hello and welcome to world news america, i am caitrÍona perry.y blinken is headed to the middle east to visit israel, the west bank and several countries over the next week. the state department says during the trip he will see an immediate increase in aid to gaza as they continue dealing with the humanitarian crisis. the foreign secretary of england's says this is to avoid large outbreaks of disease. more reports of dozens of deaths as israel continues the military operation in gaza and in lebanon people gathered for the funeral of the deputy leader of hamas who was killed earlier this week in an explosion. hezbollah has blamed the attack on what it says was flagrant israeli aggression and israel has not commented but the explosion is creating concern about violence spreading in the region. our middle east correspondent file to this report. reporter: crowds gathered in beirut for the deputy hamas leader assassinated in an attack in beirut on tuesday. some gathered placards with his face, and others waived hamas and palestinian flags and this ass

an caitrÍona perry. -- i am caitrÍona perry.for watching "bbc world news america." ♪ 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. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ geoff: good evening. amna: on the newshour tonight, a jury decides former president donald trump must pay writer e. jean carroll more than 83 million dollars for defamation. geoff: united nations top court orders israel to do all they can to prevent acts of genocide in gaza but stop short of calling for a cease-fire. amna: alabama carries out the nation's first execution with nitrous gas. >> he was g

i am caitriona perry. the south american nation of ecuador is at war with drug gangs.ador's president says foreign prisoners will be deported as the country remains under a state of emergency. the president made the announcement one day after mass gunmen stormed a studio during a live broadcast. following days of violence. the president hopes ecuador to cut down on ecuador's prison population. more than 120 prison guards are being held hostage around the country. nationwide unrest begin a few days earlier when a notorious gang boss escaped from a maximum-security prison. the boss of the two narrow -- of the choneros gang has not been found. police are dealing with jail riots and escapees and several police officers have been kidnapped. joining us now from ecuador is our correspondent, will grant. thank you for joining us. can you describe the situation on the streets of ecuador? >> it is a very strange feeling on the streets of guayaquil. this is a city ultimately in shock. it has beenough very difficult 24 hours. those images of the masked gunmen coming in and taking

i am caitriona perry. for the south african government outlined their case and the headache accusing israel of genocide in gaza in the first two days of hearings before the top court. lawyers demand the international court of justice order an emergency suspension of israel's nila terry campaign and palestinian -- military campaign and palestinian territory. they said the intent to destroy gaza has been nurtured at the highest level of state. he cold benjamin netanyahu genocider and said it was evident from the way the military attack was being conducted. israel will present its case rejecting accusations of genocide as an baseless and argues it is acting in self-defense against hamas after the attacks in southern israel on october 7. in response prime minister benjamin netanyahu says it is precisely the idf which does everything to avoid harming non-involves the veins that is accused by the representatives of the monsters of genocide. he accused south africa of hypocrisy and says where what south africa wa

i'm caitriona perry.cow has accused ukraine of shooting down a military plane just inside russia, carrying dozens of prisoners of war. a zelenskyy has called for an international investigation seeking clarity on the circumstances of the crash. the bbc verified this video showing the moment of the crash. you can see the aircraft in the diance, falling from the sky. 79 people were on board the plane. no one is reported to have survived. the plane came down in the region along the border with eastern ukraine. russia said it detected the launch of two ukrainian missiles before the crash. sergey lavrov called an emergency meeting of the united nations security council to be held immediately. this is from a little earlier. >> ukrainian prisoners of war were transported to the belgrade region -- belgorod region for the next exchange between moscow and care of. the ukrainian side, from the kharkiv region, launched a missile attack on this plane, which became fatal. it lasted about 1.5 hours ago. we requested an u

i m caitriona perry live in washington.

i'm caitriona perry. hello there.gland have seen more than half their averagejanuary rainfall. and there's potentially more wet weather to come too in the forecast before things tend to settle down into the weekend, and it will turn drier. but plenty of flood alerts, flood warnings still in place. keep up to date with those on the bbc weather website, and of course, on your local bbc radio station too. now, this is the pressure chart for thursday — low pressure still centred out towards the northwest of scotland. still a brisk southeasterly wind with more rain for the northern isles, and some more rain heading towards the south of england too. more on that in just a moment. temperatures to start off thursday morning above freezing — 4—7 celsius north to south. there'll be more showers across the far north of scotland into the northern isles, also for western scotland, with a few showers heading across northern ireland into northwest england. more sunshine further south, but it's this area of rain that is of most conce

hello, i'm caitriona perry. before we move to events in the middle east, we want to bring you the latest on a story that's been developing in the past hour. the leader of northern ireland's democratic unionist party says his party is prepared to return to powersharing in northern ireland if the uk government delivers on a new proposal, which would include passing new legislation.the party collapsed the power—sharing new legislation. the party collapsed the power—sharing government nearly two years ago in protest against post—brexit trade arrangements. sirjeffrey donaldson says that the measures proposed by the government in london will secure a positive future for northern ireland within the uk. the package of measures in totality does provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the northern ireland executive, thus members to the northern ireland executive, thus seein- members to the northern ireland executive, thus seein- the executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions. w

hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome.party is prepared to return to powersharing in northern ireland if the uk government delivers on a new proposal, which would include passing new legislation. the dup collapsed the power—sharing government nearly two years ago in protest against post—brexit trade arrangements. sirjeffrey donaldson says that the measures proposed by the government in london will secure a positive future for northern ireland within the uk. the package of measures in totality does provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the northern ireland executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions. we recognise that significant further advances have been achieved through these negotiations and the details of the new package of measures will be published by the uk government in due course.

hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome.esidential election. here in iowa, republican voters will gather across the state for its caucuses monday evening to kick off the party's nomination process. this town—hall style voting with secret ballots is a critical indicator of how voters here are feeling, and the results here can have a significant impact on the momentum of presidential campaigns. the democratic party will also begin its candidate nomination process here. former us president donald trump begins caucus day with major momentum to win the state, with candidates such as governor ron desantis and former governor and ambassador nikki haley competing to take his place as leader of the party. it's set to be a historic night, notjust because of the political drama surrounding former president donald trump and his republican primary challengers. but because of the frigid weather in the past week, iowa has been rocked by blizzards, with

hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome.he israeli bombardment of gaza has rendered the territory uninhabitable. he says in

hello, i'm caitriona perry. we begin with a developing story.nderjeffrey epstein. those files contain the names of people accused of wrongdoing, while others on the list are making allegations or are potential witnesses.

i'm caitriona perry.t has hit houthi positions in yemen for a fourth time. the air strikes targeted 14 loaded houthi missiles. that's according to us central command,

hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome.ople were killed by explosions in the south—eastern city of kerman. the blasts were near the saheb al—zaman mosque, where thousands of people gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of a top military commander,

hello, i'm caitriona perry. good to have you with us.nt released by centcom said "forces conducted strikes on 14 iran—backed houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in houthi controlled areas in yemen.

hello, i'm caitriona perry. on american soldiers injordan, but what we don't know yet is exactly how and when the us intends to retaliate. three us soldiers — all from the state of georgia — were killed on sunday morning, when a drone struck an army barracks on the border ofjordan and syria. the white house says president biden has spoken with theirfamilies. more than a0 others were injured in the attack. the strike injordan marked the first loss of life for american troops in the middle east since the start of the israel—gaza war. well, speaking to reporters outside the white house on tuesday, president biden said he holds iran responsible because it is iran that supplies weapons to the militia group the us believes carried out the attack. but mr biden reiterated the white house position — that the us is not seeking war with iran.

hello i'm caitriona perry.n in damages to writer ejean carroll for defamatory statements he made, denying he sexually assaulted carroll. in a post on truth social, trump said he would appeal, calling the decision — "absolutely ridiculous." the court awarded carroll $65 million in punitive damages and $18.3 million in compensatory damages. that sum includes money for repairing her reputation and emotional harm. here's the moment that carroll left the courthouse — flanked by her legal team.

and in washington dc, i'm caitriona perry. israeli troops encircle the southern gazan city of khan younis. it comes as the head of the un says israel's rejection of a 2—state soluation is unacceptable. i m sumi somaskanda 7 we are live in new hampshire where voting is wrapping up in the first presidential primary of 202a. early returns are pointing to a strong turnout 7 with around 300—thousand voters expected to have cast their ballots for the republican presidential nominee. we ll have the results as soon as they come in this evening. i m caitriona perry live in washington. today marks the second contest for the republican primary field that includes — former president donald trump, who had a landslide victory in iowa last monday. he rose to popularity as a former reality television star known for his new york real estate empire. the twice impeached president is expected to have a busy 2024 notjust on the campaign trail, but in the courtroom where he faces 91 criminal charges across four cases this year. and gaining ground o

i'm caitriona perry. take care.dbye. ♪ 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. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ geoff: good evening. >> on the newshour tonight, iowans face freezing temperatures to caucus in the first electoral contest. geoff:

i'm caitriona perry. take care.dbye. ♪ 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. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. ♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the "newshour" tonight, former president donald trump wins iowa as voters face freezing temperatures to caucus in the first electoral contest of the 2024 campaign.

. ♪ >> i'm caitrÍona perry in washington and this is bbc world news america.e reportedly offer some off a two month pause in fighting in the exchange for the release of all hostages. nikki haley goes on the offensive against donald trump before tomorrow's crucial new hampshire republican primary. the indian prime minister nandra modi opens a hindu temple where a mosque was torn down three decades ago. ♪ hello and welcome to world news america. israel has reportedly offered hamas a multistage deal that includes a pause in fighting of up to two months in return for the release of all remaining hostages. the proposal has been put forward thrgh qatari and egyptian mediators. axios is reporting to deal proposal, but we have not yet been able to verify their reporting. we are yet to see any response from hamas. the offer comes as internal pressure on israel's prime minister has continued to grow. today, relatives of israeli hostages have stormed a meeting at the knesset, israel's parliament. they are calling for more to be done to free their loved ones. banners were

hello i'm caitriona perry. yorkjury ordered former president donald trump to pay over $83.3 million in damages to writer ejean carroll for defamatory statements he made, denying he sexually assaulted carroll. in a post on truth social, trump said he would appeal, calling the decision — "absolutely ridiculous." the court awarded carroll $65 million in punitive damages and $18.3 million in compensatory damages. that sum includes money for repairing her reputation and emotional harm. here's the moment that carroll left the courthouse — flanked by her legal team. trump wasn't there for the verdict, he left the courthouse as carroll's team was presenting its closing arguments on friday. our correspondent nada tawfik was in court and sent this update. donald trump was not there when the verdict was read. teaching carol holding the hands of her lawyers it was read out. it was certainly a victory for her. remember the first defamation trial in may she was awarded $5 million. this far more, $83.3 million. this far more,

his step—mother gillian kaye spoke to my colleague caitriona perry a little earlier.son was taken from the kibbutz... do you have any information about how or where he is? we do. but about how or where he is? we d0- but we — about how or where he is? - do. but we have not heard from him, it has been many, many weeks since we had information. the majority of hostages taken were from the kibbutz where he lived and my family and of course many of them who were released in the earlier releases that happened in november, did get a proof of life from someone who did know him and saw him but that was in november. so that was the last time we have had any word about him at all. i willjust share that my daughter—in—law had — gave birth to a beautiful little girl three and a half weeks ago. her name means dawn in hebrew and just praying every day that my son can hold that little girl in his arm. that must be of course very tough for you all and for his wife and other two daughters and that little baby that he has yet to meet. a large number of his neighbours and friends who wer

a little earlier my colleague caitriona perry spoke with the president of the american museum of naturalon bbc news. these are new regulations from the biden administration. but the process started in 1990 with the passage of the native american graves protection and repatriation act why has it taken so long to get to this point to take this action? thank you for having me. the change with these regulations is a shift from a passive position of museums where tribes representatives of indigenous communities reach out to museums to a responsibility and an obligation for museums to get consent and to consult actively about display and research access to materials. so i think this change is going to promote better relations with indigenous communities with museums, and also help to move us towards a point where there can be true collaboration and partnership between museums like the american museum and indigenous communities in the us. what sort of consultation are you having, what is the process in terms of repatriation? for objects that are on display that are either funerary items or sacr

hello, i'm caitriona perry. we begin with a developing story. us court has released hundreds of pages of court documents connected to the financier and sex offenderjeffrey epstein. those files contain the names of people accused of wrongdoing, while others on the list are making allegations or are potential witnesses. former president bill clinton and prince andrew are among those named in the documents. a judge ordered the release as part of a lawsuit related to epstein�*s associate ghislaine maxwell. she is serving a 20—year jail term for the crimes she committed with epstein. when ordering the release of the list, new yorkjudge loretta preska said many of those named in the lawsuit had already been identified by the media or in maxwell's criminal trial. the bbc is currently reviewing the 915 pages of documents. we'll have more details on this story for you in the hours ahead. iran's supreme leader says there will be a harsh response after around 100 people were killed by explosions in the southeastern city of kerman. the blasts were near the

hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. the leader of northern ireland's democratic unionist party says his party is prepared to return to powersharing in northern ireland if the uk government delivers on a new proposal, which would include passing new legislation. the dup collapsed the power—sharing government nearly two years ago in protest against post—brexit trade arrangements. sirjeffrey donaldson says that the measures proposed by the government in london will secure a positive future for northern ireland within the uk. the package of measures in totality does provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the northern ireland executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions. we recognise that significant further advances have been achieved through these negotiations and the details of the new package of measures will be published by the uk government in due course. this package, i believe, safeguards northern ireland's place in the union and will restore our place within the uk interna

hello, i'm caitriona perry. good to have you with us.he us military has hit houthi positions in yemen for a fourth time. a statement released by centcom said "forces conducted strikes on m iran—backed houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in houthi controlled areas in yemen. these missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and us navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time." the raids came hours after the us added houthis to its specially designated global terrorist list. speaking at the world economic forum, national security advisor, jake sullivan, called for the iran—backed group to stop its attacks on shipping vessels in the red sea, despite houthi fighters saying they would continue until there is a ceasefire in gaza. at the same conference in davos, iran's foreign minister said an end to the war in gaza is needed to stop houthis targeting ships in the red sea. the attacks on merchant vessels since november have disrupted global shipping and raised concerns that inflation coul

for more, my colleague caitriona perry spoke earlier with mara kronenfeld who is the executive director un's agency for palestinian refugees in the us. mara, thanks forjoining us again. can you tell us more about the current situation they're in gaza, such as your colleagues are seeing it? what's it like at the moment? gaza is a place right now, i have to say, at the moment of desperation and despair. there are tens of thousands of women and children, mostly who have been killed or injured. 70% of those killed and injured have been women and children. families are sleeping in the streets in increasingly colder temperatures. we've seen the rain and the floods there. areas where civilians have been told to relocate are coming under bombardment. the medicalfacilities in the strip are under relentless attack, unfortunately, and we know that of the 36 hospitals there in gaza, only 13 or operational and most of those are in the south, and those hospitals in the south are seeing three times the number of patients that they are meant to see. and, frankly, there isn't enough medicine or equipmen

hello, i'm caitriona perry. presidentjoe biden says he has decided how the us will respond to sunday's deadly drone attack on american soldiers injordan, but what we don't know yet is exactly how and when the us intends to retaliate. three us soldiers — all from the state of georgia — were killed on sunday morning, when a drone struck an army barracks on the border ofjordan and syria. the white house says president biden has spoken with theirfamilies. more than a0 others were injured in the attack. the strike injordan marked the first loss of life for american troops in the middle east since the start of the israel—gaza war. well, speaking to reporters outside the white house on tuesday, president biden said he holds iran responsible because it is iran that supplies weapons to the militia group the us believes carried out the attack. but mr biden reiterated the white house position — that the us is not seeking war with iran. as the middle east braces for a us response, some members of congress have called for re

i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. we are less than 2a hours away from the casting of the first votes of the first stage of 2024 us presidential election. here in iowa, republican voters will gather across the state for its caucuses monday evening to kick off the party's nomination process. this town—hall style voting with secret ballots is a critical indicator of how voters here are feeling and the results here can have a significant impact on the momentum of presidenital campaigns. the democratic party will also begin its candidate nomination process here. former us president donald trump begins caucus day with major momentum to win the state, with candidates such as governor ron desantis and former governor and ambassador nikki haley competing to take his place as leader of the party. it's set to be a historic night, notjust because of the political drama surrounding former president donald trump and his republican primary challengers but because of the frigid weather. in the past week, iowa has been rocked by blizz

i'm caitriona perry.n the past hour, we've had confirmation from the us military that it has hit houthi positions in yemen for a fourth time. the air strikes targeted 1a loaded houthi missiles. that's according to us central command, which said in a statement: the raids came hours after the us added houthis to its specially designated global terrorist list, citing the group's attacks on ships in the red sea. the iran—backed fighters have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks, saying they will continue until there is a ceasefire in gaza. the attacks have disrupted global shipping and raised concerns of a knock—on effect for consumer prices. with me is our correspondent will vernon. the statement from the us central command what does that say? the language they have usedis say? the language they have used is quite interesting they mention 1a houthi missiles targeted, sounds like these missiles were primed, the must military describing this as an act of self defence a narrative we have seen several times

earlier, my colleague caitriona perry spoke with him.u very much forjoining us on this day. this day three years ago, you were badly injured, you suffered a heart attack, a brain injury, how are you now? i would give myself a clean bill of health. unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the state of our country. and how do you mark a day like this? you know, i never really go into — or at least i haven't in the past gone into it with any particular plans. just seems to kind of play out the way that it plays out. tomorrow, i am doing an early morning interview, and then the rest of the day is mine, i will probablyjust go spend time with my family. donald trump, we have to say, maintains his innocence through all of this. the events of january 6 came — those protests on the day came from a belief from a lot of people that the election had been somehow stolen, of course, buoyed up by the remarks donald trump was making, refusing to accept the outcome of that election. given we are still a long way from election day, but it would look at

hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome.ted nations humanitarian chief, martin griffis, said the israeli bombardment of gaza has rendered the territory uninhabitable. he says in a statement that... to talk more about the situation on the ground, i spoke earlier to mara kronenfeld, executive director for unrwa usa. thanks forjoining us again. can you tell us more about the current situation they're in gaza, you and your colleagues are seeing? what's it like at the moment?— are seeing? what's it like at the moment? gaza is a place, i have to say. — the moment? gaza is a place, i have to say. at _ the moment? gaza is a place, i have to say, at the _ the moment? gaza is a place, i have to say, at the moment of| have to say, at the moment of desperation and despair. there tends of thousands of women and children, mostly who have been killed or injured, mostly at 70% of those killed or injured have been women and children. families are sleeping in the streets in increasingly colder temperatures, we've seen the rain and the floods

live now to des moines in iowa and our presenter, caitriona perry.et's talk about the league to begin with, donald trump, he is a clear leader at this point? he is, he has been heading every poll taken our you are a nationally since the cycle began. the latest poll came from the respected newspaper in conjunction with nbc news and they came out on saturday night. it had donald trump at 48%. behind him, nikki haley on 20%, so more than twice the number of people who say they will vote for nikki haley say they are valuable donald trump. it is very accurate. interestingly, as an outlier poll, howevertends interestingly, as an outlier poll, however tends to win and when iui does not go on to win the presidency, but donald trump this time around is letting to break a pile of records here. he was to win the poll here by a margin that has never happened before. to send a signal to the rest of the field, the rest of the country, that he is a republican nominee, notwithstanding legal challenges and everything else that he is dealing with at the moment, that h

live now to des moines in iowa and to the bbc�*s caitriona perry.early 90% of the vote has been counted in iowa. donald trump's victory projected to be historic, isn't it? exactly 9096 ofthe historic, isn't it? exactly 9096 of the precincts _ historic, isn't it? exactly 9096 of the precincts have - historic, isn't it? exactly 9096| of the precincts have declared and it looks like donald trump is on course for 51% of the vote in iowa. he was aiming for 50% on all the polls he had been around the 40s, in recent times but backed himself and said i will hit 50 and i would do that in iowa, a sweet not quite a sweep at the moment you might be able to see over my shoulder a map of the state as it stands. one precinct has voted for nikki haley coloured and blue all of the rest of them with 10% yet to fully declare, going for donald trump. and a way back to the second place, ron desantis on 21% nikki haley on 19 even if you combined the people who voted for them donald trump got even more. one casualty of the night was ron desantis on 7.7%, announcing he wil