the bbc investigates a vietnamese people—smuggler who claims to have helped over a thousand people cross the english channel. and donald trump faces backlash after a comedian makes racist comments during a rally. welcome to newsday. we begin in the middle east with israel's decision to ban the un agency for palestinian refugees, unrwa, from operating in the country. the law was passed late on monday by the knesset, israel's parliament. lawmakers accused unrwa staff of involvement in the attacks of october seven and diverting aid in gaza. unrwa's boss, philippe lazzarini said

the measure would only deepen the suffering of the palestinian people. william deere, the director of unrwa's representative office in washington was asked how the region will be affected if humanitarian aid groups stop working there. we're not sure there is a plan b right now. if this legislation is implemented it is going to be up to the united nations general assembly to decide how we're going to go forward here. the truth is, and you just hit upon it, we're the backbone of the humanitarian response. we're the warehouses, we're the truck network, we're the staff who stay for example during the polio vaccine campaign in gaza recently, but we're the staff who inoculated most of the children. the issue is this, the legislation stays can't be contact between unrwa and israel. if that comes to pass,

it ends what we call de—confliction. we won't be able to move in gaza without being subject to possible attack. the international staff will be able to get visas any longer, we won't be able to get work apartments for our national staff. and as you can imagine, the supply chain is going to fall apart. our middle east correspondent lucy williamson has been monitoring the story from jerusalem. there have been a long running frictions between israel and unrwa but no doubt over the last year the tensions have risen sharply and seem to have come to something of a head with israel passing these two laws banning all activity by unrwa and also banning all contact with unrwa by any state authority and its done that in the face of very open and blunt

opposition by the us and others. the state department spokesman saying before the vote took place that the us was deeply concerned by the legislation and describe the role of unrwa in gaza is critical and irreplaceable. it is notjust basic diplomatic fallout but a practical challenge to replace the services and aid that unrwa delivers, particularly in gaza and has built in a three month implementation window into the legislation to try and get some kind of arrangement in place but there is no clear sign or proposal made public at this time. i'm joined now by javed ali associate professor university of michigan's gerald r. ford school of public policy. a former fbi and national security council. it was a long time coming and a lot of tensions between the two but are you surprised it has

come to this extent?- but are you surprised it has come to this extent? nice to be with ou come to this extent? nice to be with you and — come to this extent? nice to be with you and no, _ come to this extent? nice to be with you and no, i'm _ come to this extent? nice to be with you and no, i'm not- with you and no, i'm not surprised that the israeli parliament made this move because this is a reflection as has indicated of the long—running tens —— tension between israel and the agency and the allegations of members of the agency being involved on the attacks of october the 7th or other extremist activities in the past year, so unfortunately this is something that could be foreseen because of that tension and now it will be eight question of what will be eight question of what will be the impact on the ground if the agency is not able to deliver the aid and render the services it has and it will make it an already difficult situation for palestinians even more part —— difficult if it happens that is what i was going to ask, what will this mean potentially for the people

of gaza who are already struggling after a year of bombardment.— struggling after a year of bombardment. ~ ., ., bombardment. what will it mean to them? if _ bombardment. what will it mean to them? if the _ bombardment. what will it mean to them? if the agency _ bombardment. what will it mean to them? if the agency is - bombardment. what will it mean to them? if the agency is not - to them? if the agency is not allowed to — to them? if the agency is not allowed to resume _ to them? if the agency is not allowed to resume its - allowed to resume its operations then it's going to rely on the israeli military to work with other partners at the un and other potential aid agencies to deliver the aid to other parts of the gaza strip that needed we've all seen the reports in the last week or so about how dire things have become in northern gaza and i'm sure the same situation is in other parts of the gaza strip from north to south and despite the humanitarian issues, the military campaign continues and there is no sign of that abating any time soon and certainly over the next week until the us presidential elections finish, i don't think benjamin netanyahu is going to

be receptive to a ceasefire or changing the status quo beyond where things are going right now you mention other un agencies so are there other agencies so are there other agencies and how important is unrwa in terms of the aid effort, are there others waiting to fill the gap? i'm not an expert in the area but there might be other parts of there might be other parts of the un that could step in, whether they could do it as efficiently and effectively as unrwa remains to be seen. i don't have enough insight on that to give you more detailed answers but i imagine that potentially in the un there are other options. butjust because another part of the un enterprise could step in would not mean they would be able to get on the ground and deliver aid or render services overnight. these things take time to implement. you mention

the us and _ time to implement. you mention the us and the _ time to implement. you mention the us and the state _ time to implement. you mentionj the us and the state department were urging israel not to pass the law. do we need to see more strength from washington on this to see more action from israel? , , ., israel? over the past year since october _ israel? over the past year since october the - israel? over the past year since october the 7th - israel? over the past year| since october the 7th there have been various statements of us policy against, to israel about its military activities or issues with humanitarian aid and despite statements for the most part there has not been a change in us policy or more pressure applied and going back to my earlier comment about the us elections, nothing will change on the us side either in the next week and president biden is still the president of the us so until inauguration on january the 20th, no matter who the next president is whether it is vice president harris or

former president tromso president biden as president for the next three months but i don't think over the next week we will see any dramatic swings in us policy. we will see any dramatic swings in us policy-— in us policy. javid ali, thank ou for in us policy. javid ali, thank you for your _ in us policy. javid ali, thank you for your insights. - the head of the nato military alliance has confirmed that north korean troops are supporting russia in its war against ukraine. intelligence from south korea's spy agency suggests north korean soliders were deployed to kursk, a region where ukraine currently has an advantage. the us department of defence says ten thousand north korean troops are now in russia — where they are recieving training before probably being sent to bolster russian forces near ukraine. moscow has not confirmed or denied these reports. it's understood that in exchange for north korea's military help, russia's president putin will send pyongyang military technology and support to help north korea evade sanctions imposed by western countries. this nato secretary general mark rutte said russia also received ballistic missiles and millions of ammunition rounds. he called it a serious escalation and dangerous expansion to the war in

ukraine. nato calls on russia and the dprk to cease these actions immediately. the deployment of north korean troops to kursk is also a sign of putin's growing desperation. over 600,000 russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in putin's war, and he is unable to sustain his assault in ukraine without foreign support. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has more on the reactions from kyiv. president zelensky is currently in iceland where he is meeting scandinavian leaders. what has team is saying is — listen to south korea. they've been saying north korea troops are joining russia's invasion of our country. the west, nato, needs to listen as well. we have the chief

of nato confirming as well that north korean troops are indeed in russia now and could, it's thought, be on the front line sooner than expected. ukraine is calling for more sanctions on pyongyang and moscow to try and stop its operation from building. in terms of the troops themselves, the estimates range from between two and 12,000, a proportion expected to be specially trained troops. it's not as simple as slotting them into in the military it's not clear how they will be deployed. it's interesting because on the western side western allies, the us have been wary of this wars footprint spreading. russia's strengthening relationship with north korea does just that on the other side. here we have south korea, which is farfrom impressed with north korean soldiers getting battlefield experience potentially, gaining

intelligence on western weapons which seoul fears will be used on itself. south korea is looking at what it can do, it's considering sending lethal weapons to ukraine in a real policy reversal. and will the west have to calibrate around that? what we're hearing from the pentagon is there will be no new restrictions announced on missiles provided to ukraine and what it hits inside russia, and that includes potentially, hypothetically on north korean soldiers. but the picture is building. the calls for action are building. in terms of the battlefield itself, i don't think we will see a step change in dynamics outside of what russia is doing. but these are interesting geopolitical times as we approached the us presidential election. a vietnamese people smuggler, who entered the uk illegally this year in a small boat, has told the bbc that he's forging visa documents for other vietnamese who also want to make the journey. he's claiming asylum — despite admitting he's been people—smuggling

for nearly 20 years. nearly 30,000 people have made the illegaljourney across the english channel so far this year — the majority are from vietnam. after a months—long investigation, our correspondent andrew harding tracked down one people—smuggler who agreed to tell him about the illegal trade and his role in it. beside me on the sofa is a people smuggler, a prolific criminal now living here in britain. a man who's still helping people to reach this country illegally. we'll call him tan. it's a very lucrative business. if you have a good reputation, the clients come to you. no force, no violence. tan came to the uk earlier this year. he was part of a sudden rush of people from vietnam using small boats to reach our shores. in the migrant camps in northern france, i'd already met with groups of vietnamese waiting to cross the channel. they told me they were in debt back home and were being

trafficked to the uk by criminal gangs. already in britain and claiming asylum, tan agreed to meet me, and we agreed to keep his identity confidential in return for valuable information about the smuggling gangs. he soon began to reveal his life of crime and of lies. you told the british authorities you've been trafficked here, but that's not true, is it? no, i was not trafficked here. i said i was because that's just the way it's done. it's what you say in order to get asylum. but human rights groups insist trafficking from vietnam is widespread in britain. i'm arresting you on suspicion of facilitating the illegal entry of non—uk nationals into the united kingdom... the authorities say vietnamese gangs are trapping migrants in conditions of modern slavery. tan himself became involved in smuggling years ago, running a gang at a time when people hid on lorries

rather than in small boats to reach the uk. later, he moved back to vietnam for a while, and began forging documents for people trying to get visas to europe. he's showing me here some of the documents that he's actually forged. he's got copies on his phone. one is for a bank statement, another is for some payslips. and this is a hungarian visa, a genuine visa that one of his customers was given on the basis of his forged documents. and he's still forging, and boasting of bribing banking officials in vietnam to provide false paperwork. i'm good at this work. people trust me. i neverfail. how do you justify what you do here? you've come to the uk illegally. you're still breaking the law by assisting other people to come here illegally. at the same time, you're taking

british taxpayers' money to be fed, to be sheltered here in the uk. i just do paperwork. i help people to travel. i don't force them to take certain routes. i think a lot of british people watching this will not buy that. they will say that you are a criminal and that you should hand yourself in to the police. i don't think i'm breaking the law here. i'm only breaking the law in vietnam. why have you chosen to talk to us, to tell us all this, about all the crimes that you've been party to? i want people in vietnam to understand the truth that life here is no better. they should stay at home rather than make a dangerousjourney and get deeper into debt. but back in france, the smuggling goes on,

and we're now trying to contact a different and elusive vietnamese gang operating near dunkirk. looks like the plan is working. my colleague here, she's been posing as a vietnamese migrant. she's now in touch with one of the smugglers. and that's him on the phone now, telling her "let's meet" and to follow his instructions. wearing a secret camera to allow us to see the gangs work up close, our colleague heads to a rendezvous point. we follow at a distance. the smuggler talks money. £2,600 for a small boat ride to britain. but now, he wants her to move away, through a fence and into the woods. hands on head, she signalled that she's not comfortable with that, and we move in.

hello. hello, guys. and there's the smuggler, dyed blonde hair, retreating fast. so we know for sure that that was our vietnamese smuggler. he disappeared into the forest here. we're not going to pursue him. we know a lot of these gangs are armed. there's been a lot of violence around here. but i think what we can say for sure is that the vietnamese smuggling business is continuing and is clearly very lucrative. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news(read on) sir keir starmer has been preparing for his government's first budget. the prime minister said the country had to �*embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality�*. this is not 1997. when the economy was decent, but public services were on their knees.

and it's not 2010 where public services were strong at the public finances were weak. we have to deal with both sides of that coin. these are unprecedented circumstances. but the budget the chancellor will deliver on wednesday will prevent devastating austerity in our public services. and prevent a disastrous path for our public finances. that's the reality of what would happen if we had stuck to tory spending plans. and it's why we never, unlike the opposition and �*97 and 2010 committed to the same spending plans. turning to the race for the white house — we are just over a week away from election day, and focus has been on those crucial battleground states. there's no slowing down on the campaign trail. republican nominee donald trump wrapped up a day in the battleground state of georgia, with a rally. earlier he spoke at a faith summit.

meanwhile, democratic nominee kamala harris put her pitch to voters at a rally in ann arbor — where she was been joined by musician maggie rogers and her running mate tim walz. meanwhile, puerto rico has been thrust into the national spotlight following these controversial remarks over the weekend from tony hinchcliffe, a comedian at a trump rally. among other inflammatory language, he described the us territory as quote a "floating island of garbage". the trump campaign has tried to distance itself from the issue, saying the comments "do not reflect" the republican candidate's views. this was the reaction from running mate, jd vance. and my own view is, look, i haven't seen the joke. maybe it's a stupid racistjoke, as you said. i won't comment on the specifics of thejoke. but i think we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the united states of america. i'm so over it. speaking earlier, kamala harris says that

americans are tired of the diviseness. i think last night donald trump's event in madison square garden highlighted the point i have made throughout this campaign. he have made throughout this campaign-— have made throughout this camaiun. , , ., campaign. he is focused and actually fixated _ campaign. he is focused and actually fixated on _ campaign. he is focused and actually fixated on his - actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing — grievances, on himself and on dividing our country. meanwhile: philadelphia's district attorney is suing the tech giant elon musk�*s pro—trump fundraising group in an attempt to halt his daily 1—million dollar giveaway. the organisation was holding a daily giveaway to registered voters who had signed a petition to "protect the constitution". the scheme prompted warnings from the department ofjustice as well as speculation among legal analysts saying that the plan could be illegal. presidentjoe biden, who cast his vote for the presidential election earlier on monday — told reporters that elon musk�*s giveaway is �*totally inappropriate' i'm joined now by ben warner, who's a professor at the deparment of communication at

the university of missouri. first of all, how damaging is this— first of all, how damaging is thisjoke. _ first of all, how damaging is thisjoke, the floating island of garbage rhetoric for the hump _ of garbage rhetoric for the trump campaign at this stage of the campaign? it�*s trump campaign at this stage of the campaign?— the campaign? it's certainly not what — the campaign? it's certainly not what the _ the campaign? it's certainly not what the trump - the campaign? it's certainly l not what the trump campaign would want last week's news cycle going into voting to be about. it's unclear how many people remain undecided who are closely following the news and closely following the news and closely following the news and closely following what is coming out of the rally is being held, but it certainly seems like the madison square garden rally is breaking through and could be the last thing a lot of voters here before they go to the ballot box. �* , , , ., box. it's interesting you mention _ box. it's interesting you mention those - box. it's interesting you | mention those undecided box. it's interesting you - mention those undecided voters. this is a close election with some saying it is the closest in decades and everybody saying

it could come down to these undecided voters but you are saying they are not even watching these rallies and campaign put on to try and swing their vote?— swing their vote? most undecided _ swing their vote? most undecided voters - swing their vote? most undecided voters are l swing their vote? most - undecided voters are undecided because they prefer to tune out of politics and they pay very little attention to what is going on so they might hear about a few things and one of the interesting questions that remain is how many of the people that are undecided and are low information will turn out to vote. one of the difficult decisions they may be facing is whether they think it's worth voting but it certainly at this point in the election the people who have not made up their mind have not done so because they've not been paying as much attention. it's interesting you say that. how can these candidates encourage people to come out and vote? one strategy we have seenin and vote? one strategy we have seen in this election more than others is speaking to pod

casters and donald trump spoke for three hours withjoe rogan. is that a strategy to get undecided voters to go out and vote? . �* , undecided voters to go out and vote? ., �*, , ., undecided voters to go out and vote? ., �*, ., , vote? that's exactly what is auoin vote? that's exactly what is going on- — vote? that's exactly what is going on- in _ vote? that's exactly what is going on. in the _ vote? that's exactly what is going on. in the past- vote? that's exactly what is going on. in the past you i vote? that's exactly what is i going on. in the past you could be confident you could reach undecided voters who are particularly interested in politics by advertising on television shows they are interested in but in the digital media environment so many people can stream shows to opt out of television altogether and play video games and campaigns are attempting to reach these voters through advertising in digital spaces but probably the more important strategies to figure out where the voters go to get their entertainment and distraction and get whatever information they get and to try and be on those programmes and speaking to those people. irate those programmes and speaking to those people.— to those people. we talked about the _ to those people. we talked about the rhetoric - to those people. we talked about the rhetoric of - to those people. we talked

about the rhetoric of the i to those people. we talked i about the rhetoric of the trump campaign, but turning 1542