♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. george: actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo.

narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc news". >> hello. i am lewis vaughan jones get this is the context. >> notice, smugglers care only about profits, not people. do not risk your life and your life savings only to be removed from the u.s. if and when you arrive here. >> we have been traveling since october last year. it is really, really hard. we don't know what we will do because going back to our

country is not an option. >> we are doing our best in texas to make sure the border is secure but other states are not having as much success. ♪ lewis: hello and welcome to the program. in the u.s., just hours to go until donald trump's controversial immigration era legislation called title 42 expires. the u.s. homeland security says there borders are not open and want tougher consequencesor those who try to cross illegally. a look at what it will mean now with people waiting to cross the u.s.-mexico border. also, the u.k. is to supply ukraine with long-range missiles to help push back russian forces. it will look at exactly what the missiles are.

interest rates in the u.k. are up again at the highest level in the u.k. for 15 years. what does this mean for the economy and rovision? the second semifinal is underway right now. we are going to start in the u.s. title 42. that is the name of the legislation that makes it easier to expel people who cross the border from mexico. it was introduced in covid -- in covid times on public health grounds. it is set to expire in just nine hours time. this is on the mexico side of the border. there has been fears of a big potential increase in numbers of people trying to cross the border with this legislation does expire. we are going to go live straightaway to our correspondent sophie long in el paso texas on the others of that border. what is the latest they?

sophie: preparations have been made for the end of title 42 which is just hours away. i am in downtown el paso, a stove row away from the many border rossi. we are just outside the church of the sacred heart. over many months since last year, there has been hundreds of migrants sleeping here. now, the streets are clear. over the past few days, flyers have been handed out to people who have gathered here, urging them to hand themselves in to the processing center. a couple days ago, there were hundreds of people here and there are not anymore. we asked the el paso mayor yesterday what happened to him. he was vague but we have been told they were helped along their migratory journey. people in border towns like el paso have been making preparation for the ilux of people they expect to come across the border when title 42 ends.

it may be that we have already seen some people come across already. border customs and border patrol said the past few days they have been encountering more than 10,000 migrants every day trying to cross the border. whenever there is a policy change or a rumor of a policy change, what you have on the mexican side of the border where tens of thousands of people have been gathering is a heightened sense of anxiety and confusion. a lot of information is by word-of-mouth and many felt they had a better chance of getting across and trying to make a life in the u.s. before the end of title 42, rather than after. lewis: interesting. thank you so much for that. you mentioned the other side of th our correspondent will grant is in mexico city. give us an idea of what is happening there. will: the reaction in mexico is partly about strengthening the southern border. what president over door and his

men have done is sendational guard troops to mexico's border with guatemala. there is already 25,000 troops along the southern border working supposedly to stop the flow. in this instance, they have specific instructions not to use words. clearly, this is an effort to create a deterrent to many thousands of migrants from central america who may think the end of title 42 signifies a good moment or opportunity to try to make it all the way to the u.s. border. and from there, and to the u.s. what we are seeing from the mexican president is an overall sense of trying to work in tandem with the biden administration, which is interesting because he has been very critical of washington's immigration policies over the years. i think he knows very clearly that there is a lot of political capital in working in tandem with the biden administration,

given it is a politically important issue in an election cycle. lewis: we have been tol to prepare for significantly increased numbers. talk to me about the change in process that happens now that this one piece of legislation expires, and another takes over. will: title 42, entitled border guards to automatically or almost immediately expel undocumented immigrants from the u.s. and returned them to mexico or their countries of origin. that is going away. the biden administration's approach is to create a two-pronged approach that will return to something called title viii which means there will be a paper trail left that the migrants will enter the legal system and can apply for asylum. but the biden administration's idea is they will expedite that

too, andctually make it very harsh for those who come in without the right documentation. they will find themselves deported even from nations where the u.s. has traditionally not supported people like cuba or haiti. which are in the grip of humanitarian crises at the moment. the pressure that will put on mexico is self-evident. this country is already struggling to cope with the number of migrants in this country on their way north. if there is going to be an influx of the 30,000 or so a month that mexico has agreed to, this puts greater pressure on the shelters, and greater pressure on the authorities, who are already in a very difficult posion. lewis: you touched on this at the start but i want to looat the political consequences potentially for the relationship between the two countries. will: president andrew over door is interested in the red admin

giving -- the biden administration giving developments of job opportunities in the countries of orin, particularly central america, to dis-incentivize people from making the journey. we are likely to seek greater effort from the biden administration to get on board. there will be processing centers u.s. plans to open in guatemala and columbia to deal with people who e expected to abide by any after the fnt door, rather than appearing at the u.s. mexico border. there may be things behind the scenes. that could be everything from trade to action over the illegal flow of guns south from the u.s. to mexico. there are a lot of things that president biden and president lopez over door wants -- obrador what from each other. he thinks he will have a law of strength when it comes to future

conversations and negotiations. wis: thank you so much for that. we are going to cross back into the u.s.. we are going to speak to texas democratic representative. lots of your republican opponents are absent that this donald trump era distillation is coming to an end at midnight. what do you make of this? >> i was one of the democrats who was against lifting it for the time being. i was hoping to wait another few months and build more infrastructure along the border, and develop some processing centers that were just mentioned a little bit ago. i have been a proponent of a safe zone bill in the u.s. congress which would create safe zones, kind of like the green zone in iraq, that would be processing centers of migrants seeking asylum far away from the border. a thousand miles or 1500 miles

away in guatemala and costa rica and panama around the world. these can be pilot programs. to let migrants who ultimately will be led into our country with -- when they arrive anyway, to allow them to just fly from the destination of wherever they are at. it takes the pressure off our southern border, and allows border patrol and law enforcement to do with they have been trained to do. secondly, it removes the cartels out the equation. by billions of dollars by bringing migrants to our southern border. this is a rl long-term solution in building infrastructure for generations to come. i do not think migration will stop coming to the u.s. i think we will continue this because we are a risk-averse country around the wor where people want to come and work and live. we are going to continue having a soul of migrants coming into

our border for a long time. we need to have infrastcture built far from our borders and a law that keeps up with today's time, that requires migrants to seek asylum at these centers away from our border. lewis: you are part -- part of the area you represent is a small part of the border. give us a flavor of what you are expecting to happen. >> i represent where the coast means the border in south texas. we are going to continue processing plans on our southern border. we have a golf course literally on the rio grande border of south texas. are going to process them and move them as rapidly as possible out of the area, to get themo their final destination. we have a plan in place to our patrol cheat and sector has done a good job and processed about a thousand people a day. but if this was 50 or 10,000,

that would stretch our resources very thin. lewis: do you have any specific intelligence that can give you any idea about whether you are expecting a surge in numbers? >> we hear all different kinds of information. some people tell us there are 20,000 or 30,000 people around our border. that is ok as long as they do not come all at once. they had a conversation with the president of guatemala a few days ago and he said 60,000 people had already passed through their borders in several months. there are 200,000 people in the darren jungle between colombia and panama. we need a contingent plan in place is an overwhelming amount of people come. we also need cooperation from the people of mexico and other governments in central america. what i heard earlier about the mexican president reading to

their southern border is coming i have been asking for for six or seven years. we need collaboration with mexico to stop this at the southern border. lewis: what do you make about conversation around this? there is no doubt and clearly there is strains on all kinds of resources but what do you make about the political rhetoric around this? >> it is unfortunate because the political rhetoric has caused us to not have a final, long-term solution. when a republican was in the white house, democrats were running to the border and pointing the finger at the president. now we have a democrat in the white house, and republicans are running and pointing their finger at the president. need to come together in a bipartisan way and have a long-term border plan that will off problem once and for all. lewis: mr. gonzalez, i appreciate your time.

fascinating to get your thoughts. thank you for your time. now, around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. we have some other stories and breaking headlines. hospitals in england have failed to hit key targets for routine treatments. the milestones were set by the u.k. government to bring down waiting lists we saw during the covid pandemic. they say huge progress has been made givenhe demands of flu and covid this winter, and recent industrial action too. closure of the only nhs gender clinic for children in england and wales has been delayed to march next year, later than planned. the center will be replaced by two regional hubs that will continue providing care for roughly 1000 children until

then. it is currently thought to be a waiting list of 7000. stephen tompkins and has been clear that punching a man outside his house two years ago, the star had been accused of inflictirievous bodily harm after drinking at the bottom of his drivay. the jury has found him not guilty. you are lives with bbc news. next, the u.k. is sending long-range cruise missiles to ukraine. ukraine asked for more military supplies ahead of the upcoming counteroffensive. this missile can travel more than 150 miles or 250 kilometers. they have a long-range capability and are typically lost from the air. it prompted instant response from the kremlin and said this decision would require "an adequate resnse from our military." .

they said these weapons would give ukraine the best chance of defending themselves. >> in developing options to respond to russia's continued aggression in a calibrated manner, i can confirm the u.k. is sending storm shadow missiles to ukraine. firm shadows are a long-range, conventional only, precision strike hit ability that complements the long-range strikes already giv include harpoon styles, and ukraine's missiles and longer-range missiles elsewhere given. the duration of these weapons gives you train -- gives ukraine the best chance to defend themselves, especially from targeting to civilian structures. ukraine has a right to be able to defend themselves against this. the use of storm shadow would allow ukraine to push back russian sources in ukrainian -- russian forces in ukrainian territory.

let's speak to james from a defense security program. thank for coming. >> thank you for having me. lewis: but you make of the rhetoric from the u.k. government? sounding like this is a pretty impressive development. >> well, impressive perhaps, b e of the most important things to remember is no one weapon can really change the outcome of the war. but there is no denying that storm shadow will bring a brand-new capability to the ukrainian armed forces. it offers a range far greater than any other land attack missile previously supplied. the striking wer of its brooch warhead in pticular does provide ukrainian armed forces with our greater flexibility to strike a ride variety of targets -- wide variety of targets.

lewis: part of the flexibility is distance. is that right? the fact you can launch these from much farther away from russian targets. this clearly keeps ukrainians out of harms way and brings more targets into play for russian tes. >> yes, of course. as you just said, previously, ukrainins were far more restricted as to where they could strike. something like storm shadow will allow them to attack targets much further away from the front lines. as you just mentioned,ts standoff capability would put ukrainians and the launch platforms at less risk. but this very much depends on how the weapon is operated. lewis: what about the russian side? what will a russian counter to this be?

>> storm shadow has been in service since 2003, although it has been modified. countermeasures do exist such as short range of facts, and fighter aircraft, but it does depend on what the russian armed forces employed in and around ukraine. what assets they have available and how they are used. it certainly depends on how storm shadow is utilized. we can only wait and see. lewis: for every development like this, there will undoubtedly be some people at home thinking, if the u.k. or other allies in this conflict will support ukraine in this way, why not do this last year? this conflict has been going on so long. if this is a big game changer, why not give these capabilities sooner? >> i'm afraid i cannot answer that. there are a lot of factors

enrolled in this political and technical operation. i cannot really comment on the policies of national governments on why the weapons were not provided until now. lewis: that is completely fair enough. i will ask another slightly tangential question about the psychological impact. will the commands of ordinary soldiers in the ukrainian side get a significant boost from this? >> can you repeat that? lewis: the psychological advantage to ukraine. being in receipt to these new weapons. that is certainly a morale boost for troops? >> yes, it could potentially be a morale boost, simply because the ukrainians will feel they have the ability to strike back against more targets of russia,

further from the front lines. any new weapon that is supplied to the ukrainians will give that boost in morale. lewis: great to have your thoughts. thank you very much for coming on the program. we are going to stay in ukraine. for the announcement by the u.k., ukraine's president zelenskyy warned his country needs more arms to be delivered ahead of spring counteroffensive against russian forces. whether that push will happen remains unknown. but russian forces have fortified their defenses along a front line that runs for nearly 1000 kilometers. seven regions down there, up to eastern luhansk and donetsk. fierce fighting of course, if you have been following this for months now. president zelenskyy said the ukrainian army still needs supplies, including armored vehicles. they only arrive in batches. >> mr. president, i have been

here for a few weeks. i think almost every conversation i have had has touched on the issue of this much anticipated ukrainian counteroffensive. are you ready for this? >> mentally, we are ready. in terms of how motivated our military is, we are ready. in terms of personal and brigades, we are ready. in terms of equipment, that everything has arrived yet. that is my answer. >> so you are still waiting for weaponry and the military equipment that has been promised to arrive. >> yes, we are still expecting some things. they will reinforce our counteroffensive. most importantly, they will protect our people. we are expecting armored vehicles that arrive in batches. we can wk with what we have it i think we can be successful, but we will lose a lot of p.

i think that is unacceptable. we need to wait. we need more time. >> let me talk about something that happened last week, because moscow accused ukraine of trying to assassinate president putin. was ukraine behind that alleged attack? >> no, clearly, we were not behind it. they are always looking to do something that would look like justification. you do this and we do this in response. but it did not work. not even for their own people at home. >> so who was behind it? >> i think they diit themselves. it was there launch. there were no victims and nobody was wounded. nothing happened there. the magic thing was carrying bombs?

why did it fail then. nobody was killed. everyone was safe and sound, so on and so forth. that is why they did it themselves. absolutely. i am confident of that. >> next year is an election year in america, which is your main ally. >> i cannot vote. i am a citizen of ukraine. i cannot say who i would vote for. [laughter] >> apart from that, are you concerned that depending on who is selected, that you could end up losing this support from your main ally? >> it is hard to say, to be honest. elections and internal processes always affect any country, especially talking about elections in the u.s. first, i do not think we will

lose bipartisan support. second, u.s. elections take place in a years time. who knows where we will be? i believe we will win by then. >> we are here in kyiv as revision is happening in liverpool in england. you were supposed to be hosted it here but you cannot because of the work. how disappointed argue you that you cannot host? >> i have great respect for the united kingdom and its society. it is an amazing country. from the very start, my opinion has been that if we cannot host eurovision, it should take place in one of the countries that share a border with us, such as slakia or poland, or any other country in which our people can reach easily. something nearby. >> that was president zelenskyy

speaking to our correspondent hugo. just a reminder of our main story this hour. we are keeping an eye on live pictures of the border between mexico and the u.s. this is rt of the border area in texas as we are expecting the legislation change to immigration law narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. george: actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a teamriving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo.