after a judge grants us special counseljack smith's request. supporters ofjailed former prime minister imran khan clash with police in pakistan, as they march towards the capital. 16 people are still missing from an egyptian tourist boat that sank in the red sea. welcome to newsday. i'm steve lai. we begin in the middle east, where israel and lebanon appear to be close to a ceasefire deal. israeli and us officials say the israeli cabinet is set to meet on tuesday to discuss approval of a draft agreement. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is said to have agreed to the deal "in principle". the latest developments are largely due to pressure from the us, which is serving as a key mediator, in an effort to prevent the conflict in the middle east from expanding.

the truce that's on the table would see a 60—day pause in fighting, during which, israeli troops would withdraw from southern lebanon and hezbollah would move further north in—country, so that civilians may return home in their respective areas. in their absence, the lebanese army would deploy in areas close to the border. earlier, the us state department emphasised that the deal was close. this has been an incredibly frustrating process, both getting to a ceasefire and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in lebanon, and also, the many rounds of negotiations to get a ceasefire in gaza. there are any number of stages where we have hoped that the parties would get to an agreement. and remember, that's what it requires in these cases, it's not the united states, but the parties to the agreement to say yes. there have been many times where we thought we would be getting to yes and, in both cases, for various reasons, the parties didn't get there. that said, we believe we are close here.

but that's why you heard me come out and say nothing is final until everything is final, because we know we don't have a deal until there's one that's been fully agreed to by both sides. our correspondent frank gardner is in israel with more. so, there are quite a few optimistic voices coming out about the chances of getting a ceasefire deal for lebanon, coming out of washington, coming out of beirut and, in some cases, coming coming out ofjerusalem here. but i think it's not there yet. first of all, the israeli security cabinet has got to ratify it, and there are voices within the government here, in israel who are opposed to this deal. so, for example, itamar ben—gvir — who is the national security minister in israel, an ultranationalist — he has taken to social media to say, this is a bad deal, it's not too late to stop it. his view is that israel has got hezbollah on the back foot, that they are really weakened militarily and now is the time

not to give them breathing space, but to finish them off. there are those in the north of israel — who are in rocket range of hezbollah�*s rockets — who worry that hezbollah�*s arsenal, its armoury is not sufficiently depleted. they don't trust this deal, and they think that it's simply going to be a matter of time before they start getting rocketed again. danny danon, israel's ambassador to the united nations explains some of the sticking points that need to be ironed out before a ceasefire deal can come through. well, i think we can agree that hezbollah will be north of the litani river and the lebanese military will be deployed to the south of lebanon. think the most challenging part is what will happen if hezbollah will start to again the region or to bring weapons and ammunition into the villages of southern lebanon. and i think that is a challenge for us, it is very important to make it clear to all the parties that we will not sit

idly by. we will not allow hezbollah to rebuild their capabilities right on the fence with israel. i'm joined now byjames dorsey. james, always good to talk about this. with both sides having such strong lines if you like that they won't negotiate on, how can a ceasefire even take place?— take place? essentially, the - ro osal take place? essentially, the proposal that _ take place? essentially, the proposal that is _ take place? essentially, the proposal that is on - take place? essentially, the proposal that is on the - take place? essentially, the| proposal that is on the table is a figleaf, in which neither side has backed down, but it has found a way at least for now. so for hezbollah in lebanon, the right of the israeli state is a violation of their sovereignty and is unacceptable. israel maintains it needs to have that right because it does not believe that the lebanese army or for that the lebanese army or for that matter, the united nations is really going to be capable of forcing hezbollah to stay out of southern lebanon. the way they have solved this is

that this issue is not referred to in the ceasefire agreement itself, or the ceasefire proposal. so in other words, hezbollah can say, we never agreed to an israeli right to intervene. on the other hand, the united states and israel have a side letter, a side deal in which the united states recognises israel's right to intervene, provided it fulfil certain conditions. 50 intervene, provided it fulfil certain conditions. so what would hold _ certain conditions. so what would hold this _ certain conditions. so what would hold this ceasefire i would hold this ceasefire together?— would hold this ceasefire touether? ., , together? for the time being, olitical together? for the time being, political will. _ together? for the time being, politicalwill. i— together? for the time being, political will. i think _ together? for the time being, political will. i think that - political will. i think that both sides want a ceasefire. the israeli prime minister netanyahu has multiple reasons, including wanting a really tangible success, which would be the return of the evacuated residents to the border region. hezbollah is performing remarkably well militarily, given the body blows that it has suffered at the hands of the israelis. but nonetheless, it wants an end to this, also

because within lebanon, support for hezbollah�*s actions, and keepin for hezbollah�*s actions, and keep in mind hezbollah started those hostilities on the 8th of october last year, it was not israel that started the sisterly teas, many in lebanon don't feel that this is their struggle. that this is their fight. and they are seeing their country devastated and it is already on the brink of economic collapse, for a cause thatis economic collapse, for a cause that is not lebanese. find economic collapse, for a cause that is not lebanese.— that is not lebanese. and with the us in _ that is not lebanese. and with the us in mind, _ that is not lebanese. and with the us in mind, we _ that is not lebanese. and with the us in mind, we are - the us in mind, we are expecting to see president trump take control of the white housein trump take control of the white house in january. trump take control of the white house injanuary. will there be a change in policy in how things are working out in the middle east? i things are working out in the middle east?— things are working out in the middle east? ~ ., middle east? i think we need to wait and see. _ middle east? i think we need to wait and see. clearly, _ middle east? i think we need to wait and see. clearly, if - middle east? i think we need to wait and see. clearly, if you - wait and see. clearly, if you go wait and see. clearly, if you 9° by wait and see. clearly, if you go by the first trump presidency, he gave israel and netanyahu everything that neta nyahu everything that netanyahu everything that netanyahu wanted. he won't necessarily do this in the second phase. ithink

necessarily do this in the second phase. i think one of the key things to look for is, what is his policy going to be towards iran? i think that you are going to see on the one hand, a reintroduction of the maximum pressure. but at the other hand, much like he thought he could do with north korea, he may believe that he is the one that can resolve the nuclear issue as well as the other issues, ballistic missiles, iran's non—state allies such as hezbollah. find allies such as hezbollah. and when must — allies such as hezbollah. and when must question - allies such as hezbollah. and when must question come up with this ceasefire seemingly close between israel and hezbollah, what of gaza and the relationship there? —— and one less question, with this ceasefire. i less question, with this ceasefire.— less question, with this ceasefire. ., �* ~' ceasefire. i don't think there is such a _ ceasefire. i don't think there is such a relationship, - ceasefire. i don't think there is such a relationship, as - ceasefire. i don't think there i is such a relationship, as much as hezbollah would like. simply because israel's will goals in lebanon are different from its war goals in gaza. in lebanon, it is about the security of the border —— war goals. these roles would like to totally

destroy hamas, but so be it if they don't as long as they move them away from the border and don't have hezbollah armed on the border. in gaza, it is very different. in gaza, they want to rewrite the political landscape. they want to destroy hamas. and of course, you have voices within the netanyahu government that see gaza as part of greater israel. james, thank you _ part of greater israel. james, thank you very _ part of greater israel. james, thank you very much. - part of greater israel. james, thank you very much. we - part of greater israel. james, thank you very much. we will leave it there. thank you for your insight. to the us now, where a federaljudge has dismissed a major case against donald trump that alleged he illegally sought to overturn the 2020 election. the president—elect was facing multiple separate criminal charges. it comes just hours after the chief prosecutor in the case, jack smith, asked for the case to be closed following donald trump's election victory. that's because of thejustice department's policy which bans the prosecution of a sitting president.

our north america editor sarah smith has more. the constitution says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted. but this was the first time america had had a president—elect who had already been indicted and was facing trial. but the justice department has decided that constitutional protection does apply to donald trump in this case as well. he had been facing four separate charges relating to january 6th, when he summoned his supporters here to washington and told them to fight againstjoe biden's victory, and that violent riot ensued here, at the capitol. but that case has been completely dismissed by the judge who was in charge of it. and in some other legal cases, the charges have been dropped for him hiding classified documents at his residence in mar—a—lago. and in the hush—money case, where he's already been convicted, that sentencing has been delayed indefinitely. so we can see since he has been re—elected, his legal troubles are pretty much melting away. his team have responded saying this is a major victory and that they want to see the end of the weaponisation

of the justice department for political means. but donald trump himself, during the campaign, said numerous times that he wanted to use thejustice department to prosecute and investigate the people he sees as his political enemies. so we'll see, once he takes office, whether or not there are going to be other cases coming up through the justice department that he wants to see prosecuted. richard painter is former chief white house ethics lawyerfor the george w bush administration — and now law professor at the university of minnesota. he explained the legal rationale behind the decision. it's important to realise that there is no provision in the united states constitution that says a sitting president is immune from criminal prosecution. this is a position that the justice department has taken as a matter of policy since 1973. and this is thejustice department's interpretation of the constitution under president nixon in 1973, under president clinton in 2019 — sorry, 1999 — and again, under president trump in 2019 and today,

but there's no provision in the us constitution or indeed constitutional history supporting this provision that a sitting president cannot be indicted or is taken to trial. it's really a matter of convenience or inconvenience for the president, thejustice department doesn't want to do it. there's also nothing in the constitution that says that a president is not criminally liable for his official acts. that was a decision at the us supreme court this summer. but putting those two together, we have very broad immunity for the president of the united states, whether or not the frameworks of our constitution intended it, and these cases are not going to go to trial. they very likely will never go to trial, even after president trump finishes his term. and this is not only a consequence of the re—election of donald trump, but of the decisions made in the department ofjustice back in 2021,

when many of us were urging that a special prosecutor to be appointed right away to deal with this case, particularly the insurrection of january 6th, and thejustice department waited almost two years, until november 2022, to appointjack smith. and it was a race against the clock. and thejustice department lost, the cases have now been dismissed. well, trump has always maintained, for his part, these cases against him were politically motivated. will this strengthen his case towards that thinking? no, jack smith was an independent prosecutor, appointed by the justice department, pursuant to the independent prosecutor rules, the same rules that were used to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate president biden's mishandling of classified documents. and also, hunter biden. we have independent prosecutors appointed pursuant to thejustice department rules for exactly these types of cases. robert mueller was an independent prosecutor.

so the idea that somehow, this is a political prosecution, at least on the federal side, was really flat out wrong. the state prosecutions of course were by elected district attorneys, those windows —— those were in different situations. but on the federal side, we have an independent prosecutor regulations and hopefully, the trump administration will continue to allow independent prosecutors to be appointed, whether it is to be appointed, whether it is to investigate people who may have committed crimes during the biden administration or during the trump administration. we absent you cannot have a politicisation, weaponisation of the justice department —— absolutely. no democracy can tolerate that kind of abuse in the highest levels of our government. that was richard — levels of our government. that was richard painter, _ levels of our government. that was richard painter, former chief white house ethics lawyer for the george w bush administration. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. thousands of protestors in pakistan have defied roadblocks and tear gas to continue their march to islamabad on tuesday. they're calling for the release ofjailed ex—prime minister imran khan, and the government to resign. at least one police oficer has been killed and nine others injured during clashes. there's tight security in the pakistani capital, which has, in effect, been sealed off by the authorities, as the march continues. hong kong's top court has upheld rulings granting housing and inheritance rights to same—sex couples. the court of final appeal sided against the government, which bought the appeals against the rulings, unanimously dismissing them. it marks the end of a six—year legal battle, started when one man took the government to court over a policy that excluded him and his partner from public rental housing, on the grounds they were not a "ordinary family". a new zealand citizen

who suffered suspected methanol poisoning in laoshas left the south—east asian nation and returned home, the government has told the bbc. the unnamed individual was one of a large group of backpackers that fell ill from suspected methanol poisoning after apparently drinking tainted alcohol. six tourists have died. let's turn our attention to the red sea now, where a search operation is under way to try to find 16 people after a luxury tourist yacht sank. 28 people have been rescued. tourists on board are from several countries including the uk and us. the boat capsized off the coast of egypt early monday morning. survivors say it hit a large wave. sally nabil, from bbc arabic, has more. the latest we have is a statement issued by the governor of the red sea, who said rescue operations are still under way to try and find 16 people who are missing, including four egyptians. he said that there were no technical errors behind this incident and that the boat carrying the tourists was safe.

initial reports suggest that bad weather might have been a factor. they quoted stories told by the survivors saying the boat was hit by huge waves overnight which caused it to capsize. we understand that investigations have already started to try and find out what exactly happened. there were four british people among the tourists on board, two are among those missing. the 28 people have been sent to a hotel in marsa alam, which is a very important location for the egyptian tourism industry. it's a popular destination for european tourists who go there for diving. so the question is, it's not just about the reasons behind the incident, but the repercussions might have on the tourism sector in egypt. to the uk now, and more heavy

rain is forecast over large parts of england and wales this week, as storm bert continues to cause major disruption. a major incident was declared in northamptonshire monday afternoon, as emergency services tried to rescuing some of the one thousand people left stranded in a holiday park. more than 100 flood warnings remain in place, including the severe warning meaning there's a danger to life. here's phil mackie with more. it's three days since storm bert arrived and it's still wreaking havoc. in northamptonshire, they've declared a major incident. a severe flood alert remains in place at billing aquadrome. it's the worst they've seen in a generation. this exceeds the amount of water that we saw in the 1998 floods, where northampton actually flooded quite severely, so it does need to be taken seriously. 1,000 people were told to evacuate and they won't be returning home soon. everybody had to get off site, and we've been sent to a leisure centre to see the council, who are just putting

people up on camp beds. i've literally been - on there about six months. and this is the second time. if you don't need to be in the water, don't go in the water... in bradford—on—avon, the river was supposed to peak this morning, but itjust kept getting higher. it left the town split in two and almost cut off. businesses are counting the cost. this is where they normally make wedding cakes. for now, they'll have to bake at home. crisis management at the moment is my forte, so that comes with working with wedding cakes, you can't muck up a wedding cake, can you? so you roll with the punches and deal with it, and then freak out about it once you've fixed it! well, i don't know if you can see, but that bubbling torrent of water over there is the river avon. it's now peaking at its highest level since 2013. somebody here said these are supposed to be one—in—100—year events and they're happening every ten years at the moment. and they're concerned about the people living above these shops. they can't get in or out, and they're worried

about their welfare. we've got some people up there, some flats, which are accessed the other side. they are actually trapped, they can't get out. we're just trying to get resources. it came up so quickly, many people didn't have time to get out. for a third day, travel has been very difficult. this school bus was stranded. pupils had to be rescued. some of the worst flooding came when a wall broke in tenbury wells yesterday, sending a wave of water through the town centre. today, police said they're investigating after a tractor created an even bigger wave, causing extensive damage. in bradford—on—avon, margaret, who's 90, was another one caught out by the rapidly rising waters. luckily, help was at hand. i watched the water creeping up and up and up, and finally, it was time for me to move, so they came and rescued me, which was very nice. for everyone involved in today's rescue efforts, it's been a long, hard and wet slog. phil mackie, bbc news,

bradford—on—avon. a bbc africa eye undercover investigation has exposed a fertility scam fuelling a black—market trade in babies in nigeria. doctors convince patients desperate to have a child that they suffer from a rare condition known as a "cryptic pregnancy". after paying large sums of money, they are handed babies which could only have been trafficked. yemisi adegoke. we're on a raid. these police say they're cracking down on brothels and child trafficking. the doors have padlocks on them. the police have been trying to kick them in, but they haven't been able to just yet. it's a really sort of maze of a house. lots of different rooms, lots of different compartments. the authorities say they're worried some of these brothels could be fuelling a lucrative fertility scam that's taking hold. it's called cryptic pregnancy. the term is a recognised medical condition, but its use

has been hijacked by sophisticated fraudsters in parts of nigeria, in a scam that preys on desperate couples struggling with fertility and supports an underground trade in newborn babies. a woman is convinced that if she visits a cryptic nurse or a doctor, she's going to get an injection, a tablet or a solution that she will drink. and after she goes home, she sleeps with her husband, she's going to get pregnant. my colleagues have spent months investigating this. the scammers convince women they're pregnant and only they can deliver the baby. incredibly, they claim the woman could be pregnant for years, while they wait for a rare and expensive drug to bring on the birth. your doctor will call you and say, come and give birth today. bbc africa eye went undercover for over a year to expose one woman running the scam. she's known as dr ruth.

for many of the people that come here, this is not their first time. some have given birth to their first and second child through us. her so—called treatment costs an initial 200 usd and consists of either an injection or a powder. if you want to do a sex selection, you need to take an injection. a month later, dr ruth tells our undercover reporter that she's pregnant. but an official pregnancy test confirms that this is not true. dr ruth has not responded to the allegations we've put to her. many of the women who go through the scam end up with a child, and they insist they have given birth. some say they are given an injection and told to push. others say they wake up with a caesarian—like incision. but where are the children really coming from? crypto pregnancy cannot exist

without child trafficking. - anybody that tells you you will have a child . through crypto - pregnancy is a liar. you are going to be i given another person's child, a trafficked child. adeobe, not her real name, was found pregnant and trapped in a facility running the scam. had she not been rescued, her baby would have ended up with another woman. i wouldn't have seen my baby. it would have broken my heart. until attitudes towards infertility change in nigeria, countless more children and women will continue to fall victim to scams like this. yemisi adegoke, bbc news, south—eastern nigeria. and you can watch the full bbc africa eye investigation — nigeria's miracle baby scammers — on bbc iplayer, if you're in the uk, or on the bbc africa youtube channel. before we go, president biden

has pardoned the last turkeys of his presidency, ahead of american thanksgiving. peach and blossom are now off to enjoy a life of retirement on a minnesota farm, after they were spared in a yearly white house tradition. turkey pardons date back to abraham lincoln in 1863. peach and blossom are particularly lucky — around 46 milion turkeys are eaten across the us over thanksgiving each year. hello there. monday was a much quieter day, but still high river levels, and there are still lots of flood warnings around. the majority of those

are affecting the midlands. but the wettest, windiest weather on monday was across scotland. here, we found the remnants of storm bert close by. but that's moving away into scandinavia, and as that clears through, so it's going to become drier overnight, the winds are dropping, the showers retreating back to westward coasts. and with some clear spells, temperatures could be down as low as two or three degrees early on tuesday morning, so a chillier start. scotland, on tuesday, will have some sunshine and some showers, those becoming more confined to the north. we've got a few showers to come for northern ireland and into north—west england. for many other parts of england and wales, it may well be dry. very few showers, more in the way of sunshine, and the winds will be lighter everywhere as well, but it may be a little bit chillier. temperatures ranging from around six degrees in the central belt to 10 or 11 along the south coast of england and wales. now, on tuesday night, looks like we've got more rain to come. this area of low pressure is developing and pushing wetter weather eastwards across the southern half of the uk. further north, mind you —

particularly into scotland, but perhaps in northern ireland and the far north of england — there's likely to be a frost on wednesday morning, and for much of the day, these areas will be dry, with some sunshine. we've got this rain, though, pushing eastwards, affecting the midlands, moving away from wales and the south—west, lingering around the wash. and we've got to keep an eye on this area because we may well find a deepening area of low pressure developing. as that happens, in the afternoon and through the evening, it could get very windy for a while across lincolnshire, east anglia and the south—east of england. away from here, the winds won't be as strong. a lot of dry weather and some sunshine in the afternoon, but temperatures only three degrees in glasgow and nine degrees in london. now, that area of low pressure then moves away quickly overnight. and before we see another big low out in the atlantic and some weatherfronts, this ridge of high pressure is going to build. and with clear skies and light winds, probably going to have a widespread slight frost on wednesday night, thursday morning. there could be some patches of mist and fog too.

don't think they're going to last too long, mind you. we're moving into a quieter spell of weather at the end of the week, as a southerly breeze picks up on friday, lifts the temperatures a bit by day and also by night.

an extra 10% tariff an extra 10% tariff on china, taxes on mexico on china, taxes on mexico and canada as well. and canada as well. we'll look at president we'll look at president elect donald trump's elect donald trump's latest economic plan. latest economic plan. have you wondered what have you wondered what

the world will look the world will look like in a century? like in a century? it's a museum experience in london, thanks to augmented reality. welcome to business today, i'm steve lai. let's begin in the us, where president elect donald trump has just said he plans to impose an additional 10% tariff on china. this is over the alleged inflow of drugs like fentanyl into the us. on social media, he said the new tariffs will come