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." >> this proposal would see a 60-day cease fire and during this cease fire, israeli troops would withdraw from southern lebanon. >> we have not finalized it but we are moving forward. as soon as the cabinet meets today or tomorrow to discuss it. i think for us it's important what will happen after. >> they are putting together a five hyphenation group overseen by the united states including france that will try to implement this deal on the ground. >> nothing is final until everything is final. we continue to work to try to get a final agreement over the line and we are hopeful we can get one but we need help from both of thearties to get to a yes. >> signs of a diplomatic breakthrough between israel and hezbollah.

on the ground, israeli strikes level more of the hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of beirut. we wille live in jerusalem for analysis. u.s. prosecutors formally apply to drop the criminal case accusing president elect donald trump of seeking to overturn his election defeat in 20 20. we will be live in washington. shock in romania as the pro-putin candidate takes the lead in the presidential election. we will talk to the countries former prime ministe we start in the middle east where the indications are that a cease-fire deal between israel and hezbollah is within sight. in the last couple hours, the white house has said a deal is close, a senior israeli official says the country's cabinet is to meet on tuesday on whether to approve a cease-fire deal with hezbollah. lebanon's debt. that deputy parliamentary speaker says he knew so serious obstacles to the truths which have been brokered by the united

states. these are pictures of the u.s. mediator in beirut last week. here is state department spokesperson matthew miller. >> we have made significant progress with getting towards a resolution that includes progress from where we were when i spoke to this last week but we are not done yet. nothing is final until everything is final. we continue to work to try to get an agreement over the line and we are hopeful we can get one but we need help from both of the parties to get to yes. >> here is israel's ambassador to the you and -- u.n. >> we have not approved it but we are moving forward. the cabinet will meet today or tomorrow to discuss it. for us it's important what will happen after. >> on the ground in lebanon, there has been no let up in israel's bombardment. these images of a strike in lebanon a few hours ago. 31 people have been killed in israeli strikes today alone. we can cross live to israel and

speak to the editor and chief of the jerusalem post. what is the latest information that you have on the likelihood of some sort of deal or cease fire? >> the one hand, there are talks about the fact that this is actually the furthest we have achieved, israel has achieved together with lebanon, hezbollah, with the mediators to get close to a cease-fire. that said, hezbollah is a terrorist organization, therefore the expectations are, you cannot expect anything until it is actually signed. hopefully after being signed, it will actually be implemented or respected by all sides. there are those who are cautious about the optimism regarding this type of cease fire. >> there are a number of details that people have been discussing. what is your understanding of the shape of any cease-fire deal? >> obviously, the basic is a

two-month cease fire of any sort . obviously, israel removing its forces physically from lebanon and the request that hezbollah's military would not be southern from the river. that said, there are many elements that are not yet determined such as israel wants the right to respond if they feel there is some sort of a threat to its borders, or to its security, and other issues that are not yet resolved. >> what about the voice of those on the right within the government, in terms of any potential opposition to the deal? >> we have definitely been hearing some voices of opposition toward the deal.

those saying within the israeli government, the deal is not strong enough. we have seen similar deals in the past that have not actually managed to dismantle hezbollah. they see it just as taking a pause into another -- hopefully not -- but another war that could potentially break out. that said, i think the american administration, both the outgoing administration, and the incoming administration are very keen at making the steelwork -- this deal work. if donald trump pressures prime minister netanyahu, and there are reports in israel about this, that that will come in a

sense, force him to have to agree to this type of deal. >> what sort of pressure might donald trump have placed given he is not in office yet? how does it work with an and incoming president, in terms of them and their teams working complex as this?tuation as >> trump has been saying throughout his campaign and also after being elected that he wants to see peace, both in the middle east, but also with russia and ukraine. but israel has many fronts. russia and ukraine have one front. israel has many fronts in this war. in a way, the front of hezbollah in lebanon, even though, fatal, deadly, dramatic with tens of thousands of drones and missiles sent toward israel, it is easier to obtain a cease-fire with

lebanon as opposed to gaza where it is a whole different situation regarding hostages, civilians, many other issues such as no sovereignty for anyone in that area as opposed to lebanon, which is a country. most of its citizens, i would hope, want to return to normal. >> finally, the u.s. state department had a briefing in the last hour or so, matthew miller answering questions about this, asked from the bbc about whether israel had asked for a letter of assurance including support for military action on israeli territory. he would not answer that directly. do you have any information on that? >> i don't have any definite information about that. i will say, in the past year, few months, we have seen too many times the american

administration has been saying we have never been closer to a deal, whether with gaza and hamas, lebanon now, and i feel like it is not necessarily something that helps the negotiations. as we know, there are still 100 israeli hostages in gaza. the war is still continuing on all fronts. i would try and be a bit patient, hope that actually things will formulate into something that will allow safety for all citizens of all sides. >> thank you so much for your time today. i am joined now by the former u.k. ambassador to the u.s. and eu, former national security advisor. thank you for being with us. there have been a lot of alerts on this with potential lines saying there could be a deal insight.

we have had more indications today. how seriously should we be taking those? obviously, it would be a big breakthrough if there was a cease-fire. >> as the previous interviewee said, we have had deals close on gaza in the past. it is not there until it is done. but it does sound -- and it is important that it is coming from the israeli government as well as u.s. government -- sound close. it does seem like there will be a deal on gaza. the odds are that it will happen now although there is still quite a difficult issue around israel demanding the right to return into southern lebanon if there are any breaches of the cease fire, or if they feel that hezbollah is infiltrating into the areas where they promised to retreat from. there are still onediicult issut between the parties, but my

sense is based on what we heard, likely to happen. >> in terms of how this may have been brokered, do you think trump or his team may have been involved in this? >> i rather doubt it, to be honest. this is one of the final acts of the biden administration. and if it happens, they deserve credit for it. they will have had painstaking and never-ending efforts from them to try to achieve cease fire's boat in southern lebanon and in gaza. if they get this one, they are some of the way there. they still have a few weeks in which to achieve something in gaza. i suspect the trump campaign has been cap broadly informed of what is going on but i doubt there has been any involvement. >> briefly, the fact that a gaza deal has been decoupled from a lebanon, hezbollah deal, people are saying that helps

potentially get so progress on what is going on in lebanon. how significant would it be if it was announced in the next day or so? >> it would be significant but i don't believe there is too much read across in gaza. as the previous interviewee said, gaza is much more complicated with the hostages, the complexity of actually defeating hamas in gaza territory. all of that is much more difficult. it is good if we have a cease-fire in southern lebanon. does not mean that one is imminent in gaza. i wish it was otherwise. >> stay with us, because we want to bring in a couple of other elements to this discussion. italy's foreign minister has urged the group of seven wealthy democracies to take a united position on the arrest warrant for israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu, issued last week by the international criminal court. he was speaking at talked with

g-7 foreign ministers. the united states has already rejected the decisio foreign ministers from italy, germany, canada, the u.s., and japan will be discussing the wars in ukraine. david lemi announced a new wave of sanctions for 30 ships suspected of being reused by russia to circumvent oil embargoes to fund their war. he said the shadow fleet is transporting russian oil in violation of previous sanctions against moscow. >> we are determined to ensure that both the ships, the enablers of those ships awarding european and u.k. sanctions are heard at this time. >> the u.k. foreign minister there. the former ambassador to the u.s. and eu is still with us. the u.k. and the u.s. became

more involved in terms of supplying long-range missiles last week for ukraine to use within russian territory, which makes the nato allies more of a target potentially. how worried do you think g-7 leaders and others are? >> about the situation in ukraine, they are worried. the foreign minister is meeting, useful and valuable for them to have talks, but there is something slightly strange of them having it when we all know the trump administration will be in office from the 20th of january and they may take a different position. whatever positions are taken at this g-7 meeting, they don't necessarily last a very long. ukraine is in its toughest position since the war started in 2022. they are losing may be a few hundred meters every day. russians are making huge -- suffering huge losses, 1200 a

day wounded, making ground, but ukraine is under more pressure than ever before. that is why there is so much pressure from zelenskyy to use these long-range weapons. as we have seen, when you use them, you invite a tough russian response. >> you have seen warnings from the cabinet office minister. we will be discussing this in the next hour or two, cyber warfare. the way that these hybrid global fights can be carried out is really quite alarming, quite remarkable. >> it is. i am not a military expert, but everything that i hear from military experts says, the role of cyber warfare in this war is kind of a test bed for its capabilities but also a demonstration of what is possible, and it is hugely

important. this is one of the things that will have to be examined in depth in this strategic review. we need to think about what we have learned from ukraine, means for the future configuration of our military. >> many thanks indeed for being with us. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. ♪

>> to the u.s. know where the special counsel jack smith has asked a judge to dismiss the federal election interference case against president elect donald trump. new documents showed the case should be close because of the justice department's policy banning the prosecution of a sitting president. donald trump stream has held as a major victory. let's go to washington to speak

to our senior north american correspondent gary o'donoghue. remind us what these cases were about and why this decision has come now. >> so, there are two federal criminal cases against donald trump, both of which were overseen by the special counsel ck smith. the first was related to the riots on january 6, donald trump's alleged attempts to overturn the rez results of the 2020 election which of course he lost. there were four separate charges in that case. then there was a separate case in florida, again a federal case, where he was accused of mishandling classified documents after he left office. in other words, taking a load of stuff ay from the white house, shouldn't have, kept it, refused to give it back, eventually a search of his property by the fbi, and there were 40 charges in that case ranging from conspiracy to espionage act charges, things like that.

44 charges on these two separate cases overseen by the same special counsel. jack smith has now said he is withdrawn charges against donald trump, asked the court to agree to that. the defense wants the same. you can safely say that all the federal criminal prosecutions against donald trump have evaporated. >> was there any other way in terms of procedure? could they have been paused and returned to? >> in the court filings, the special counsel refers to this office of legal counsel ruling that you mention, this principle that you cannot prosecute, invite a sitting president. they do say in the rulings, this is nothing to do with the merits of the case, nothing to do with the gravity of the charges, all of that still stands. but there is a constitutional problem here. it does ask for the cases to be withdrawn without prejudice which efctively means, we are not saying anything about the strength or otherwise about the case.

in theory, they could come back in 2029 and start the whole thing up again. of course there will not be a special counsel, the department of justice would have to decide to do that. the chances of that are vanishingly small. >> politically, this has been welcomed by the trump team. >> i know this feels like a long time ago but go back to the beginning of the year. we were cataloguing almost 100 separate charges against donald trump in various cases. his legal jeopardy was enormous, left, right, and center these prosecutions were coming at him. effectively, he has beaten them all off. it is worth saying, important caveat, he is a convicted felon. he was convicted of 30 four charges of falsifying business records in new york in relation to that hush-money payments to a port star, you'll remember before the 2016 general election.

that conviction stands. the sentencing for that has been put on hold. we don't know if or when that will happen, if that will have to wait until after the presidency or not. that is the one problem he has. there is another state case in georgia which is mired in again related to overturning the election, mired in difficulties. i don't think that is going anywhere. major legal problems beginning of the year. end of next year, all of this has basically gone away. >> thank you. to romania now where there has been something of a political earthquake. a right-wing critic of nato who has praised russia has taken a shock lead in the country's presidential elections. the pro-eu prime minister suffered a humiliating defeat and has resigned as head of his party. he was expected to come out on top in the first round but ended up in third place. the surprise winner was the

candidate who stood on a right-wing pro-moscow platform, calling for an end to a two ukraine. no party of his own and campaigned largely on the social media platforms tiktok. here is a taste of one of his posts. >> sports is my main hobby. sport is like a love story, it must be appreciated and respected. otherwise, the passion goes away. >> i am joined now by the prime minister of romania from 2012 to 2015, a member of the social demoatic party. thank you for being with us. tell us what we know about this candidate and how much of a shock it was politically. >> good evening. very glad to be with you. like you mention it's a political soon dominique, shot

for the political establishment but even for the public opinion. he was not very well known, does not have a party of his own, not participating in many tv interviews. he was just promoting himself as the tiktok candidate. honestly, all the political establishment did not take him very seriously. when the results came last evening, he is definitely now in the pole position for the second round, everybody in romania, worldwide, were trying to understand who he is, what he is talking about besides nice ideas like he wants there to be peace, he doesn't want romania to get involved in the ukrainian war, he want to see the romanians using mostly romanian products, go back to traditional values

like family and church. but no solution, no team, no political approach. it is a big surprise. it is not only a big surprise, it is a concern becauseomania has been until yesterday a very predictable and stable member of the european union, stabilizer of ukraine. starting the next round, we can only guess what will happen. >> i gather he has talked about not having so much a go to ukrainians coming across the border into romania. has that struck a chord? >> it is, but it is very appealing to an important part of the romanian public. to our big surprise also he was dominating yesterday the votes of the romanian diaspora. there are millions of romanians living in the united kingdom france, italy, spain.

he won the votes of these romanians from the diaspora. it is very straight and simple message, we don't want to go to war, we don't want to get involved, we want peace, proved to be very effective after two years which exhausted the romanian public opinion regarding the war. >> how much influence or political power could he have if he were to win? >> huge. as you were mentioning, the constitution in romania shares the power with the president and prime minister which is elected by the parliament. but the president has a five-your full mandate, legitimacy of the direct vote, he is coordinating the military, intelligence services, judiciary, and the foreign policy traditionally, last 35 years, has been on the area of the president. we have had now four presidents

and all of them more or less have been absolutely committed to the european integration of nato. if mr. georgescu is elected on december 8, he would be the first president raising doubts about these two pillars of romanian foreign policy, european union and nato. >> thank you for being with us. we are back in a few minutes. stay with us on bbc news. we have been talking about a potential cease-fire deal between israel and hezbollah. stay with us here on bbc news. more on that. stay with us here on announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

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