the us supreme court hears a case on whether colorado can block donald trump from the ballot in the state's 2024 presidential election. vote counting is under way in a turbulent general election in pakistan. researchers in the uk are carrying out tests to try and find out why hundreds of thousands of people across the country have a stammer. hello, i'm lukwesa burak. us presidentjoe biden has angrily rejected suggestions that he has a poor memory and is unfit for office. he was responding to a long—awaited report which concluded he shouldn't face any criminal charges for mishandling classified documents during his time as vice president, but questioned his ability to remember several

important events. the initial headlines seemed to be good news for the president. the special counsel recommended no charges be brought into his handling of official documents. a legal win for mr biden. but politically, it was a devastating blow. the report made several claims over his mental competency, describing him as a well—meaning elderly man with a poor memory. in any future trial, it said, it would be difficult to convince a jury they should convicted him of a crime that requires a mental state of wilfulness. last night, president biden hit back at those allegations. my memory is fine. at those allegations. my memory is fine- take _ at those allegations. my memory is fine. take a _ at those allegations. my memory is fine. take a look _ at those allegations. my memory is fine. take a look at _ at those allegations. my memory is fine. take a look at what - is fine. take a look at what i've done since i became president. none of you thought

i could pass any of the things i could pass any of the things i passed, how did that happen? i passed, how did that happen? i guess ijust forgot i passed, how did that happen? i guess i just forgot what was going on. i guess i just forgot what was auoin on. �* i guess i just forgot what was going om— i guess i just forgot what was going on-_ going on. but joe biden has made a series _ going on. but joe biden has made a series of— going on. but joe biden has. made a series of embarrassing slip—ups that have raised questions about his fitness for office. at a recent event, she said the current president of france was president mitterrand, who died in 1996. —— he said. after i was elected, i went to a g7 meeting with the nato leaders. in the south of england. and i sat down and i said, america is back. and later on, the president of france... donald trum - , president of france... donald trump. just _ president of france... donald trump, just three _ president of france... donald trump, just three years - president of france... donald i trump, just three years younger than his rival, has mocked president biden on the campaign trail. i president biden on the campaign trail. , ., ., trail. itell you what, ifeel sharper— trail. itell you what, ifeel sharper than _ trail. itell you what, ifeel sharper than i _ trail. itell you what, ifeel sharper than i did - trail. itell you what, ifeel sharper than i did 20 - trail. itell you what, ifeel| sharper than i did 20 years ago. it's probably not true. it's probably not true. and i think anybody running for president should take an

aptitude or cognitive test. mr biden will now be hoping allegations of wrongdoing over official documents will come to an end. but questions about his age and fitness for office are more difficult to avoid. let's stay in the us, because the supreme court has heard arguments in a case that could decide whether or not donald trump is eligible to run for president. it's considering a ruling by colorado's top court which said mr trump could not run in that state's primary because it considered his actions during the assault on the capitol onjanuary 6th, 2021 as insurrection. speaking to the press after the hearing, mr trump argued that striking him from the ballot would result in chaos across america. you cannot allow a president to be out there without immunity. they don't have immunity, you don't have a presidency. so how would you... you lose all... excuse me. you lose all... you lose all form of free thought and good thought.

and you probably weaken the presidency to a point that it was never supposed to be weakened. it would be a very bad thing for our country. let's go live now to rick hasen, professor of law and political science at ucla, where he's also the director of the safeguarding democracy project. hello and welcome to the programme. what is your reading of how things stand, and what we can expect from the supreme court? �* , , , we can expect from the supreme court? fl, ,~ ., ., court? it's pretty clear from listening — court? it's pretty clear from listening to _ court? it's pretty clear from listening to the _ court? it's pretty clear from listening to the oral- court? it's pretty clear from i listening to the oral arguments today that donald trump is going to win this case. whether it's going to be unanimous decision or near unanimous decision or near unanimous decision is uncertain. exactly which reason the court is going to embrace... but there was really no appetite in the court for letting one state out of 50 determine whether donald trump was qualified to run for office in 2024. i expect soon enough,

maybe in the next few weeks, we will get a ruling from the us supreme court reversing what has been done in colorado. i5 has been done in colorado. is that what it comes down to, that what it comes down to, that the decision should rest with one state rather than reviewing the evidence? 50 with one state rather than reviewing the evidence? so the constitution, _ reviewing the evidence? so the constitution, the _ reviewing the evidence? so the constitution, the 14th - constitution, the 14th amendment, has a provision for disqualification but it doesn't say exactly whose job it is to determine whether someone is disqualified. this was a provision written after the us civil war which ended in 1865. we don't have many modern instances of people being ink accused credibly of engaging in insurrection. so how do you put this into effect? many of the justices seemed to think it was a call for the us congress, to be made on a national basis rather than determine state by state. i rather than determine state by state. ., . ., state. i wonder if we could turn briefly _ state. i wonder if we could turn briefly to _ state. i wonder if we could turn briefly to comments | state. i wonder if we could l turn briefly to comments by state. i wonder if we could - turn briefly to comments by the department ofjustice concerning president biden. what did you make of that

report that was released? well, ou report that was released? well, you know. _ report that was released? well, you know, donald _ report that was released? well, you know, donald trump - report that was released? well, you know, donald trump is - you know, donald trump is facing his own classified documents case. so people were waiting to see how they were going to be treated and how the case is compared. in one sense, this was very good news forjoe biden in that there was no allegation of criminality. but certainly, these comments which biden supporters see as gratuitous about his memory really will potentially be a political blow to him even if it's a legal victory.- it's a legal victory. many eo - le it's a legal victory. many people saying _ it's a legal victory. many people saying this - it's a legal victory. many people saying this is - people saying this is weaponising the legal system regarding those comments. it wasn't the place of the special counsel to make such judgments. some people are making an analogy to james comey, the former head of the fbi, who before 2016 also found no criminality on the part of hillary clinton, the democratic candidate then, in relation to how she handled classified information on her e—mail

servers, but said many things that were disparaging. these kind of comment can have an effect potentially on a campaign but i should say these comments are coming much earlier in the campaign, a lot is going to happen between now and november, assuming it is biden and trump. so it's hard to know how much this will have an effect on what otherwise is expected to be a close election. expected to be a close election-— expected to be a close election. . ., ~ , ., election. the feta, thank you very much — election. the feta, thank you very much indeed. _ election. the feta, thank you very much indeed. -- - election. the feta, thank you . very much indeed. -- protester, very much indeed. —— protester, thank you very much indeed. recent polling shows that only 51% of americans are concerned about mr trump's legal troubles. on thursday, he's running unchallenged in the nevada republican caucuses. his last remaining rival for the republican presidential nomination, former south carolina governor nikki haley, suffered a stinging defeat in the state's primary earlier this week. the nevada gop has chosen not to recognise the primary this year, and will award all 26 of its delegates from thursday's caucus.

let's speak to our north america correspondent anthony zurcher, who is in las vegas. hello, anthony. are the results in or can we conclude how we are going with this?— in or can we conclude how we are going with this? well, the results are — are going with this? well, the results are finalised _ are going with this? well, the results are finalised not - are going with this? well, the results are finalised not yet i results are finalised not yet but we have projections that donald trump is going to win the nevada caucuses. running without significant opposition, so not at all surprising, but it does mean donald trump is moving one step closer to securing the republican nomination.— securing the republican nomination. ., ., nomination. how important was nevada? i— nomination. how important was nevada? ithink_ nomination. how important was nevada? i think it's _ nomination. how important was nevada? i think it's important, | nevada? i think it's important, because there _ nevada? i think it's important, because there were _ nevada? i think it's important, because there were 26 - nevada? i think it's important, l because there were 26 delegates to the republican national convention, each state awards delegates and the more you a clue, the more likely you are going to secure the nomination. but more than that, it is a sign that donald trump has all

the momentum in this nomination race. —— the more you get. he won in iowa, new hampshire, and earlier today in the us virgin islands. now he has won in nevada. an increasing perception that the donald trump campaign is a juggernaut that nikki haley simply cannot stop. if you look at the upcoming contest polls in south carolina and a whole slate of states on super tuesday in early march, donald trump has significant leads in all of those states. so evident that donald trump is essentially unstoppable unless something significant and unpredictable that we haven't been able to foresee would have to take place in order for foresee would have to take place in orderfor nikki haley to have a chance at making this a competitive race once again. you would have been following very closely the release of the department ofjustice special counsel report and president biden hitting back at concerns

over his memory. they were made ljy over his memory. they were made by the special counsel. what sort of reaction has there been to that in the us and could it still hurt him as we go ahead towards the election? absolutely. this played into an obvious weakness according to polls of the american public thatjoe biden has, which is his age and capacity to continue to be president for anotherfour continue to be president for another four years. continue to be president for anotherfour years. so it another four years. so it didn't anotherfour years. so it didn't take long at all forjoe biden's critics in the republican party to use this to attack the president. you saw donald trump's campaign saying that ifjoe biden doesn't have the mental capacity to stand trial, why would he have the mental capacity to serve as president? that's not exactly what was said in the report but you could see howjoe biden's critics are going to characterise this. donald trump, in a statement released after the report came out, was

more focusing on his own personal legal trouble. he said jack smith, the special counsel investigating him, should immediately drop all charges, specifically the charges against donald trump for his handling of classified material after he left the presidency. anthony, thank you. the us has warned israel that staging a military offensive into gaza's southern city of rafah without proper planning would be a "disaster". the white house said it would not support plans for any major operations in rafah without due consideration for the refugees there. the comments come a day after israel's leader said the military had been told to prepare to operate in rafah. us presidentjoe biden says that conduct in gaza has been "over the top" and he is working to get a sustained pause in fighting. more than 100 israeli hostages are still held in gaza after hamas attacked israel on october 7th and killed more than 1,000 people. with me for more on

this is said shehata from bbc arabic. thank you forjoining us in the studio. first, what has a idf said about an offensive into rafah. it said about an offensive into rafah. , , ., . ., rafah. it is problematic for several reasons. _ rafah. it is problematic for several reasons. rafah - rafah. it is problematic for several reasons. rafah is l rafah. it is problematic for l several reasons. rafah is the last resort for displaced people who move from the north and centre of gaza. there is more than 1 and centre of gaza. there is more than1 million palestinian refugees there. they are facing severe problems. if israel started major offensive in this area, it would be more killings, more disaster and might cause a problem with egypt. because the only way to go is into sinai, and egypt repeatedly, the president of egypt said several times, it's a red line. they cannot cross because it would be the end of the palestinian issue. so it is

a big sticking point. to communicate this through antony blinken, the foreign minister, it's clearly from the americans... even israel started air strikes for some houses in rafah yesterday and some people died but it's not a major operation. the only concern for the americans is a big operation. if it's like surgical actions, america would authorise that, but otherwise not. so the reason for mr biden in his press conference saying the conduct of israel in gaza is over—the—top, it was the first understated critique of israel. the some support of israel. the some support of israel by america is strong but it seems it has enough from the operation, on the international levels, many critics of

america, the protector of human rights, how come they tolerate the killing of thousands of people, more than 27,000 people died in gaza? so america in a critical situation. they want to stand with israel because it seems netanyahu the israeli prime minister does not listen, so they need to have a stand off and put pressure on him because rafah would be a disaster, as the national security council spokesperson said yesterday.— security council spokesperson said yesterday. thank you very much. pakistan's electoral body are now releasing results for the general election. they were delayed for several hours. two independent candidates backed by the party of the jailed former prime minister imran khan have won their national assembly seats. front—runner nawaz sharif had been expected to be elected pakistan's prime minister for a fourth time. but these early results have cast doubt on those predictions. mr sharif told the bbc

that today's vote had been "absolutely fair" despite the recentjailing of his rival imran khan on corruption charges. many analysts say this is among pakistan's least credible elections. thursday's vote has been marred by intimidation and militant attacks. the authorities suspended all mobile services as the vote began, citing security concerns but prompting outrage from opposition parties and civic groups. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. bbc news analysis has revealed that cancer waiting times in england last year were the worst on record. only 64% of patients started treatment within 62 days of cancer being suspected, meaning nearly 100,000 people waited longer for life—saving care than they should have. the waiting periods have worsened every year

for the past 11 years. talktv says piers morgan's daily show uncensored is moving off the channel and instead to youtube. the broadcaster said tv schedules had become an unnecessary straightjacket, and that moving the show online would allow for longer interviews. the announcement comes less than two years after the launch of talktv by rupert murdoch's news corp. a national shortage of drugs for adhd is causing "real difficulties" for children and young people according to the royal college of psychiatrists, who are calling for schools to make reasonable adjustments for students who are struggling. you're live with bbc news. president putin has insisted that russia has no interest in invading poland, latvia or other nato countries, calling such a scenario "absolutely out of the question". the comments came during

a lengthy interview that was conducted in the kremlin with former fox news host, tucker carlson. the interview was broadcast on the tucker carlson network. mr putin accused nato member states of trying to intimidate people with what he called an imaginary russian threat. he said however that the atlantic alliance must accept moscow's territorial gains in ukraine which he invaded in 2022. he again claimed it was an artificial country. he also said that russian defeat in ukraine was "impossible". 0n evan gershkovich, the wall streetjournal reporter detained in russia, mr putin said an "agreement" could be reached for his freeing. here's the moment vladimir putin was asked by tucker carlson whether he'd invade a nato country such as poland. can you imagine a scenario

where you send russian troops to poland? to poland ? translation: to poland? translation: , ., translation: only in one case, if poland attacks _ translation: only in one case, if poland attacks russia. - translation: only in one case, if poland attacks russia. why? i if poland attacks russia. why? because we have no interest in poland, latvia or anywhere else. why would we do that? we simply don't have any interest. ukrainian president zelensky has sacked the commander—in—chief of his country's armed forces, valerii zaluzhny. recent reports suggest that a rift had grown between the president and his leading general. mr zelensky thanked general zaluzhny for defending ukraine, but said "the time for such an update is now". mr zelensky appointed colonel—general 0leksandr searski as the new military leader — the biggest change to ukraine's military leadership since the russian invasion in february 2022. the bbc�*s sarah rainsford sent this report.

volodymyr zelensky is talking about a reset. he's talking about renewal. he's presenting this as a positive decision for ukraine, and posting pictures of him and general zaluzhny standing side by side. there is a general sense, though, that this comes at a very precarious time here in ukraine when the front line is pretty static, when western military aid is in question. ukraine really struggling to get the aid it needs. and also when enthusiasm for fighting this war is really waning here amongst soldiers, it's getting hard to recruit people to go to the front lines. the spirit has changed. a while back, general zaluzhny talked about the situation on the front line as a stalemate, and that did not go down well at all with his political bosses. so i think the impression i get is that what volodymyr zelensky is looking for is a far more positive approach. he wants talk and he wants progress on the battlefield. he doesn't want a commander in chief who is talking about bedding in and digging in, in the trenches, holding the lines and

rearming on those lines. he wants somebody who's talking about pushing forward. president zelensky wants to make gains on the battlefield. that's important to him politically as well, of course, as militarily. now, there is a big question, though, whether or not there is politics in all of this. there's a lot of rumours about a big rift between general zaluzhny and volodymyr zelensky. his office would deny that. i think he would say he puts winning this war above any kind of political rivalry. but whether or not the new man in thejob can actually make any difference militarily on the ground, given that he has been involved in the military effort right from the very beginning of the full—scale invasion, i think that is a very open question. but certainly volodymyr zelensky hopes that the answer is yes. queen camilla has said that king charles is "doing extremely well under the circumstances" following the start of his cancer treatment. speaking at a musical concert at salisbury cathedral on thursday evening, the queen said that the king was very grateful for

the public�*s support. he's doing extremely well under the circumstances and he's very touched by all the letters and messages, you know, all the public has been sending from everywhere. that's very cheering. hundreds of thousands of people in britain have a stammer, but scientists still don't know what causes it. now researchers are carrying out tests to try and find out in the hope of discovering new treatments. three years ago, felicity baker, who herself has a stammer, made a documentary for the bbc about the impact it has on people's lives. now she's been to talk to the scientists who are carrying out this new research. aiden is having a 3d scan made of his head. it's part of a new study at oxford university looking into why people stammer. ihave a... he stammered all of his life. and now he wants answers.

there's still quite a few un... ..known questions about the causes and potential treatment. so when i heard about the fact that there was this research happening in oxford, i was quite happy to take part and help out in it. your task is to memorise these words and to speak them out loud. scientists are measuring brain activity in people who stammer. they're trying to understand what happens in the moments before they speak. the team is also using virtual reality to understand why people seem to stammer less when they're alone. we've got a spaceman, a mosquito, like fire, a mosquito, like fire, character. when adam played this game, he hardly stammered at all. when people who stammer are on their own, engaging in sometimes what's called private speech, they can be completely fluent. so we had the idea that we would try and kind of mimic

that experience of being on your own by putting someone into the virtual reality environment. we want to see whether when they're engaging in that kind of task and talking out loud, are they fluent as they would be when they're on their own? growing up as a person who stammered, i always wanted to know what caused it. could the answer lie in my dna? ironically, that's a word i find very hard to say. with the help of robots, scientists at university college london are investigating whether there's a genetic link. samples of saliva will be analysed and compared to others from around the world. it's the largest study of its kind. we are trying to find out about the biology underneath the stammering, because we're interested in what are the little pieces of the puzzle in the brain that are not quite synchronised when people speak. and that would explain why people who stammer are less fluent. and by understanding the biology,

we understand better perhaps how to support treatment in the future. stammering has a huge impact on people's lives. many learn how to hide it. i didn't really start to tell my family until my forties, actually, and even though my sister is a speech therapist, i didn't tell until i was 40. 0thers often avoid words they know they can't say, sometimes even their own name. i've even had moments where i've not called myself peter. isaid hi. i've introduced myself as michael and that's the most unbelievable feeling is like, what am i doing? the group met through a speech therapy course. it encourages them to be more open about their experiences. well, i think the biggest thing is to very gradually start to reduce avoidance behaviours and for people to allow themselves to be a person who stammers in the situations where that is actually the case.

i think once you can learn to accept it and almost like lean into it, that i think is the biggest piece. science may well provide answers in the future. untilthen, more acceptance should ensure every voice is heard. felicity baker, bbc news. just taking you to nevada and a live shot of donald trump on the podium, a very noisy audience here speaking to, but essentially addressing the fact that he has won. he has been anointed the victor of the nevada republican caucuses. nikki haley decided to only stand in the tuesday race. more on this on bbc news, stay with us. hello there. a wide range of temperatures on thursday with mild air towards the south, much colder feeling airfurther north.

there was some snow, particularly over the peak district and over the pennines too — here's hebden bridge in west yorkshire. most of the snow came over the high ground. but misty, mild conditions further south. plenty of heavy rain, too. you can see that on the radar picturejust piling into the south of england and south wales earlier on through the night. lots of flood alerts in place here. there's the snowfall further north, most of it over the higher ground, but some of the snow towards the south just turning back to sleet and then to rain with that milder feeling air. but still the risk of some travel disruption as we head into friday, with an ice risk from northern england northwards and still some falling snow over the very highest peaks as well. the snow riskjust transferring into central southern areas of scotland, too, and some brisk easterly winds. so perhaps some more problems over the high routes in particular with drifting snow. this is how we're starting off the day on friday. a range of temperatures — below freezing in scotland, but very mild in the south. now as we head through friday, that warm front continues to push its way further

northwards, just dragging in the milderfeeling air. still very brisk easterly winds blowing across eastern scotland, northeast england. this should be falling as rain. but across the grampians and the highlands, we're likely to see some accumulations of snow, even to low levels from the central belt northwards, but it will turn back to rain. some early wintriness too, perhaps across northern ireland. once more, quite a wide range of temperatures — between 4 and 13 degrees celsius as we go through the afternoon, and still maybe a bit of wintriness, particularly across caithness and sutherland and across shetland as we head through saturday. now, there will be a lot of dry weather on saturday, but low pressure is close by and there will be some showers, maybe some heavier rainfall across the far south—east of england a little later on in the day. but coming back up into that milderfeeling air, so most of our temperatures will be between 6 and 11. still double figures in the south. watch out for some heavy rain again across northeastern areas of scotland as we head through sunday. but it will be falling as rain. the air now a lot milder, some scattered showers elsewhere, along with some

spells of brightness. and by the time we get to the end of the weekend, those winds, brisk in the north, will have eased down somewhat, maybe turning more settled into the start of next week with high pressure building in.

live from london, this is bbc news. ploughing ahead — farmers' protests spread across europe, despite moves by brussels to address their concerns

translation: we get 20 cents for tomatoes that go for two - euros in the supermarkets. they should let us farmers eat. 0ur fertiliser prices have tripled, and what we sell is cheaper than it was 30 years ago. also coming up — bionic arm! the uk chip designer flexes on wall street, as its shares jump almost 50% in one day. and restaurant rush — chinese chefs brace for their busiest day, as a billion people prepare to usher in the year of the dragon. we will be speaking to michelin—starred andrew yeo about the big business that is lunar new year. hello and welcome to look at the business news. we start with europe's farmers, because protests that began in france and then germany have been spreading

across the region. they're venting their anger over soaring fuel