the white house rescinds a memo which would have authorised a freeze on hundreds of billions of dollars of federal grants and loans. the department of health, robert f kennedyjunior, at a heated confirmation hearing. and scientists studying tiny specks of an asteroid

a heated confirmation hearing has been taking place in washington for president trump's pick to lead that he's anti—vaccine. in the past for spreading misinformation, which includes suggesting a link between vaccines and autism. been "repeatedly debunked". to medical research. to prepare a facility at guantanamo bay to hold up to 30,000 undocumented migrants. the us detention facility in cuba was set up in 2002

across america since donald trump's return to power. soon there will be so many people in detention, that's where guantanamo bay comes in. it was a notorious prison housing terrorist suspects, with numerous allegations of abuse, even torture. the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the american people. coming back, so we're going to send them out to guantanamo. this will double our capacity immediately, right? it's a tough place to get out of. 0ther detainees have already been deported

on military planes back to brazil and colombia. with him into this hearing, he was asked about his baseless claims that vaccines can cause autism it is a medical condition in his throat that gives we need to move on. i support the polio vaccine. or discourages people that's not true. for abortion rights or his battle against food additives

and ultra—processed food. his cousin caroline kennedy, daughter of presidentjohn f. kennedy, where drugs were available and mice in a blender to feed to his hawks. the bbc has approached robert kennedy for comment. i'm going to let him go wild on health. i'm going to let him go wild on the food. i'm going to let him go wild on medicine. to win the democratic party presidential nomination. of american politics,

sarah smith, bbc news, washington. a federal freeze on hundreds of billion of dollars it comes after a lawsuit was filed which saw a judge temporarily halt the order. but the white house says this is not a rescinding i'm joined now by north america correspondent david willis, who is in washington. first, a very contentious choice, rfk, how impactful my this the? are we likely this hearing the? are we likely see him become the health to see him become the health ,. ~~~ 7—7 7m”... te eee him heeeme the heeleh w ~~~ 7—7 7,7”... secretary? he 5; e 2? choice, secretary? he 5; e 2; choice, no controversial choice, no

question, sceptic and question, a vaccine sceptic and he has some over vover support 77 rfk support 77 rfk junior )port for abortion. rfk junior is seen for abortion. rfkjunior is seen as somebody who basically could be a danger some believe american americah people if he is as donald trum-�*s secretary and a health secretary and faces a pretty tough grilling today with senators piling in on him, seeking to get some sort of of very i he has on those two subjects and made on those two subjects and others. in the past. if he eihi-= iii il“- ee=ii ii “ii- == to eihi-= iii iii; ee=ii ii “ii- i= to lead eihi== iii iii; ee=ii ii “ii- i= to lead the confirmed'to ieed the biggest constituency confirmed'te teed the biggest constituency if healthcare constituency if you like in the he will be = -—= 7 n m thoir be closely somebody whe wiltbe' desety by somebody who wiltbe' dosety by a lot of people here watched by a lot of people here who he represents = -= " ”toth’e health?” 7 " ”toth’e health eff 7 to people. h of to people.i of my n this guantanamo bay plan. we

to this guantanamo bay plan. we are seeing rates, arresting i—of i 77 of alleged, % thousands of alleged, undocumented migrants. is it peopliei; if’zi is i people are likely to these people that are likely to be to this facility �*incoming migrants? or incoming migrants? has not been announcement has not been supported by further details of �* it might work, how it might how it might work, how it might be paid for, how it might be the least and so on but what we the least and sq'qn’blit what we know is about 30,000 beds i, i,,bei , ,,i,i,i i be available this could be made available at this notorious area, guantanamo once notorious area, guantanamo bay, for its bay, renowned for its association with waterboarding and all of things like = -: this would 6 this would basically that and this would basically take off, so it is £5 -e’ who are rounding 77 7 who arerounding up authorities who are rounding up at such a it people at such a rate it beg 7 question where are all of the question where are all of detainees going to go?

these detainees going to go? president trump believes the worst of the as put it wei'tnfthe-mr't ss-ii ,ii 7 be onstioiit-�*ieworst asi-�*ie eat it i be housed onsioiii-�*ieworst asi-�*ie e-,i ii i be housed in weisieiii-�*ieworst asi-�*ie eei ii i be housed in this weisieiii-�*ieworst asi-�*ie eei ii i perhapsd in this weisieiii-�*ieworst asi-�*ie eei ii i perhaps some is weisieiii-�*ieworst asi-�*ie eei ii i perhaps some sort of facility, perhaps some sort of city within the tented city within the guantanamo bay complex across the water the e but as i say terroristjailed but as i say the details are somewhat short on the ground about all of this. i, ~ on the ground about all of this. i, ,, i, this. thank yea fer year , man this. thank gee fer years! _ many stories this. thank gee fer year'- _ many stories to �*when it comes white house. thanks for treme's iiai-�*hite heesei the-“ilse iei us. india's prime minister, narendra modi, has sent his condolences to the families of those killed in a crush, at the world's largest religious gathering, the maha kumbh mela in northern india. in wednesday's crowd crush at the festival. but with dozens reported injured, there are fears this year's festival is at a holy site

so far. samira hussein has the latest. the hospital looking for her family. translation: i could never have imagined that something like this could happen. we thought the government would provide us with facilities. we didn't know we would be stuck behind so many barricades,

police breaking their own barriers, faith drove them here by the millions, wanting to bathe in the holy waters. instead, many were whisked away, injured or worse. is that there were just hundreds and hundreds of people sleeping here on the river banks. just over this way is the main bathing area, one person gets pushed

the state minister has called for an investigation, a festival to celebrate faith has left many grieving instead. the israeli military says it has carried out an air attack in the northern part of the occupied west bank in the attack. but these are pictures purporting to show held by hamas in gaza,

are due to be released today as are five unnamed thai nationals, agricultural workers that were abducted from the kibbutzes where they worked. 0ur correspondent wyre davies has the latest on the scheduled hostage exchange. we do know the names of the nationals yet. about 110 from -iee released from israeli jails. they are said to include about 30 women children. while 30 women and children. while they will released to they will be released to the homes and areas homes and-home areas in east the palestinian west bank, z— z= to its radio media according to its radio media reports, several who have been sentenced to imprisonment sentenced to life imprisonment much more serious offences

not be allowed return will not be allowed to return to those areas, will be into exiled into egypt or neighbouring arab

you are watching bbc news. is also accused of filming some of the alleged attacks. but none of the others. here's daniel sandford. seven and a half years ago and was in the middle of studying for a phd, with alcohol or drugs.

catherine farrelly casey said, to the outside world he undoubtedly presents as a smart and charming young man. sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist. when he was arrested detectives find videos at the flat, that zhenhao zou allegedly raped. the court heard that in seven of the alleged rape the women at this blog in bloomsbury can be heard saying i don't want daniel sandford, bbc news,

inner london crown court. first asked for approval for more capacity. the government says a new runway, will help "make britain the world's best connected place "to do business". say extending heathrow is incompatible, with near 0xford this morning. the government says generating economic growth is its defining mission.

the situation demands us to do more. and today i will go further and faster in kick—starting economic growth. expanding heathrow airport. hey, hey! ho, ho! no third runway at heathrow! yards away in the car park, noisy opposition. in the courts?

is the government's critique. environmental regulations on building projects will be eased. building stuff will be easier, she claimed. plenty of announcements, a blizzard of them, will be about growth in the 2030s or beyond. government going to do about the fact that its budget

it wouldn't do? it's killed growth stone dead. going for airport expansion will add very little in terms of national growth. it'll be sometime in the distance. that growth right now. the scars in our economy run deep. we've had the pandemic, we've had conflict and also the colossal shift of economic heft towards china and the east. anywhere near enough? and what happens if it doesn't work? you take those shocks that you mentioned.

chris mason, bbc news. there are reports that rwandan—backed m23 rebels have seized more territory and restore government authority in the east. within reach of mining towns that supply metals and minerals such as gold,

tin and coltan. and congolese army troops in and around goma. let's get some of the day's other news now. he was convicted of sex crimes in 2020, but it was overturned after a ruling said he didn't get a fair trial. in court on wednesday, of the infamous riker islands jail. former newjersey senator bob menendez has been sentenced he was found guilty for accepting gifts including gold bars, luxury cars and cash

and newjersey businessmen. mrimieirieirideizidenies and says he plans to appeal the verdict. mr al—sharaa, whose islamist hts—led forces has also been authorised to form until a permanent constitution is decided. the plane was heading toward the capitaljuba and two ugandan crew members.

proteins, and the molecules that form dna. here's our science editor, rebecca morelle. collected a piece of asteroid called bennu. of the space rock, and it's of the space rock, and it's proved to be a treasure trove. proved to be a treasure trove. the grains in bennu the grains in bennu are really tiny. are really tiny. 0ften they're a millionth of a metre across, and each one is telling us and each one is telling us something new about bennu. something new about bennu. it's not much to look at. it's not much to look at. it's just this dark rock. but it's just incredible

how rich it is. it's full of these minerals that we haven't seen before in meteorites, and the combination of them that we haven't seen before. we also found it had this incredible array of organic molecules. it's been such an exciting thing to study. we now know bennu contains thousands of carbon—rich compounds, including amino acids and nucleobases, the building blocks of dna. this doesn't mean there was ever life on the asteroid, but it may have dispersed these vital ingredients elsewhere. about 4.5 billion years ago, a swirling cloud of gas and dust came together to make the solar system. but, after the planets formed, there was a lot of material left over, and asteroids like bennu were everywhere. and these bombarded the early earth. the theory is that they delivered not only water, but also the organic molecules that made life possible. but this was also happening in other parts

of the solar system. so earth is unique in that it's the only place where we found life so far. so all those ingredients, those that carbon and that water was delivered all the way throughout the solar system. and one of the big things that we're trying to understand now is if you have the right conditions, why do we have life on here on earth? and could we find it elsewhere in our solar system? the research on bennu will continue. the hope is this dark and distant world that looks so barren could shed light on our own origins. rebecca morelle, bbc news. an amazing story. that's all for now. stay with bbc news. senators are in the us are questioning donald trump's pick for

hello there. it's looking like thursday is going to be the sunniest day it will be a chilly start, though, with some frost, maybe some fog patches around, but it will stay largely dry and you can see this ridge of high pressure building now, it'll still be quite windy across the far north of scotland most places starting dry with plenty of sunshine. through the afternoon, and maybe the odd shower close to irish sea coast of both england and wales, after that cold start, temperatures only rise during thursday night and into friday,

as it bumps into higher pressure, so quite a bit of cloud through central and eastern areas. wales, southwest england, now, as we move out to friday now, as we move out to friday into the weekend, into the weekend, high pressure starts to build back in. weather fronts out in the atlantic will try and make inroads will try and make inroads where it will be windier here, but it looks like central but it looks like central and eastern areas and eastern areas will hold on to the dry weather will hold on to the dry weather and see the best and see the best of the sunshine, of the sunshine, especially towards the southeast. always a bit more cloud always a bit more cloud towards the north and the west on saturday, where we have where we have stronger winds, stronger winds, and we'll be up to around ten degrees for belfast. otherwise, for the vast majority otherwise, for the vast majority we're looking at single digits after a chilly start, with some mist and fog with some mist and fog towards more eastern towards more eastern and southeastern areas. and southeastern areas. sunday we start to see sunday we start to see this weather front move in, this weather front move in, but again, it's moving in so it will start to fizzle out. high pressure

i think, through central areas during the course of sunday. but again to the east of it will stay dry with some sunshine and it will brighten up to the west of it. temperatures may be a degree or so down — 6—9 celsius. as we head into next week, although there will be a few weather fronts bringing some rain, for example, on monday night into tuesday, high pressure, i think, will bring a lot of dry, settled weather with some sunshine next week,

after it kept interest rates steady in the central bank's first policy decision of the year.