live from washington, this is bbc news. the us says strikes on iran—linked targets are just the beginning, as secretary of state antony blinken heads to the region for his fifth visit since the october 7 hamas attacks. us senators release a long awaited bi—partisan package that includes funding for the southern border as well as military aid for ukraine and israel that's already facing opposition. and el salvador�*s president nayib bukele looks set to win a second term in the country's elections after carrying out a draconian campaign against street gangs. hello. i'm erin delmore. the white house says it will be taking more steps against iran—backed groups

in response to the deadly drone attack that killed three american service members a week ago. the warning comes as us secretary of state antony blinken embarks on his fifth trip to the middle east in the past four months. a us official says he will push for progress on a hostage deal and humanitarian pause that comes with it, make requests of israel to improve humanitarian access and reduce casualties in gaza, and send messages directly to countries in the region about the scope of us actions taken in retaliation for the deaths of us service members last week. on friday, the us hit 85 targets across iraq and syria, flying b—i bombers from the united states to target command centers and weapons facilities used by iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps and other militias. funerals are now being held in iraq for those killed in the us strikes. the exact death toll across iraq and syria is still unclear. separate reports from a syrian human rights group and an iraqi official suggest the total number of people killed is upwards of a0.

an iranian news agency also reported that a senior member of a militia group was killed in the strikes on syria. on sunday, presidentjoe biden delivered a letter to congress justifying the raids. the president is required by law to report to congress within 48 hours of launching military action. the president told congress, "the strikes have been taken "to deter the irgc and affiliated militia groups "from conducting or supporting further attacks on united "states personnel and facilities, and have been "conducted in a manner designed to limit the risk of escalation "and avoid civilian casualties. "i directed this military action consistent with my "responsibility to protect united states citizens both "at home and abroad." and biden closed the letter saying he "appreciates "the support of the congress in this action," but republicans, including speaker of the house mikejohnson, have criticized the strikes as coming too late, accusing the administration of telegraphing the nature of its response to iran in advance.

on sunday, white house national security advisorjake sullivan pushed back on that assessment in an interview with our us partner cbs news. president biden has been saying for months that he would respond to attacks. we have responded to previous attacks, and when three service members were killed of course iran knew the united states would respond, so the idea that somehow this was a telegraphed i think is a bit more of a political talking point than a reality. secondly, the targets that we hit, we believe with conviction, were valid military targets. they were ammunition depots and command and control centres. they were the instruments that iranian—backed militias were using to attack american forces. the us and uk have also launched dozens of strikes on iran—backed houthis in yemen. on saturday, the two countries carried out their third

round ofjoint strikes in yemen since january 11. this video released earlier today by us central command shows launches from three different us ships. the pentagon says the strikes targeted weapons facilities and missile systems at 13 locations. houthis have in recent weeks attacked ships in the red sea, disrupting international shipping. houthis say their aim is to pressure western nations to halt israel's deadly war in gaza. palestinian authorities say more than 27,000 people have been killed by israel since it began its offensive in gaza in response to the october 7 attacks by hamas. the bbc�*s international editor jeremy bowen considers whether there is any chance of a cease fire in the war between israel and hamas, which has destabilized the middle east. rafjets took off from the british base in cyprus for the long flight to hit houthi targets in yemen. other western allies also affected by the houthi attacks on shipping decided not to join the american air strikes.

britain said these raids do not escalate a widening war in the middle east. others in the middle east and beyond say that they do. in yemen, the houthis re—enacted the hamas attacks on israel that started the war. they get their weapons from iran. the last latest air strikes, like america's in iraq and syria, are aimed at forcing iran to rein in its proxies and allies. in yemen, the houthis celebrating hamas hostage—taking have said that their attacks will stop when the war in gaza does. in gaza, most people don't get the chance to queue for food. aid workers told me that even the 45—day ceasefire currently being talked about might not be long enough to tackle gaza's huge humanitarian crisis. but all sides need a ceasefire.

a pause or an end to the killing might stop the wider middle east war escalating. palestinian civilians in the ruins of gaza need some hope, and so do the families of the israeli hostages held by hamas. their pictures are everywhere in the square in tel aviv where they have a 24/7 protest. there is an installation representing the tunnels under gaza where the hostages are held. israelis were told only destroying hamas would get them back, but their army hasn't managed that yet, so families are demanding a ceasefire. romi gonen was on the phone to her family as she was dragged into gaza. she told them she'd been shot in the arm. her sister yarden wants prime minister netanyahu to make a deal to bring the hostages home. he is the one in the head

of all that, but they all have responsibility. they should have prevented it and if they could have managed to prevent it. we need to do everything we can to release them. i mean, what is your biggest fear at the moment for your sister? maybe she is very ill. maybe she was sexually abused, and that is my biggest fear as a woman. and maybe she is already dead. the families of the hostages do not want all of this to become permanent, so there is so much emphasis right now on trying to get a ceasefire, which would allow israeli hostages to come home in exchange for the release of palestinian prisoners from israeli jails. now, if a ceasefire could become permanent, the americans, the british and others are hoping it could be the springboard for new diplomacy that might transform the middle east.

that is getting ahead of events though, because first of all, there needs to be a ceasefire. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is sending out mixed messages about a ceasefire. he is deeply unpopular. his opponents say he should go. among them is ehud barak, a former prime minister and retired general who used to be netanyahu's commander in the army. the public has to choose. they have lost the trust of the public, so the natural solution is a new election. netanyahu does not want to lose power so it should be imposed upon by the situation. here in tel aviv and right across the middle east, warnings are coming thick and fast about the danger of this moment. a ceasefire in gaza at least buys time. jeremy bowen, bbc news, tel aviv.

after months of negotiations, the us senate has unveiled a long—awaited bipartisan deal that tackles security at the us—mexico border and sends billions of dollars in funding to ukraine, israel, and taiwan. the deal makes it more difficult to claim asylum and toughens border laws. the $118 billion agreement is considered the strongest border security package in decades. out of this funding, $20 billion would be for border control. $62 billion would go to support ukraine in its fight against russia. and $14 billion is for security aid for israel. presidentjoe biden has come out in support of the proposal. in a statement he said the deal would give him, "a new emergency authority to shut down the border "when it becomes overwhelmed. "it will make our asylum process fairer "and and more efficient while protecting the most "vulnerable." he is urging congress to pass it. we have also heard from senatorjames lankford, the lead republican negotiator for the deal.

in a statement he said, "this is a once—in—a—generation "opportunity to close our open border and give future "administrations the effective tools they need "to stop the border chaos and protect our nation." other key leaders in support of the deal are democratic senate majority leader chuck schumer and republican senate minority leader mitch mconnell. but the bill would face an uphill battle in the house of representatives, even if it passes in the senate. in a social media post on x, republican house majority leader steve scalise came out against the deal and said, "let me be clear, the senate border bill will not "receive a vote in the house." "here's what the people pushing this deal aren't telling you — "it accepts 5,000 illegal immigrants a day and gives "automatic work permits to asylum recipients a magnet "for more illegal immigration." earlier i spoke to a political reporter about this deal.

please break down the deal for us. tell us — what is in it for border security, what is in it for ukraine and the middle east? there is about $48 billion for ukraine which, from my understanding, that will hold them over until the election, and then don't forget israel. there is $10 billion for israel. many people are looking at the border portion of this, right? so, they are obviously, you know — this has been negotiated before. there is some money that is going to go to border control so they can ramp up security along the parameters, but also everyone wants to know about how many entries are going to be allowed before you can shut the border down, and that was kind of the big issue that was kind of floating around for a week, and those numbers, about 4000 on a daily basis up into a week, then dhs has the right to shut the border down, or close the border. and then if 5000 migrants come over daily over a week's time then they can basically shut

the border down for a longer period of time. we are seeing strong reactions to this. what are members of congress saying? yeah, so, this is going to be an uphill battle. you have mitch mcconnell, the minority leader on the senate side already saying this is not a perfect deal. other members, other senators also saying this is not a perfect deal, but it is what we have in front of us, so let's pass it. but majority leader steve scalise on the house side has already come out really strong saying it is not coming to the floor, so i am not sure what is going to happen at this point, even if the senate has the votes to pass this. the house is saying it is not going to come to the floor, so i am not really sure where we are going — where it is going to go from now. but, kadia, where does that leave us? even if the senate brings it to a vote, even if the senate passes it, if the house says it will not come to a vote on the floor, what happens

this week to this bill? well, it leaves us at and impasse. unless there is going to be a future deal i don't see how where this crosses the line. remember, house republicans were adamant about bringing hr2, which was — the border bill hr2 — was a house—led, democratic, republican—led bill from the house of representatives that went to the senate and kind of died. they have been adamant that that is the only way there is going to be any border negotiation. so, the majority leader coming out and essentially saying, "no, this is not coming to the floor," it means it is pretty much dead on arrival when it comes to the house. now, speaker mikejohnson did come out earlier this weekend, saying that he is going to put israel on the floor with no attachments, no irs clause, just passing a supplemental that would benefit israel.

i don't know how that is going to go over on the senate side because they have been banking on this immigration swap for israel. now, kadia, there is one more loud voice on the republican side. it is not someone who serves in congress. it is former president trump who is likely to be the republican front—runner in this year's presidential election. tell us — what has he said about this bill? what is he urging people who follow him to do? well, this is the big chatter. i mean, even on an interview this morning, speakerjohnson was asked if he is in control of these negotiations, if president trump is in control of these negotiations, and he denied it, but people — i mean, it is out there. former president trump is saying that this is a bad deal. he did that without even seeing the bill, so to me that sounds like he is telegraphing

that he does not want republican members of congress or senators to vote for this. it seems like they are paying attention when the majority leader comes out, right? within moments, or within hours after the bill has been released, to say "no, there is no deal. "this is not coming to the house." thank you very much. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. a woman killed in an attack by dogs was visiting her grandson for the weekend in essex on saturday afternoon. members of 69—year—old esther martin's family have told the bbc the animals were banned xl bully dogs but police are waiting to confirm the breed with experts. a 39—year—old man has been arrested and the animals have been euthanized. a reward of up to £20,000 pounds is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the suspect in a chemical attack

on a mother and her daughters in clapham. abdul shokoor ezedi was last seen leaving tower hill underground station onjanuary 31. barryjohn, the legendary former welsh rugby player, has died aged 79. after making his debut in 1966, john played in 25 internationals for wales and five tests for the british and irish lions. wales won three five nations titles during his stint on the international stage. for more on his career and life, you can head to your website, bbc.com/news. you're live with bbc news. el salvador�*s president has declared himself the winner of a second term. though the official count is not in yet, a landslide victory is expected. president nayib bukele, who has jokingly referred to himself as the "world's coolest dictator", has seen massive support across the country. his likely win would follow a nearly two—year long,

brutal crackdown on gangs. some 75,000 people have been detained since the government declared a state of emergency to carry out the crackdown. international human rights organisations claim many of them have no discernible link to gang activities. i spoke to our central america corresponded will grant who is in the capitol. tell us more about what you are seeing and hearing on election day. yeah, i think we are still waiting, obviously, on the official results but certainly nayib bukele has claimed he has upwards of 85% of the vote for his re—election bid, and that he will take a huge majority in the national assembly, which i stress we are waiting on those official results. that said, i would not be entirely surprised if they are reflected in that. certainly, we expected him to take a massive majority. a lot of people questioning what the assembly would look like, whether or not he would get the full backing that he wants from that election, but it

does look at this stage that he is going to take both elections very convincingly. he came to power during this surge of gang violence. can you talk to us about how he has dealt with that, how voters have responded to it, and why perhaps his first term has been controversial? well, this is a key part of his election platform — the idea that he needs re—election because this gang crackdown that he has had in place for the past two years needs to be extended into his second term. it has gone down well because people are very, very pleased with the results of this gang crackdown and this security policy. essentially, what it has done is it has arrested a very large number of people — 75,000, including a huge number of gang members — so peace has in many ways returned to neighbourhoods that were being done by the powerful gangs, the ms30 and the 18th street gang.

of course, human rights organisations continue to underline that they consider thousands of people who were not involved in gang activity are now injail as a result of it. but it is clear that the majority, the vast majority of el salvadorian voters simply don't mind about that side of it. they want to see the security policy extended and are concerned that a change in leader would mean an end to this crackdown. at the same time, re—election is so uncommon. we will see the first re—election of a el salvadorian leader in a century. talk to us about the controversy surrounding that? his bid for re—election was deeply controversial from the start. he was given permission from the supreme court, but critics have pointed out that he appointed the judges

who make it up so they have allowed him to stand but some say that it is unconstitutional, that his legal defence is very weak. again, though, we keep coming back to the fact that so many thousands, millions of el salvadorians have voted on their feet on that. that question will be put to bed in the way that he may well have the majority he says he has got in the region of 85%. raging wildfires in chile have killed at least 112 people, with hundreds still missing. rescue teams are now working to reach the hardest—hit areas through chile's pacific coast. it's the country's worst natural disaster since the 2010 earthquake. chile's president gabrielle boric says the death toll is likely to rise significantly. translation: if you receive a message to evacuate, - even if you believe the fire is far away, do not hesitate. we want to save lives and protect you. thousands of homes were destroyed in the flames, and a state

of emergency has been declared. coastal cities like valparaiso are now coated in smoke, and people living in central regions have been forced to leave their homes. one resident described the moment the flames surrounded them. translation: the fire was on the other side l and in10, 15 minutes it was here and flames began to fall everywhere, burning embers everywhere. we could not stand the heat anymore and we could not see anything. at that moment, everything went dark. everything went dark. we did not know what to do so we said we had to go uphill. some neighbours got burnt here — a father and daughter burned. the neighbour across the street also burned and we were left with nothing. the fires come as the country has been hit by a summer heatwave, with chile's capital sweltering through consecutive days of hot, dry temperatures climbing above 33 degrees celsius — which is 91 degrees fahrenheit. let's turn to some important news around the world.

california's governor has declared an emergency as storms bring high winds and heavy rain and snow to the southern part of the state. eight counties, including los angeles and san diego, are covered by gavin newsom's order. about 140,000 homes and businesses in coastal areas lost power on sunday. the us national weather service says there is a risk of life—threatening floods. russian—backed officials in eastern ukraine say a strike by ukrainian forces killed at least 28 people. the head of the russia—controlled luhansk region said a bakery was hit by ukrainian rockets on saturday. nine women and a child are among the dead. ukraine has not yet commented on the attack. fifa has announced that the metlife stadium in newjersey will host the 2026 men's football world cup final. the tournament is set to be held across the united states, canada and mexico. the first match will kick off at azteca stadium in mexico city.

namibia's vice president nangolo mbumba has been sworn in as the country's acting president he's taken overfrom hage geingob, whose death was announced on sunday morning. mr geingob died while receiving medical treatment at a hospital in the capital. the 82—year—old had been diagnosed with cancer and revealed the details to the public last month. he was considered a veteran of namibia's independence struggle. hage geingob has been serving in top political positions since the country gained independence in 1990. he became the country's first prime minister and held this position for 12 years. in 2012, he resumed this same role for a shorter stint — making him the longest serving prime minister in the country's history. in the 2014 presidential election, mr geingob won with 87% of the vote but his presidency would be defined by a stagnant economy and high levels of unemployment. by 2021, the leader's popularity witnessed a considerable drop with three quarters of the population saying the country was going in the wrong direction.

the bbc�*s shingai nyoka sent this report. the namibian leader died shortly after midnight after a short battle with cancer. he was a prominent liberation war fighter against apartheid south africa. his presidency, which began in 2015, will probably be best defined by his attempts to hold germany accountable for its brutal colonial past. in the early 1900s, about 80,000 namibian�*s in the early 1900s, about 80,000 namibians were killed by germany in what is considered to be the first genocide of the 20th century. the talks for reparations began under his presidency, and he famously rejected the offer that germany had made, and asked them to revise that figure, but his government will also be defined by a corruption scandal where millions of dollars were allegedly paid in bribes to politicians and government ministers by an icelandic company in exchange forfishing rights.

all of those parties deny those charges. he was a man who maintained the country in relative political stability and really opened up for the opposition the participation of the opposition. an emergency cabinet meeting was held earlier and we are expecting to hear the details of that, about who will be appointed and sworn in as the president. elections will be held nine months from now, and so his party, the liberation war party, will have to decide who the candidate will be for those elections, but namibians are now in mourning for a man who really has been a part of the country's fabric for decades. and it's music's biggest night with the grammy�*s well under way in los angeles. among the winners so far is miley cyrus. she picked up the first grammy of her careerfor her song flowers. taylor swift picked up

the grammy for best pop vocal album for her album, midnights. thanks for watching. i'm erin delmore in washington. hello. there is a change on the way this week. we will see colder weather pushing down from the north, but that change to colder conditions will not be quick and it won't be straightforward either. as that cold air pushes erratically southwards, we will see some rain. some of us may well see some snow. at the moment, most places are in this mild air, cold air across the north of scotland and along the boundary between these two air masses where we have a weather front. and this will continue to bring some heavy and persistent rain across the north and the west of scotland. met office still has this yellow warning in force. by the time all is said and done, we may well have seen up to 170 millimetres of rain falling in the wettest locations, some snow mixing in on the northern edge of our weather front as it engages some colder air. to the south of our weather front, well, extensive cloud cover, some mist and murk, some spots of rain and drizzle,

particularly for western coast and hills. again, it will be breezy, but mild, 12, 13 degrees, cold in northern scotland, just three there in lerwick. now, as we move through monday night, eventually that front will get a kick southwards. so that rain pushing southwards across scotland into northern ireland and northern england. some wintry showers following into northern scotland. temperatures here will drop close to freezing. further south, exceptionally mild to start tuesday morning to the south of our wriggling a weather front. that front will be slicing the country in two, really, on tuesday. some rain across parts of northern ireland, the far south of scotland, into northern england, north wales. we may see something wintry mixing in over higher ground as that colder air digs in from the north. certainly some snow in the showers, even to quite low levels across parts of scotland. still, for the time being, very mild in the south, highs of 14 degrees. but that weather front looks like it will clear southwards into wednesday, maybe lingering across the channel islands, but elsewhere some spells of sunshine, some wintry showers across the northern half

of the uk and temperatures lower for just about all of us. and then as we get into thursday — a lot of uncertainty about this aspect of the forecast — low pressure expected to spin in from the southwest. as this front pushes northwards into the cold air it may be that some of us see some quite significant snow. a lot of uncertainty about exactly where that might happen. it's likely to stay mild in the south, colder in the north.

chinese authorities pledge to stabilise stocks as the latest government support measures failed to prop up investor confidence. plus, a game—changer for small businesses — how artificial intelligence helps them save time and money. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. we begin in china where, over the weekend, authorities have vowed to stabilise markets. it comes after another volatile session on friday that saw shares dropping to their lowest level in five years. a series of government support measures have failed to prop up stocks. injanuary, china's blue—chip csi 300 index tumbled 6.3% as authorities struggle to boost investor

confidence, which has been hit by an economic slowdown