. the 14th

amendment gives the power of what actually is insurrection to congress. congress has passed a criminal law called insurrection. a person can be charged with it. donald trump has not been charged with insurrection, much less convicted, so for a state official, without even a trial, just unilaterally say i think i know what insurrection is, based on what i've seen i think that person has committed it, look, i give her credit for being honest, but there's no way this holds up under any judicial scrutiny. bi; way this holds up under any judicial scrutiny.— way this holds up under any judicial scrutiny. by joe, this is the second _ judicial scrutiny. by joe, this is the second state - judicial scrutiny. by joe, this is the second state to - judicial scrutiny. by joe, this j is the second state to decide this way including now colorado. we saw michigan and other states like minnesota to decide not to disqualify drum, so why do you think we are seeing these decisions? well, we have had nine states reach a decision, the first seven went in favour of donald trump and said he is not disqualified under the disqualification language of the fourth amendment. now we've had two, colorado and mane, that are gone and the other direction again using a very novel

interpretation of what they think insurrection is. colorado, i will give them credit, at least they had a trial. it was a civil trial but it was five days, and you had a judge actually hear evidence. mane, it wasn't even a trial, i mean it was sort of an independent enquiry by the secretary of state and some kind of hearing. so look, i think what they are trying to do as they are trying to trigger action by the us supreme court, right? they want the supreme court to weigh in here. i have no doubt they will and the supreme court will strike down these estate decisions to bar donald trump. i think it's unfortunate though because this will create a political furore, because this will create a politicalfurore, in dragging the supreme court in, in an election year, there is going to be many people upset, regardless of how the supreme court rules, so i think that's the unfortunate outcome here. these are very, very shaky legal decisions. i think designed only to inflame the atmosphere here, which is already pretty inflamed. suggest a follow up on that,

joe, what happens next? do you see the supreme court taking this up in fairly rapid fashion?— this up in fairly rapid fashion? , ., ., , fashion? they have to. there is no way you _ fashion? they have to. there is no way you can _ fashion? they have to. there is no way you can let _ fashion? they have to. there is no way you can let 50 - fashion? they have to. there is no way you can let 50 different| no way you can let 50 different states apres 50 different standards and come up with different interpretations of the us federal constitutional amendment. supreme court is obviously going to have to step in here and say, ok, this is what it means to engage in insurrection or rebellion under the 14th amendment, this is what it takes to be disqualified, and now you can go ahead and make the decision of whether it applies or does not apply. frankly, of whether it applies or does notapply. frankly, it's of whether it applies or does not apply. frankly, it's never been used before, so that's why so much time has gone by, but at this point because now it is on the table, the supreme court will have to get involved. really interesting to get your perspective on the story tonight. thank you so much for joining us. thank you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. venezuelan president nicolas maduro has condemned the deployment of a british warship off the coast of neighbouring guyana.

maduro says it breaches the spirit of an agreement between his country and guyanese authorities to de—escalate tensions in a long—running border dispute over an oil rich region. the area is recognized as part of guyana, but venezuela has revived claims to it. guyana is a british ally and former colony. budapest, hungary, is coping with severe flooding along the danube. the river has reached a decade—high of nearly seven meters, that's about 23 feet. workers have built ramps and deployed mobile dams. experts warn of more frequent severe floods in the region due to climate change. a prominent pro—democracy activist has fled hong kong to seek asylum in the uk, breaching a supervision order put on him by authorities. tony chung was convicted of calling for hong kong's secession under the territory's tough security law in 2021. he says that since his release injune, authorities had been pressuring him to become a paid informant against other activists. you're live with bbc news. israeli forces say they have struck more than 100 targets

in the past day. they ordered at least 150,000 palestinians to evacuate central gaza. aid groups are warning about the desperate need for shelters the rising number of refugees. says the humanitarian situation in the israel—occupied west bank is also seeing "rapid deterioration". it has reported arbitrary and unlawful detentions, and alleged torture and other forms of ill—treatment of palestinian detainees. it says about 11,785 palestinians have been detained in the occupied west bank since 7 october. israel maintains it is trying to protect civilians in its operation to destroy hamas. an israeli military official said the country "regrets harm "to civilians" during air raids on december 2a, where use of the wrong munition led to quote "extensive "collateral damage" within the maghazi refugee camp. egypt has proposed a plan to end the fighting that includes prisoner and hostage exchanges. the bbc�*s shaimaa khalil has more from jerusalem. and a warning, her report contains some distressing images from the beginning. once again, a child tells their story of the war. this child's home in khan younis was bombed overnight. "we were upstairs," she says, "then we were hit,

"and i started running." she tries to comfort her sister, but she has no idea that her mother and brother were killed in the strike. herfather, abdullah, sits next to the body bags. he's still in shock. "this is my son," he says. "this morning, he asked me for biscuits. "i went to buy them. "when i came back, ifound him and my wife dead." the ground offensive continues to deepen in the southern city of khan younis, where hundreds of thousands have fled from the fighting in northern gaza. israel says it's trying to protect civilians during its operation against hamas fighters. but it said it regretted what it called "extensive "collateral damage" in a strike last weekend. the hamas—run health ministry says at least 86 people were killed in the strike on al maghazi refugee camp in central gaza. israel says it used the wrong type of munition. people chant.

here injerusalem, thousands of teenagers marched towards the israeli parliament. "alive! now!", they chanted. they want a new deal to return those still in captivity. the war is not going to end any time soon. that is the message from the israeli government. but that only increases the frustration among the young people gathered here, many of them from communities that have been worst—affected by the seventh 0ctober attacks. their message to those in power — bring the hostages back home now. i am from kibbutz kfar aza. i was there on october 7 and my people were kidnapped. we want them back. for me, personally, i really hope that it ends for both sides as quickly as possible. war is horrible, on either end of it. judith weinstein haggai was thought to be in captivity still, but now she's believed to have been killed on october 7. her husband gadi is also believed to have been

killed by hamas. in the agony of war, new life begins. iman tends to three of her quadruplets. one is still in intensive care. there is very little food and not enough formula or diapers. she and her family are sheltering in a un school, after being forced out of their home in the north. her new babies born into displacement. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, jerusalem. the head of the sudanese paramilitary force is on his first foreign tour since fighting broke out in april between his forces and sudan's army. lieutenant general mohammed hamdan dagalo, popularly known as hemedti — visited ethiopia on thursday to meet the country's prime minister. he also visited uganda as part of his tour for diplomatic talks with the country's president. on both visits, the general spoke of the need for a swift end to the war. but diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire between the warring sides have made little progress.

meanwhile, militia forces recently taken control of one of sudan's major cities and the last remaining sanctuary for civilians — wad madani. the conflict has killed 12,000 people and caused one of the world's largest displacement crisis. the international organization for migration says that over 7.1 million people have been internally displaced. earlier, i spoke to kholood kair, an analyst and founding director of khartoum based think tank confluence advisory about the situation. kholood, why do you think we are seeing hemedti take this trip? and visit these capitals now? i think he wants to position himself as a sort of statesment. we have seen him wearing suits rather than military fatigue. we have seen him meet heads of state rather than some of the adversaries or some of the officials. i think he is trying to mimic in many ways the trip by burhan taken in august and september

where he was also taking trips around the region, so trying to get them to think of him as a legitimate head of state rather than one of the belligerents. do you think hemedti will be able to achieve that? i think it is difficult for him to do so because even his defective position, which is quite a tenuous one, after the coup, has been lost. he was removed as a deputy of the sovereign council, a defunct organ since the coup, but he was removed as deputy of that a few months ago, into the war. he does not have a governmental position anymore. he cannot be thought of as anything but one of the belligerents in this fight but i think there is talk around a meeting between he and others, the more he will try and shape his position in the next few weeks

and months to position himself in a more favourable light when it comes to future political dispensation. i want to ask about the humanitarian situation in sudan. there are a lot of concern about certain areas. are aid agencies able to access areas that need assistance? by all accounts, only to some degrees and not very well. what we have seen in khartoum primarily and part of the country, the conflict erupts, or when the war reaches those areas, the first people to go are actually the aid agencies and so the humanitarian needs not only skyrocket but also dwindled massively.

0ftentime international aid agencies have had to rely on other actors, sometimes regime—related actors to deliver aid and that has not been affected. what has been the backbone of humanitarian aid, grassroots respondents, who have been able to provide soup kitchens, safe passages and in many instances access to medical care and the like. i understand that you have family in sudan at the moment. can i ask how they are doing and are they able to leave? they, like many people in sudan, have realised that it is becoming more and more difficult to see a swift end to this fighting and therefore they, again like many others, have felt no other way out of this, really, than to evacuate sudan altogether,

which for many of them is a very painful thing to do. they have been able to weather the very tumultuous political history of sudan for a long time and that decision has not eased but has become increasingly more difficult. but even to reach neighbouring countries it has become very difficult. economically. even as insurance goes up. we have heard most people have been relying on the burgeoning smuggling network through different borders that did not exist before this war. it is such a difficult situation facing so many people. looking ahead, where do diplomatic efforts stand? we know that the us, saudis, the intergovernmental authority of development have tried. why have not been able to reach some sort of the fighting? often times, whether it is the talks in saudi or neighbouring countries

initiative led by cairo, or the talks by the african union efforts, they have fallen short and have spectacularly failed because they have not really understood what underpins much of the conflict. it is not issues of integration, and positions in hierarchy, it is a fundamental irreconcilability, political ideas and visions of the south and the rsf, they want to create an entirely different sudan and they are irreconcilable and until that is something addresses, we will not see any mediation platforms offer anything in terms of, not even a sort of end to the war, the fighting itself, even to cause a ceasefire. kholood, thank you so much for sharing your analysis and we hope your family stays safe. thank you very much.

in manchester, england, storm gerrit is being blamed for widespread damage. fiona trott reports. the eye of the storm. so strong that some homes couldn't even keep the residents safe. they'll evacuate us now. this tree smashed through a roof just metres from where maisie pilkington slept. if you was to get a wrecking ball and go through the house, it was like, because i opened the door and i thought, "oh, my god". in daylight, the damage was clearer to see. metal and glass not strong enough, lead not heavy enough to withstand the force of this tornado on her street. what seems to have happened is the tree's hit the roof, gone through my bathroom, so the whole roof and ceiling of my bathroom is down, the tree is in the bathroom. the whole tree is being held up by one branch and it's starting to snap currently, i've been told. so if it does snap, it's going to go through the whole house.

it wasn't just maisie's street. look at the devastation in other parts of stalybridge. their homes and their lives have been ripped apart. this was the village of carrbrook. and we were so scared, we didn't know what to do. i don't know who phoned the police. police, ambulance, fire brigade, everybody were around. and tonight, hundreds of residents still have questions that can't be answered. can i go back home? when can i go back home? is my house safe? so we're trying to get movement on that as quickly as possible, but the amount of damage that it's done to the amount of properties, you know, we haven't got the resources just yet to get that done very quickly. so, we have gone out to get support. what people here are still coming to terms with is how so much devastation was caused by something that lasted less than a minute. tornadoes can be massively damaging. you can see winds in excess of 100mph concentrated on a very small area. that is enough to bring down parts of houses,

trees, cause massive amounts of damage. what is striking is how sudden this was but also how random it was, the path of the tornado. how can the roof of one house be completely ripped off and another stay intact? but even those who have been worst affected by this, they say that they feel lucky. they say that repairs and replacements are an inconvenience compared to the tragedy that could have occurred. fiona trott, bbc news, stalybridge. the us and mexico have agreed to work together more closely to stem the flow of migrants at their shared border. it comes a day after high—level talks between senior officials from the two countries in mexico city. us secretary of state antony blinken says the countries will strengthen a sponsorship initiative for venezuelan, cuban, nicaraguan and haitian migrants. mexican president andres manuel lopez 0brador said us officials had agreed to reopen some temporarily closed crossings. before we go, it's a surfer�*s dream right now along

the central california coast. it's where these massive waves have drawn them, along with spectators, to the famed mavericks beach. forecasts have reported waves up ot a0 feet, that's 12 meters at the legendary surf break. but it's not necessarily beach weather with a light drizzle and heavy fog. the national weather service however calls the large waves dangerous amid a clostal flood warning. thank you for watching bbc news. hello there. friday is shaping up to be a fairly decent day for many. there should be more sunshine around, the winds not quite as strong. there'll still be a few showers around. it will be a little bit cooler than of late, but things turn a lot more unsettled, though, for the last couple of days of 2023. you might want to take note if you have travel plans. for friday, then, we have low pressure anchored to the northeast of scotland. that's still going to bring strong gale force winds here to the northern isles, some snow showers at times. more sunshine for southern scotland. this weather front will bring a band of cloud to northern england, northern ireland, a little bit of snow to the higher ground

and plenty of sunshine for the rest of england and wales. but there will be a few showers running into wales, southwest england, the midlands, southern england later on. just about double figures in the south. otherwise, it's a cooler day across the board. as we head through friday night, it stays blustery. further showers across northern scotland, but many places will turn drier with clearer skies and light winds — a recipe of quite a cold night to come, i think, to start saturday, with widespread frost and ice to watch out for across parts of scotland. however, into the weekend, if you have travel plans, you'll want to take note to the forecast the next few days. we'll see further wet and windy weather, with snow on the hills in the north, so there could be some travel disruption. and it's all down to this next area of low pressure, a deep, low moving in on saturday to bring gales and heavy rain. many southern, eastern, northern areas will start dry and cold, but as the wind and the rain bumps into that cold

air, we'll see snow falling over the high ground of northern england and across scotland, maybe even to lower levels for a while. i don't think the conditions will be too bad across the south—east at this point for saturday. double figure values again, but wet and windy further north and west. that band of heavy rain spreads across all of england and wales through saturday night. the centre of the low moves in towards the north of the uk, so the winds turn a little bit lighter here. so i think on sunday — of course, new year's eve — the strongest, gustiest of the winds will be across southern britain, where we'll see plenty of showers rattling in. some of them could be quite heavy, but there will be some sunshine through central and northern areas. but it will be a chillier day, i think — temperatures in single digits for most. so an unsettled end to the year. as we head into new year's day, 1january, it stays quite cool and unsettled, and a chilly first week of january to come with low pressure always nearby.

v0|ce—0ver: 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. i'm stephen sackur. and today i'm in west sussex in the south of england. this land, 25 years ago, was intensively farmed, but today it's an internationally acclaimed example of rewilding.

that is a form of land management that aims to reverse the degradation of ecosystems and reverse the extinction of species. my guest is isabella tree, the co—owner of this knepp estate. now, does her passion for rewilding represent an indulgence or a pathway to a healthier planet? isabella tree, welcome to hardtalk and thank you so much for inviting us to your estate here in sussex. pleasure. absolute pleasure to have you. i'm sorry it's not better weather.

ah, well, it's actually still, for me, very exciting