♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by...

brett: you know as someone coming out of college it can be very nerve-racking not knowing what to expect, whether you'll like your job or not, whether you'll make friends, whether you'll fit in, and here i feel like it's so welcoming and such an inclusive place to work, you just feel like you're valued. 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: and now, "bbc news" s is world news america. s a judge in the u.s. blocks a freeze on hundreds of billions of dollars in federal loans, grants, and other assistance. the defense minister of israel says see defense ministry will stay in the occupied west bank.

at least 30 people have been killed at a religious festival in india. ♪ just one day after widespread backlash, the white house says it is resending a memo that authorized a federal freeze on hundreds of billions of dollars of grants and loans. the white house says this is not a resending of the federal funding freeze itself. just the memo. that is creating confusion. let's try to clear that up. let's speak to our north america correspondent. what is going on? the memo is rescinded but the executive order is not. >> the memo is rescinded.

the point was that the executive order, those orders still stand. the federal government and all of the agencies are still responsible for looking at programs and suspending the ones they don't get. that blanket ban on federal spending has now been lifted. the lawsuit is still proceeding. they said nothing has really changed. this lawsuit should keep going forward. anchor: as of today, where did those programs stand? >> the freeze has been lifted.

the memorandum is gone. where the administration is going is that review has to be taking place. as soon as they find any cap program that goes against those goals, it should be frozen. anchor: thank you for that. for explaining that to us. there was another executive order today instructing the defense department to prepare a facility at guantanamo bay to hold up to 30,000 migrants in

the u.s. illegally. president trump made these remarks. it was the first piece of legislation he had signed since he read to the white house. the measure passed the republican controlled senate with some democratic support despite concerns from immigrant right advocates. the laws named after a 22-year-old nursing student who is out for a run in georgia and was murdered by an undocumented venezuelan national. her family joined president trump at the ceremony, where he blamed past immigration policy for her death. >> he trespassed across our southern border and was

apprehended by border patrol. instead of being deported, he was released into the u.s. anchor: hearings continue on proposed cabinet nominees. u.s. senators grill his pick for health and human services secretary, rfk junior, at his hearing. he is a vaccine skeptic who has been criticized in the past for spreading misinformation, which include suggesting a link between vaccines and autism, something that has been well debunked. if approved, he would oversee 11 agencies under the health and human services agency. >> i am asking you, yes or no,

did you say that covid-19 was a genetic in gently -- engineered bioweapon that spared jews and chinese people? >> i did not say it was deliberately targeted. i just quoted an nih study. >> i have to move on. did you say that lyme disease is highly likely a materially engineered bioweapon? i made sure i put in the highly likely. did you say it was a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon? >> i probably did say that. >> i want all of our colleagues to hear it. i want them to hear it. you said yes. did you say that exposure to pesticides causes children to

become transgender? >> i never said that. anchor: let's speak to the former governor of new hampshire . thank you for joining us. some fairly spiky exchanges on capitol hill today. >> if you think you are going to find the best person for the job in washington for any of those jobs, it is not the way it pans out. he is absolutely unafraid. he is willing to pull back the curtain on a very broken health care system here in the u.s. on a whole variety of metrics. he wants to break all of that down. he wants to make sure that

people have options and choices pier 1 third -- one thing we heard a lot today was about vaccines. that is important but that is far from being the most important issue we have in america. he wants to make sure that kids have health care. that is the main concern. i am cautiously optimistic that it can bring some changes. it has not been coming in the past decades. anchor: there have been so many people running campaigns against him, from public health dr. associations to the former vice president, mike pence. is there -- is it unusual that this much negativity would exist? >> i think this is the largest

government organization on planet earth. the folks who what medicare for all, which is a big deal. something democrats push for. there is so much that comes under that giant organization. anchor: we will wait to see how the vote goes. we have some more grilling's tomorrow. you are a supporter of trump. as a former governor of the state, seeing up close the impact of federal grants and aid and other schemes, what do you

make of the approach to try to roll back those things? >> they want to review them. there is massive waste in the federal government. i love the fact that they are willing to dig in and find where the waste is. i think it was too general. it created confusion. that happens, unfortunately. they have since rescinded that memo. they did not want to go so far and say you cannot look under the hood. you cannot do the audits. we want the audits. we want to be able to do that. we have over $30 trillion in debt in this country.

that is real money that the government does not owe. i/o it as a taxpayer. somewhere, somehow, this country will have to find ways to find efficiency, make cuts, change some systems. they're taking the first steps for that. that has to happen. that is not politics, that is math. it is the first step to get things under control. anchor: just to ask you about something else, president trump has continued his dizzying pace of action. we saw more immigration measures signed today. he also announced that he wants to use guantanamo bay to howells migrants. something the cuban government has railed against. what is your view of moving migrants into detention camps? >> there are a couple of pieces.

what he is really saying is we are not pulling punches. we will pull out every stop we can to make sure the criminals he is going after who have committed crimes of the top priority. colombia said we will not take our own criminals back. they quickly capitulated. trump is saying in those cases, we have a place to put them off of our mainland. we can make sure that our communities are safer. if the last resort is to put them in guantanamo bay, so be it. most americans just want them off of our streets. these are criminals who are

committing crimes every single day. that is supported here in the u.s. anchor: we are out of time for today but thank you so much for joining us. we will talk to you again. >> thank you. anchor: the israeli defense minister says troops in the occupied west bank will stay there. he was speaking from the camp on the eighth day of a security operation backed by armored vehicles. 17 palestinians have been killed. dozens of homes have been demolished. most civilians have been forced to flee. before this, they battled hamas and islamic jihad fighters. israel says it has received a list from hamas of the next eight hostages set to be freed following the cease-fire.

three of the hostages are israeli. including two women who are thought to be the last female hostages left alive. >> a 29-year-old was abducted near the gaza border on the seventh of october. another was taken from a military base near the gaza border. they are set to be released along with an 80-year-old man. hamas has said they will release five thai nationals. they were a group of agricultural workers who were objected. we do not know the names of

those people yet. they are not formally tied to this deal. 110 palestinian prisoners will also be released from israeli jails. this is said to include about 30 women and children. according to israeli media reports, several of those who have been sentenced to life imprisonment for much more serious offenses will not be allowed to return to those areas. they will be exiled either to egypt or other arab countries. anchor: earlier on wednesday, hamas said a delay in aid to gaza may affect further releases of hostages. the u.n. relief and works agency

report 6 million palestinians live across the middle east. reporter: homeless and displaced , they were classed as refugees even before this war. many of the children and grandchildren of palestinians who fled their homes and fighting when israel was created in 1948. for seven decades, one agency has been a critical lifeline. but new israeli laws threaten its work. >> it would be a catastrophe if this comes into place. it would deepen and further the suffering of many people. reporter: it has given shelter to this family for the past 15 months. if it closes, they could lose vital aid. they worry that their children will not restart their

education. they say they already completely forgot there is something called school. israel has long criticized the organization, saying it teaches palestinians to dream of returning to their historic homes. tensions have risen since the seventh of october attacks. nine workers may have formed -- joined the deadly assault. they were fired. israel insists that problems remain. >> i thing the law is pretty clear. on thursday, israel will disconnect all communications with organization. they will have to evacuate their facilities in jerusalem. >> that has created nervousness. refugee camps like this one were never supposed to be permanent.

peace talks stalled along ago. they say people here reject the change. >> give us our rights. reporter: there are uncertainties on how this will work. officials say it will hit as a fragile cease-fire is taking hold in gaza and they warrant it can jeopardize long-term chances of peace. anchor: let's talk more about the impact of this. thank you for being with us.

talk to us a little bit about what is going to happen tomorrow. >> we know as the video just stated that our headquarters in east jerusalem are to be evacuated. the international staff will not be there. their visas have run out. we will continue to work in gaza in the west bank as long as we are able to. we are essential in those places, especially in gaza where the needs are so vast. no other agency has the infrastructure and staff members who know how to take care 2 million people facing trauma.

anchor: that is the point that israel makes. it says that other agencies can fill the gap that unwra might leaves. but you say that is not possible? >> it is fundamentally not true. no agency has that much staff. not only do they not have that number, but the staff with the experience to essentially educate 600,000 young people who have been displaced and traumatized by this siege. they don't have the expertise for running the clinics and shelters and other key services. the retrieval of key drinking water. dealing with sanitation issues.

we need that kind of staff. anchor: can you speak to us about what aid has been allowed? >> there has been a flooding of aid. 60% of all aids -- aid has come in through unrwa. they collected solid waste. this is above the 60,000 health

consultations we have been providing. they have provided support to a half a million children. anchor: thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. anchor: at least 30 people have been killed and 90 others injured in a crash at -- crush at a festival in northern india. it is one of the world's biggest religious festivals. up to 100 million people are there. the israeli prime minister is

there. >> grieving and exhausted. she is outside the hospital. my mother died. her mother died. i could never have imagines that something like this could happen. otherwise we would've never come here. we thought the government would provide us with facilities. we did not know they would put up barricades and leave us to die. reporter: she has come here looking for the bodies of their loved ones. police broke their own barriers to sprint to disperse the crowds. she drove all of these people here. they wanted to bathe in the holy

waters to wash away their sins. what witnesses have told us is there were hundreds and hundreds of people sleeping here on the riverbanks. there was such a crush of people. they came over this way. one person gets pushed. people were trampled. a festival to celebrate faith has left many grieving. anchor: the president of the democratic republic of congo will not join peace talks with

neighboring rwanda. the official news agency said he will not appear at a virtual summit alongside his counterpart. that is despite an invitation from the president of kenya. more than 100 people have been killed and nearly 1000 wounded in clashes between fighters and congolese army troops. at least 17 united nations peacekeepers have been killed in eastern congo. a new discovery could answer the question of how life began on earth. scientists around the world have

been studying samples of a space rock collected by nasa. it is rich in minerals and organic molecules, including the building box -- blocks of dna. this supports the theory that asteroids crashed into the earth early in its history, delivering the necessary ingredients life. fascinating stuff. you can find out more about that at our website. you can also scan a announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... 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: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs app

lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

geoff: i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. robert f. kennedy junior faces tough questions at his confirmation hearing.