that would effectively us law that would effectively ban the new app in the country. inaudible. trial over large hush money due aduu trial over large hush money due adult film settlement tunnels. ms daniels gave evidence and present and went exquisite detail of our alleged sexual encounter with mr trump. so much so his defence court for a mistrial. that was rejected by thejudge. mrtrump mistrial. that was rejected by thejudge. mr trump faces the judge. mr trump faces charges thejudge. mr trump faces charges of fraud for recording the payment to ms daniels as legal expenses. sarah smith has more. each day donald trump went to the cameras before going to court. this was no ordinary day and this extraordinary trail.

mr trump, is this true? did you sleep with stormy? today in court, he had to watch a woman who claims she had sex with him openly testify about it. stormy daniels was paid $130,000 by mr trump to stop her going public with claims of a sexual encounter shortly before the 2016 presidential election. just outside the court room, he insisted he shouldn't be on trial at all. and the trial is a very unfair trial. it's a very, very unfair trial. the good news is they have nothing. thank you. the court was shown this photograph of mr trump with stormy daniels, as she described first meeting him at a golf tournament in 2006, the day she says they later had sex. it was at this golf course, she says, that donald trump sent his bodyguard to invite her to dinner. when she got to his hotel suite, she laughed at him for wearing black silk pyjamas while he dangled the possibility of her appearing on his tv show, the apprentice. when she asked about his wife, melania, he told her they slept in separate rooms. as ms daniels described having sex on the bed with mr trump,

without using any protection, she was frequently interrupted by objections from his lawyers. her testimony was so prejudicial, they argued, thejudge should declare a mistrial. he agreed there were some things that would probably have been better left unsaid. but the case goes on. ms daniels was asked if she hates donald trump when his lawyers cross—examined her. yes, she said, as it all got very heated. he had to listen to her admit she had publicly called him an "orange turd," and that she would like to see him injail and she wants him held accountable. before his lawyer directly accused stormy daniels of trying to extort the former president through the hush money deal. earliertoday, mrtrump posted on social media, "i've just recently been told who the witness is today. "this is unprecedented. "no time for lawyers to prepare. "nojudge has ever run a trial in such a biased "and partisan way. " he then quickly deleted it. he's already been warned by thejudge he could be jailed if he continues to post about witnesses in this trial. sara smith, bbc news, new york.

florida judge has and heavily postponed his criminal trial over his alleged mishandling of classified documents. the former president had been scheduled to go on trial on 20 may but the districtjudge said that was not possible because of the number of pre—trial motions before the court. a new date for the start of the federal trial has not been set. the united nations says israel is not allowing humanitarian aid and workers into gaza through the rafah crossing after its forces took control of the gaza side of the border with egypt. hamas has warned that the israeli incursion there aims to undermine efforts to secure a ceasefire. last night, hamas announced it had accepted proposals drawn up by international mediators but the deal was rejected by israel as far from meeting its core demands. paul adams reports from jerusalem.

a deal may now be tantalizingly close. but in rafah, israel's military pressure is relentless. today, severing gaza's last link with the outside world, the crossing point into egypt. and raising theirflag, sending an unmistakable message to hamas. the noose is tightening. the sounds of approaching war echo among the displaced. hundreds of thousands of palestinians living in the sand against the egyptian border. well, next to the sea. "i don't know where to stay," ahmed says. "people are fleeing from rafah "and i have my children with me." gazans have been on the move since yesterday morning, heeding israel's latest warnings, not knowing if the coming days will bring relief or despair.

translation: after what we've witnessed, they've said - multiple times that there will be a ceasefire. but we're frustrated and we have no hope. there's no big hope. only a small one. for aid agencies already struggling to cope, the prospect of a full—scale israeli operation in rafah is alarming. as the operation will progress, we will lose progressively more areas to the fighting. and i'm afraid that this will also affect our warehouses, health facilities, hospitals. and there are very, very few sites where we have the ability to give medical support. for the families of israeli hostages, these are also moments of acute anxiety. john and rachel's son, hirsch, was abducted and badly injured on 7 october. no sign of life until this hamas video two weeks ago. his parents nowjust

daring to hope. when we heard the news that maybe there's a deal, we were cautiously optimistic and we remain cautiously optimistic. it's scary to have - military actions going on. they're innocent civilians, including our son. - we just, we just i need this to come to an end and we need the mediators- on all sides and the two main parties tojust sit in the room and hammer this out and don't come - out of the room without a deal. away from the quiet dignity of the hostage families, friends and supporters are determined to make as much noise as possible, demanding the government do more to rescue hirsch and all the others. these israelis protesting in the heart ofjerusalem tonight feel that a deal to end this

terrible war has never been closer. and so, as they protest close to the prime minister's official residence, their demands are becoming more and more urgent. israel's defence minister says the rafah operation won't stop until hamas is eliminated, or the hostages start to return. talks are continuing, a successful outcome still far from guaranteed. earlier i got some analysis withjean—loup samaan, senior research fellow at the middle east institute of the national university of singapore. he gave his take on how close we are to this conflict anding. 0n we are to this conflict anding. on this topic, the cautious optimism is the right expression. clearly, ithink optimism is the right expression. clearly, i think we season elements that tend to say that both sides, hamas and israel, are still considering a

ceasefire. at the same time there is a lot of tension regarding the latest revised proposal that the israeli government didn't accept and a lot of uncertainty on the condition of the hostages which can actually lead israel to consider the proposal as irrelevant. a lot could happen, but i don't think that we have reached the point where ceasefire no longer relevant. what about israel's actions at the rafah crossing border with egypt's border where they have control of the gaza site? or that impact on ongoing talks? clearly it is a continuation of the negotiations by other means. the israeli government is putting pressure located in the past on hamas in telling the past on hamas in telling the hamas leadership if you do not accept our demands, will go ahead with the operation. having said that, the israelis and americans have been very

clear that what we have seen over the last days is not a full—scale operation. we did not see a ground invasion of rafah but clearly what we saw is a lot of air strikes, a lot of special forces entering rafah, so this could be the beginning of full—scale operations, so what i think will happen is if we see the collapse of the hostage negotiations, probably the offensive on rafah will happen. a lot of military activity seems focused there at the moment, not so much the rest of the gaza strip. do you think israel might be approaching it and game?— israel might be approaching it and came? , ., and game? yes, if we removed the rafah _ and game? yes, if we removed the rafah issue _ and game? yes, if we removed the rafah issue from _ and game? yes, if we removed the rafah issue from the - and game? yes, if we removed the rafah issue from the whole picture, most of the operations inside gaza have been increasing clearly over the last months. the israeli forces on the ground have been reduced. we are talking about just two brigades. services in the worst case scenario it will

be the last chapter of the military operation. this could be devastating at the humanitarian level but clearly we are not at the same point as we are not at the same point as we were six months ago when the operation wasjust we were six months ago when the operation was just starting and the israeli officials were talking about weeks and months of operation. now i think this is, no matter what happens, going to be the final chapter. the ukrainian security service says it's foiled a russian plot to assassinate president zelensky. two colonels have been detained, suspected of passing on secret information to russia's security agency, the fsb. 0ur ukraine correspondentjames waterhouse says mr zelensky has not commented on the plot well, there's been no mention by president zelensky about his evening address on this attempt in this plot against his life which suggests how routine and such attempts have become but his intelligence service been

very keen to talk up these two arrests of two serving colonels of the country's service were responsible for keeping officials safe and be out of allegations they face is being hired as moles by the russian fsb before the full—scale invasion where meetings overseas where they were large amounts of money exchanged and trying to recruit some of president zelensky and his top officials' security guards who might be willing to kidnap and kill them and are alleged to have brought weapons to kyiv including antipersonnel mines, drones, explosives and it looks like at the very least, quite the infiltration into president zelensky�*s inner circle. but the security service here are saying that they are monitored it throughout and they got ahead of it. but this is a wartime leader, we must remind ourselves, willing to travel around the country and faces very real risks

on a daily basis and i do not think he'll be put off by this latest attempt but it shows the attempts that russia allegedly is willing to carry out alongside but it's trying to do on the battlefield. xijinping continues his european tour and, after spending a day high up in the pyrenees mountains with french president emmanuel macron, the chinese president flew to serbia for a visit coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the nato bombing of china's embassy in which three chinese journalists were killed. in belgrade, xi is expected to discuss china's multi—billion investment in the country and possible new deals with his most important partner in the balkans. 0ur correspondent guy de launey was at the nikola tesla airport. this is the brand—new china cultural centre in belgrade, that in 1999 was the site of china was like embassy in serbia plasma capital and 25 years ago to the day it was hit

by a nato air strike. there is a memorial over there to the three people who were killed. nato has always insisted that targeting the embassy was accidental, but had of his visit president xi jinping has made it clear that feelings are still running high over the incident. he wrote an editorial for a serbia newspaper and which he said that we will never forget, which he said that we will neverforget, chinese people cherish peace we will never allow such a thing to happen ever again. allow such a thing to happen everagain. now allow such a thing to happen ever again. now that's the kind of rhetoric which goes down very well in serbia where the majority of people, the vast majority, are strongly opposed to nato membership. there are other reasons for people in serbia to feel good about president xijinping's serbia to feel good about president xi jinping's arrival. china has been an increasingly active investor in serbia in recent years involved in everything from infrastructure like roads and railways through to domestic appliances like the

high satisfactory. there is an opportunity for serbia to say in brussels with the eu accession process but taking an terminally long time. look, we have other options, you know. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. vladimir putin attended a familiar ceremony today, as he was sworn in for the 5th time as russia's president. mr putin has been in power since the turn of the century and is now beginning an unprecedented new six—year term after winning 88% of the vote. at a lavish ceremony in the kremlin, he was unapologetic about invading ukraine, although he conceded that russia was going through a difficult period. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg was there. bells chime. in russia, times change. vladimir vladimirovich putin.

but the leader stays the same. inaudible. the gold, the grandeur of the grand kremlin palace matched the image... inaudible. of a modern day russian emperor. vladimir putin could have walked this with his eyes shut. after all, he's been down this way many times before. he is the longest serving leader in russia since dictatorjosef stalin. this is vladimir putin's fifth term in the kremlin. the oath to serve the russian people... and then, the leader who had invaded ukraine, accused the west of aggression. translation: we're not refusing to speak to western nations. - it's up to them

whether they keep trying to hold russia back and continue their aggression and years of pressure on our country, or seek a path to cooperation and peace. peace. here, they're not expecting that any time soon. translation: the west needs a weak _ russia that will fall apart. putin is standing in their way, so they try to weaken russia by attacking putin. we are in the war, i and the war is serious and we are fighting and... you could stop it tomorrow, though, by pulling your troops out of ukraine. of course not. we will never stop because we are i fighting for our people. it's incredible to think that in the nearly quarter of a century that vladimir putin has been in power in russia, america has been through five different presidents. britain has had seven prime ministers. mr putin's supporters welcome the continuity as they see it, despite the danger that comes from having one man in power for so long with so few

checks and balances. then, outside, more pomp for putin. and more imperial symbols. putin thinks of himself now as vladimir the great, as a russian tsar. everything now in terms of the symbolism, the way that he refers to himself, this russia now forged in war for the future, is taking us back to these past patterns in russian and soviet history. but it's notjust in the kremlin where you'll find president putin. 70 miles from moscow, big vladimir is watching you. western governments called russia's election a sham. but in the town of cachoeira, what do they think of the man who was declared the winner? "i like him," says valentina. "putin does a lot for people.

"0ur pensions aren't big, but he can't fix "everything in one go." "he's had 25 years," i say. "but we don't know who'd come next," she says. perhaps that's because potential rivals are in exile or injail, leaving one man running russia. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. ninety people are now known to have died in floods that have devastated the brazilian state of rio grande do sul. dozens of people are missing and more than 200,000 have been forced to leave their homes. in total, more than a million people in the metropolitan area haven't had access to clean water for days. a sixth victim's body has been found at the baltimore bridge collapse site. a container ship struck the bridge on 26 march, causing the 47—year—old structure to collapse into the patapsco river. officials continue to work to clear the wreckage

to reopen routes to the busy port of baltimore. a woman suspected of poisoning people with deadly mushrooms in australia has pleaded not guilty to murder. erin patterson faces three counts of murder for allegedly dishing up a poisonous beef wellington meal that killed her parents—in—law and another family member. ms patterson has always maintained her innocence. also in the headlines, chaos at airports across the uk after a nationwide failure of passport e—gate systems. passengers have been reporting long queues to get to passport control at airports, including manchester, gatwick and heathrow. the home office said it was working to resolve the issue. have a look at the situation on the ground as i chat to laura howes, stuck in the chaos at stansted airport in north london. people broke through the barrier here in my left to get the richer passport control faster. they were turned away

again but hundreds of people are inside this room right now, it is pretty wall—to—wall, not a huge amount of four left but there are still people arriving so it is getting busier and busier and we don't have answers or information as far as i'm aware. it answers or information as far as i'm aware-— as i'm aware. it seems like frustration _ as i'm aware. it seems like frustration is _ as i'm aware. it seems like frustration is growing - as i'm aware. it seems like - frustration is growing amongst passengers there. the lack of information must be playing apart. because no—one you how long you'll be for what they will do to help the situation, sorry, i've seen you knocked your camera over. but sorry, i've seen you knocked your camera over.— sorry, i've seen you knocked your camera over. but we still have got _ your camera over. but we still have got here. _ your camera over. but we still have got here. that's - your camera over. but we still have got here. that's ok. - have got here. that's ok. somebody else like that. it's so chaotic, nobody is looking where they are going, people are busy getting to the front but the problem is nobody knows where they need to go or why there are so many delays. we know there is a nationwide issue. we don't know how quickly it will be resolved so people have realised they've missed the last flight home, people don't know when they will get to go to work or take

the children home. it is quite chaotic and stressful. the air - ort chaotic and stressful. the airport services _ chaotic and stressful. the airport services staff, - chaotic and stressful. the airport services staff, can they alleviate an email the frustrations or are they handing out water, tried to take care of people stuck in queues? i take care of people stuck in cueues? , take care of people stuck in queues?— take care of people stuck in cueues? , , ., . queues? i seen people handing out water to — queues? i seen people handing out water to members - queues? i seen people handing out water to members of- queues? i seen people handing out water to members of staffl out water to members of staff at airport but i haven't seen any passengers being handed water or being offered water yet. children are being prioritised but i'd say that's encouraged by people in the queue rather than airport staff themselves. you see people taking great sympathy on parents with babies in their arms so people are getting through the queue slightly faster if they have children but there is no guarantee that when they get to the front of the queue that they will go anywhere. the queue that they will go anywhere-— the queue that they will go an here. ,, , ., , anywhere. quickly, not sure if ou'll be anywhere. quickly, not sure if you'll be able _ anywhere. quickly, not sure if you'll be able to _ anywhere. quickly, not sure if you'll be able to answer, - anywhere. quickly, not sure if you'll be able to answer, but i you'll be able to answer, but our flight still arriving into stansted eur, presumably if there is a bottleneck will get worse as more flights arrive? i can confirm that behind me where the trains take

passengers from their planes to passport control, there was a train that paul did in the last minute so that a sign that there are still flights arriving. my flight was delayed, so i don't know whether there are more delays but i can certainly imagine that there might be more flights to come given one has just arrived in the last minute. just arrived in the last minute-— just arrived in the last minute. ., ., , ., minute. you get the names on what's been — minute. you get the names on what's been happening - minute. you get the names on what's been happening at - minute. you get the names on what's been happening at the l what's been happening at the airports across the uk on our website, bbc.com/news. miss usa says she is relinquishing her title to prioritise her mental health. 24—year—old noelia voigt won the beauty pageant last year and represented the us at the miss universe competition in el salvador, in november. emily brown reports. noelia voigt won the miss usa division last year. the 24—year—old is only one the grounds of september and has her decision to step down may come as a shock. it's one of the most prestigious budget organisations in the world. the announcements came on instagram and she said in a post never compromise on your physical and

mental well being and said she values the importance of making decisions that feel best for you and your mental health. in response the miss usa organisation at the well being of our titleholders is a top priority and we understand her need to prioritise herself at this time. it's not the first time high—profile figures have stepped back from the role is to focus on the mental health. jacinda ardern resigned as new zealand prime ministerjust zealand prime minister just last zealand prime ministerjust last year and four—time olympic gold medal winner simone biles stepped back away from gymnastics for two years for a mental health break. she is now back competing. the miss usa organisation added... but there was a nation has already raised many questions around the pressures on the pageant industry as a whole. that brings us to a close. thank you for your company and stay with me because coming up on business today is tiktok.

it filed a lawsuit aiming to block a us law that would ban in the video app in the country unless it is sold by its chinese parent company. that and more business news coming right up. in the meantime, thanks for your company and goodbye for now. hello. the weather has been gradually drying up over the past 2a hours or so, and we've got some more dry, settled weather on the cards through much of the week ahead, really. high pressure is going to be in charge over the next few days. but for the rest of the week, we will at times see weather fronts just trying to topple across the north of that high pressure. could bring a little bit of rain at times across parts of scotland in particular, perhaps the north of northern ireland. but it'll be warming up here. mostly dry elsewhere, though, with some spells of sunshine on the cards. so we are in for a relatively quiet few days of weather. we're likely to start wednesday morning with quite a bit of mist and fog around, especially so for parts of eastern england, also perhaps wales and the southwest of england.

could be some misty patches elsewhere. for most, they'll tend to lift and clear, so it'll brighten up — some sunny spells, particularly for england and wales. just the odd isolated shower. more rain moving into the north west of scotland later on in the afternoon. so temperatures in the north—west, under the cloud, about 13 there for stornoway, but up to around about 21 for the likes of birmingham and london too. so there's that wet weather through wednesday evening, northern ireland, northern and western scotland seeing some outbreaks of rain. further south, most places staying dry, but there should be some mist and some fog that's going to be forming again into the early hours of thursday morning, but certainly mild — many places staying in double figures overnight. so more of the same on thursday, high pressure still in charge. so a lot of dry weather, mist clearing away gradually. lots of sunshine, i think, for england and wales by this stage. there just could be the odd isolated shower. again, a little bit more cloud across the north of scotland. temperatures in lerwick only around 11 degrees, but for the bulk of the uk, we're looking at around about 18 to 22 degrees. and that warming trend will continue as we head into friday, too. so, high pressure still

very much in charge. i think by friday, we'll have less in the way of rain and cloud across the north of scotland, and quite widely across the uk, in those spells of sunshine, temperatures will be above 20 degrees. we could see 23 or even 2a down towards the southeast. again, a little bit cooler, especially across the north of scotland and the northern isles in particular. now, heading into the weekend, it looks like high pressure will be sitting out towards the east there. this weather front will just try and nudge in from the west by the time we get to sunday. but saturday, certainly looking dry, fine, pretty warm for all of us. just that chance of a few showers moving into the west as we head through sunday. bye for now.

tiktok swipes back — the social media giant files a lawsuit to stop a ban in the united states. and how a once polluted town is trying to become one of the greenest in europe. hello and a warm welcome to the first day of our new show, business today. i'm steve lai, coming to you live from singapore, where it would probably be descibed as "same—same but different." and no better way to get you

familiar them to get on with the start without top story. the chinese owner of tiktok has said it will sue the us government over a new law which requires it to sell the video—sharing platform or be banned in america. the company has called the legislation an "extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights". from new york, michelle fleury has more. tiktok is hugely popular in america. 170 million people use the platform to communicate. lawmakers aren't so keen. congress and the biden administration believe the app and its chinese owners bytedance could be a danger to national security. the argument goes that beijing could commandeer it to surveil and manipulate americans. so they've given the company until the day before the next us president takes office — on the 20th of january — to sell or face a ban here in the united states. tiktok, well, it's fighting back, challenging the constitutionality of the new law, arguing in its legalfiling,

for the first time in history, congress has enacted a law that subjects a single