defense secretary lloyd austin said wednesday the us is reviewing weapons deliveries to israel after it paused a recent shipment over concerns it would invade rafah. biden administration officials have warned for months that the president is opposed to an israeli ground invasion rafah without efforts to protect more than 1.4 million palestinians sheltering there — most of whom are already displaced from other parts of gaza. and following developments from washington is our us state department correspondent tom bateman. what we know is that there was a pause as the administration has described it on one consignment of weapons from the americans to the israelis that was put in place last week. this is on a consignment that includes a batch of 2000—pound bombs, among the most destructive munitions,

air dropped munitions western military is hard and capable of wiping out multiple buildings at the same time. israel's argument for having those as it needs to attack hamas below and above ground but they have been at the heart of complaints, of criticism and controversy raised by human rights groups when they have looked at the catastrophic high numbers of civilians killed by the israelis in gaza because of the destructive force of these weapons. the americans specifically have said that it is the past use of those munitions in gaza by israel that means they are holding back on this consignment because what the americans are doing here is firing a warning shot across the bowels of the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu as part of their stated position that they do not believe israel should carry out a full—scale ground offensive into the city of rafah in gaza. the israeli prime minister has said that that will happen

regardless of whether or not there is a ceasefire agreement he says to eliminate the final battalions of hamas in gaza. but what you have here is an extremely rare and significant moment where the americans are holding back on some weapons to their key ally in the region to israel. you have to go back over a0 years to find the last time something like this has happened publicly in this way at least, the days of ronald reagan holding back some weapons to the israelis because he disagreed with parts of the way the invasion of lebanon was being carried out at that time. it is a significant moment and we heard today the americans say they would review other weapons shipments to try to continue to exerting pressure on the israelis. predictably perhaps republicans in washington have laid into this. the house speaker mike johnson and the leader of the republican senate mitch

mcconnell have written to president biden to say this puts daylight between the us and its key ally, israel. they want answers by the end of the week about how this was communicated and how the review is being carried out, which part of government is doing it and fundamentally if there will be an end point to this pause on the weapons shipments. all of that being said, there is also a practical point here which is the american assessment that israel has everything it would want anyway to carry out an invasion of rafah so it probably wouldn't make practical difference in that sense but this is much more about the pressure that it puts on prime minister netanyahu from the biden administration to try to get to that point where the americans are trying to stop a full—scale ground offensive on rafah. meanwhile, the us says no aid has yet passed through the newly reopened kerem shalom aid point, and israeli forces remain in

control of the rafah crossing. it comes as the israel defense force continues to bomb areas in and around rafah. the idf has ordered 100,000 palestinians to leave eastern parts of the city. on wednesday, an israeli air strike hit a home in western rafah, killing four people and injuring children, according to gaza's health ministry. i spoke a short while ago with drjohn kahler, co—founder of medglobal, about the humanitarian struggle in rafah. he has extensive experience working in conflict zones and i asked him if he had ever encountered a situation like what's happening in gaza. not even close. i thought i was prepared having been in haiti many times, during the earthquakes, yemen, and aleppo during the siege, but i was knowingly prepared. this is the worst crisis i've seen but it probably is the worst humanitarian crisis easily since world war ii. earlier, i spoke to tal heinrich, a spokeperson

for prime minister benjamin netanyahu. just to pick up on what dr kahler of medglobal said there about having never seen a humanitarian crisis as bad as is in gaza now. aid agencies have told us that no aid has gone into gaza for the last two days, that kerem shalom was re—opened but no aid crossed in. when will israel permit aid to flow again? let's set the record straight here. since the beginning of the war, hamas has waged against us on 7 0ctober more than halfi million tons of humanitarian aid have crossed into gaza. israel facilitated the insertion of this aid, more than 400,000 tons of food, hundreds of food trucks as you know and you've reported, have come in daily. in recent days, hamas fired multiple times if i'm not wrong at least three or four times, at the kerem shalom border crossing, firing from

humanitarian aid areas and the eastern parts of rafah to that border crossing which is the main artery from which the trucks are coming in. hamas is trying to create a humanitarian crisis in gaza, not only stealing the aid to feed their own war machine, not only stealing the aid to sell the food, tenfold the price of the market, they are also firing at the aid route including aid routes where aid is transported from south to the northern parts of gaza. sorry, to bring it back to the question i asked, which is when will israel allow that aid to come in again? there is a humanitarian crisis there. we've had many descriptions of that so i'm asking when that will happen again. kerry should ms not only route

for the insertion of humanitarian aid. —— kerem shalom. indeed but there is nothing coming through crosstalk. that has been the main cross and the idf has occupied it. when will that be? soon enough which we will announce but rafah will be operational, i guarantee it. you can't put a timeframe on that. to bring it to the talks in cairo that ongoing. in the coming days. to bring it to the talks in cairo that are ongoing to agree on some sort of pause in the fighting get the hostages out and get aid into rafah and all of gaza as it is needed as we've been discussing, have you any update for us on how those talks are progressing? bringing our hostages are back home is the top priority, we want all of our people back, all 132. as you know when time has run out for 38 over hostages as far as we know.

we've been exerting military pressure on hamas and diplomatic pressure because as we've seen in november this is the only way to achieving the framework that will see the release of hostages and we've working and i know bbc has covered it tirelessly not only us but also the us administration and other international mediators to try to bring another agreement that will see the release of the remaining hostages. but hamas has rejected our offers again and again. crosstalk. sorry to trouble because i don't have a lot of time. i want to get to the point of this because the talks are ongoing and hamas has accepted the current proposal so i am asking what the israelis... israel has put a very generous proposal on the table that hamas rejected. then they tried to turn the tables on israel. these are not the details that were discussed.

to bring it back to what i'd like to get the prime minister's response to the announcement from president biden to hold back on the shipment of bombs to israel, big 2000 lbs bombs because fears they'd be used in rafah. what is the prime minister's response to that? i can't speak to the specific reports, i will hinder to your reporter before because what he did have a certain way to address such issues between close allies and... crosstalk. president biden has said that himself. the prime minister said in recent days and spoke with the holocaust remembrance day in israel, israel will fight hamas even if we have to fight them with our fingernails. we achieve all of our war objectives which include bringing hostages back home, dismantling hamas's military and government capabilities and ensuring gaza will not pose the terror threat as again but it's important to understand as well that our war objectives must be

defined as a nation on 7 october have been supported from day one to day 215 by united states, it's no secret there are some differences crosstalk but we discuss them in different channels. you don't think withholding the bombs will make a difference to the israeli war effort? we know that president biden is committed to the security of israel and so is the us congress and american people, we see it in polls and the recent poll that i saw before going on air was more than 70% of americans support israel in rafah. we are almost out of time but on that point, president biden said he withheld the bombs to try to deter prime minister netanyahu from a ground invasion into rafah and from what you're saying it is not a deterrent, withholding of bombs the prime minister still plans to go into rafah with the ground invasion. i can tell you that at the moment and as you know the past 2a hours or so we've been focusing on the eastern

part of rafah, in a precise targeted operation we've had intelligence that the rafah crossing was being used for terror purposes. china's president xijinping is in hungary on the final leg of his european tour. 0n arriving in budapest, he was greeted by hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban. president xi is expected to announce further economic ties between the two countries. hungary provides an important gateway for beijing into eu vehicle markets. earlier, xi visited belgrade, where serbia's president, aleksandar vucic, told thousands of supporters that beijing was a sincere friend and that serbia backs china's claim to sovereignty over taiwan. from budapest, our central europe correspondent nick thorpe has the latest. here in hungary, the third and final leg of his three—nation visit to europe, the chinese president will be hoping to drive home some of his main messages. notjust to hungary, but to the people of europe. don't be afraid of doing business, of trade with china. it is to our mutual benefit.

there will be no criticism we've heard for example from the european commission president ursula von der leyen or the french president president macron, the hungarian prime minister has been seeking chinese investment with open arms. he has reaped some of the benefits of that. two chinese car factories are planned hungary, several chinese electric vehicles battery and battery component factories already built or planned. some of astonishing 36 factories, many of them chinese, associated with this green energy with battery production already planned orfunctioning here in hungary. so none of the criticism from elsewhere, a very warm welcome here and hungary's chance, viktor 0rban, the prime minister's chance to show the world and the rest of europe the fruits of cultivating a close friendship with china. around the world and across

the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making news. another conservative member of parliament has switched sides to labour. in a defection no—one saw coming, natalie elphicke, who represents dover, crossed the aisle. she says the conservatives under rishi sunak "have become a byword for incompetence and division." in a statement, she said the key factors for her decision are housing and border security. there seemed to be confusion about the decision on both sides of the aisle, with people from both parties criticising the move. certainly, backbenchers are confused. my stance on immigration and refugees and asylum seekers for example has always been completely different natalie and i'm not sure what that means now about labour's view of those things, is it me or is it her�*s? i am as baffled as everyone watching this. with natalie being further to the right of me, i'd be surprised if she finds a home with the labour party. mrs elphicke was elected to her seat in 2019.

she is the second tory to change to labour in the past two weeks. last month, conservative mp dr dan poulter announced he was leaving the party. you're live with bbc news. a new poll out of the battleground us state of wisconsin gives a slight edge to us presidentjoe biden in the upcoming presidential election. the poll from quinnipiac university shows mr biden leads the presumptive republican nominee, former president donald trump, 50% to 44% in a head—to—head match—up in the state. the poll shows mr trump leads on issues such as international conflict and the economy while mr biden is ahead on abortion and preserving democracy. president biden spoke in wisconsin on wednesday where he announced plans to build a $3.3 billion data centre that's expected to create thousands ofjobs. mrtrump, meanwhile, is in new york for a criminal trial where he's accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film star stormy daniels.

but he visited wisconsin just last week, where he attacked his opponent over rising consumer prices. i spoke about president biden�*s latest comments with two former members of congress — stephanie murphy, a democrat who served in florida, and rodney davis, a republican from illinois. i want to start with the economy, the reason forjoe biden�*s visit to wisconsin. and donald trump. joe biden has taped an interview with cnn while there. let's have a listen to what he said about the economy. no president has had the run we've had in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation. it was 9% when i came to office. people have a right to be concerned. 0rdinary people, the idea that you bounce a cheque

and you get a $30 fee, i changed that, it can't charge more than eight bucks. for your credit card, your late payment, $35, there is crooked greed going on but it's gotta be dealt with. stephanie, it all sounds very positive there. why then, according to this week's abc news/ipsos poll, do a majority of people trust trump over biden to manage the economy? i think that biden likes to tout macroeconomic statistics about the economy and they have tried very hard, this administration, to convince the american people that the economy is not that bad. they use unemployment numbers, they use other tactics, but the reality is that the american people feel the pressure of inflation and it's really important for the president to acknowledge people's pain and talk about what he is going to do address that. continuing to gaslight the american people that they aren't feeling the economic harm, that we currently feel, isn't working and you see that showing up in polls. will voters, particularly those in wisconsin, listen to that

message or listen to their pocketbooks and how much they're paying in the grocery store, at the petrol pumps, on their mortgages? they are going to look at what is in their pocket books and how much they are paying at the grocery store. i agree with stephanie that this is an issue that the biden administration and his campaign have not been able to address. as we've said on your programme time and time again, americans are going to the grocery store and gas pumps knowing that they are paying more for those necessitiesjust to live than what they paid when donald trump was president. that's why donald trump's numbers on the economy are so much better than joe biden's if that keeps up along with some of the other actions that are happening in this country, it only helps donald trump close the gap in states like wisconsin as the election gets closer. what about the issue we've heard from joe biden and donald trump the notion of corporate greed and going after the drug

companies, supermarkets, all making big profits. that's a typical democrat versus republican argument, but corporate greed when somebody bounces a cheque and having to pay a fee or somebody who pays the credit card fees late, that's playing to his base. this is not corporate greed and that's not addressing middle—class american families concerns about paying too much for groceries, they are not the ones bouncing checks, they are not the ones that are not paying their credit cards, they are the ones trying to ensure that they feed their families and that they are able to actually go take a vacation with their families and right now under the biden administration that's getting more and more difficult. let's look at a significant development then in terms of the us relationship with israel, and the administration's decision to pause a shipment of bombs to israel, here's whatjoe biden said about that to cnn. civilians have been killed in gaza as a consequence

of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centres. i have made it clear that if they go into rafah, which they haven't yet, i am not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with rafah and the city and its deal with that problem. we will keep making sure that israel is secure in terms of iron dome, responding to attacks like those that came out of the middle east recently. how significant is it that a us president would take this action, suspending weapons shipments to a close ally and acknowledge that american bombs have killed civilians in gaza? it is a departure from long—standing us policy not to condition aid to israel but we are in unprecedented times and it is good that he reaffirmed the commitment to ensuring that they have

missile defence in iron dome and the resources that israel needs to defend themselves. i imagine that perhaps this pause is an effort to gain an leverage to encourage acceptance of some sort of ceasefire so that hostages can be returned as soon as possible. i know the president has always talked about wanting to ensure that the hostages are returned and perhaps this is a gambit to try to get to an agreement that will enable that to happen. we heard the spokesperson for the prime minister earlier in the programme that this would not be a deterrent to the israeli war effort, so how significant do you think all of this is for the us—israsel relationship but also the election? will this issue land with people? i think it is pretty extensive for both of those issues. it will impact the election,

but i do believe it could have long—term consequences on the american israeli relationship. president biden and this is the electoral issue that i'm talking about, president biden is trying to have it both ways and he knows that 70% american support israel in getting the hostages back from the terrorists, from hamas that took them on 7 october. in the end, he is trying to placate his base. the voters who are pro hamas in america did not support president trump. joe biden is trying to stop the bleeding in areas that may not support israel like 70% of america does. it will have an impact on the election. we will talk about this plenty more between now and november. we leave it there for the moment. former republican congressman rodney davis. and stephanie murphy thanks forjoining us. let's turn to some important

news around the world. washington dc police cleared early wednesday morning a pro—palestinian protest at george washington university. police used pepper spray and made 33 arrests as they brought the 13—day demonstration to an end. it's one of the latest crackdowns on anti—war protests at university campuses across the us. climate activist greta thunberg has been fined by a judge in sweden over a protest that blocked the entrance to the swedish parliament. thunberg said she refused to obey police orders because she wanted to highlight the world's climate emergency. rescuers say they've made contact with 11 people trapped under the rubble of a building that collapsed in the western cape of south africa. seven people were killed when the 5—storey apartment block fell down in the coastal city of george. dozens of people remain unaccounted for. and in southern brazil, more rain storms have interrupted rescue efforts in devastating flooding there. 100 people are now known to have died in the state of rio grande do sul. dozens of people are missing and hundreds of thousands have been forced to leave their homes. meghan 0wen shows us

the impact of the flooding. this is a calm agricultural region, but it has been pretty hit by some extreme weather over the last few years, and this is no exception. i want to take you through some of the striking satellite images of the flooding. before, this was the gremio arena, a football stadium in the capital porto alegre and we can see that the floods completely swamped that football ground. next, we have the river taquari that has completely burst its banks. we see on the satellite image just how much that water has overflowed there. next is the local airport, salgado filho. since the flooding, the runway and the roads have been again completely submerged by that water, except for the buildings. finally, we have more of a residential area. here is the jacui river which,

since the flooding, has burst its banks into all of those residential areas. this is just a small part of the flooding and we know that many people have been affected. in terms of people being displaced, over 200,000 people have been made homeless and 1.4 million people have been affected. it has led them to try dramatic attempts to escape their homes. this is a footbridge in the region people have been camping out on. there has also been a number of rescue efforts and we know that military and police and volunteers have been trying desperately to evacuate people who are stuck in these areas. many of them are unable to access clean drinking water. the governor of the region has also said that there is more rainfall expected over the next week. and before we go, a look at a rare almost winter wonderland in santiago, chile. drone views captured santiago's metropolitan area after an unusual autumn snowfall. more that 200,000 people have been affected by power outages.

snow is rare for the city due to its dry, temperate climate with mild winters. that's it for the moment. i'm katrina.. from all the team, thanks for watching. hello. we've got a long—awaited spell of dry and sunny weather for many of us over the next few days. not quite dry everywhere. a bit of rain around across the far north of scotland. and we'll also see some misty, murky patches during the mornings. they could be a little bit slow to clear. so, not wall—to—wall blue skies for the next few days, but high pressure is bringing a lot of dry, settled weather, with light winds, too. now, we're likely to start thursday morning with that patchy rain in the far northwest, but further south, i think some mist and some fog patches around here and there, particularly so for parts of the southwest of england and wales. could be some mistiness creeping in to east anglia. around some of these irish sea coasts, the isle of man, towards cumbria, some of that fog could be quite slow to clear. for scotland, there'll be some brighter spells across eastern areas — like aberdeenshire, for instance — but there'll be more cloud

and outbreaks of rain moving in across the western isles, parts of highland too. that rain looks like it eases away, pushes a little bit further northward. so for much of the uk, dry with sunny spells, and that's going to lift those temperatures to somewhere between around 19—22 degrees for many of us. just a little bit cooler across the north of scotland. now, through thursday evening, overnight into friday, we've got some more rain that'll push across parts of highland. elsewhere, dry once again, relatively mild temperatures — in double figures for many of us. but, again, i think friday morning could see a few misty patches that will gradually clear away. so, friday itself, i think longer spells of sunshine on offer, light winds and those temperatures probably up a degree or so. so, more widely, we're looking at temperatures in the low 20s, possibly the mid—20s in the south. still a little cooler than that for stornoway and lerwick, for instance. into the weekend, high pressure still close, but it slips away towards the east, and that will just open the doors for areas of low pressure to try and move in from the west. but i think saturday itself, a good deal of dry weather. cloud will tend to bubble up through the day, and that could just spark

off one or two showers, perhaps northern england, southern scotland, but they'll be hit and miss. temperatures are again up in the mid 20s — could see 2a in one or two places. similar start to the day on sunday, but you'll notice these showers trying to push in towards the west. they could be quite slow—moving, potentially heavy and thundery in places. where it does stay dry, probably towards the south and southeast, we could well see temperatures again in the mid—20s, but then it looks like the showers will dominate as we head into next week. so, more unsettled weather on the cards for the start of next week. still a little bit warmer than average, but not as warm as the next few days.

voice-over: 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. vladimir putin is again flexing his nuclear muscle in a warning to ukraine's backers in the west. russian troops have been ordered to run drills with tactical nukes. why now? well, the kremlin has clearly been irked by america's belated decision to commit $60 billion worth of assistance to kyiv and by president macron�*s refusal to rule out sending

troops to ukraine. my guest is lithuania's foreign minister, gabrielius landsbergis, one of europe's most ardent supporters of kyiv. he says he's truly worried about 202a. why? gabrielius landsbergis, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. pleasure being here. you were very candid, expressing your deep concern about 202a. why are you so worried? well, i think that there is not enough, i'd say,

understanding as to what's at stake if ukraine is unable