i'm helena humphrey. taiwanese voters have chosen william lai as their president in an historic election cementing a path that is increasingly divergent from neighbouring china, who warned voters not to vote for the doctor—turned—politican. mr lai, who represents the democratic progressive party, won 40% of the vote, beating the other two opponents by a wide margin. he has broken new ground, winning an unprecedented third consecutive presidential term for his party. but the win could also increase tensions with china, who have called mr lai a troublemaker and separtist. china considers taiwan a part of its territory and has been calling for a "peaceful reunification" but has not ruled out the use of force. in recent months the country has ramped up its military presence on the island, heightening fears of a possible conflict. rupert wingfield—hayes has more, from the taiwanese capital, taipei. it had cast the taiwan election as a choice

onto stage comes the man who will now be taiwan's next president. in the end, william lai won the election by a larger margin than expected. china's president, xijinping, tried to intimidate voters here not to choose him, but failed. his supporters say, if anything, it had the opposite effect. i think it probably says to china, like, we won't listen to you. we won't listen to you anymore. our future will be determined by ourselves, so maybe xijinping needs to learn to be quiet during our election. china warned the people of taiwan not to vote for this man. they said he is a troublemaker who will take the island closer to war. well, tonight they have given their answer by electing him their new president. speaking to the international

media following his victory, president—elect lai was quick to offer beijing an olive branch. translation: over the last eight years, we have tried i continuously to extend goodwill. unfortunately, china has not responded to these gestures. we hope in the future china will realise peace serves the interests of both sides. it's notjust its democratic system that sets taiwan apart from china. five years ago it became the first place in asia to legalise same—sex marriage. today, for the first time, this couple got to vote together as a family with their three—year—old daughter. translation: this election is very important. _ we've just come back from hong kong, and people there are envious of us. they've told us we must protect our democracy or we could end up like them.

for taiwan's main opposition party, the kmt, today's result was another humiliating defeat. the whole party leadership bowed as they begged for forgiveness from their supporters. the kmt�*s candidate, hou you—ih, had run on a platform of getting closer to china. that policy may have contributed to his defeat. instead, voters gave the party xijinping loathes an historic third presidential win. now everyone is waiting to see how china's leader will respond. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in taipei. for more on the us response to taiwan's elections, the bbc�*s tom bateman sent this update. the us government has congratulated mr william lai today, while at the same time saying it does not support taiwanese independence. that is nothing new. it's the long—standing policy of the us, but i think the way it's being reiterated so bluntly by president biden is meant as a

message of reassurance to beijing, because it is the very long—standing unofficial possession of the us of support for taiwan, possession of the us of support fortaiwan, including many for taiwan, including many years fortaiwan, including many years of military sales, that so grates on the chinese and worries them so much. remember that china has never ruled out the use of force if it came to it for what they call the reunification of taiwan, and equally, the us has never ruled out military action to defend taiwan as it sees it. we now enter a period of extended uncertainty where everyone watches to see how the chinese will respond to mr lai's victory. but from here, the last thing that president biden wants, with two conflicts already raging in the ukraine and in the middle east, is a further deterioration of relations with china over the flashpoint of taiwan. joining me now is seniorfellow in indo—pacific studies at the american foreign policy council michael sobolik.

michael, a warm welcome to you. thanks for being with us. a convincing victory for william lai. we also saw high voter turnout. do you think this is intended as a signalfrom do you think this is intended as a signal from the taiwanese government to the chinese government? it government to the chinese government?— government to the chinese covernment? , . ., , government? it is an undeniable sianal government? it is an undeniable signal from _ government? it is an undeniable signal from the _ government? it is an undeniable signal from the people _ government? it is an undeniable signal from the people of- signal from the people of taiwan to the chinese communist party, the ruling party in china. when the outgoing president of taiwan was up for re—election just president of taiwan was up for re—electionjust a few president of taiwan was up for re—election just a few years ago, she was in a difficult position politically. her poll numbers were bad and the ground swell of political energy in taiwan was running against her. then china cracks down on hong kong. this was around 2019 — 2020 - kong. this was around 2019 — 2020 — and put a new wind of energy into the president's political future and she got a second term. and then you see

china again shooting themselves in the foot with vice president lai, now president elect lai. they tried to intimidate taiwan into making a decision that was into making a decision that was in china's interests, and the people of taiwan said what every democracy says, which is democracy works for the people of the country, and we're going to our own decision for our own future, irrespective of any outside coercion or influence. so a new era, then, of president william lai. what do you think that means for taiwan specifically with regards to that question of relations with china? ., ., , ., ., , china? china goes out of its wa to china? china goes out of its way to portray _ china? china goes out of its way to portray president - china? china goes out of its l way to portray president elect lai as an unsafe candidate, as a destabilising political actor. if you listen to what william lai says, most recently, he strikes me as someone who is interested in maintaining the status quo. and i think this is something that

can sometimes get lost when we look at taiwan's politics, because we instinctively try to look at it in terms of us and china competition. but for the people of taiwan — and frankly this matters the most for them because it is there democracy — the overwhelming sensibility of taiwan is to maintain the status quo. and i think this is something that many of the candidates running agree on. there wasjust a candidates running agree on. there was just a disagreement over what is the best way to do that. and the people of taiwan have spoken, and the way that seems to be the consensus moving forward is what they've been doing for the past two presidential terms, which is standing up to china and standing up to china and standing up to china and standing up to china boldly. and i think we can expect to see that continuing. perhaps that continuing _ see that continuing. perhaps that continuing from - see that continuing. perhaps that continuing from taipei'sj that continuing from taipei's side. i wonder what you think we might see from beijing, though. because in the past it's not ruled out making moves on taiwan, including through the use of force. do you think, in light of this victory, we are any closer to the

possibility of that? that's the million-dollar _ possibility of that? that's the million-dollar question. - possibility of that? that's the million-dollar question. it's l possibility of that? that's the j million-dollar question. it's a million—dollar question. it's a question that everyone on both sides of the pacific, and frankly throughout the world, are asking. and i think we can expect a ramping up of aggressive actions from beijing over the next few months, because president elect lai won't be sworn in until may. there's a lot of time there, and us speaker of the house mikejohnson announced earlier mike johnson announced earlier today mikejohnson announced earlier today that he is going to send a senior congressional delegation to taiwan right after president elect lai is inaugurated. and if the past two congressional meetings with taiwan's president are any indication, we can expect china to use that as a pretext to increase its military presence around the island, to advance its military interests and to try to isolate taiwan diplomatically even further. so

i think china will try to destabilise the situation over the next few months, and this is where it's going to be really important for taiwan's friends, foremost united states and other allies and partners of the us, to stand with taiwan explicitly. of the us, to stand with taiwan exlicitl . , , , explicitly. very briefly, if ou explicitly. very briefly, if you don't _ explicitly. very briefly, if you don't mind, - explicitly. very briefly, if you don't mind, just - explicitly. very briefly, if you don't mind, just to l explicitly. very briefly, if| you don't mind, just to be clear, are you saying that potentially within the next few months we could see, you said, aggression. does that look like the potential for some aggression. does that look like the potentialfor some kind of military operation from china towards taiwan — briefly, if you don't mind? towards taiwan - briefly, if you don't mind?— towards taiwan - briefly, if you don't mind? sure, so it's a difficult parlour— you don't mind? sure, so it's a difficult parlour game - you don't mind? sure, so it's a difficult parlour game to - you don't mind? sure, so it's a difficult parlour game to play, | difficult parlour game to play, but on the balance, i do not expect to see military action from beijing in the next few months. i do expect them to be provocative in the next few months, and i think sending a deterrent signal to china is going to be very important in light of that. mil going to be very important in light of that.— light of that. all right. the view there _ light of that. all right. the view there of _ light of that. all right. the view there of the - light of that. all right. the view there of the senior i light of that. all right. the - view there of the senior fellow of indo pacific studies at the american foreign policy council. very good to talk to you. thank you.

joe biden says he sent a private message to iran about houthis in yemen following us airstrikes against the group. president biden said america was confident that it was very well prepared for the current situation, without giving further details. houthi fighters held military exercises on saturday, vowing a strong and effective response to the american— and british—led airstrikes in yemen. video released by the iran—backed houthi movement showed officials gathered at an outpost near the yemeni—saudi border. exercises included the dropping of bombs on sites marked with american and israeli flags. angered over israel's ongoing war in gaza, houthis have been disrupting international trade in the red sea. after warning houthis to stop the attacks for weeks, the us and uk governments carried out what they called defensive airstrikes on friday, and the us struck another houthi target early on saturday. 0ur middle east correspondent hugo bachega has more. before and after — these satellite images show

the impact of the american and british attacks on houthi targets in yemen. the us says airfields and weapons storage depots were destroyed. 0vernight the us carried out more strikes, targeting a radar facility in the capital, sanaa. british forces were not involved. american officials say the strikes are designed to reduce the ability of the houthis to attack ships in the red sea and called them "legitimate and proportionate". the houthis, who captured a ship in december, say they are acting to support palestinians in gaza and to hit israel's allies. iran gives them weapons and training, and the houthis say the attacks will continue unless there is a ceasefire in gaza. the attacks have disrupted the key red sea trade route. commercial vessels are now travelling around africa. it means delays

and extra costs. the houthis accuse the us and its allies of an escalation on israel's behalf. they say the attacks have had no significant impact on its forces and threaten with what they describe as a very harsh and painful response. so far, their reaction has been muted. they fired a missile yesterday which didn't hit its target. also yesterday, a huge protest against the strikes was held in sanaa. the americans say they don't want a major confrontation but are warning the houthis they are ready to respond. hugo bachega, bbc news, beirut. pro—palestinian protests took place around the world on saturday, calling for a ceasefire in the fighting in gaza. marches have been held in at least 30 countries, including here in washington, where large crowds waved

palestinian flags as the mostly young protesters gathered in a show of solidarity on the 99th day of the war. pro—palestinian marches have also been held in london. the metropolitan police said it had made six arrests in relation to "offensive" placards. separately, in israel, thousands of people have started a 24—hour protest in tel aviv calling for the immediate release of hostages still being held in gaza. the demonstrators urged leaders to resume negotiations for the hostages' release on the eve of the 100th day of their captivity. israeli officials believe 132 hostages are still being held in gaza. just over a week after the door blew out on an alaska airlines flight, forcing more than 100 planes to be grounded, there has been another midair issue for boeing. this time the incident was injapan. a boeing flight had to be turned around after pilots discovered a crack in the cockpit window midair. the flight was being operated by all nippon airways in a boeing 737—800 aircraft going from the city of sapporo to toyama, onjapan�*s

main island. a spokesperson for the airline said, "the crack was not something that affected "the flight�*s control or pressurisation", adding that there were no injuries to any of the passengers or crew. meanwhile, investigations on the grounded 737 max 9 aircraft are continuing in the wake of that in air incident on the alaska airlines flight. the us aviation authority is reportedly in no rush to lift its order to indefinitely ground the max 9s until a thorough investigation is complete. turning now to news here in washington, john kerry, the former us senator and secretary of state, is stepping down from his role as us special climate envoy. mr kerry served as president joe biden�*s top official on climate change since 2021 and will reportedly depart from that role in the coming months.

he is expected to help out with biden�*s re—relection campaign. his decision to step down as climate envoy comes just one month after the cop28 climate summit, where he helped broker an international agreement for nations to transition away from fossil fuels. the biden administration reportedly says no decision has been made on kerry's potential successor. earlier i spoke with lisa friedman from the new york times' climate desk. john kerry bowing out then. do we know why, and was it a surprise? did it come as a surprise to you? thank you so much for having me. this decision was not much of a surprise. there has been talk ofjohn kerry getting ready to step down for some time now. the previous un climate summit, the previous cop in 2022 in egypt, did not go that well for him, he came down with covid and was down for the account for part

of that summit. so the sense was that he was very focused on the summit that just happened in dubai. they saw that as a success and i think folks were really waiting for the moment when he would likely announce he would step down after that. you mentioned his role there at all the different cops. what do you think his legacy will be this role? having covered mr kerry through the biden administration, the one thing that folks, whether they are admirers or critics of him, say is that he is relentless and tireless and he has really put climate change at the top of this administration's agenda. he has circled the globe more than once — i am told he went to 31 countries in an effort to try to restore the us leadership on climate change

which had really sunk during the trump administration, and to encourage other countries to do more. i think there is that sense of someone who won't quit even when he is being told no. it is something that john kerry leaves behind. and secondly, he really championed working with china on climate change, something that was not easy doing the past couple of years when there were a number of tensions between the us and china on a multitude of issues. it is an election year. do you think it also had something to do with that? i am told by sources that he intends to work on the campaign to tell the story of what he believes the biden administration has done on climate change and to raise that as an issue in front of voters in this election. i think that is certainly something ahead of him in the coming year.

we know the administration has said that at this stage they cannot say who will take over what is a huge role, but are there any potential names out there? any ideas floating around that you have heard of? there are — washington loves to play this parlour game of who comes next. who is in, who is out. one of the challenging things is going to be canned the next special envoy get senate confirmed? john kerry was never confirmed by the senate, this is a route that many administrations take to work around the lengthy amount of time it can take for congress to approve a president's nominees. but congress last year got a provision into a defense bill that says a special envoy must be set and confirmed. there are some loopholes

to that but one question is can a big—name — one name that gets voted around and i have no knowledge of this as an offer gavin newsom. can someone who is in anyway controversial get confirmed by a thinly divided congress and senate? very good to have your insights and reporting. thank you. lisa friedman. here in the us, we're less than two days away from the iowa caucuses, where republican supporters will start the process of selecting their nominee for the 2024 presidential election. leading up to the big night, the headline out of iowa has not been candidates donald trump, nikki haley or ron desa ntis, it's been the weather. intense winter storms have caused major disruptions to republican presidential hopefuls campaigning in the midwestern state. a blizzard dropped about 15 inches — that's 38cm —

of snow across iowa causing some candidates to cancel events. so just how cold will it be on monday? some forecasts in des moines, the state capital, say the low will be —18 degrees fahrenheit — that's —28 celsius. here's candidates nikki haley and ron desantis talking about the wild winter weather. 11 months now all over this city and in october or november, i was at everyone of the town halls and i was, like, it is cold. and they loved and they go, this is mild, this is mild. and i was, no, it's not, it is gone. i get it now.- it is gone. i get it now. this is unbelievable. _ it is gone. i get it now. this is unbelievable. i _ it is gone. i get it now. this is unbelievable. i am - it is gone. i get it now. this is unbelievable. i am a - it is gone. i get it now. this is unbelievable. i am a florida boy, _ is unbelievable. i am a florida boy, born _ is unbelievable. i am a florida boy, born and bred and yet here i am _ boy, born and bred and yet here i am in — boy, born and bred and yet here

i am in negative temperatures. i'm not— i am in negative temperatures. i'm not going to be cancelling. if people — i'm not going to be cancelling. if people are going to come out and willing to hear from me, i'm going _ and willing to hear from me, i'm going to show up all the way— i'm going to show up all the way until_ i'm going to show up all the way until the end of this caucus _ way until the end of this caucus. you will see me everywhere. earlier i spoke to karen tumulty, a columnist and associate editor at the washington post, for more on what we can expect from the iowa caucuses. we have to talk about the weather. any thoughts on who it might help or hinder? going into this, the polls have all shown donald trump with a huge unprecedented lead for any candidate in a republican contested primary at this point. 30 points. there is another big poll due out tonight as well, so there are two schools of thought here. one is that donald trump's supporters are so passionate, so devoted that they are the ones who will show up no matter what. but his rivals are saying, yes, but he is sitting on such a big

lead that may be his will be the supporters that say, he's got such a big lead, it won't matter if i show up. i get the sense having been to his events, having spent some time this afternoon at his campaign headquarters, his supporters do in fact seem very fired up. there is another big poll due out tonight but these temperatures are actually quite dangerous. the national weather service is calling them life—threatening, people who are out with exposed skin can get frostbite in five minutes. the caucuses have generally been family affairs, people bring their children, so nobody knows what this is going to do and it's notjust the temperatures. it's the wind. it is blowing really hard out there and that means all of the snow is blowing back and forth, and that is going to make

the roads a real mess as well. wow. you have been there out talking to people, braving the weather yourself. if we take a look at the latest poll, donald trump has over 30 points. do you see him retaining that just from those conversations you have been having in iowa? my gut tells me he is going to. the question is whether he tops 50% of the vote which is what some of the polls show him having. anybody who has watched his past two presidential campaigns, in 2016 here in iowa, they were very disorganised, he came in second to ted cruz. in 2020 he was running as an incumbent president so he didn't have to put in much of an effort but this campaign operation he has here now is highly, highly professional

and very well organised. so i do think that he is going to do well again, but again we are all in a situation that nobody here has ever seen before. for ron desantis, nikki haley, what kind of performance in terms of the numbers do you think they need to put in come caucus night, to be able to say, ok, that was a good enough night for second place, we can take it from here, we can continue onto new hampshire? if either of them can get within 20 points of donald trump, that will be a spectacular performance, but one of the problems here is that as the two of them are battling for second place, they are really attacking each other, which means they are driving up to each other�*s negatives, they are pounding the airwaves with negative ads about each other and that actually,

again, we are in a situation that iowa is always hard to predict because of this weird system they have and we are in a situation we have never seen before, but all of this would seem to logically be down to trump's benefit. stay with us here on bbc news hello. we've had some fairly chilly weather over the past few days, but things are about to get colder, as we're going to see a blast of arctic air moving in for the next couple of days. so a drop in temperature and some snow showers which will cause a bit of disruption, particularly in the north. so we've got a couple of weather fronts shifting their way south, opening the doors to these cold northerly winds, bringing us that arctic air. through the next few hours, already some snow showers working in across parts of shetland, mainland north of scotland. also seeing a little bit of snowfall, a few light rain showers, further south. but actually most of us are dry

and as the sun rises, i think, first thing, temperatures are going to be just about either side of freezing. so through the day on sunday then we've got the snow showers packing in across the north of scotland. it's also going to be really windy, particularly up towards the northern isles, where gusts could reach 70 miles an hour, so blizzard conditions there. further south, few spots of light rain, perhaps northern ireland, wales, into central southern england. but most places are going to be avoiding these showers and we'll see temperatures between about 3 to 6 degrees, but it'll feel cooler with the wind, especially in the north. now, heading on into monday, snow showers continue to pack in on that northerly breeze. they'll become more frequent across the northern half of scotland, but also for northern ireland, some snow possible here on monday and through some of these irish sea coasts, perhaps. pembrokeshire, one or two snow showers also possible for the likes of the north york moors towards norfolk as well. most of us, though, looking dry with some wintry sunshine. but look at those temperatures, just1 to 5 on the thermometer. but when you add on those brisk northerly winds, it's really going to feel bitterly cold. feeling around about —5, —6 around some of those east coasts, for instance.

east coasts, for instance. moving through into tuesday, and nowjust have a look at these showers just moving in for northern ireland, perhaps southern scotland, perhaps one or two into parts of northwest england and wales as well. there is the potential for a little bit more disruptive snow on tuesday, especially moving in towards the central belt, i think, later on in the day. so we're keeping an eye on the snow showers in the north, but further south and east, i think, you're going to be staying dry if cold again. so there's that area of low pressure bringing a bit of snow i think for some of us on tuesday. that clears away. this area of low pressure towards the south is most likely to be staying out across france, but if it does push further north into that colder air. across southern england, it could bring a bit of snow. either way, i think next week we're looking at a colder week, a fair amount of dry weather in the south, some snow showers mainly in the north and sharp overnight frosts. bye— bye.

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. the soldierfilming this... soldier groans ..is trapped. the woman and children he is looking at are not his family. and the house he's in is not his home. this house is in vuhledar,

a town in eastern ukraine. gunfire the soldier belongs to the black beret marines from russia's elite 155th brigade. waves of men from this unit were sent to take vuhledar last winter. but this small town soon turned into a deathtrap. within days of the assault, the soldiers raised the alarm. in a rare protest letter, they claimed that 300 men were killed, wounded or went missing in four days. they also wrote that their commanders called them meat. they appealed for help from the man who championed them — their governor, oleg kozhemyako. but the man they had pinned their hopes on disputed their claims.