president biden pushes back. they're made a firm conclusion, i did not break the law, period. the supreme court considers a case that could remove former president donald trump from the ballot in colorado. he is expected to sweep nevada's state caucuses. i'm helena humphrey, good to have you with us. starting withjoe biden, and a special counsel report has found that mr biden, quote "wilfully" retained and disclosed classified documents on matters including national security.

this stems back to 2017, following his role as vice president. but special counsel robert hur has decided not to pursue criminal charges against mr biden. mr biden cooperated with his investigation, and guilt could not be established beyond a reasonable doubt. mr biden previously admitted that a handful of documents were filed in the wrong place, and said that he had immediately turned them over to thejustice department. he defended keeping hold of them saying they were locked in the garage at his delaware home. here's what he had to say about thursday's report. now, i have seen the headlines about my wilful retention of documents. this is not only misleading, butjust plain wrong. he butjust plain wrong. insisted his memory is fine. the he insisted his memory is fine. the special counsel said the president had presented himself as a sympathetic well—meaning elderly man with a poor memory.

in remarks that took a personal and combative tone at times, president biden said despite his age, he was the most qualified person to be president.— qualified person to be resident. �* . , ., president. i'm an elderly man, i'm well-meaning _ president. i'm an elderly man, i'm well-meaning but - president. i'm an elderly man, i'm well-meaning but i - president. i'm an elderly man, i'm well-meaning but i know l i'm well—meaning but i know what the hell i'm doing, i put this country back on its feet. my this country back on its feet. my memory is fine. look at what i've done since i became president. none of you thought i could pass the thing that i have passed. how did that happen? i guess i forgot what was going on. our correspondent will vernonjoins me now. we have heard twice, president biden, bring us up—to—date the latest. biden, bring us up-to-date the latest. �* �* , , . ~ latest. and biden pushing back uuite hard latest. and biden pushing back quite hard on _ latest. and biden pushing back quite hard on those _ latest. and biden pushing back quite hard on those pretty - quite hard on those pretty damaging claims about his age, about his memory. he denied wilfully retaining these documents and said his memory is absolutely fine. interestingly, he got quite angry during the press conference when he was asked about a particular line in the

report, that, when questioned, he failed to remember when his son beau died, who passed away in 2015 from a brain tumour. he said, how the hell dare he raise that? when i was asked the question, i thought to myself, it wasn't any of their damn business.— damn business. powerful remarrs- _ damn business. powerful remarks. tell _ damn business. powerful remarks. tell us - damn business. powerful remarks. tell us more i damn business. powerful. remarks. tell us more about detail in this report with regards to the retention of documents but also the decision not to prosecute mr biden. interesting, wasn't it? the special counsel's report, released today, found thatjoe biden did wilfully retain these classified materials. those documents basically consisted of secret government documents about afghanistan, and personal notebooks that contain kind of classified foreign policy information. now, the reason no charges were warranted were

kind of a number. firstly, the fact there was no obstruction. president biden, according to the special counsel, didn't like to conceal these documents or how he got them. that was juxtaposed with the criminal charges against former president donald trump, because thatis president donald trump, because that is precisely what he tried to do. the other reason was that basically he co—operated with investigators, but also no proof was found that anyone else access these documents. there was a bit of discussion in the report about a ghost writer, someone helping mr biden write a book. the special counsel found that although mr biden did read out some of the information in these classified documents, there was no proof that precisely that information that precisely that information that he read out was top secret. but, as you mention, the really explosive line in this report was about mr biden�*s memory. it seemed to

suggest, and this is another reason no charges were warranted... it might be difficult for a jury to convict joe biden. i will read you a section from the report which i thought was particularly striking. at trial, mr biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview, as a sympathetic, well—meaning elderly man with a poor memory. it would be difficult to convict the jury to convict him. politically, that's a very damaging line. around 70% of americans think joe biden is too old to be president. and here it is in black and white, in an official report. black and white, in an official re ort. ~ , ,., , , black and white, in an official reort. , , ,., report. absolutely, it is a very sensitive _ report. absolutely, it is a very sensitive issue - report. absolutely, it is a very sensitive issue for i very sensitive issue for president biden. has there been a reaction to that line? you anticipate that being a thorny issue for president biden in this campaign.— this campaign. yeah, well, president _ this campaign. yeah, well, president trump _ this campaign. yeah, well, president trump of - this campaign. yeah, well, president trump of course | this campaign. yeah, well, . president trump of course has already seized on this. a spokesman said, ifjoe biden is

to stand trial, he is too senile to be president. former president trump himself, on truth social, has called on all charges to be dropped against him. that call going to jack smith. he says, in light of this report, which showed that joe biden wilfully retained important documents. joe biden wilfully retained important documents. will, thanks so — important documents. will, thanks so much. _ important documents. will, thanks so much. we - important documents. will, thanks so much. we can - important documents. will, thanks so much. we can go| important documents. will, i thanks so much. we can go to the former chief lawyer to george w bush, richard painter. thank you for taking the time. i want to begin by getting your assessment and reaction to the report from the special counsel. report from the special counsel-— counsel. first, it is commendable - counsel. first, it is commendable thatj counsel. first, it is- commendable that president biden co—operated fully with the investigation. he did not obstructjustice. this is not to be compared in any way to the behaviour of former president donald trump. when the government repeatedly asked for the return of documents

being held at mar—a—lago, he not only refused but move the boxes around, according to the indictment in florida, obstructed justice repeatedly. president biden did not do that. this is a matter of great concern for americans, when a special counsel has said that the president has a memory that is really fading. such that a jury is really fading. such that a jury would not convey to him of a felony that requires mental intent. i do think we need to think seriously, and president biden should think seriously about whether he is ready for another four years of this. he's done a good job. i don't see that he has had verbal slip—ups and so forth, but he has not shown a lack of judgment in thejob has not shown a lack of judgment in the job over the past few years as president of the united states. the question is whether that could continue

for another four years. is whether that could continue foranotherfouryears. in is whether that could continue for anotherfour years. in a for another four years. in a second for anotherfour years. in a second term. that's a serious concern. it's a presumption, i think, that we have something to be worried about because of what is in this report, and other things we have seen as well. , �* ., , well. president biden has said comments _ well. president biden has said comments should _ well. president biden has said comments should be - well. president biden has said comments should be made i well. president biden has said comments should be made on well. president biden has said - comments should be made on his mental acuity, that he doesn't suffer from mental acuity, that he doesn't sufferfrom memory issues. but what we have seen are sketched out in the report and what biden has said himself is he should have overseen the moving of those documents. does he bear responsibility here, even if he is not being prosecuted? this was certainly very careless, absolutely. the former vice president at the time, he should overseen the moving of documents out of his office. they were not classified documents. the classified documents. the classified documents. the classified documents should have stayed behind. the documents were taken to his home, the boxes should have been inspected. the boxes at the university of pennsylvania centre in washington, dc for six years, thatjoe biden almost never used. multiple

people should have looked in that closet to see what was there. this isn'tjustjoe there. this isn't justjoe biden's there. this isn'tjustjoe biden's failings, is many people involved who simply didn't want to do theirjob to figure out what was in these boxes of documents. but once again, our concern here, if what the special counsel so owed is right about the president's memory, we do have questions about what a second term will look like. we've been through this with president reagan in his second term, his memory was fading. we have some scandals. the iran—contra scandals. the iran—contra scandal and so forth, which he said he didn't know about. it continues to be debated to this day. it's not good to have someone in the white house who is not focusing on all of the facts in front of them and can remember things... facts in front of them and can remember things. . ._ remember things. .. sorry to interrunt. — remember things. .. sorry to interrupt, but _ remember things. .. sorry to interrupt, but you _ remember things. .. sorry to interrupt, but you know, - remember things. .. sorry to interrupt, but you know, we| interrupt, but you know, we don't necessarily know whether thatis don't necessarily know whether that is the case. ijust want to ask from your legal

standpoint, is it standard practice anyway for a special counsel in this kind of report to be pronouncing on the mental acuity, the capacity of a president in a very personal way? referencing the death of his son. is that standard practice to point out such things? i practice to point out such thin . s? ~ ., practice to point out such thins? ~ . .,, things? i think that was inappropriate. - things? i think that was inappropriate. i- things? i think that was inappropriate. i don't i things? i think that was i inappropriate. i don't think that line was necessary at all. it didn't need to be brought up. there were other incidents throughout the questioning where the president didn't appear to remember some essential facts. appear to remember some essentialfacts. having dinner with the documents, when he was serving and where. we didn't need to get into the death of his son, extremely tragic for him. president biden has had many tragedies in his life. to bring those up in this report, i don't think that was appropriate. but there is still

the underlying concern about the underlying concern about the president's memory, it's one that ought to be addressed. perhaps the special counsel is wrong on this. but it has raised enough of a red flag that president biden should confront it, and notjust in a press interview. seeking expert advice from his doctors about whether he is ready for the second term. i think it's a legitimate conversation. for americans to have. but it's very unfortunate that this happened with the documents. but let me remind everyone that vice president pence also took away classified document and nobody is questioning his memory. of course, donald trump was my pile of classified documents. his memory is very selective, in what donald trump wants to remember. but in this case, i will emphasise, wants to remember. but in this case, iwill emphasise, it should never be compared with what donald trump did. refusing

to return classified documents to return classified documents to the united states government when asked to return them. and as we know, donald trump has also pleaded not guilty in the mar—a—lago case. also pleaded not guilty in the mar-a-lago case.— mar-a-lago case. richard painter. — mar-a-lago case. richard painter, great _ mar-a-lago case. richard painter, great to - mar-a-lago case. richard painter, great to have i mar-a-lago case. richardj painter, great to have you mar-a-lago case. richard i painter, great to have you with us this evening.— us this evening. thank you for havin: us this evening. thank you for having me- — president biden's political opponents seized on thursday's report to call for charges against donald trump to be dropped. the former president took to his social media site the us supreme court heard arguments on thursday in a case that could remove mr trump from the ballot in colorado. it's a landmark case that could determine the outcome of the 2024 election. donald trump's

political fortunes continue to grow as the front one for the presidential nomination. only 51% of americans are concerned about his legal troubles. —— front runner. he hasjust secured another primary win in the us virgin islands. he is widely expected to sweep the nevada caucuses on thursday. his last remaining viable for the nomination, former south carolina governor nikki haley, suffered a stinging defeat in the nevada primary earlier this week. the nevada gop has chosen not to recognise this year's primary and will award all 26 delegates to thursday's caucus winner. we can go to anthony zurcher in las vegas where donald trump is holding his watch party. talk to us about the fact that we have the primary, we had the primary, we've now got the caucus in nevada. it could seem a little confusing for some viewers. talk to us about the distinction and how it all

works. it's a little bit confusing for all of us. the reason nevada held a primary is because the legislature said they should hold a primary because more voters could participate, but the republican party made the decision to make the caucus, being held today, count. part of the reason was the republican party in nevada is controlled by donald trump loyalists, and they thought donald trump would do better in a caucus that's a real test of loyalty, because there is only a set amount of time. you have to show up this evening to cast your ballot, whereas a primary, it is easier to vote. donald trump didn't win because he wasn't on the ballot on tuesday, but nikki haley lost to none of the above, so essentially a win for donald trump. tonight donald trump is running all about unopposed, so he will win and get those 26 delegates that you mention that we'll move him a few steps closer to becoming the republican nominee. —— that will move him. he will leave

nevada tonight getting everything he wanted out of the state in the bid to be the next president of the united states. if that is the case and donald trump does come away with those 26 delegates in his pocket, where does this leave the race and is there anything in particular you will be looking for tonight in the results? well, in the results, i want to see how many people show up and vote. it would be curious to see the demographic breakdown of donald trump's support. i was talking to a latinos voter, a supporter of donald trump, an activist in nevada, and he said donald trump is making very real inroads into the hispanic vote in nevada, which is key to the coalition, tojoe biden's re—election hopes in this state. if there is any indication that hispanics are starting to move towards donald trump, that could be bad news forjoe biden and his

re—election hopes, winning the state of nevada. let re-election hopes, winning the state of nevada.— state of nevada. let touch on the ballot _ state of nevada. let touch on the ballot in _ state of nevada. let touch on the ballot in colorado, i state of nevada. let touch on | the ballot in colorado, whether donald trump's name will appear on that, being taken up by the supreme court today. any indication, listening to what the justices had indication, listening to what thejustices had to say, the attorneys, as to which way the judges might be leaning on that one? it's always risky to try to read into what the justices are saying, and their questioning as far as what they will ultimately decide. there were indications today that a majority on this court is sceptical of the claims that colorado and the people suing to keep donald trump off the ballot in that state were making. it seems the supreme court majority might be looking for an easy exit ramp, not having to weigh in on whether donald trump incited a rebellion, insurrection or not on january the 6th, but rebellion, insurrection or not onjanuary the 6th, but rather whether colorado had grounds to

remove him from the ballot and whether the constitutional provision at issue, the 14th amendment, even, the president. amendment, even, the president. a of different ways supreme court can extricate itself from this without having to strike donald trump from the ballot. —— a lot different ways. it seems more likely after listening to the oral arguments today that they are going to take the exit ramp of some kind. ~ ., y take the exit ramp of some kind. ~ ., , . kind. anthony zurcher reporting from las vegas, _ kind. anthony zurcher reporting from las vegas, great - kind. anthony zurcher reporting from las vegas, great to i kind. anthony zurcher reporting from las vegas, great to talk i from las vegas, great to talk to you and catch up with you again later. this is bbc news. sir keir starmer has confirmed that labour is ditching a pledge to spend £28 billion a year on environmental projects if it wins the general election. the conservatives have described it as a major u—turn on a flagship policy. our political editor chris mason spoke to the labour leader. the £28 billion was announced when interest rates were very

low. now they are very high because of the damage done to the economy. because of the damage done to the economy-— the economy. maybe it was a silly comment _ the economy. maybe it was a silly comment in _ the economy. maybe it was a silly comment in the - the economy. maybe it was a silly comment in the first? i the economy. maybe it was a i silly comment in the first? the interest on _ silly comment in the first? the interest on the _ silly comment in the first? tie: interest on the debt silly comment in the first? tte: interest on the debt is measured in tens of billions of pounds. what i'm interested in is not the money, the exact sum, but the outcomes. —— in the first place? i have always been... my mission is clean power by 2030. enviromental groups have slammed the policy change, calling the labour party short—sighted on climate change. you're live with bbc news. turning now to the israel—gaza war. the us says it will not support any plans for an israeli military operation in gaza's southernmost city, rafah, without proper planning. on wednesday the israeli prime minister, benjamin

netanyahu, said he'd instructed israeli forces to prepare for an offensive in the city. israeli planes have continued to bomb parts of rafah, which has also been coming under tankfire. both the white house and the state department say that they have made it clear that such an operation risks disastrous consequences for the more than one million palestinians who've fled there. more than half of the strip's population is sheltering in rafah. aid agencies are warning of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. meanwhile, the us senate has voted to begin work on a $95 billion international security aid package which includes $14.1 billion in security assistance for israel and $60 billion of military aid to ukraine. this move follows the failure of a bipartisan package which included us border security reforms. our state department correspondent tom bateman sent this update. rafa h, rafah, remember, is the city on the border with egypt in the south of gaza. it is where the only crossing point is into egypt. its population has at least tripled since the start of the war. up to 1.5 million

people there, most of the population of gaza, now crammed into the south. they have fled the fighting, many displaced multiple times. these are people many of whom are living in the open or in tents. it's the middle of winter, desperate humanitarian conditions, the unand others warning people are on the verge of famine. prime minister benjamin netanyahu said he had ordered his troops to start to plan and operation into rafah. —— the and others. he described it as one the last strongholds of hamas. it is very rare for the us to forecast ahead of israeli military operations in gaza, but today, pointedly, the state department and the white house and the national security council warning against this in an unplanned way, saying it would be, in their words, an unplanned way, saying it would be, in theirwords, a disaster if there was no plan to evacuate civilians, and to

deal with the dire humanitarian situation. so very strongly worded from the us. mr netanyahu said there would be an evacuation of civilians. the question is how do you do that? i asked the state department deputy spokesman today, where would these people go? he said, this is an issue for the israelis. he is saying, if there is an operation without any thought, that it would be this absolute disaster. russian president vladimir _ this absolute disaster. russian president vladimir putin i this absolute disaster. russian president vladimir putin has i president vladimir putin has suggested for the first time he is open to a swap that will free wall streetjournal reporter evan gershkovich. mr gershkovich has been imprisoned in russia for 317 days after being arrested on espionage charges which he denies. us officials have repeatedly called for his immediate release. in a wide—ranging interview with tucker carlson released a few hours ago, mr putin has said he doesn't rule out gershkovich's return to the

us. translation: ., ., ., translation: i do not rule out that the person _ translation: i do not rule out that the person you _ translation: i do not rule out that the person you referred i that the person you referred to, mr gershkovich, may return to, mr gershkovich, may return to his motherland. at the end of the day, it doesn't make any sense to keep him in prison in russia. we want the us special services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals our special services are pursuing. we are ready to talk. moreover, the talks are under way. and there have been many successful examples of these talks crowned with success. probably this is going to be crowned with success as well. but we have to come to an agreement. in ukraine, president zelensky has sacked the commander—in—chief of his country's armed forces. recent reports suggest a rift had grown between zelensky and his leading general. a new military leader has been

appointed in the biggest change to the military leadership since the russian invasion in february 2022. 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 generals 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. preliminary results from pakistan's general election

show independent candidates linked to jailed former prime minister imran khan appear to be heading to victory. but with delays in counting the votes it could be some time before we have a clear picture of the results. the election marred by intimidation and militant attacks left at least nine people dead. front—runner nawaz sharif could be on course to be elected pakistan's prime minister for a fourth time. mr sharif has told the bbc 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. our top story, presidentjoe biden publicly rebuffing suggestions he suffers from memory issues, and hitting back against thursday's special council report saying that he wilfully retained classified documents. —— special counsel. 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.

the s&p 500 crosses the 5,000 mark for the first time.

we look into the importance of this wall street milestone. plus, lunar new year travel picks up — booking.com tells us where chinese travellers are headed during the festive season. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. we begin on wall street where a rally has continued overnight, with the s&p 500 briefly crossing the psychologically important 5,000 mark, before ending the session just below. investors brushed off comments from the chair of america's central bank, jerome powell, who's ruled out an interest rate cut next month. isaac poole, the global chief investment officer at oreana financial services gave us his outlook on the interest rates and the markets earlier. what we are seeing here is the market really continuing to expect significant rate cuts

from the fed and that has helped drive forward returns, as you say.