hello and welcome. i'm sally bundock. we start with breaking news from the us state of wisconsin. police say the suspect in a school shooting was a 15—year—old girl. a teacher and a student were killed, and the attacker took her own life. only 3% of mass shootings in the us have been carried out by women or girls. the police chief in the city of madison said the alarm was raised by a pupil who was just seven

or eight years old. shootings are no rarity in this country which enshrines the right to bear arms in its constitution but shooters carried out by females are extremely rare. —— shootings. 15—year—old natalie who went by the name is samantha was a student at the small, privately run christian school in madison, wisconsin, about three hours into the school day officials say. she opened fire classroom, killing a teacher and one of her fellow students before turning the gun on herself. officials say she died on the way to hospital. police are attempting to determine a motive for the attack. they say the girl's parents are cooperating with their enquiries and they have also

revealed the first call to the emergency services warning them of the bloodshed unfolding at the school came from a pupil in what is known as a second grade. that is pupils between the ages of seven and eight years old. two other students are said to be in a critical condition in hospital tonight with potentially life—threatening injuries. president biden has called the incident shocking and unconscionable and has called for tougher gun control laws to be passed by congress but previous such calls have gone nowhere thanks largely to the influence of the very powerful lobby group the nra, national rifle association, so among the many unanswered questions tonight, what prompted a 15—year—old girl to open fire on her classmates and how was somebody not legally old enough to own a weapon able to get

access to a gun and bring it to the classroom? more breaking news now. a strong 7.3—magnitude earthquake has struck the pacific island nation of vanuatu with early reports of damage to several buildings in the capital, port vila. among them were a structure housing the american and french embassies. there've also been reports of landslides. the us only opened its embassy in port vila injuly as it tussles for influence in the pacific with china. we are keeping a close eye on that situation, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake striking yannawah to. we will keep a close eye on what happens and develops a hammock. —— there.

donald trump has held a meeting with the chief executive of tiktok just over a month before the social media platform is due to be banned in the us if its chinese owners fail to sell it to an american buyer. during his first term, mr trump supported the ban, but has changed his mind after it became clear the apps appeal to young voters helped his recent re—election. we will take a look at tiktok. i have a warm spot in my heart for tiktok because i won the youth by 3a points and there are those that say tiktok has something to do with it. joe rogan did and some hours the other people that were wrecker rendered —— recommended by my son baron. tell me you estate? dad, icannot by my son baron. tell me you estate? dad, i cannot believe you do not know. let's speak to taylor lorenz, a tech and culture journalist and the author of the book extremely online: the untold story of fame, influence and power on the internet. good to see you again. give us your take on this latest shift

towards may be trying to have an influence on this ban of tiktok that will supposedly kick in the day before he is inaugurated?— kick in the day before he is inau:urated? , , inaugurated? exactly. this ban is set to take _ inaugurated? exactly. this ban is set to take effect _ inaugurated? exactly. this ban is set to take effect very - is set to take effect very soon. this ban was passed into law, so it is being challenged in the courts now. they lost their last case so it would have to go to the supreme court. it is unclear if it would hear it. if terrorists —— that it will go into effect on january 19 so it would be up to up january 19 so it would be up to up to trump to do something and i think it is quite up in the airas to what i think it is quite up in the air as to what he will do and how he will do it. the president cannotjust willy—nilly overturn laws passed by congress, so there are several avenues i think he is looking at. he are several avenues i think he is looking at.— is looking at. he isn't president _ is looking at. he isn't president yet, - is looking at. he isn't president yet, he - is looking at. he isn't president yet, he is l is looking at. he isn't - president yet, he is present a lecture, and his inauguration is onjanuary 20 but he did

have at his mar—a—lago is state yesterday the chief executive of bite dance, who clearly, they are getting closer, the relationship etc, which is the way donald trump likes to operate, so we wonder what might happen. more than 170 million users in the us, an enormous market. absolutely and think of the _ enormous market. absolutely and think of the small _ enormous market. absolutely and think of the small business - think of the small business owners, a key constituent. they lean republican. there could be a huge blow to the economy. tiktok khan tributes billions of dollars to gdp. it is estimated small business owners could lose over $1 billion because it is popular, and e—commerce platform as much as a social platform. tiktok is viewing this something is a hail mary will stop it has not gone the way they wanted in the

courts. i think they are hoping to make inroads with trump and other republicans. other republicans, however, are not that supportive over the overturning of the ban. a lot of republicans who pushed for the ban in the first place in congress but trump will do whatever he wants, he doesn't really... whatever he wants, he doesn't reall , really... the band the usa is as important _ really... the band the usa is as important protect - really... the band the usa is as important protect its - as important protect its national security. the argument is bite dance make is in collaboration with the chinese state, something it has always denied and it has always said it will not sell the us arm of tiktok as is the order of the law, isn't it yes, and there is zero proof of the allegations. it went through with zero smoking gun. they are making a lot of theoretical projections about what could happen but this ban also does not protect china from getting our data. we have zero conference of data

privacy in this country, we have not passed data privacy reform so you can banning tiktok tomorrow in china can buyjust as much data from other third—party vendors in the us so it is not clear this ban would achieve what a of people wanted it to achieve. it definitely is also a speech concern. generally, tiktok is a place where people go as you mentioned to express their political beliefs and a lot of those people are trump supporters. those people are trump sweden-— those people are trump su orters. ., ~' ,, , those people are trump su orters. ., ~ , . supporters. thank you very much ta [or supporters. thank you very much taylor lorenz. — supporters. thank you very much taylor lorenz, with _ supporters. thank you very much taylor lorenz, with her— supporters. thank you very much taylor lorenz, with her take. - taylor lorenz, with her take. we will have more on business today. 110w now let's bring you some of the other daisies. —— let's get some of the day's other news now. the us state department and ukraine say that north korean soldiers have been killed during combat in russia's kursk region. the deaths are

the first reported since washington and kyiv announced that pyongyang had sent thousands of troops to russia to help it in its war efforts. thousands of people have again been holding anti—government protests in the georgian capital, tbilisi. it follows the decision to freeze moves towards joining the european union. protesters are also calling for fresh parliamentary elections. it's the 19th straight day of demonstrations. the white house insists that all drones spotted around the northeastern united states have been operating lawfully. the fbi has in recent days received thousands of tips over drone sightings. the agency said barely 100 were deemed worthy of investigation. the post office inquiry into the horizon it scandal finally draws to a close today 2.5 years after it started. it's heard evidence from nearly 300 witnesses and dealt with a quarter of a million documents to try to get to the bottom of one of the biggest miscarriages ofjustice in the uk.

the de facto syrian leader, ahmed al—sharaa, has told a visiting british envoy that international sanctions against damascus must be lifted. he told ann snow that it was important to end restrictions so displaced syrians could return. britain is among a handful of countries to have sent delegations to the syrian capital since rebels ousted the assad regime just over a week ago. with me is said shehata from bbc arabic. good morning. tell us more about this, the western delegations that have been in damascus. delegations that have been in damascu— delegations that have been in damascus. �* a _ . , damascus. inaudible by the west to talk with the — damascus. inaudible by the west to talk with the current _ to talk with the current administration because even hts or hayat tahrir al—sham was described as a terrorist organisation in countries, but it is a reality. it controls

more or less with other militant groups. —— ahmed al—sharaa. they say before anthony blinken, the foreign secretary and david lammy inaudible no talk about lifting them from the terrorist list. £15 million was announced for syria in humanitarian aid. there are attempts to open and forget the past hours hayat tahrir al—sham for the sake of the syrians. syrian owned, syrian lead and to be inclusive of government so talk to encourage this current administration to take syria from what it has been through over the last few years or 50 years from operation and torture and that stuff to a new era and that should be supported by the international

community. supported by the international community-— supported by the international communi . . _ ., , community. the many challenges facina community. the many challenges facin: the community. the many challenges facing the new— community. the many challenges facing the new government - - facing the new government — what is the latest? facing the new government - what is the latest?— what is the latest? first of all the economy _ what is the latest? first of all the economy and - what is the latest? first of all the economy and the i what is the latest? first of| all the economy and the de facto leader said all sanction should be lifted in syria with them, the designation of hts as a terrorist group. in addition, the militant groups, the right hands of them is, the army supported by turkiye, syrian democratic forces supported by the united states, the islamic state, the southern faction in the south and control part of damascus and other groups on the mediterranean sea, many factions. the minister of defence will dissolve all of these factions. will he be able to do that? how can we because there are tens of them in every group have splintered subgroups. in addition, the 22, 54 subgroups. in addition, the 22,

5a security council resolution because (unknown term) said it should be reviewed to reflect the new reality without detailing what it means, but the resolution is clear about in six months to be a government inclusive, not the current government inaudible until march. after that you write a constitution within 18 months and have fair elections, fair and free elections for a democratic syria in the future. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

president emmanuel macron has said he'll travel to the french indian ocean territory of mayotte in the coming days after it was hit by a powerful cyclone. rescue teams continue to search for survivors as hundreds are feared dead. widespread damage to infrastructure — with downed power lines and impassable roads —

is severely hindering emergency operations. let's speak to mark howden, who is the director of the institute for climate, energy and disaster solutions at the australian national university. it is hard to imaginejust how challenging it is on the ireland currently given what they have been through. absolutely. it sounds like a serious disaster with massive damage and loss of life. a terrible thing to see it is making it difficult to get the emergency aid required to find survivors because even the airport, infrastructure severely damaged. that is right. what we have learned is to have team standing by ready for very rapid inaudible once the cyclone has passed so

having people and material ready to go is an increasingly important part of the response. in terms of looking at what happened here, we have had a few days now to digest the cyclone, its impact on mayotte in particular. what factors contributed to the devastation would you say?— would you say? there are multiple _ would you say? there are multiple things _ would you say? there are multiple things but - would you say? there are multiple things but a - would you say? there arej multiple things but a core would you say? there are - multiple things but a core one is climate change but before we go to climate change it is important to recognise this part of the southwest indian ocean has a history of very intense and damaging cyclones. a big slab of the world record rainfall occurs in this part of the world, reunion island, mauritius, the camorra silence and as one example the world record rainfall over three inaudible occurred at reunion island not far away so history of severe storms because of the warm water conditions experienced around here but what has happened with climate

change is the waters are warmer than they used to be, providing more energy for cyclones and under circumstances they can build up very quickly. —— island. what we are seeing are longer cyclone tracks. this started in the central part of the indian ocean and travelled all the way to africa. we also seen more rapid intensification seen more rap