hello, i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. we start in the middle east, where white house national security advisorjake sullivan has confirmed that the united states will impose new sanctions on iran in the coming days. the announcement comes after the iranian attack on israel last saturday, with more than 300 drones and missiles launched. according to the israeli defence forces, 99% of them were intercepted by israel's aerial defense system and its partners. well, iran says the attack was retaliation for a deadly strike on its consulate in the syrian capital damascus on i april. that attack killed a top iranian commander, alongside six others — including civilians. the us has vowed that its support for israel is ironclad but has urged restraint in its response. a senior us official says israel is not sharing its targeting of iran with washington, so the biden administration does not know how or when israeli retaliation will take place. though some officials expect it to be a limited strike

inside the country. uk prime minister rishi sunak has used a telephone call with israel's benjamin netanyahu to appeal for "calm heads," after iran's missile and drone attack over the weekend. while he emphasised the uk's support for israel's security, mr sunak said a significant escalation in tensions was in no—one�*s interests. lucy williamson reports from jerusalem. israel's prime minister is weighing up the risks of another war before he's finished the existing one. today, he told new army recruits that operations in gaza were just one part of a wider conflict. translation: it's part of a bigger system. - you can see it. iran stands behind hamas, behind hezbollah, behind others. but we are determined to win there and defend ourselves in all arenas. new footage released by the army shows the moment the military focus here changed.

the first interceptions of iranian missiles ordered from this control room. israel's ongoing conflicts with iranian—backed groups have been pushed into the shadows by a direct attack from tehran. how israel responds could take the world down a much more dangerous path, and international allies — the uk among them — have been lining up, urging benjamin netanyahu to show restraint. today, the prime minister, rishi sunak, told his counterpart it was a moment for calm heads to prevail. but israel's former national security advisor says the iranian strike leaves israel with an opportunity to take on the groups it should have confronted before. we didn't wage a war against hezbollah two years ago — huge mistake. when you see them even growing, becoming stronger, you have to do something. should we wait? i think it would be a huge

mistake to wait with hezbollah, with hamas and with the iranians. we have to alleviate this threat to israel, but it's notjust israel. the west is next. israel is already treading a tightrope in its conflict with hezbollah. this, an air strike on a senior hezbollah today, the army said. the war in gaza is where the crisis began, over six months ago. the road north to gaza city today packed with people hoping to return to their homes, turned back again and again by the army. the war here has already inflamed israel's other conflicts. israel's next decision could push them into all—out war. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. to talk about the possible repercusions after the iranian attack, i spoke to elliott abrams. senior fellow for middle eastern studies at the council on foreign relations,

he served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor in the george w bush administration. i think there will be some kind i think there will be some kind of response, i don't think it will be zero, i think they believe that arana changed the rules of the game. they did not attack directly in all the years of the existence, but i am inclined to think for the reasons you reported, it will not be instant. i would only add one thing, it is that a week from now is a passover, the passover holiday, and the government may wish to wait until after that holiday and allow is really is to spend it more peacefully with their families. air drop missions continue in gaza — this time carried out by the us central command. for now, the united nations has voiced concerns, about escalating violence in the occupied west bank. it comes after a wave of attacks, sparked by the killing of an israeli teenager. the un accused israeli security

forces of active participation in attacks on palestinians byjewish settlers. the vast majority of the international community, considers the settlements in the west bank as illegal under international law. israel disputes this. here's hugo bachega. caught on cctv — a man setting fire to a car as israeli settlers storm a palestinian village in the occupied west bank. israeli soldiers watch outside and appear to do nothing. across the west bank on the weekend, israeli settlers went on a rampage. this was the village of mughayir near ramallah on saturday. settlers set houses and cars on fire, killing one man. jihad abu alia was 25 and planning to get married in june. translation: jihad was trying to prevent the settlers - from breaking the house door, where dozens of the town residents arrived in the home to prevent them from burning the house.

it wasn't the first time settlers attacked us, but we weren't expecting a huge number of them. the violence was sparked by the disappearance of this israeli boy, 14—year—old binyamin ahimeir. he went missing on friday, and a day later was found dead. the israeli army says he was murdered. the attacks show how tensions in the west bank are escalating. since the hamas attacks on 7 october, more than 460 palestinians and 13 israelis have been killed. if nothing changes, there will be even more violence. for this campaigner monitoring settlement activity, the situation is unprecedented. i think that the level of the settler violence is the highest that i remember. there is also a lot of support from the government, and probably from the public — at least their public — that the violence is kind of necessary against the "evil", which are the palestinians.

it's not only settler violence that's on the rise. raids by the israeli army have intensified, killing many palestinians. the israeli army says it's investigating the arson incident caught on cctv. but across the west bank, many palestinians are living in fear. they don't know when the next attack will come. hugo bachega, bbc news, jerusalem. and we are hearing that the un security council is expected to vote thursday on a draft resolution supporting a palestinian bid for statehood. a us veto is all but certain, as washington has said that establishing an independent palestinian state should happen through direct negotiations with israel. the first seven jurors have been selected on day two of donald trump's historic hush money trial. the jury selection process proved complicated after day one of the proceedings when dozens of called jurors were dismissed, after saying they couldn't be impartial in the case. the former us president faces 3a felony counts of falsifying

business records to cover up a payment to adult film star stormy daniels, who alleges she and mr trump had an affair in the 2000s. meanwhile earlier in court, tensions grew high between mr trump and the presiding judge, justicejuan merchan, as our north america correspondent nada tawfik reports. the court session ran over in time because the judge was so eager to make headway in a jury selection. a dramatic moment came where donald trump was reprimanded for, as the judge said, audibly muttering and gesturing in front of one juror. he said he would not take jurors being intimidated in his courtroom. we had a point where several jurors said they could not be impartial, orfor personal reasons they were excused. both sides, the defence and the prosecution, got the opportunity to strike jurors they did not want to be seated. at one point, donald trump and his lawyers went far back in social media posts

of the jurors, saying that one man had posted to have donald trump "locked up". that man was struck from the jury. of those who were seated, they are a diverse group. a young black woman who is a teacher, a woman who is a nurse — an oncologist nurse. the fourth person is originally from ireland, and an older man from puerto rico. the jurors who were sworn in so far are a diverse group, they have all assured the judge and both sides they can be impartial. this was a day where many got to see how various new yorkers feel about donald trump. some say they read several of his books and are a fan of the reality show he started before he became president. others say they heard negative things about how he treated women or theyjust were not fans. nevertheless, today has shown how time—consuming it will be to pick a jury but it is

a task that is possible. it was also a busy day on capitol hill with new developments setting the stage for a packed week. first, the house of representatives will vote on long—delayed funding for israel, ukraine, and other american allies. that's according to republican speaker mikejohnson. for months, mrjohnson has stalled a vote on the aid package amid opposition from some republicans over sending further support to kyiv. the new proposal separates ukraine aid from other funding, potentially giving the bill a better chance of passing in the house. his strategy has outraged many in his party, with a second republicanjoining efforts to oustjohnson from power over the plan on tuesday. that same day, house republicans delivered two articles of impeachment against homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas to the senate. they allege that mr mayorkas failed to enforce us immigration laws — kicking off a trial in the democratic—controlled

senate, which is expected to dismiss or table the charges later this week. and to discuss all of this, i spoke with pbs newshour correspondent lisa desjardins. the people you have spoken to on the hill, how likely is it there are the votes there when it comes to this foreign aid bill now that it is split up into the four separate pieces? it is tricky business, it is unclear which of these bills will pass, if all of them will, each has different issues but in general there is a wider support for aid for israel, some democrats who want conditions on it and a few republicans as well. the ukraine piece is the most complex and right now it is not clear it has a majority of republicans, which is what speakerjohnson wants to prove that he is with his party, he will get over a few hurdles, the first one he hopes to get a majority and if he does not he will have to get two—thirds supermajority of everyone, that is risky for him.

if democrats pass the bill, republicans may say, "it is time for you to go". we will talk more of that in a moment. with this bill, is there a point you can put in amendments as well, border security as well? there are republicans who say we do not want to pass any aid for any foreign country especially ukraine until we deal with our border, they want a conservative bill that does not have a chance in the senate and certainly the president will not sign it but that does not matter. these republicans are instinctual, they want things even if they do not necessarily having majority. they will demand it. they say the border security before they will get onto any ukraine spending. we expect potentially an amendment process that will be important to watch but right now as we are speaking, we still do not have any text of any of these bills, speakerjohnson is trying to thread five needles at once and it is not yet clear he can do that.

it is tricky for mike johnson. we heard rumblings of credit potentially lead to his ousting. according to your sources, how close do you think we might be getting to that now? i can only think of the house of representatives in terms of an hour at a time and for the moment he is safe by the thinnest of majorities. right now my count is 216 to keep him potentially and 215 who might not, so that is one vote. i know of one republican who has not come out publicly who said they might also vote to oust him. talking to marjorie taylor greene, the one who started this movement, she told me today things that made me think she is holding back for the moment. i think whatever happens with the ukraine bill the fate of ukraine and of mikejohnson. there is also israel as well and could there be resistance

there with democrats? how might that play out? there is definite resistance and a complex debate for democrats when it comes to israel aid because of what we see in gaza. the desperation there. the questions about how israel handles itself. should america impose conditions? some about foreign aid that requires a specific human rights be enforced by any ally, some who say we just need to say to israel you are clearly violating current parts of american law, others disagree. israel is a unifying force in congress but not in this case, not on the way that netenyahu has handled it and this aid bill will test exactly where those divisions are. with those things in mind, the potentialfor a motion to vacate with speakerjohnson

as well, thinking back to the previous history with getting a speaker, how complicated it was, how much chaos? all the chaos. if speakerjohnson is shown the door, it may happen in the next week or two, we will be for even longer period of time searching for the next speaker. it could be the entire summer. there is a strange scenario, if you have watched west wing, it was like a plot from the show, there is a mathematical possibility that democrats could somehow take advantage of these strange combinations of republican division and elect a ddemocratic speaker even though there is a republican majority. it is unlikely but a year ago i would have said it is completely unlikely that any speaker would have been shown the door. thank you so much for bringing us all of that, to talk to you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

let's look at a big story out of the uk. a �*smoke—free generation'. presented by the health secretary, mps have backed the plan to ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes. most of the opposition came from the conservative party, with several representatives, including former prime minister liz truss, voting against the bill, arguing it would limit personal freedom. there was widespread agreement to the parties that the government idea is a good idea, except when you look amongst the conservative party. around 60 conservative mps voted against this and around 100 abstained. it was a free vote, able to vote how they chose, but plenty decided they would not back rishi sunak. the bill passed by 383 votes to 67. if they become law, the uk's smoking laws will be among the strictest in the world. the approach is thought to have been inspired by the similar law in new zealand, later repealed by a new

administration. you're live with bbc news. some pictures to bring you now of a devastating fire that engulfed denmark's historic old stock exchange building in the centre of copenhagen. the building dates back to the year 1625, and is one of the city's oldest buildings, currently housing the danish chamber of commerce. copenhagen residents and staff from a nearby museum rushed to rescue a number of historic paintings. it took hours to get the fire under control due to the amount of scaffolding on the building, which made it harder for responders to get through to the flames. the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. let's turn to some important news around the world. heavy rain has battered gulf states causing flash flooding — with some places recording a year's worth of rain in a single day. the dubai airport was forced to divert incoming flights for around two hours but operations have since restarted.

cars washed away in the streets, as a fierce storm causes destruction across the gulf region. venezuelan president nicolas maduro ordered the closure of his country's embassy and consulates in ecuador — protesting ecuador�*s detention of former vice presidentjorge glas. ecuador had ordered authorities to raid mexico's embassy in quito — subsequently arresting glas, who had been hiding there. the move drew immediate condemnation, and mexico asked the un to suspend ecuador until it apologizes for the breach. the global economy as �*remarkably resilient�* and forecast another year of slow and steady growth on tuesday. and in a big surprise, the imf predicted russia's economy will grow faster than all other advanced economies, including the us. we're just days away before the largest election the world has ever seen, as people in india head to the polls for its general election.

just under one billion people are eligible to vote — that's roughly one in eight of the entire global population, and more than 13 million indian citizens who live abroad can also cast ballots, but they'll need to return to india in person to do so. voting takes place over six weeks, beginning april 19th — that's this friday. it will conclude on ijune. the election results are expected to come three days later on june 4th. polls suggest the prime minister narendra modi will win a third consecutive term. but as our south asia correspondent yogita limaye reports — throughout india — he's a controversial figure. cheering. narendra modi is the reigning superstar of indian politics. rallies like these are an integral part of an indian election, but only a few leaders have evoked such a response in the country's history. what we are seeing here is the confidence of the party

that very much believes it's going to win another resounding victory. and what we've also seen amidst the crowd is confidence about being indian on the global stage — one of the things that prime minister modi's tenure will be remembered for. mr modi is a divisive figure. but here, among his mostly hindu following, he can do no wrong. translation: he's like god for me. - he's made women like us feel safe. translation: he's a good - speaker and he has built drains and roads and villages and cities. no—one had done that till now. building infrastructure has been one of the strengths of mr modi's government. a few miles from the rally in uttar pradesh, we saw a road that was made just over a year ago and met farmer ashoke singh transporting his produce.

translation: we can move freely now, and security - is better, too. but unemployment and price rise are big issues for us. the realities on the ground might be mixed, but the picture that reaches voters overwhelmingly one that the ruling party wants people to see. mr modi's bjp runs an exhaustive and unparalleled campaign, door to door, as well as on social media. it is a crucial power to influence what people believe to be true. ultimately, it will affect how they vote. yogita limaye, bbc news, mairead. another big election will take place in the netherlands when polls open injune. it will be the first

country in europe to elect its new members to the european parliament. in the run—up to the contest, climate has come into focus as one of the most divisive issues in the country. 0ur anna holligan reports. every farmer is a bit crazy because they work the whole week, day in and day out. this farmer is _ week, day in and day out. this farmer is a _ week, day in and day out. this farmer is a fourth _ week, day in and day out. this farmer is a fourth generation. it is a hobby, a way of life, the love of — for this. it is a hobby, a way of life, the love of - for this. home to around 3-7 _ the love of - for this. home to around 3.7 million _ the love of - for this. home to around 3.7 million cows, - around 3.7 million cows, approximately one for every four groove voters, a dense population of global shipping and aviation pubs, the novellas in the one of here is biggest polluters. with a desire to hit its climate causality — government present number of measures designed to make farming more sustainable. many farmers felt scapegoated. it is alwa s farmers felt scapegoated. it is always about _ farmers felt scapegoated. it is always about the _ farmers felt scapegoated. it 3 always about the farmers, so every time we have a problem,

we have to do some — reduced with nitrogen or carbon or whatever — it is always focused on the farmers. in whatever - it is always focused on the farmers.— whatever - it is always focused on the farmers. in the summer of 2022, _ on the farmers. in the summer of 2022, protests _ on the farmers. in the summer of 2022, protests ignited, - of 2022, protests ignited, thousands of farmers use their tractors to blockade highways and supermarket distribution centres. across europe, populace politicians have channels this discontent to force the eu to scale down climate legislation by many consider to be central to decarbonisation. the key issues for dutch voters are migration, the cost of living and very much the green transition. in the drive to reduce c02 the drive to reduce co2 emissions, there was a lively debate over whether the eu is pushing too hard and too fast. what do we want to... fin pushing too hard and too fast. what do we want to. . .- what do we want to... on the other side _ what do we want to... on the other side of _ what do we want to... on the other side of the _ what do we want to... on the other side of the spectrum, . other side of the spectrum, climate activists have also been applying pressure. at a

recent rally in the hague, winnie calls for an end to government tax breaks and subsidies for high fossil fuel emitting companies. she thinks the european union can help their cause.— their cause. there is a big role for — their cause. there is a big role for europe, _ their cause. there is a big role for europe, while - their cause. there is a big role for europe, while we| their cause. there is a big - role for europe, while we see is the dutch politics, dutch politicians have a hard time trying to satisfy their voters and still commit to the agreement. that is a shame because that is the bare minimum we need to do here. among many young people there is a shared frustration with the polarisation that infiltrates the climate debate. farmers will feel the effects of climate change and we need the farmers, so let's shake hands on this.— the farmers, so let's shake hands on this. ~ ., ., . hands on this. we vote once you have a clear _ hands on this. we vote once you have a clear perspective - hands on this. we vote once you have a clear perspective for - have a clear perspective for the future, so i think no—one has — the future, so i think no—one has a — the future, so i think no—one has a clear_ the future, so i think no—one has a clear solution to make one — has a clear solution to make one a — has a clear solution to make one a clear policy in europe.

and finally, the olympic flame was lit at ceremony in greece ahead of its journey to paris. the event took place at the temple of hera — the birthplace of the games in olympia. the flame will now travel 3,000 miles through greece and france before arriving in paris before the start of the olympic games in paris on 26july. 0ur colleagues in london will take over an hour. you are watching bbc news. hello there. tuesday was another fairly cool day, winds a little bit lighter. but we had further showers, some heavy with hail and thunder once again. next few days, it's pretty similar, it stays on the chilly side. there will be further showers or longer spells of rain, a bit of sunshine. nights will be cool. we're still in this chilly air mass, as you can see here, for wednesday. so it means things starting off rather chilly. further showers across eastern

areas, and this tangle of weather fronts will bring thicker cloud and some rain to western parts of the uk through the day. so we'll start with some showers across eastern scotland, some snow on the hills, showers, windy weather affecting the northeast of england. could be quite cold and windy for north sea coasts of yorkshire. this area of cloud and rain pushes across the hebrides, northern ireland down into parts of wales, southwest england through the course of the day. in between, there will be some sunshine around, but it's going to be a cooler day, we think, temperatures 9—ii celsius for most of us, single digits along north sea coasts. the showers linger on for a while through wednesday night before it turns drier and clearer with lighter winds across england and wales. so, here it will turn quite chilly. temperatures recovering, though, in the northwest as wetter and windier weather starts to move in thanks to this little area of low pressure, which will bring wet and windy weather to the northern half of the country through the day on thursday. this area of high pressure will tend to keep things drier in the south. so england and wales starting off chilly but bright, plenty of sunshine, wetter,

cloudier windier weather will move across scotland, northern ireland and down into parts of north wales, northern england, the north midlands. southern england, south wales will do pretty well with staying dry, i think, with some sunshine, lighter winds here. so temperatures around 14 celsius, but windier, wetter, cooler further north. that area of low pressure clears away gradually during the course of friday, high pressure starts to topple in, but we could start off with a few showers through central, southern and eastern areas on friday, a brisk northerly breeze affecting much of the country, particularly towards the east. lighter winds further south and west, variable clouds, some sunshine, temperatures could be up to 14—15 celsius degrees in the south. still quite cool in the north. now into the weekend, we're expecting this area of high pressure to move in. so i think it'll be turning a lot drier, but we could see quite a bit of cloud around. that depends on what we'll see with temperatures. if we see some sunshine, then we could see the high teens across some central and southern areas. if it's cloudier, it could be a bit cooler than this.

voice—0ver: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in both israel and iran, political leaders and military chiefs have a choice to make. do they escalate their conflict further and risk all—out war or step back? following the logic of recent action and reaction, the next key decision will be made in israel. having successfully countered a barrage of iranian missiles, will the netanyahu government seek new levels of retribution and deterrence? well, my guest is danny danon, former israeli un ambassador and ally of prime minister netanyahu. israel's allies are urgently advising against further escalation, but is israel listening? danny danon injerusalem, welcome to hardtalk.