live from london. this is bbc news. president trump sends 1500 troops to the us—mexico border, in a move to crack down on illegal immigration. 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. the teenager who murdered three girls in southport last summer will be sentenced later. he's also admitted attempting to murder eight other children and two adults. a fresh wildfire has taken hold north of los angeles. more than 30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate. and the world's biggest iceberg has broken away from antarctica and is approaching

the island of south georgia, home to large penguin and seal colonies. 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 catherine byaruhanga. us president donald trump is sending 1,500 troops to the mexican border to boost security as he moves to crack down on illegal immigration. the news came after mr trump gave his first television interview since re—entering the white house. 0ur north america correspondent merlyn thomas has the details. mr president. thank you. welcome back. thank you very much. donald trump began his interview with fox news speaking about his favourite topic — immigration.

this was a gross miscarriage of common sense to allow people to come in. this is notjust south america. this isn't, you know... we talk venezuela. that's a big abuser. but these are countries from, these are... iran, syria. countries that you don't even think of. the congo has emptied their prisons out into the united states. for him, it was an opportunity to repeat many of the unverified claims he's made before. it follows an announcement that the pentagon is deploying more than 1,500 troops to the us—mexico border to beef up resources, as well as providing air support to help deport undocumented migrants from states like california and texas. while he's going full speed ahead with the executive orders cracking down on illegal immigration, the president has also been on the defensive — standing by his decision to pardon nearly 1,600 of the january 6th rioters. why did they get a pardon? a number of reasons. number one, they were in there for three and a half years, a long time.

and, in many solitary confinement, treated like nobody�*s ever been treated, so badly. they were treated like the worst criminals in history. and you know what they were there for? they were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged. despite the attention his own pardons received, he was quick to turn the tables on president biden, who controversially pardoned his family members on his last day in office. the precedent that he set on pardons is amazing. that's a much bigger story, but people don't like talking about it. he pardoned everybody, but he didn't pardon himself. aside from issuing executive orders and pardons, trump is also considering what to do about tiktok. the social media platform's time is running out as it faces a ban in america over alleged national security concerns because of its chinese parent company. but donald trump doesn't seem so worried. we have our telephones made in china for the most part. we have so many things made in china, so why

don't they mention that? you know. the interesting thing with tiktok, though, is you're dealing with a lot of young people. they love it. is it that important for china to be spying on young people, on young kids, watching crazy videos, on things? trump's first week has been incredibly busy and he's not done yet. in a few days, he'll visit california, a state deeply affected by wildfires that are still raging. some of the wealthiest, most powerful people lost their homes, and it looked like our country was helpless. this fire was just raging. and then it would catch to another area. another area, another area. there was nothing. it took a week and a half and i've never seen anything like it. we looked so weak. trump supporters have been pleased with their president's actions so far, and they're not done hearing from him yet. as fox tv presenter sean hannity revealed, there's a part two of this

interview still to come later on thursday. earlier on, our reporter mimi swaby explained a bit more about what's happening at the border and she told us about the mexican government's response. the border is closed, there is a state of emergency announced and no one has crossed, but thousands of migrant are stranded after president trump closed down the cbp one entry programme, an app where hundreds of thousands of migrants could schedule an appointment to make their asylum case. now they are stranded with uncertainty. this is as 1500 troops are making their way to the border to put up physical barriers, as well as mass deportation flights looming, so a lot of panic and uncertainty at this border with many people unsure where to go next. the mexican government has not taken this measure particularly well. however talks between mexico and the us have already begun with immigration being a central point. mexico's president claudia sheinbaum said on wednesday that the foreign affairs

minister and the secretary of state marco rubio have had a phone conversation which largely focused on immigration and security matters. it was supposed to be cordial and part of an ongoing conversation, however the mexican president has said that they will collaborate with the us but not subordinate to it, this is the key point that she has emphasised many times. it's important to note that mexico has not agreed to trump's policy that asylum seekers wait in mexico while their claim is processed, for this to work like many other of trump's policies, mexico needs to be in agreement and play ball but at the moment that is still in question. the 18—year—old who pleaded guilty to murdering three young

girls in southport in the north west of england last summer will be sentenced later today. axel ruda—kubana 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. more from liverpool crown court when that sentencing takes place on bbc news. hundreds of same—sex weddings have been taking place in thailand this morning after the country's long—awaited equal marriage law came into effect. the legislation gives members of the lgbt community the same rights as heterosexual couples to share assets and adopt children. i am in essentially an enormous conference room in a shopping centre, which seems an unlikely

place for romantic events like weddings but the city government organises with lgbtq activists to accommodate more than 100 couples who wanted to come and get married at the first possible opportunity. very much in the public gaze here but this is meant to be a celebration marking this legal milestone and an important one for many couples, some of them have been together for a long time, sometimes more than two decades and finally they are able to get legal status as any other couple, to pass on property they own together, to make health decisions, and plan families, all these things are possible. thailand is in many ways a pioneer, only the third country after nepal and taiwan to offer equal marriage, and is the only one in southeast asia. many people thought that this was always going to happen in thailand because of its easy—going approach for a long time towards diverse sexual identity but it has been a difficult legal battle to get this law through so there is a sense of achievement and celebration today that they had got there.

what does this mean for thailand with this culture and relationships within families, with this legislation taking place? for many of the couples the fact that they can now have the state sanctioning their relationship does help, sometimes with their immediate families, even in thailand where there is broad acceptance, it's sometimes difficult forfamilies to accept same—sex marriages. 0ften parents have got hopes for conventional heterosexual marriages so that is difficult. but also wider communities as well, the point has been made that while there is broad tolerance, full acceptance is much easier when you can say, the law respects my relationship as it does anyone else�*s. it also shows that thailand is now broadly accepting of this kind of diversity, and it was not always. there was a huge political consensus for this law to pass, very little opposition to it. it's the reason it has now come through,

political parties know that this is popular, the public at large now broadly accept that this is a right that everybody should have. and it is an outlier in this region. other countries in southeast asia have religious prohibition, particularly islamic countries, orjust because they have very conservative official cultures. china and vietnam both run by communist parties, in theory have no objection to this but in practice, there is very little progress on equal marriage. activists are not allowed to campaign there so thailand still in many ways a beacon of hope for those in the lgbtq community and the broader region. paisarn likhitpreecha kun is an lgbtq plus rights activist in thailand — earlier i asked him what this day means for his community. well, this is one of those days that makes me feel proud to be thai and i would like to congratulate the couples that will be tying the knot in

the days coming and months and years, i hope this legislation will be good for them in terms of equal right treatment and respect so congratulations. congratulations indeed for the happy couples as well. thailand has faced many challenges when it comes to human rights generally, what do you think has changed when it came to lgbtq rights? well, after the coup d'etat of 2014, a lot of human rights have been suppressed, including the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. however, lgbt rights were an exception, because they were not seen as a threat to the power. however, even though there were efforts to try to pass this marriage equality law during that time, it didn't come to fruition.

effectively the coup d'etat set back thailand's clock for nine years derailing and delaying this marriage equality until now. it was only at the return of democracy two years ago that the efforts have been built up again, and the huge political consensus that came to fruition today. so there is a lot of work that has been done in the past decade or two that paved the way to today's momentous moment. but also i would like to congratulate all lgbt activists and allies, also politicians who have made this possible. but even though this marriage equality has become reality, there is still a lot to be done especially in terms of passing the gender recognition law, reaffirming

the rights of trans genders who have always been part of thai society. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

the first three days of donald trump's second term as us president have been marked by a high—profile signal of political intent. he's issued executive orders on everything from deploying troops to stop immigrants crossing the southern border, to scrapping government equality and diversity programmes and withdrawing the us from the world health organization. john sudworth has been to the town of kenosha in wisconsin to find out what americans make of it all so far. the county of kenosha helped send donald trump to the white house. like elsewhere in america, his victory here, fuelled by economic grievance, was a narrow one. a divided town in a divided nation.

in frank's diner, some won't even talk about politics. we're a few days into a trump administration. what do you think, casey? about what? trump so far. 0h, let's not go there. let's not go there. i don't really have much of an opinion on that one. we're going to leave it at that one. residents here know the cost of division. in 2020, the police shooting of a black man triggered three nights of violent protest. and i guess this was instrumental in getting... scott carpenter's furniture store was burned down. five years on, he thinks it's no accident that the black lives matter movement seems like ancient history, as president trump orders the closure of federal diversity programmes. i'm not corporate america, so destroying our store did absolutely nothing for your cause. so this picture here is when at the time president donald trump came. scott, a republican, found himself meeting the then president in the wreckage of his business.

but here we are full circle, donald trump back in the white house. what are your feelings now? he's hit the ground running. he says he's going to do what he's going to do, and he's moving forward with it right away. he's not taking his time and hosting a bunch of events and doing a lot of meet and greet. and he's getting busy. he's getting down to business and moving forward. back in frank's diner, though, those who would have preferred a different candidate fear that mr trump's aggressive pursuit of his agenda will only make the division worse. i'm kind of sceptical about the whole thing. i think we're going to see a lot of freedoms taken away. and, yeah, i'm not looking forward to the next four years. i mean, that is what i would hope, but it's not what i expect. and i do think that four years from now it's going to be a totally different, totally different country, totally different scenario. and we'll see if we even have another election.

you can find something else in kenosha. apathy. in his tattoo parlour, abel tells me he didn't bother voting. no, i did not vote. i guess ijust felt like i didn't make that change. it won't make that much of a difference, i guess. i don't know, ijust feel that, with all the politics that's been going on, all these guys are going democrats, republicans, nothing really seems like it changes, you know, to the lower man down here, it don't seem like nothing changes besides the prices. it was president trump's biggest promise. in the end, more than any flurry of executive orders, it'll be his ability to deliver on it that will determine how much of a mark he makes. john sudworth, bbc news, kenosha. a new wildfire has flared up north of los angeles, which is itself still counting the cost of deadly fires earlier this month. the hughes fires has quickly taken hold of a large

area near lake castaic, strecthing to an area of more than 9,000 acres. more than 30,000 people have been moved from their homes. 0ur correspondent in los angeles, peters bowes has been giving us the latest. 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. here are some nice pictures we have coming into the newsroom, from los angeles, just north of the city, these are the live pictures. these are the latest wildfires. this is the hughes fire. as we are reporting, 30,000 people have been given the order to leave their homes because of those blazes. the

los angeles county fire chief says no structures have been reported damaged or destroyed so far. and of course, rain is expected there in los angeles in the coming days, that would help the firefighters that are out tackling that place. he will remember the fires that sprung up two weeks ago have been described as the most destructive in us history, and would cost hundreds of billions of dollars to help the city rebuild following those blazes. these are live pictures we have coming in, night time there in los angeles as you can see, and this is the hughes fire that began on wednesday morning north of the city. we will bring you much more on developments there from los angeles here on bbc news. the world's biggest iceberg has broken away from antarctica and is approaching the british territory of south georgia, home to large penguin and seal colonies. fishermen and authorities

are bracing for impact. georgina rannard reports. 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, you just kind of see a massive wall that is way higher than you are. 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. let's show you these live pictures from washington, that is the white house, coming up to 3:30am, later today donald trump is set to address world leaders at davos, we will have much more for you in the business is in a short while. if you want to keep up—to—date with developments, they are coming in from washington, go to the website, we have a live page on the latest saying that donald trump is considering sending up to 10,000 troops to the us mexico border after he

ordered 1500 troops to head to that border. you are watching bbc news, stay with us. 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. in 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, our 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.

this is bbc news, the headlines... president trump sens 1500 troops to the us mexico border on and move to crack down on illegal immigration. talking trade, donald trump is set to address world leaders in davos today, with the threat of further tariffs leaving for america's economic rivals. uk wants russia to stop spying after surveillance ships are spotted off the coast near british waters. the palestinian health ministry says at least ten people have been killed in israel's latest operations in occupied west bank. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. now, let's focus on the top business stories.

for that, it's over to sally bundock. thanks, catherine.