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rape and human trafficking. police are investigate in the death of hollywood star gene hackman, who has been found dead along with his wife in the u.s. ♪ hello. you are very welcome to bbc world news america, coming to you today from the white house, where donald trump and sir keir starmer have met. they have had productive talks as the u.k. and other u.s. allies press washington not to abandon ukraine. sir keir was here at the white house to welcome president trump for the first time since his return to the oval office. the trip comes shortly after emmanuel macron played trump a visit on monday and volodymyr

zelenskyy's do with the white house too. all three are pushing for the u.s. to guarantee ukraine's security in the event it reaches a cease-fire deal with russia. in a news conference after that meeting, sir kier made sure to praise trump's efforts to bring the war in ukraine to an end, even as he pushed the president to give a better deal to ukraine. >> ukraine took a moment of enormous opportunity to reach a historic peace deal, a deal i think be celebrated in ukraine and around the world. that is the prize. but we have to get it right. there is a famous slogan in the united kingdom from after the second world war. that is that we have to win the peace. that is what we must do now. because it cannot be peace that awards the aggressor or gives encouragement to regimes like iran. we agree history must be on the side of the peacemaker, not the invader.

annita: -- caitriona: for his part, president trump appeared to soft and the tone to his approach to ukraine a little, praising ukraine soldiers for their bravery in the face of russia's invasion. pres. trump: we are going to get along really well. we have a lot of respect. i have a lot of respect for -- we have given them a lot of equipment and money, but they have fought very bravely, no matter how you figure it. somebody has to use that equipment, and they have been very brave in that sense. caitriona: two leaders spoke warmly about the country's close ties. president trump restored a bust of a previous british prime minister, winston churchill, to the oval office. he counted in his first term that it had been replaced by joe biden with a bust of martin luther king jr. king charles invited president trump for what his majesty

called an unprecedented second state visit. president trump would be the first u.s. president to make two state visits to the u.k., an invitation that he did accept. but even as the u.k. and u.s. leaders met here in washington, 5000 miles away in turkiye, the u.s. was also meeting with russia. negotiators from moscow and washington sat down together in istanbul in an effort to restore their diplomatic ties. those talks following from last week's summit in saudi arabia, in which marco rubio and his russian counterpart agreed to start negotiations on ending russia's war with ukraine. notably without the involvement of kyiv. russian president vladimir putin said this is a positive step despite unhappiness from what he called western elites. a lot has been happening here at the white house today, so i have

been joined by our senior race -- senior reporter keeping track of things. a very warm language in approach between the two men, but some very tense negotiations, it would appear, as well. >> i think the worst thing that could have happened for starmer was some sort of public disagreement, and both went to lengths to try to avoid that. at one point in the press conference, the prime minister was asked about canada, and he said it seems there are trying to bridge a divide between us and there is not. in that regard, it was quite warm. you could tell there were underlying tensions. i think the prime minister wanted more secure guarantees for ukraine going forward as the negotiations begin to take place, but all in all, for him it is probably considered a win. there is no visible disagreements between the two men. trump said the trade agreement when probably happen very soon. he seemed to lean towards president starmer's -- prime minister starmer's position on

the chapo silence as well. i think all in all it went quite well for the prime minister despite the tensions. caitriona: one of the big asks sir keir starmer came with was this security guarantee for ukraine, perhaps wearing the european leader had, but wearing his hat quickly for the u.k. people. this news of a trade deal is really big. this announcement from president trump that the u.s. and the u.k. would do a trade deal, that there would not be any need for tariffs. he seemed to indicate it would happen quite soon. >> especially given that president trump has shown a willingness to go to tariffs as an economic weapon, even with allies like mexico and canada, in that context, the news of a fair trade agreement would be very welcome. there has been speculation in the past about tariffs in the u.k., and in the european union, but president trump's tone was quite softer than starmer's than it has been in the past about other allies. caitriona: how does this all set

up the meeting tomorrow when the ukrainian president zelenskyy will come here building on the ladder that has been laid by macron and starmer? >> i think both of those leaders made the case to president trump this is also in the interest of the united states, and tomorrow president trump has apparently framed this agreement as being an official to the united states , getting back with the u.s. has given to ukraine in the past. in that regard, the two meetings were in steps before zelinski's meeting. going forward, president trump clearly sees the deal as a step one in a peace negotiation. could end fighting in just a few weeks time. caitriona: thank you very much for that. we are joined now by ambassador michael carpenter, senior director of free europe and the u.s. national security council under president joe biden. he joins me now.

michael, just interested to get your thoughts on the state of what at least in the u.k. is referred to as a special relationship. the cast and characters come and go between presidents and prime minister. what is your reading of what we saw between the two leaders today? michael: while accounts, it was cordial and warm, and both leaders want to avoid any public disagreements, so on that score, it i think it was very positive. we do not know exactly what was said behind closed doors, and when it comes to ukraine, i think prime minister starmer's mission was to talk about some sort of sick and how the united states and its military will figure in helping european powers to secure ukraine's sovereignty going forward. on that score, it is probably more difficult for him to get a response from president trump that met with the desires for the u.s. to be engaged in some of these security guarantees.

on trade and other matters, the imitation for a state visit for president trump was a big deal and was warmly received. i think overall, very positive, but when it comes to the details on ukraine, we will have to see, but unlikely that president trump gave much more than he has said publicly in terms of what the u.s. will be willing to do as far as guaranteeing ukraine's security in the long run. >> it does not seem his position shifted through the week until he said time and again, until there is a peace deal, we cannot talk about putting peacekeepers on the ground, but then we heard from the prime minister the u.k. is prepared to put boots on the ground, or planes in the air, he said. how does that set up president zelenskyy coming here tomorrow? amb. carpenter: i think president zelenskyy is coming with a mission of trying to elicit from president trump more

forward leaning commitments in terms of the security guarantees. i think so linsky knows as well that in the absence of either a u.s. force presence in and around ukraine or at least the provision of some sort of enablers for european nations, it is unlikely that a coalition will be cobbled together, that we will be able to provide security guarantees for ukraine. i think we are getting over our skis in terms of talking about these security guarantees when we do not have a deal yet between russia and you rain -- between russia and ukraine. it is going to be difficult for president trump to negotiate this deal when president putin has all of the wind in his back right now, feels that he has a particularly strong hand. he is unlikely to agree to the presence of any european troops on ukrainian soil. that is going to be a big topic of conversation between zelenskyy and trump tomorrow, and i do not know that they will have a meeting of the minds on this particular issue.

caitriona: on that too, the big man's from ukraine are nato membership at getting the territory occupied by russia back. we heard trump say again today that nato membership is off the table, but he did say in relationship to the territory, we are going to try to get as much back as possible. that does seem to be a little shift in the american position. amb. carpenter: perhaps, but one also has to look at the major player in this equation, which is russia. from vladimir putin's perspective, he is not going to give up any of the territory he controls. he has made it very clear that his demand is that you rain -- ukraine cede all the blocks he controls, that ukraine must secede those to russia as well as crimea, and that ukraine will never join nato and that there will not be nato forces in ukraine. it is hard to envision security

guarantees where you do not have nato allies contributing forces for a station or piece mission inside ukraine. it is going to be very difficult for president trump to get this agreement, at least on terms that would be acceptable to president zelenskyy, who wants to preserve his country's sovereignty and territorial integrity to the extent possible. caitriona: whatever about the body language and flattering language and so on we saw here today, nevertheless, there was no real mention of the eu in regarding whatever peace deal might come down the tracks, and given everything we have seen in the last week or two from the trump administration, how would you categorize broader european, you u.s. relations now? amb. carpenter: broader u.s.-european relations are very straight right now, not the least because of the threat of a trade war. we had the eu trade commissioner here in washington about a week ago threatening countermeasures

if the united states imposes tariffs on european goods. so, the relationship is fraught and the europeans also are very much wanting to see -- wanting a seat at the table when it comes to negotiations between russia and ukraine, which so far the trump administration has not ceded to that desire. there are a lot of fiction points right now. not all of them involving the u.k. directly. so to a certain degree, prime minister starmer is able to act as a bit of a go-between between some of his european counterparts and president trump, but there is a lot of friction, and that friction is mounting in the u.s.-european relationship. caitriona: ambassador michael carpenter, thanks for joining us here on bbc news. the controversial social media influencer and dray tate and his brother triston are now in florida. they arrived on a private chat earlier after romanian authorities suddenly lifted their travel ban and returned their passports as well as a number of properties, vehicles,

bank accounts, and company shares that had been seized. the brothers still face charges of rape and human, which they have denied. reports indicate the trump administration have discussed their case with romania. in front of reporters, andrew tate protested their innocence. >> we live in a democratic society where you are innocent until proven guilty. my brother and i are understood. there are opinions about us on the internet. we have no criminal record anywhere on the planet, ever. her case was dismissed in romania under the biden administration, and our prosecutor recently decided because we have no active indictment in court to let us go and return. this is a democratic society. it is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, as my brother and i are, and i think it is important we stop allowing media spin, lies, or carefully constructed narratives from george soros funded operations

trying to destroy the reputations of good people who have no intentions of doing anything other than follow the law. caitriona: one of the reporters attempting to ask questions there earlier was our own north american correspondent net atrophic. she joins me now. why now? nada: that is really the key question, because all of a sudden, romanian prosecutors decided to grant the brothers' appeal to drop the travel ban, to give them back their passports and seized assets. with that came a few conditions that they would have to check in regularly, absolutely stressing that this case was not dropped, but it really begged the question how much influence the trump administration had, because we know that the special envoy had discussed the andrew tate case with the romanian borden -- romanian foreign minister. about the white house and the romanian government said there was no pressure.

but we know andrew tate is close to those in donald trump's inner circle and has a lot of influence in that kind of part of the right-wing wing followers, especially young males. that has really been something people are trying to get to the heart of. i did ask andrew tate if donald trump had personally intervened, but he did not answer. caitriona: what does this all mean for the cases going forward, then? nada: we have heard from a lawyer from some of the victims in the u.k. because the tate brothers are facing a separate unrelated civil case there, accusing them of rape and human trafficking. of course, they say they deny those charges as well, but those accusers are very concerned that the brothers are never going to end up going back to romania, and also they are concerned about whether the u.k. government is going to press the united states to have the brothers extradited to the u.k. regardless, that lawyer says

those civil cases will continue in the u.k., but they do want investigations to continue into perhaps criminal charges, according to the lawyers. separately, there is another civil case i have florida woman who says that the brothers forced her into sex work in romania and sued her for defamation when she cooperated with romanian prosecutors. here we have the brothers now in america. we heard in that comment to the press how they are writing this on a left wing conspiracy without any evidence, very much echoing some of the rhetoric we have heard from right-wing figures in the past. caitriona: nada, thank you for joining us. the family of hollywood actor gene hackman have spoken after devastation at his death, saying they will miss him sorely. his body was found yesterday alongside that of his wife and

their dog at their home in the u.s. state of new mexico. hackman was 95, and his wife, a classical pianist, was 63. authorities reported no signs of injury but deemed the death "suspicious enough to investigate." they have not ruled out foul play. the santa fe county sheriff's office says the couple's bodies were found in different rooms and they had been deceased for a while. gene hackman had a career spanning more than six decades, winning two academy awards for his work on "the french connection" and "unforgiven." we look back at his life now. ♪ correspondent: maybe we should start with this. gene hackman as popeye do a lot the french connection, an oscar-winning masterpiece. >> turnaround! correspondent: or maybe superman, and which he played like luther. >> lacks is the only one who

knows where he is. correspondent: here relaxing in the white house. >> the world is a big place. as it turns out, i have this ability for beachfront property. >> let's hit it. correspondent: it is tough because there were so many standout performances. >> scrapping and yelling. >> i've got important things on my mind. correspondent: but he worked hard at it. he was in his mid-30's before he had any real success. bonnie and clyde won his first oscar nomination. and after that, his big break. bleak, brutal, gripping. the french connection turned him into one of hollywood's most compelling tough guys, but the role did not come naturally. >> a matter of fact, on the second day of shooting, i had asked the director to replace me because i did not feel i could do it. i was popping these guys in the

mouth and playing this tough guy , and it was real tough. i had never played a role quite that demanding, and after a while, you punch somebody long enough, you get kind of used to it. >> i'm not going to hurt no more. correspondent: but he did get very good at it. >> i'm going to hurt you. correspondent: with two oscar nominations. >> it is going to be you we are talking about, not just the black kids. correspondent: films like the conversation, a 1970's classic. director francis ford coppola has made tributes today saying gene hackman a great actor, i mourn his loss and celebrate his existence and contribution. not bad for an actor that was, along with his lifelong friend dustin hoffman, voted least likely to succeed at acting school. he may have liked traditional

film idle good looks, but he was undoubtedly a star. caitriona: the oscar-winning actor gene hackman, who has died at the age of 95. now, israel's military chief says he takes full worst possibility after it published its first of -- full responsibility after it published its first list of accounts of failures after the october 7 attacks in 2023 by hamas. the report highlights completion see in the israeli military about the intentions of hamas, with gaza view does a secondary threat compared to the threats posed by iran and hezbollah. the report says about 5000 government crossed through the fortified barriers separating israel and gaza on the seventh of october. it also says that in some instances, we did soldiers were evacuated before civilians -- wounded soldiers were evacuated

before civilians. thousands freed from scanned centers in myanmar are now stranded in makeshift camps, with some speaking of low food supplies and poor sanitation. they were the route to these centers with fake accounts correspondent: of good jobs. the frenzy of construction has now stopped. the rows of featureless buildings which have sprung up are now being of limited -- are now being emptied of their workers. many have been trafficked and horribly mistreated. when asked, nearly all want to go home. last month, thailand cut fuel and power to the scam compounds, forcing their militia allies to start freeing the workers. this group was pushed over the narrow river on a raft and taken in by the thai army. hundreds of chinese workers have already been flown home.

they were clearly being treated as criminals, not victims. but the flow of evacuees to thailand has now stopped. i spoke to mike, an beat the open stranded in myanmar with 400 others -- an ethiopian stranded in myanmar with 400 others that have escaped. >> i just want to go home. i just want to go back to my country. that is all i am asking. correspondent: for years, thailand has been accused of doing too little to stop compounds like the one behind me from running their fraud and human trafficking scams. well, now thailand has started to act, forcing the armed militias over the border to free thousands of trapped workers. yet it seems no one has fought through how to move so many people from so many countries back here to safety and back to their own homes. for the moment, thailand is

reluctant to bring over more of their own governments are not ready to find them home. >> unfortunately, we are hearing distressing information about lack of sanitation's and toilets . many of them were actually screened for tb and were positive for tb. we are hearing from them that they are coughing up blood. our worry is that we are not engaging fast enough and these people are actually basically suffering while they are waiting. >> you see there are as many army or so in this area. if they find me -- >> it is very dangerous. correspondent: we met a young bangladeshi man who escaped from a notorious compound in october. he has come back to try to free 17 friends who are still there. he describes a brutal regime with frequent electric shock torture. >> they have the target every week, $5,000. if no, two electric shocks.

every week, we need to earn for them $5,000. correspondent: how many people did you scam in the three months he were there? >> i don't count, but like -- >> 20, 50? >> more than. correspondent: 100? >> yeah, 100. correspondent: there are still thousands working under duress in these compounds. the civil war in myanmar has ignited an epidemic of transnational crime, which has proven difficult to control. caitriona: before we go, the former cohost of cbs morning show gayle king, singer katy perry, an jeff bezos partner lauren sanchez are headed to space with blue origins historic all women mission. the rocket company owned by jeff bezos se says the new rocket's o to take off in the spring with a crew of 11.

two activists in a film producer will join the trio in their journey to space. exciting times ahead for them. it has been another busy day here at the white house in washington. you can keep up-to-date with everything that has been going on here and around the world on our website, bbc.com/news. lots of reporting and analysis there, and lots for you to see and do, but that is it for world news america for today. narrator: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... bdo, accountants and advisors, funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. ♪ ♪ usa today calls it "arguably the best bargain in streaming"

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♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the “newshour” tonight -- president trump meets with the uk prime minister as relations with europe grow increasingly fraught. amna: elon musk says doge accidentally cut funding for