live from washington, this is bbc news. the us again hits houthi targets in yemen, hours after reinstating them as "global terrorists". as israel continues to hit gaza, its forces are accused of a deadly attack on civilians in the occupied west bank. presidentjoe biden holds talks with congressional leaders over aid to ukraine and issues at the us—mexico border. i'm caitriona perry. in the past hour, we've had confirmation from the us military that it has hit houthi positions in yemen for a fourth time. the air strikes targeted 1a

loaded houthi missiles. that's according to us central command, which said in a statement: the raids came hours after the us added houthis to its specially designated global terrorist list, citing the group's attacks on ships in the red sea. the iran—backed fighters have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks, saying they will continue until there is a ceasefire in gaza. the attacks have disrupted global shipping and raised concerns of a knock—on effect for consumer prices. with me is our correspondent will vernon. the statement from the us central command what does that say? the language they have usedis say? the language they have used is quite interesting they mention 1a houthi missiles targeted, sounds like these missiles were primed, the must

military describing this as an act of self defence a narrative we have seen several times over the last week. we have seen several times over the last week-— the last week. the us and allies when _ the last week. the us and allies when describing - the last week. the us and l allies when describing their military action in yemen is said this is a defence submission, they talked about protect shipping, protecting the lives of mariners and that is all it is about. this is the fourth round of strikes in the course of the last week, we remember last thursday when the us and the uk, four other nations launching those widespread targeted strikes against houthi targets, since then we have descended into a tit—for—tat situation, where the houthi fire a missile or a drone and then the americans response. drone and then the americans response-_ response. the situation has been quite _ response. the situation has been quite hot, _ response. the situation has been quite hot, today - response. the situation has i been quite hot, today another missile fired at a us owned vessel. ., , ~ , ., vessel. for the free strikes a us owned — vessel. for the free strikes a us owned bulk _ vessel. for the free strikes a us owned bulk carrier - vessel. for the free strikes a us owned bulk carrier ship . vessel. for the free strikes a l us owned bulk carrier ship was hit by a drone fired from

houthi —controlled territory the us military said there was minor damage to the vessel and it was still seaworthy but the bbc understands these latest strikes, we most likely a response to that. but the question now is what comes next because when the us and those other nations launch those strikes a week ago, they had two objectives, so they said. one was to dissuade the houthis from carrying out further attacks and the second objective is was to degrade their capabilities to do so. it appears both those objectives have not been a huge success of these attacks continue the houthis have not been scared off, i think we need to ask what the is, what the exit strategy is from here. the other development - strategy is from here. the other development on the us side of things the department of state moving to label the

houthis as a specially designated terrorist global terrorist group. what is the significance of that move? we had this significance of that move? - had this announcement on the white house they are hoping this will put pressure on the houthis and those who support them making it easierfor financial sanctions to be imposed by the us, and i think it is important that we remember and indeed us officials today were at pains to stress this the us is still the largest international aid donor to yemen, the white house, the pentagon the state department all coming out and saying this is not targeted at people of yemen, we want to make sure international aid in isolation is work is not disrupted, important work and thatis disrupted, important work and that is why that is why the houthis were taken of the list before, they were previously designated as a international terrorist organisation, they were taken off now given this new classification and us officials hope this will

disrupt the supply of weapons, pressure on the houthis but not interrupted that important aid work. . ~ interrupted that important aid work. ., ~ , ., interrupted that important aid work. ., . ., ., work. thank you so much for all of those details. _ iran has claimed responsibility for a missile and drone attack in western pakistan. officials in islamabad said two children were killed in the attack in balochistan. iran's foreign minister said the operation targeted the militant groupjaish al—adl, which he described as an "iranian terrorist group". pakistan's government recalled its ambassador to iran and has blocked tehran�*s envoy from returning. the attack on balochistan comes days after iran hit targets in iraq and syria. our correspondent in pakistan, caroline davies, reports. skirmishes between pakistan and a run on their border are not unheard of but rarely as high—profile as this particular incident. iranian state media said yesterday that the rain in military have hit and targeted the headquarters of a militant group

that is known as jaish al—adl which has carried out multiple attacks inside a run including claiming responsibility for an attack on a police station in december. the group itself has put out on social media, it says that this particular strike hit the homes of the militants and killed family members of the militants rather than their bases themselves. they have also vowed revenge on iran. iran have not put out an official statement on this incident. pakistan's foreign ministry said that two children were killed and they have called this an unprovoked violation of pakistan's air space, pakistan has recalled its ambassador to iran and it is told that iran's ambassador to pakistan who is out of the country not to return. of course, the battle dropped all this and the reason why this is getting even more attention is because of the timing. the fact that iran, in recent days, hit both iraq and syria, put

together, this suggest thats iran is trying to show a display of strength and force against any group that he considers to be a threat. well, as we heard in that report, these multi—pronged attacks by iranian proxy groups are adding to growing tensions in the middle east and beyond. our diplomatic editor paul adams has this analysis. as david cameron said recently, warning lights seem to be flashing all across the middle east, and each day, it seems, there's a new one. to what extent, then, are they all connected, and is all this happening because of the war in gaza? well, yes and no. let's look at one of the most recent examples. last night, iran fired drones and missiles into neighbouring pakistan, targeting what it says is a terrorist group responsible for attacks inside iran, including one in december which killed 11 iranian policemen. and on monday, iran fired missiles and drones in the other direction, hitting targets in syria and iraq. these attacks, it said, were also

retaliation, in this case, for a devastating bomb attack in the iranian city of kerman just two weeks ago. now, none of this was about gaza. this was about iran showing to its own people that attacks on iranian soil will not go unpunished. but there is a connection at a time when the middle east is boiling. the use of long—range ballistic missiles is a warning to iran's enemies, especially israel and the united states, that it's more than capable of hitting targets well beyond its borders. then there's the red sea, where the us and uk are attempting to persuade the houthis close allies of iran to stop attacking shipping bound for the suez canal. the houthis say all this is motivated by the war in gaza. and finally, all iran's other proxies and allies around the region — hamas in gaza, hezbollah in lebanon, militias in syria and iraq — they've all benefited

from iranian military support, and they're all seeking to punish israel or its ally, the united states, for what's happening in gaza. speaking today in davos, iran's foreign minister said all these red lights would stop flashing if the war in gaza came to an end. that's an exaggeration. the dangers currently facing the middle east don't all stem from what's happening in gaza, but the war there has made things infinitely worse. israel has again hit gaza's southern city, khan younis. the hamas—run health ministry in gaza, says 165 people were killed and 250 people injured in the past 2a hours. thousands of palestinians are moving towards rafah, near the border with egypt, in a bid to find safety. meanwhile, two qatari military planes carrying medicines for hostages in gaza have arrived in egypt. the shipment will be transferred to the territory

under an agreement between israel and hamas, which will also see increased aid for palestinian civilians in gaza. james smith, who recently worked in gaza as an emergency doctor for medical aid for palestinians, gave us his assessment of the situation on the ground. any news that more aid will be entering into gaza is welcome, of course. the amount of aid that has entered into gaza since early october has fallen far, far below the minimum requirement to sustain human life. as we know, prior to october 7, on a quote on quote, normal day in gaza, approximately 500 trucks would enter into the gaza strip. there hasn't been a day since october 7 which we met that minimum requirement of 500 trucks. at the same time, the scale

of needs is far, far higher than a normal day in gaza. and of course, we know that there was a blockade on the gaza strip for more than a decade, prior to october seven so, already very high levels of need, very high levels of manufacturing dependence on humanitarian assistance. so now, of course, the need for immediate humanitarian access to overt even greater catastrophe is phenomenon part and as i say, the news that more aid is coming is of course welcomed. james smith speaking to us earlier. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at a top story in the uk. the british prime minister's flagship rwanda migrant bill has passed a major hurdle in the house of commons. lawmakers voted in favour of the government's revised plan to send some asylum seekers to rwanda. that's despite some conservative mps rebelling

and pushing for changes to the legislation. the bill aims to stop legal challenges against the deportation plan after the highest court in britain previously ruled it unlawful. here's our political editor, chris mason. the ayes to the right, 320. rishi sunak can breathe a sigh of relief victory as the absence of defeat, his plan is still standing as i mentioned it now heads to the house of lords, it will face opposition there, the government faces a deadline, the deadline is the general election to try to prove they can make this policy work. the policy is still alive proving it can work as a work in progress. well, following wednesday's vote, the opposition labour party slammed the rwanda plan as "unworkable, unaffordable and unlawful". you're live with bbc news. here in washington, presidentjoe biden met with congressional leaders to discuss funding for ukraine and issues at the us—mexico border. biden told leaders

from the house and senate he was encouraged by progress being made in bipartisan talks on both funding for ukraine, and new measures to secure the us southern border. among those in attendance for the high—level meeting were top republicans, speaker of the house mikejohnson and top senate democrat, chuck schumer. here's what schumer said about today's meeting. iam i am more optimistic now that we can come to agreement on board and ukraine in one package, along with aid to israel, humanitarian aid for the palestinians in gaza, along with helping indochina. i am more optimistic than ever more we come to an agreement, i put the chance is greater than half, that's the first time i can say that. as congress works toward that bipartisan agreement. i spoke to one member of the house, republican representative mike lawler. thank you forjoining us on bbc

news. if we can start with that meeting with the president and the congressional leaders today, the resident city was open to a conversation with the leaders to hearing what they had to say but it appears no particular agreement emerged from that meeting. house republicans want very specific funding and action on the border, the president wants funding for ukraine, would you go from here? we funding for ukraine, would you go from here?— go from here? we are in a divided government, - go from here? we are in a - divided government, americans gave republicans to serve as a check and balance on this administration in terms of the reckless spending of its first two years, as well as the crisis on our border. sincejoe biden took office nearly 10 million migrants have crossed our southern border, most of them in legally, 90% of them are being released into the country within 36 — 48 hours of being detained, this is unsustainable. and the failure of this administration to act has created a catastrophe, not

just at the border, but in cities all across america, including new york city, my district is just north of new york city, a lot of folks who work in the city, but we are all impacted by this, taxpayers in new york, it is costing the city and state $4 billion a year to deal with the migrant crisis. so the president, the administration, senate democrats, need to act, house republicans passed hr to the security border act back in may of 2023. senate democrats refused to do anything on that until house republicans said we will not advance a supplemental package, untilthe will not advance a supplemental package, until the border is addressed, and so from our vantage point, there needs to be a good faith negotiation. the chances of getting a deal done by the looming funding deadline of the end of this

week was more than 50% in the senate. as you see there, the house is a different situation entirely. do you think a deal can be done before the deadline on friday night? it is can be done before the deadline on friday night?— on friday night? it is two separate _ on friday night? it is two separate issues. - on friday night? it is two separate issues. we - on friday night? it is two separate issues. we will| on friday night? it is two - separate issues. we will pass a continuing resolution by the end of this week to keep the government funded into march. are you confident that will happen? sorry to interrupt. are you confident that will happen, that you have all the republicans in the house aligned on that? we republicans in the house aligned on that?- republicans in the house aligned on that? we will have enou:h aligned on that? we will have enough votes _ aligned on that? we will have enough votes to _ aligned on that? we will have enough votes to pass - aligned on that? we will have enough votes to pass it - aligned on that? we will have l enough votes to pass it through the house between republicans and democrats, the continuing resolution, to keep the government funded through the beginning of march so that we can finish our appreciation work. with respect to the supplemental aid package and the border agreement being worked on in the senate, they may pass it by friday or monday, of next week, but again, that still needs to be

negotiated with the house. i want to ask you about another issue because we are always out of time. there was a new attack today targeting a us merchant vessel in the gulf of aden, coming from the houthi control area of yemen. what is your view on how the us should be handling this? there is a belief within the biden administration that arana is resourcing and possibly training these houthi rebels? the administration talk them off the foreign terrorist listing at the beginning of their administration and now putting them back on. they never should have been removed in the first place. these attacks has been ongoing since 7 october, not only of ships in the red sea but also american military bases and personnel around the middle east. the houthi are a terrorist organisation, backed and funded

in part by arana. arana is the greatest sponsor of terror and they get most of their funding from the illicit trade of iranian petroleum, why i introduce the ship acts, we passed through the house, which would increase secondary sanctions on the purchases of iranian petroleum. china is the greatest purchaser of the petroleum. these funds are used to fund hamas, to fund the houthi, and that is how they are able to engage in these attacks whether it be the terrorist attack on israel on 7 october or the attacks on american ships in the red sea. the bill still has to... sorry, we are up against the clock here. the bills after move through the senate before it can be come on and signed by the president, what you think the president, what you think the us should be doing any short—term about what is happening? short-term about what is happening?— happening? the senate absolutely _ happening? the senate absolutely needs - happening? the senate absolutely needs to - happening? the senate l absolutely needs to move happening? the senate - absolutely needs to move the bill and the president is to

sign it, we need to increase sanctions on arena petroleum. the bottom line is the administration needs to take action against these rebels, they need to protect american ships, american military personnel in the middle east, that have been under attack, hundreds of attacks, since 7 october. we need to take action. the strikes that occurred in the past few days were a necessary step but frankly long overdue. the houthi rebels and their backers need to understand we will not tolerate these types of attacks and we will take action to defend our us interests, including a military personnel. we will leave it there for the moment. thank you forjoining us. police in ecuador say a prosecutor investigating an attack on a television studio has been murdered. cesar suarez was shot several times in the port city of guayaquil.

the dramatic assault last week during a live tv broadcast was the latest by criminal gangs in ecuador, in response to a state of emergency declared by president daniel noboa. i spoke to our south america correspondent ione wells. reminds us of this attack on the television station last week, just what happened? viewers in ecuador were watching the news on the national broadcasters tc broadcast from the port city of guayaquil, when suddenly armed gunmen entered that tv studio when it was live on air and started holding staff members at gunpoint, some staff members were forced to the ground, others forced to read messages live on air. a terrifying moment for those staff of the television station. this moment really left ecuador reeling in shock and i think the world really in shock, seeing those images. police did then find those responsible and made

arrests after that particular incidents but it came just a day after the president of ecuador had declared a national emergency after a spate of violent attacks initiated by drug gangs which included things like prison officers being held hostage, police officers being kidnapped, explosions in the street and also two gang members escaping from jail as well. what we know about the individual who has been assassinated, cesar suarez? cesar suarez is a public prosecutor and he had been tasked with trying to work out which criminal gangs may have been behind that particular attack on the television station. he focused on cases involving organised transnational crime in that province where the attack took place. guayaquil is one of ecuador�*s most violent regions at the moment, particularly because it has become a real

hub for cocaine to be exported to the usa and europe and as a result it has become quite a battleground for rival drug gangs and it was that kind of crime which he was responsible for investigating. is it likely his death will inflame that intense conflict there? i think it probably will and will be a great concern to residency ecuador and politicians too who have declared the state is in a state of internal armed conflict. one of the shocking things about the incident we have seen in the killing of cesar suarez is it is a really chilling reminder that often those in ecuador who have been responsible for tackling violent crime by drug gangs or even spoken out against the violent crime by drug gangs in the country often become targets themselves. i think this will be a reminderand i think a concern for many politicians and political leaders across the country who are tasked we try to tackle

this problem at the moment. indeed. thank you ione wells, south america correspondent for bringing us up to speed on that. rappers like to shock and northern ireland's latest success follows that trend. the rap trio from belfast, who perform mainly in irish, have sold out gigs in the uk, ireland and the us. and now kneecap are making their acting debut. theirfilm is having its premiere at the sundance film festival in the us. our culture correspondent, charlotte gallagher, has been to belfast to meet them. and a warning, her report does contain some flash photography. kneecap are at the forefront of irish hip hop, rapping in both irish and english. their self—titled film, a semi—fictionalized account of how they got together, also blends the two languages, and it's the first irish language film to be included at the sundance film festival. they called our generation

the ceasefire babies. so it's about these three fathers trying to find their place in the world. and it's about, you know, their identity and stuff like that. so everybody has this idea of the irish language, that we alljust sit about in pubs, playing fiddles and talking about grammar. you know what i mean? when in actual fact, these three characters don't really mention the language that much. the whole film they're, like, selling drugs and like talking about, you know, youth culture. you've heard of intergenerational trauma, right? right. our history. our history has become our biology. kneecap are not without controversy. this mural, showing a police landrover on fire, did upset some local politicians, but the band say they're about making music, not stirring up tensions. we had the song get your brits out, which that has nothing to do with a mass exodus of british people from the north of ireland or anything like that there. which people like to believe. you see this kind of aestheticl as well, where people wearing tracksuits and - the kind of clothes

you wear, that's associated with a type of scumbaggery and people just have that image. - it's the clothes you're wearing, it's the balaclava. i was just about to say that as well! l with the balaclava as well, i people look at this and see, think it's a kind of sectarian statement or something, . but it's the opposite. their name is derived from so—called kneecapping, where people are shot in the legs by paramilitaries, but kneecap say their name isn't a celebration of violence. we're glad that there's peace right now. we're not trying to stoke any fires and, like, we're all the same people. do you know what i mean? and the pioneers in irish rap gave me a language lesson before i left. ta me anseo i mbeal feirste... ..le kneecap inniu. thank you, guys. no problem. what's thank you in irish? go raibh maith agat. that's not easy! that was, "i'm here with kneecap today in belfast." apologies about the pronunciation! charlotte gallagher, bbc news.

that is it for the bbc news for now. stay with us. take care. hello there. our current cold snap may well be coming to an end, but before it does so, i think something of a sting in the tail. of course, over recent days, we've seen plenty of these snow showers — this one looking very heavy as it obscures the skyline of the island of skye. and it is in northern scotland we've seen the largest accumulations of snow. through wednesday, we had over 20cm on the deck in lerwick, and that was before this lot arrived. this is a trough bringing particularly heavy showers, widespread, prolonged showers, southwards, and that will just increase the risk of seeing some disruption. now, for northern scotland, an additional 5cm—15cm of snow as we go through thursday. a much greater chance of seeing some disruption in northern ireland, too. i think we could see around 5—10cm of snow building in here, so a much greater risk

of seeing some disruption. and for northern scotland, as well as all that heavy snow, winds gusting to around 40—50 mph, so blizzard conditions, significant drifting of the snow and, for some communities, it'd be very difficult to travel around at all. now, there could be a bit of snow elsewhere in scotland and a few wintry showers coming down to clip the western side of wales, a few coming down the north sea coast of england. you might see some localised accumulations, but otherwise, a lot of dry, sunny and cold weather. into thursday evening, a shower stream sets up off the irish sea that will bring some snow showers to north wales across cheshire, merseyside into the north—west midlands. accumulations will vary a lot from place to place, but you could see a few centimetres in a few spots. on into friday, temperatures come up with just a little bit and that means the showers that we have in scotland will start to fall as rain and sleet at lower elevations — the snow becoming confined to the hills. temperatures a degree or two higher. you probably won't notice much in the way of change — it will still feel cold. however, as we get into this weekend, that's when we see a real change in our weather pattern

as these south—westerly winds push mild air off the atlantic and that will really boost the temperatures for most. now, on saturday, we've got these bands of rain moving from west to east along with those gusty south—westerly winds. now, there'll be a rapid thaw taking place in scotland, so there could be some localised flooding concerns here, given all of that snow lying on the deck, being a much milder kind of day. very windy weather then, for sunday and early next week, top gusts could reach around 70mph, potentially disruptive winds, but it does turn incredibly mild. bye for now.

houthi fighters attack another vessel in the red sea. we take look at the impact the conflict is having on the cost—of—living. the value of foxcon is $50 billion, apple's value is 3 trillion, 60 times, why? because manufacturing is not that profitable any more. plus, the former governor of india central bank on why the country's plan to court foreign investors may not be the best one. hello and welcome to asia business report, i'm suranjana tewari.