live from london. this is bbc news. president trump suspends migrants�* entry into the united states from mexico, as over 1,000 us troops are sent to patrol the southern border. this was a gross miscarriage of common sense to allow people to come in, and i believe the number is 21 million people, and a large percentage of them are criminals. 18—year—old axel rudakubana is due to be sentenced after pleading guilty to murdering three girls in southport. thailand has become the first country in south—east asia to allow same—sex marriage. a fresh wildfire has taken ablaze north of los angeles, strecthing to an area of more than 9,000 acres.

coming up in business — talking trade — donald trump is set to address world leaders at davos today with the threat of further tariffs looming for america's economic rivals. hello, i'm sally bundock. president trump has signed an executive order closing the us—mexico border to migrants seeking �*physical of a swift crackdown on immigration. more than 1,000 troops are to be stationed along the southern border to help bolster homeland security. meanwhile, all travel taking refugees to the us has been suspended, including many who have already been given the right to come to america. new asylum applications have also been stopped. president trump said the biden administration is responsible for the chaos at the us—mexico border. he made those comments during his first sit

down interview since the inauguration with fox news's hannity programme. we have a lot of great people right now, a lot of great, great people on this situation. this was a gross miscarriage of common sense to allow people to come in, and i believe the number is 21 million people, and a large percentage of them are criminals. prisoners from all over the world have been emptied out into our country by biden, allowing it to happen. i don't even know if he knew what the hell was going on, but who would want this? i always say to people, you know, you always like to understand, like in a business, you want to understand the other side. why do they want something? you know, etc etc, and you figure it out. and there's usually an answer, almost always. i don't understand, why does somebody want open borders, where... and they say the vote. but i did well with the hispanic vote, if you're looking at hispanic. they say they do it because they want to, think they're going to stay in power, it's going to be

better for democrats. i don't really believe that. besides that, they cheat so much, they don't have to do that. they cheat so well, they're very good at cheating. the only thing they're good at really is cheating. but here's the thing i ask, why would somebody say that open borders are good, where jails and mental institutions from other countries and gang members right off the streets of the toughest cities in the world, are being brought to the united states of america and emptied out into our country? why would anybody that even likes, you don't have to love our country, you have to like it, why would anybody that likes our country, the democrats, allow that to happen? and even now, i watch them on television, they're trying to justify it. you can't justify it. the only reason it can be is two reasons, you're stupid, and i don't think they're stupid. i think anybody that cheats that much and that well is not stupid. you're either stupid or you hate the country. those are the only two reasons. let's speak to our north america correspondent

merlyn thomas. that was quite a broad interview touching on quite a few different issues but if we focus on immigration, tell us more about what the president has announced. 50. more about what the president has announced.— has announced. so, president donald trump _ has announced. so, president donald trump was _ has announced. so, president donald trump was speaking i has announced. so, president - donald trump was speaking about one of his favourite topics, immigration, and he has really set the scene on the first few days of his administration. and he talked about several countries and how they were responsible for flooding the us with immigrants, and he didn't provide any evidence for those claims, he singled out venezuela, he singled out congo, but didn't provide any evidence for those claims. this really hammered home some of the talking points that we have heard him make in campaign rallies, on the campaign trail, and this is again clearly setting the scene for what doing at the moment which is we have seen a slew of executive orders cracking down on immigration, most recently we have seen him announce a national emergency at the southern border with mexico,

and even more recently than that we have seen he ordered the pentagon to deploy over 1500 troops on active duty officers to go to the southern border and help out with logisticaljobs. that involves things like building physical barriers. that's different to the border wall we see in photos and videos, this is physical barriers used to stop people from physically walking over the border into the us. as well he has announced that there will be aircraft support to help support the deportation of undocumented migrants as well. and he specifically singled out states like texas and california as well. that is illegal immigration. we have also seen him crack on legal routes to migrate to the us as well. �* , . ~ routes to migrate to the us as well. �*, ., ~ ., ., well. let's talk about that, because — well. let's talk about that, because refugee _ well. let's talk about that, because refugee travel- well. let's talk about that, because refugee travel to l well. let's talk about that, i because refugee travel to the us is now suspended as well. and so for many, notably in afghanistan where they had the

papers signed come the documents ready, they were going to board planes to america, they can no longer. yes, this is the refugee admission programme, and he signed an executive order to suspend that programme from next monday. and so that is basically in force now, which means those people who have already had their papers vetted and who have already been approved, who have gone through the very rigorous process for this kind of programme, will now be left in limbo and will now be left in limbo and will no longer be able to come to the us. those include refugees from afghanistan, some of them cooperated and were associated with the us during the somewhat criticised withdrawal from the us in afghanistan in 2021 which president donald trump has been a big critic of as well. because that was under president biden�*s watch. to be clear, this is a legal pathway into the us, a legalform of

immigration but this is another way that president donald trump is making good to his promises on his voters that he would crackdown on immigration of all sorts, whether that be legal or illegal. earlier masih fouladi, who is the executive director of the california immigrant policy center, gave me his assessment of donald trump's latest executive order. the trump administration wants to shut down asylum. it's very clear that all of this is politically driven. it's not driven by data. it's not driven for the best interests of the country. it really is to come through on his promises to his base, to really demonise the immigrant community, immigrant community that has contributed so much to the country. and california is a great example of that. because of immigrants in california, we are the fifth largest economy in the world, and i think we are a proof of concept of the value that immigrant communities not only bring to the economy, but to culture and to innovation.

and talk us through what the implications of this are, especially when it comes to refugees who have got the right paperwork, who were expected to arrive in america to start a new life, many of them coming from afghanistan. again, it's classic trump playbook of, really demonising people who are seeking safety and refuge and asylum. and honestly, people that we as a country have made promises to. there have been over 1500 afghans who have had their flights cancelled. these are individuals that 20 years ago when we went into afghanistan, we promised them that we would keep them safe and that we would provide a home for them if that came to be. and now the country is going back on its promise. and so as america wants to be a leader in the world, we need to keep our promises. and eliminating refugee resettlement is an example of us not doing that. but essentially for for

refugees, for migrants. the us is now shut down. is that correct? that's correct. he has placed a four month ban for refugees. he did this last time around as well. and then he reduced the number of refugees coming into the country significantly, essentially eliminating the programme. president trump has also been justifying his decision to pardon more than 1500 supporters who stormed the us capitol building onjanuary 6th 2021. up until a few days ago many within the trump administration did not know the scale of what the president was planning. what we got was a near blanket pardoning with around a dozen people having their sentences commuted. mr trump had described the punishments as "ridiculous and excessive", but did admit that those who had attacked law enforcement officers needed to be held to account. one of those whose sentence

was commuted is the founder of the far—right 0ath keepers' group stewart rhodes. he was being held in a federal correctional institute in maryland, when clemency was handed down. he had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for sedition. my colleague christian fraser has been following the story and spoke to him. do you still lead the 0ath keepers? well, ijust got out of prison and we'll see what the future holds. i'm here today on capitol hill. actually, i was here today, first at dcjail, advocating for the other brothers of mine who have not yet been released from dcjail despite having been pardoned. it's ridiculous that they're waiting two or three days now to be turned loose when i was let loose monday night at midnight, you know. so i'm very grateful to president trump. i think he did the right thing. president trump has has unwound and rewound the lawfare, but it continues right now. these men are being being unjustly held. they're being falsely imprisoned. can we just be clear, were you given a pardon?

no, i was given a commutation of sentence. so you're still guilty of sedition? i applied for a pardon and i'm confident that i'll receive one. so you're still guilty of sedition? i'm still considered, yeah, i was found guilty in a jury trial, which was a very biased jury trial made up of people that were drawn, the jury was drawn from the victim pool in dc. multiple judges described the dc people as the victim of january 6th. and yet they insisted on pulling the jury from that pool of people they allege are the victims. it's very much as if you were accused of robbing a shop, and then you had the people who worked in the shop or were in the shop that day on the jury. it's ridiculous... which is a point that donald trump made... which is a point donald trump made from the oval office. but if i read you some of the evidence that you gave to the fbi, how should a jury interpret this? you said, "my only regret is they should have brought rifles. we should have brought rifles. we should have fixed it right there and then. i'd hang nancy pelosi from the lamp post." i was frustrated that president trump had not invoked the insurrection act. i wanted him to use his unrestricted and plenary

power to declassify any of the secrets held by the cia, nsa, fbi, etc of the corruption. that's how they protect the people in dc, the corrupt establishment. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

the 18—year—old who pleaded guilty to murdering three young girls in southport last summer will be sentenced later today. axel rudakubana also pleaded guilty to attempting to kill eight other children and two adults when he appeared in court earlier this week. some of the families of the victims are expected to be at today's hearing at liverpool crown court. 0ur correspondent nick garnett reports.

six—year—old bebe king, elsie dot stancombe, who was seven, and nine—year—old alice aguiar. murdered in southport last summer in a tragedy which led to a wave of sympathy and sadness. southport is a small seaside town. everyone here has a connection to someone who was at the dance class at the beginning of the summer holidays. sarah was hoping her daughter would be there. it filled up very, very quickly as of course it would do, so niamh was down on the waiting list, but she wasn't there. and you know, i guess i'll be forever grateful for that, but also absolutely devastated that there are young people who are not here. and thatjust doesn't seem fair. axel rudakubana was arrested with the weapon in his hand, but refused to admit he carried out the attack. but then, this monday, with the trial about to start, he told his lawyers he was changing his plea. as well as the murders, he admitted trying to kill eight of the children and two adults, possession of a knife,

manufacturing the biotoxic agent ricin and downloading an al-qaeda training manual — a terror offence. it is clear that this was a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence. he has shown no signs of remorse. us, as a community, and, of course, the families had psyched themselves up for the trial, which was going to be really, really challenging. so relief. but anger and, of course, obviously, we've now got to sit and wait for the sentencing. and then the real shock. he was known to the services, ithink, has really hit us as well. there's some anger around that for sure. whether rudakubana could have been stopped will be the focus of a public inquiry. finally unmasked. we wait to hear what sentence he'll serve for his crimes. nick garnett, bbc news. in thailand, hundreds of same—sex couples are tying the knot as a new law recognising

marriage equality comes into force. thailand is the first country in southeast asia, and only the third in the continent, to allow lgbtq people to get married. the prime minister has described it as an historic day where the love of everyone is legally recognised with honour and dignity. here's our south east asia correspondent, jonathan head. they came in costumes of every hue and colour, hoping to be among the first same sex couples to get official recognition of their unions. around 200 couples joined this mass wedding in the somewhat impersonal setting of bangkok's busiest shopping mall. lining up for the simple one page document that shows they are now legally married. thailand has long been famous for its tolerance of different sexual identities. most lgbtq couples have been able to live quite openly for many years.

but what those who've been campaigning for equal marriage have been saying all along is that tolerance is not the same as equal rights. and what they're celebrating here today is that for the first time, they have the same rights as everyone else. raya and tammy have been together for just a year. it hasn't been easy for tammy's family in particular to accept their relationship, but they say the change in the law has really helped. it makes the world know that thailand is a developed country and we are proud to present lgbtq that we have equal rights to others. we're not different. everyone deserves the same. love is the same. love has no condition. tell me what your families think about you getting married today.

i think we're proud of us because we believe in 17 years before and we grow up together. it's taken many years of lobbying, marching, sometimes protesting to get this law through parliament. in that time, attitudes in thailand have shifted to a point today where equal marriage enjoys very wide public support. but thailand is an outlier in this region. in so many other asian countries, because of religion, tradition, or the simple lack of political freedom, equal marriage is still a very distant hope. jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok. kyoka shodladd is an lgbtq activist who was on the country s marriage equality bill select committee. they explained what today means to them.

there's a lot of people here, notjust celebrities, politicians and couples that are getting married. there's just a lot of people from the community coming together, and it'sjust an exciting day today. you've been campaigning for a long time to get to this point. talk us through the journey. well, first of all, i would say i started as a young youth activist. started with climate climate activism. but then one day i started to work on gender related topics and then came in to do bangkok pride. and then, about a year later, i was on the select committee for the marriage equality bill and was in the committee with the house of representatives and the senate for over six months last year. so what needs to happen now? you've got this marriage equality bill gone through. well, the law, as it were. couples can get married, which, as jonathan explained, is really important

for lots of reasons. but what's next? well, first of all, this is such a huge step that we've made this progress. but what we have to work on will definitely be the parental section of this bill. regarding to founding a family, because our proposal of amending the language from father and mother to father, mother and first intended parent didn't go through. that is why we will have to focus on that. for everyone to have the right to found their own families. and later on, we will also have to work on the gender recognition bill and so much more. a fresh, fast—moving wildfire has taken ablaze north of los angeles, as the city tries to comes to terms with the destruction that hit the city two weeks ago. the hughes fires has quickly taken hold of a large area near lake castaic, strecthing to an area of more than 9,000 acres. evacuation orders have been put

in place for tens of thousands of people with dense smoke being seen across a wide area. 0ur correspondent in los angeles, peter bowes gave this update on the hughes fire. this is a very familiar situation. extremely dry brush, tinder dry hillsides, there's been no rain here for months and strong winds. that perfect storm scenario that meant that this fire that started to the north of castaic lake spread extremely rapidly, like so many of the other fires that we've seen in the los angeles area over the last couple of weeks. thousands of people had to be evacuated from their homes, mostly in communities to the south of castaic lake. many others had to be put on to evacuation warnings, meaning that they had to be prepared to leave their homes at a moment's notice if they were told to do that. now, the firefighters say they are beginning to get the upper hand. they're not out of the woods

yet, and the warnings for the next at least 2a, 36 hours in terms of the weather and the winds are not positive. the red flag warning meaning expect extremely strong winds, that has been extended into friday. but then at the weekend, the los angeles area is expecting some rain. it would be the first rain for months. just a sprinkling of rain, it won't be a heavy downpour, but it could significantly assist the firefighters as they tackle this blaze and continue to get the other fires around los angeles completely under control. the world's biggest iceberg, which is twice the size of greater london, has broken away from antarctica and is approaching the british territory of south georgia, home to large penguin and seal colonies. fishermen and government are bracing for impact. but it's also an opportunity for scientists to study how giant icebergs affect the environment. georgina rannard has this report. this is the world's largest iceberg and

probably the laziest. for decades, it loitered, stuck in antarctica. but one day in december, a23a finally broke free. now captured in satellite pictures, it is speeding into iceberg alley, a place where icebergs go to die. but here, right in its path lies the british territory of south georgia. i will take you out the door. ice is a way of life for sailors and fishermen there. but they can't ignore something the size of a23a. there's an iceberg over that way. you have to have a very healthy respect for the ice. because if you don't, it will get you. it can come out of nowhere and you get something the size of a23 when it comes along, and it deposits these thousands of tonnes of ice. theyjust kind of hang around the island. and it does, does make things a lot more tricky. the chunks could also block coves where these go to feed, putting half the world's king penguins and millions of seals at risk.

but in danger, there is opportunity. last year, british researchers on this ship seized the chance to visit a23a. it's a really amazing experience. it's unlike anything that i've ever seen before and just kind of see a massive wall that is way higher than you are now. it's really difficult to get up close to the world's largest iceberg, but i think i found the next best thing and i have to handle these really carefully. but in here is water that melted straight off the giant iceberg. in this lab, scientists are finding out how icebergs affect the ocean's carbon cycle. it's unlikely that a23a was caused by climate change because it calved a long time ago in 1986. but as climate change progresses and the ice sheets become more unstable, more giant icebergs will form. so being able to see icebergs like this giant iceberg and study them allows us to understand the impact that they're going to have on the ocean and everything around them, the wildlife, the islands, and kind of the earth as we know it.

in south georgia, the battle with the ice rages on, and there on the horizon, the big one lurks, closing in on the fragile island. georgina rannard, bbc news. next, the business, all of the top business stories and is ever what president trump has been saying and doing in recent hours is live page summing up all of this going on if you have been sweeping for example, if you are waking up across europe, it talks about that donald trump was giving a very wide ranging interview with fox news network. and in that he downplayed the threat of the social media tiktok app. he downplayed the threat of it being used by the chinese government to spy on its users. we also talked a lot about his immigration policy, he is addressing davos, the world economic forum to daylight

later, we will be talking about all of those things next on business today. hello. the weather is certainly turning a lot livelier over the next couple of days. thursday bringing some wind and rain. but for friday, storm eowyn. and so this met office amber warning with the risk of 90 mile per hour wind gusts in some parts of the uk. now, that storm is developing right now in the atlantic. this is the satellite picture from a little earlier on, and you can see this stripe of cloud and just the beginnings of a hook appearing in that cloud as that area of low pressure begins to form and it is going to strengthen, it is going to deepen rapidly as it approaches the uk, arriving and moving across the north of the uk during the day on friday. more on that in a moment. we start with thursday's forecast, which brings this band of rain eastwards, some snow developing over high

ground in the north of scotland as that wet weather arrives. some very windy weather around the coasts of wales, the south and the southwest of england. gusts of 50 or 60mph here. some sunny skies following from the southwest as the day wears on. temperatures around five to nine degrees in most places. now during thursday night, that first band of rain clears. but then here comes storm eowyn. this swirl of wet and windy weather, we're going to see some really very, very strong winds indeed across the republic of ireland. but those winds at that core of really strong winds is likely to migrate northwards and eastwards. and so we have our met office amber warning, these are the areas covered by that amber warning. inland spots seeing gusts of 60 to 70mph. some coasts and hills 80 to 90mph. and in fact, it is possible that some very exposed spots could see winds even stronger than that. pretty unusual for the uk. and then we also have widespread gales even away from that amber warning area. yellow warnings covering other parts of the uk. also some outbreaks of rain,

some snow for a time up towards the north. and those temperatures will, i think they'll be the least of our worries, but actually a little bit milder down towards the south now as we head through friday night. 0ur area of low pressure, our storm gradually pulls northwards. still very, very windy you'll notice in the north of scotland for a time on saturday, further gales to come here. another weather system pushing in from the west bringing rain, some snow for some of us. and then actually through sunday and into next week, it looks like we could see more wet and windy weather.

talking trade — donald trump is set to address world leaders at davos today with the threat of further tariffs looming for america's economic rivals. fightingfor the farmers! tesco, aldi, and lidl warn the uk government's inheritance tax could put the country's food security at risk. and it's national pie day! we'll tell you why the industry is fighting back against falling sales and is determined pie and mash stays on the menu. live from london this is business today, i'm sally bundock. so let's get down to business and once again the headlines are dominated by president donald trump. later this afternoon

he'll be addressing global leaders at davos — virtually — and many