a transition that is so smooth it will be as smooth as it can get. i it will be as smooth as it can net. , a get. i very much appreciated, 1. you get. i very much appreciated, j- you are _ get. i very much appreciated, i. you are welcome. - torrential rain hits parts of spain again, with thousands of residents forced from their homes. and hundreds of tourists facing chaos and delays on the indonesian holiday island of bali after volcanic ash made it too dangerous to fly. welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. we begin in washington, where in the past few hours, we've seen a wave of key cabinet picks from president—elect donald trump.

that includes florida republican congressman matt gaetz as his attorney general. mr trump says he's "a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney". mr trump also plans to nominate florida republican senator marco rubio as secretary of state. and he tapped former democratic congresswoman tulsi gabbard as his director of national intelligence. it is important to note these roles require senate approval. new election results show the president—elect�*s republican party is set for control over both chambers of congress. earlier, the president—elect returned to the oval office for a meeting with presidentjoe biden. they both promised a smooth transfer of power injanuary. congratulations. thank you. looking forward to a smooth transition and that we can accommodate with what you need. welcome — accommodate with what you need. welcome. welcome back. thank you, very much. and politics is tough and in many cases not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today and i appreciate it very much. a transition that is so smooth

it will be as smooth as it can get. i'm joined now by our north america correspondent rowan bridge in washington. rowan, quite a marked difference tone from the rhetoric on the campaign trail. what does a transition of power entail? i think what you saw today was the start of the process of their transition to the incoming president, the physical manifestation of the outgoing president and incoming president meeting together and it is a public show about that, to represent the peaceful transition of power between the two administrations but also this idea of bringing the nation together, this idea that after a acrimonious battle both sides can come together and be civil afterwards. sides can come together and be civilafterwards. i sides can come together and be civil afterwards. i think there is an element of show around that. it is no secret that donald trump and joe biden don't really like each other

but also beyond the element that we saw for the cameras, there were also almost two hours of discussion between the two men and i suspect they then talked about more substantive issues behind camera, the sort of threats the country might face and issues the incoming president needs to know about, level of secrecy where they would not be discussing them in public. republicans looked to have consolidated their grip on congress. yes, donald trump is perhaps at the zenith of his power, he holds what they called the trifecta, they control all three elected wings of the us government so they control the presidency, the lower house, the lower chamber of the house and the upper chamber, the senate and that puts donald trump in a particular powerful position when it comes to trying get his legislation and

agenda through and also what you have seen is the people who have been elected to that incoming congress are also people signed up to donald trump's sort of maga agenda. the speaker of the house is come out saying how much she supports the donald trump agenda. it may be only a four orfive agenda. it may be only a four or five majority but he is a very powerful position. he has won the senate, the house, the presidency and the popular vote and that gives him a lot of sway over members of congress on how they may vote over tough decisions donald trump wants them to take.— them to take. thank you very much for _ them to take. thank you very much for getting _ them to take. thank you very much for getting us - them to take. thank you very much for getting us across i much for getting us across that. i'm joined now by elana schor senior washington editor for semafor, a us news website. thank you forjoining me today.

some of trump's picks have raised eyebrows, even amongst republicans. matt gaetz for attorney general for example. yes, absolutely. matt gaetz, until he resigned from congress this evening was the subject of an ongoing house ethics committee investigation, bipartisan regarding allegation of sexual misconduct, drug use and the list goes on. but now that matt gaetz has resigned following his nomination, that investigation is effectively closed and will not issue a final report. it is a big twist and turn for colleagues who had issues with matt gaetz for other reasons including helping to buy a house speaker. —— fire. implications for the house majority as he has to resign from congress. there certainly. it's a small

majority unless vote means they will struggle to fund the government over the next few weeks however there is a timeclock in florida. because matt gaetz resigned today, he will have his seat field pretty quickly and it does make it easierfor donald trump quickly and it does make it easier for donald trump to have more republican votes while continuing to choose more cabinet members from congress if he likes. talk us through the process of what happens for trump's picks to be formally appointed? the pigs, who are senate confirmed, is submitting a ton of paperwork to the senate which once republicans take power early next year before donald is technically thwarting on a january 20, consult the confirmation process. that is not simple because of all those disclosures. nominees have to sent a lot of information about their finances, sent a lot of information about theirfinances, enterany their finances, enter any number of detailed

theirfinances, enterany number of detailed questions that can get very, very personal. it would be quite to see how matt gaetz and other nominees approach this. it is nominees approach this. it is no surprise that donald trump floated the idea of appointments that would ask for senate to go into break so he could push nominees without confirmation hearings because then matt gaetz and others would not have to submit to this kind of scrutiny. it would not have to submit to this kind of scrutiny. it seems a bit like _ this kind of scrutiny. it seems a bit like gaming _ this kind of scrutiny. it seems a bit like gaming the - this kind of scrutiny. it seems a bit like gaming the system | a bit like gaming the system perhaps. a lot of attention on elon musk and this department of government efficiency. is there more clarity as to how that would work. it's not an actual department that exists. department is a bit of a misnomer because even a statement surrounding its creation noted that they would be doing the work outside of government. based on what we know, the best point of comparison would be what is known as the simpsons wills commission, we're talking yes in the past, commission on a

bipartisan basis, notably, which this would not be, which basically assess the federal government amid recommendations to cut spending. it was funded by congress. folks in washington are generally assuming that it would be similar to that as opposed to an agency and congress would need to create an agency and again a lot of courtesy otherwise. and that is something donald trump would not want to go through. what are you watching out for while were in the period before trump takes office? i'm watching frankly for how republican senators continued to die just republican senators continued to diejust some republican senators continued to die just some of these mob boundary pushing and unconventional pics of donald trump. trump is really testing his party and it is a reasonable but they will fall in line, i think because some of these pics are unconventional there is the assumption they might not get through but trump is coming in

with clear majorities and a lot of people in the party willing to give him the benefit of the doubt so quite a surprise perhaps for the reception that someone even like matt gaetz might get. someone even like matt gaetz might get-— someone even like matt gaetz miuahtet. ., , . large parts of spain are being hit with more torrential rain, just two weeks after more than 220 people died in flash flooding in valencia. it's the same weather system that is affecting malaga and other parts of southern and eastern spain. 3,000 people were told to leave their homes in malaga. this map shows the areas worst affected. valencia which is still recovering from a year's worth of rain injust 8 hours last month may now be hit with several months of rainfall. from spain, here's nick beake. more misery heaped on spain. this was malaga today. streets submerged again and struggles to reach safety.

this has been a brutal time for the country, after it was gripped by the worst floods in generations. it's estimated 100,000 cars were destroyed a fortnight ago. that's nothing compared to the human cost. yesterday, we filmed as they searched for two brothers, who'd been swept away by the torrent. neighbours told us how the boys had been ripped from their dad's arms, after a truck had smashed open their house. today it was announced the bodies of five—year—old izan and three—year—old ruben had been found. their family said they had no words to convey their loss. this was paiporta two weeks ago today, where more than 60 people were killed, one of the communities worst hit. lourdes and her brother showed

us how high the flood came in. the water then disappeared, but anger here is only rising. translation: this is shameful. we feel abandoned. for four days we didn't see the army coming to help. we need more troops. translation: we feel locked in here. - there are no roads. this is horrible. we lost everything here in this town. everything. the loss has sparked a huge collective effort, while spain's politicians trade in a bitter blame game. for two weeks now, day in, day out, volunteers have been coming here to valencia from right across spain, each person playing their own small part. they've achieved a lot already, but just look at what they've still got to do here. this is a massive undertaking. amid all this, incredible stories are still emerging. the man at an english language school who smashed open a door and one by one rescued four trapped children. we tracked down daniel,

who relived the rescue for us. he's been hailed as the hero of paiporta. translation: there are a lot of people who did the same i thing that night. many heroes like me, if you want to call us that. ifeel good because i feel the love of the people around here. i was the one who was filmed, but there were many, many other heroes. tonight, more downpours, more red alerts. more heroics may well be needed in the hours to come. nick beake, bbc news, valencia. an israeli hostage has appeared, under duress, in a video released on wednesday by palestinian islamichhad. the bbc does not broadcast videos of hostages but this image shows alexander trufanov, who was abducted from a kibbutz near the gaza strip. he was held in gaza with his girlfriend, sapir cohen, after hamas' attack on october 7th. mr trufanov�*s mother has urged the israeli government and international community

to make every effort to free him and all the other abductees as "they don't have time". he's been held captive for 404 days and turns 29 this week. our correspondentjonathan beale has more from jerusalem. this is a video released by palestinian islamichhad of the group along with hamas they carried out the attacks over a year ago on october seven that killed more than 1000 israelis, 250 taken hostage, 100 of those still held in captivity. one of those is this man and be video has been of him giving a message to the israeli people and the government essentially same conditions are very difficult, food, sanitary conditions very difficult, no soap. he says he does not want to see an israeli military operation carried out to rescue him, he wants a deal essentially and that is the view is family

who responded to this video calling it horrific and calling on the government to do a deal to get the hostages released. he also says at the end of this video he misses his friends and family and misses his freedom and he is appealing to israel do not forget us. what is the likelihood of a deal? it does not seem much chance at the moment while israel continues its military operations which has intensified in gaza particularly in the north. the humanitarian situation is pretty dire. lack of food inside guards at the moment. civilians obviously being killed as israel targets militants. the us has been putting pressure on them to do more. they say israel have taken important steps but as long as israel continues military operations, it is difficult to see a deal being done.

the 30—day aid deadline has passed for israel, but the us says it will continue to provide security assistance in its fight against hamas. as the deadline passed, israel announced it would open a new aid crossing into gaza. while israel says it has met most of the 16 demands from washington, aid agencies argue israel has failed completely and that the amount of aid entering gaza is at its lowest level in a year. speaking at the nato military alliance headquarters in brussels, secretary of state antony blinken said the us needs to see longer pauses of fighting in gaza. from my perspective, what we have seen is of these, his row, by the standards it set itself has accomplished the goals it set for itself, the strategic set for itself, the strategic set for itself, the strategic set for itself. it was rightly determined to make sure to the best of his ability that october seven could never happen again and to do that it said that he needed to dismantle the military

organisation of hamas and to get the leadership that was responsible for october seven. it has done both of those things. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news in the uk: the father of 10—year—old sara sharif who was found dead at her home in surrey has told a court that he now accepts full responsibility for her death. urfan sharif had denied killing her but today he told the court, "she died because of me." but he insisted he did not intend to kill her. his daughter's body was found with dozens of injuries at the family's home in woking last year. the diy store homebase has collapsed into administration, putting 2,000 jobs at risk. its owner hilco had been looking to sell the struggling retailer, but has not managed to find an outright buyer. the owner of homeware chain the range is buying up to 70 stores and the brand name. more than 100 post office

branches could potentially close, putting a thousand jobs at risk in a major restructuring of the business. the plans aim to put the business on a firmer financial footing. it comes as the long—running inquiry into the horizon it scandal heads into its final stages. you're live with bbc news. to bali now, where most flights have resumed this morning after several airlines were forced to cancel flights due to dangerous ash clouds from a volcano near the popular indonesian holiday island. over the weekend the mount lewotobi laki—laki volcano unleashed a 9 kilometre ash column into the sky, one week after a major eruption killed 10 people. for more on the situation on the ground, we can speak to sakshi mishra, a tourist who was stranded in bali after her flight back to india got cancelled. thank you forjoining me to talk about this today. what was it like yesterday when all those flights were cancelled?

it was really tough for us because we had booked an airline, which is a domestic airline, which is a domestic airline, and they do not any staff on back office at this particular airport in bali so we could not get in touch without a line, we were stranded at the airport for hours. the authorities at the airport also could not help us because they did not know who to contact so i had to get in touch with a friend who then had to contact the local domestic airline and they sort of booked us on a flight three days later because there is no available flights today or tomorrow so we are here for another three days. it tomorrow so we are here for another three days. it sounds like it was — another three days. it sounds like it was quite _ another three days. it sounds like it was quite chaotic. - another three days. it sounds like it was quite chaotic. it i like it was quite chaotic. it was very chaotic. the airport was very chaotic. the airport was flooded with people just sitting around waiting in line. it was just chaos.—

it wasjust chaos. you have managed — it wasjust chaos. you have managed to _ it wasjust chaos. you have managed to secure - it wasjust chaos. you have managed to secure a i it wasjust chaos. you have managed to secure a flight| it wasjust chaos. you have i managed to secure a flight home but that is not for a few days so what happens now?- but that is not for a few days so what happens now? now we have to find — so what happens now? now we have to find our _ so what happens now? now we have to find our own _ have to find our own accommodation and right now, yesterday we managed to book us into a hotel, a airport hotel and we are here and now we have to look for another accommodation because all the hotels around the airport are all booked out because of all the delays that have happened. now flights are starting to take off but we could not manage to get a seat. what do ou think manage to get a seat. what do you think you _ manage to get a seat. what do you think you have _ manage to get a seat. what do you think you have learned i manage to get a seat. what do | you think you have learned from this experience? bali is a very popular tourist destination, to give your second thoughts about coming back? hat give your second thoughts about coming back?— coming back? not really. of course, coming back? not really. of course. it— coming back? not really. of course, it is _ coming back? not really. of course, it is a _ coming back? not really. of course, it is a beautiful- course, it is a beautiful country and i would want people to visit this country. it is just a natural disaster. just always get a travel insurance

donein always get a travel insurance done in such situations. i mean, you cannot really do anything about it. it is a lovely country to come to, for sure. ., ~' lovely country to come to, for sure. . ~ i. lovely country to come to, for sure. ., ~ ,, y lovely country to come to, for sure. . ~ i. , . lovely country to come to, for sure. ., ~' y . ., sure. thank you very much for talkin: sure. thank you very much for talking to _ sure. thank you very much for talking to us _ sure. thank you very much for talking to us and _ sure. thank you very much for talking to us and we _ sure. thank you very much for talking to us and we wish i sure. thank you very much for talking to us and we wish you | talking to us and we wish you well on your journey talking to us and we wish you well on your j