♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ narrator: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... erika: i love seeing interns succeed,

i love seeing them come back and join engagement teams and seeing where they go from there, i get to watch their personal growth, it makes my heart happy. (laughs) ♪ ♪ narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. announcer: and now, bbc news. live from london, this is bbc news. applause and cheering. president trump addresses the us congress and says america is "on the brink of comeback". to my fellow citizens, america is back! in a wide-ranging speech

the president promised a crackdown on migration, a new set of trade tariffs and he had this to say on the war in ukraine. today, i received an important letter from president zelensky of ukraine. the letter reads, "ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer". at bbc verify, we've looked into donald trump's many claims in his address to congress. we have looked at his claims about the previous administration and what his own has achieved. has achieved. cuts have been earmarked ahead of a spring statement by the chancellor rachel reeves. plans are revealed for a four day salvation of the 80th anniversary of ve day including a fly-past and the concept -- a four day celebration. four day. hello, i'm catherine

byaruhanga. america is back. that's the phrase used by president trump as he addressed a joint session of the united states congress for the first time since he returned to the white house. in a speech which was the longest a president has ever given to congress, donald trump said america was on the brink of an unprecedented comeback. on trade, he confirmed that from next month, reciprocal trade tariffs will come into force against several nations. and the president also announced a crackdown on criminal gangs and immigrants, promising what he called the "largest deportation in american history." from washington, nomia iqbal reports. mr speaker, the president of the united states. cheering and applause. this was president donald trump's moment to boast. america is back. cheering and applause. we have accomplished more in 43

days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started. he praised all the domestic actions he has taken so far on immigration... and i deployed the us military and border patrol to repel the invasion of our country. ..and spending cuts. we are draining the swamp - it is very simple - and the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over. laughter. he spent a long time praising his close ally, the unelected tech billionaire, elon musk. thank you, elon. he is working very hard. he didn't need this, he didn't need this. thank you very much, we appreciate it. ..who he has appointed to reduce government spending and boost the us's space ambitions. in a key moment, donald trump reached out to ukraine's president zelensky after days of criticising him. it's time to stop this

madness, it's time to halt the killing. it's time to end this senseless war. if you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides. it's after mr zelensky made a statement saying he wanted to move forward. we've had serious discussions and have we've had serious discussions with russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. wouldn't that be beautiful? mr trump also repeated his trade war threat. if you don't make your product in america, however, under the trump administration, you will pay a tariff, and in some cases, a rather large one. president trump looks and sounds like he did in his first term, but this time he's more experienced and emboldened. this speech really underlines just the blitz of action he has taken since his return to the white house. he is really testing the boundaries of his power and creating confusion, leaving democrats unsure how to react. many of them brought signs. some said nothing

as he taunted them. shouting. one democrat was kicked out after heckling. president trump arrived here as polls suggest americans are split on the start of his second term. he can't run again, giving him four years to deliver on those big, bold promises. the golden age of america has only just begun. let's get some more analysis of that speech. our correspondent helena humphrey watched it all from capitol hill. that longest of the joint addresses to congress there in history. donald trump essentially taking to the stage, taking a victory lap, i think it's fair to say. this isn't, strictly speaking, a state of the union speech, but nevertheless, donald trump used it as an opportunity to tout what he saw as a long list of achievements in those, at times, frenetic six weeks

back in the white house. he came onto that podium saying, "america is back". he then started by touching on some of those well-worn themes we had heard on the campaign trail. when it comes to culture war issues, for example, saying that he had ended diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, not just, he said, in the government, but with it also now spreading to the private sector. he then referenced the work of the department of governmental efficiency, that initiative, of course, headed by the unelected billionaire, elon musk, who was there in the audience, who stood up and was applauded by republican lawmakers there in the chamber, who said for any of those federal workers who had been mandated to return to the office and did not do so, they could stand to lose their jobs. worth pointing out that democrats had also invited, in the audience, some of those tens of thousands of federal employees who we know have already been laid off through that initiative. let's speak to michael martins,

who previously worked for the us embassy here in london, focusing on politics. what do you think the intention was behind this speech? was it about setting up policies or about marking donald trump's returned to power? this is president trump setting himself up. the congress is about to start budget negotiations between congress and the white house, so i think he is bringing a lot of the campaign issues that he won on and trying to demonstrate a result to his voters who are going to be watching, and at the same time trying to signal to congress what his priorities are because they will be the ones who control spending decisions. a key priority for the trump administration is the economy. it was the biggest issue for voters. he didn't have much to say on that, did he? not in a specific sense.

the closest we got to that while some of the tariff points in the speech. we had the 30 day pause with some of the tariffs between the us and canada and mexico and china. now you can see why that is the case. i think he was lining up the deadline to come in with the state of the union address that we saw yesterday. looking at foreign policy, what do you think people are watching from europe, where we are, especially with what is happening in the ukraine conflict and the united states suspending military shipments to ukraine, what can they take from that speech? they can take away that president trump does want to negotiate a peace deal between russia and ukraine. he is serious about that. you saw towards the end of that press conference between president trump and president zelensky

that he did want to leave the door open to it. ultimately, any any peace in ukraine will need us involvement. he was signalling that he is firm in his negotiations with president zelensky and we are seeing that president zelensky is coming closer to president trump's word view on that. what kind of us involvement could we see? i don't think the us has talked about having american troops on the ground in ukraine after a peace deal is reached, so what realistic involvement could we see from the trump administration? president trump has been clear that he favours economic deterrence. he has been pushing for american companies to have access to ukrainian markets, in this case about critical minerals and energy and the like. what we

might end up seeing from president zelensky's side is a prioritisation those minerals are extracted. if they start to prioritise minerals being extracted closer the front lines, that could be something we start to see because that is also what russia has been trying to offer those same minerals in occupied territory to president trump. so once the ukrainians start to prioritise, we might see that as a different type of negotiation tactic. michael martin's, thank you. in his address to congress, president donald trump made a large number of claims, both about the performance of the previous us administration and what his own has already accomplished. ben chu from bbc verify has been going through them. there were lots of claims from donald trump in his address to congress to examine, but let's start with what the president said about the us economy. trump claimed that he had inherited an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare. he also said that "we have

suffered the worst inflation in 48 years, but perhaps even in the history of our country". well, here is us inflation, the annual rate at which consumer prices are rising. as you can see, inflation peaked at just over 9% in june 2022 under joe biden, and that was the highest since the 1970s, though this was in the context of high inflation in the rest of the world in the wake of the pandemic and the global energy shock. moreover, it was coming down and when trump took office, it was down to 3%. also, this was not the worst inflation in the history of america. according to official us statistics, in the 1920s and 1940s, it was higher even than in the 1970s. let's look at what donald trump said about border crossings. he claimed illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded. in comparison, under joe biden, there were hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month. well, this shows encounters at the us-mexico border, a measure for illegal

crossings. and yes, they were very high under joe biden compared 300,000 in one month. and the us customs and border patrol has said that in february 2025, there were only 8,326 encounters at the south-west border, a record low. but it's important to recognise that as you can see, crossings were already declining quite rapidly. finally, let's look at what trump said about the savings in government spending his administration has found. he said "we have found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud". well, the department of government efficiency, or doge, run by elon musk, actually claims to have found around $105 billion in savings so far from fraud detection and by cancelling contracts, which works out at $650 per us taxpayer. but if you look at the records

doge has actually published on this site so far, they only came to an estimated $18.6 billion of that claimed total, and even much of that lower total has been contested. there were of course lots of other claims by the president relating to subjects ranging from us funding for ukraine to tariffs, and you can find more of our evaluation of these on the bbc website. ben chu reporting. china's annual parliamentary session has opened in beijing with a warning from the country's premier that "changes unseen in a century" were unfolding rapidly. china's national people's congress is expected to mostly focus on the economy. premier li qiang admitted that achieving a target of 5% growth would require "arduous efforts". it comes amid an escalating trade war with the united states. the chinese announced reprisal tariffs on american agricultural imports in response to a 10% levy on chinese imports that came

into effect on tuesday. let's speak to our beijing correspondent steve mcdonnell. steve, a key platform for the chinese communist party to respond to those tariffs by the trump administration. what's the message in beijing? if you look at the chinese economy, the once mighty chinese economy has huge problems. ongoing property crisis, youth unemployment, local government debt and consumer confidence, not enough confidence from ordinary chinese families. they are saving too much and not spending enough. then there are the bright sides of the chinese economy. electric vehicles, solar panels, the new tech companies like tiktok. they are all export driven. so along comes the trump administration and it works tariffs on china and chinese goods. china then sticks tariffs on us goods and a trade war is not what beijing

needs at this point because it is harming the bright parts of an economy which has some big challenges at the moment. nevertheless, china's premier is predicting a 5% level of growth this year. some might say that is optimistic, but they think they can achieve it. in that report, and we all watched it like looking at the tea leaves, the word consumption was mentioned 31 times today by the premiere, as opposed to 21 last year. people makes a big deal, but it shows the emphasis that the government is going to try again to get domestic consumption going. it promised to do this a decade ago was that it hasn't panned out. there were a few bits and pieces in the report today, offering encouragement financially to people to swap their cars or their old appliances. no big boost in the social safety net, so lots of

analysts would say more has to be done to get domestic consumption going here, especially if we are heading into the possibility of a global trade war. that was our

in the uk, cuts to welfare spending and government departments are among the draft measures the treasury is considering ahead of the chancellor's spring statement. a government source told the bbc that rachel reeves' would stress that the world has changed since her previous budget in october. let's speak to our chief political correspondent henry zeffman, who is in westminster. henry, what more do we need about these proposed measures? we don't have a lot of detail, but the fact that we know that

right now, the treasury is submitting what are being turned major measures to the office for budget responsibility, the independent body which comes up with forecasts about the uk economy, the fact that that is significant. this event on march the 26th was meant to be an opportunity for the office for budget responsibility to publish, as is required by law, updated forecasts on the health of the uk economy for the next five years. but it wasn't expected to be a major moment for rachel reeves, the chancellor, to change her spending plans. the fact that she is clearly going to do so is significant. and what is politically significant is the clear indication from the government that the bulk of those spending cuts are going to come from the welfare budget. you mention spending cuts from the welfare budget, this after the chancellor announced tax rises in october.

this will be a very difficult political position for the government and the chancellor going forward? certainly within the labour party. the labour party has all sorts of factions and wings and caucuses, i guess, but one thing that unites all of them is a passionate commitment to a generous welfare state. so there are lots of labour mps who are very uneasy at the possibility of welfare cuts. but the argument that the chancellor will make is, hang on, the clue is in the name. the labour party is committed to labour, to having people in work. and she believes there are what she calls perverse incentives in the welfare system as it is currently operating which block some people from seeking work, or disincentivises them seeking work and end up in the government spending more money

than she believes it can afford to support them out of work. that was our chief political correspondent henry zeffman in westminster. arab leaders are seeking international support for their post-war reconstruction plan for the gaza strip that would allow its 2 million residents to stay in place. the white house has dismissed the proposal put forward by egypt and israel has rejected it. yolande knell is in jerusalem. what more do we know about these proposals being for by arab leaders? there is a 91 page glossy document that outlines this plan put forward by egypt and endorsed by the 22 members of the arab league. basically, it is their alternative to president trump's post-war vision for garzo that involves the displacement of its 2 million

residents with the creation of an international travel destination their -- for gaza. this keeps the palestinians firmly on their own land for a phased reconstruction that would be completed, it says, by the year 2030. that will kick off with rubble being cleared and unexploded ordnance being cleared away. and you would have an interim administrative committee made up of palestinians who are independent and politically taking over and hammer ceding its power. and with the eventual takeover of a reformed palestinian authority -- with hamas ceding power. the cost of this is put at $53 billion. the egyptians have said they are planning to hold a reconstruction funding conference next month. we have also been hearing that they have been going to the organisation of islamic cooperation, looking for its support. the final communique

from the summit looked for world powers are many of whom have expressed extreme reservations about president trump's ideas, asking the world community to back this idea as well. and we have had the white house sounding more dismissive, as you were saying, about this plan, saying it doesn't match up to the realities on the ground. something similar from the israeli foreign ministry spokesman, and he says this is rooted in outdated perspectives. israel has rejected the idea of how mass remaining in control of gaza, but also of the palestinian authority taking over there. at the moment, a ceremony is under way in tel aviv, the swearing in of a new chief head of the idf. how significant is this? this is a significant moment. you have this lieutenant general taking over. the former

lieutenant general said at the start of this year that he was going to resign ahead of the report that came out last week about the military's sailings and the hamas led 7th of october attacks. so we have had the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu praising levy at this ceremony for his handling of the gaza war and also praising the man who is taking over who served previously as his military secretary. he is going to take over at a time when there are still israeli troops in gaza, in southern lebanon and syria as well. what the new is really military chief of staff said is that 2025 is going to continue to be a year of combat. that

was a middle east correspondent yolande knell. this year marks the 80th anniversary of ve day and the end of world war two in europe. celebrations will take place across the uk, paying tribute to the millions of people who served, and those who stepped into essential roles on the home front. daniela relph has more. churchill: today is victory in europe day. we may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing. it is 80 years since the allied victory in europe was celebrated on the streets of london. elation mixed with relief that world war ii was over. and this year, the commemorations will pay tribute to the millions who served. as they did in 1945, the royal family will be involved in many of the events planned for the first week of may. commemorations officially

begin on the 5th of may, bank holiday monday, with a military procession in london and street parties around the country. on tuesday, the 6th of may, the poppies return to the tower of london. nearly 30,000 of the original ceramic poppies are back on display. and on ve day itself, thursday the 8th of may, a service of remembrance at westminster abbey and a concert on horse guards parade with space for 10,000 members of the public. all knew that both victory and failure were possible. like last year's d-day anniversary, the stories and memories of veterans will be at the heart of events. they're dwindling in number, but veterans that are able will be part of ve day. to inspire us and to remind us of what we owe to that great wartime generation. in 1945, the country celebrated its freedom. 80 years on, the commemorations take on added importance as the second world war will soon pass from living memory.

daniela relph, bbc news. an update on pope francis' health now. the vatican says pope francis rested well during the night. he is in hospital in rome with pneumonia. the statement said the pope woke just after 8am after spending the night on non-invasive mechanical ventilation. 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" that's because the free pbs app let's you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

♪ >> good evening. >> i'm geoff bennett on the news hour tonight. >> we are draining the swamp. it is very simple in the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over. >> we fact-check president trump's address to cgr