in the key 2024 battle ground state of iowa. he has an event soon putting his presidential ambitions very much in the spotlight just days before donald trump campaigns in the state. this as trump has been invited to appear before a grand jury investigating his alleged role in covering up hush money payments to adult film star stormy daniels. the move signaling a decision whether to charge trump may happen soon. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf f bblitzer. you re the situation room. we begin with a historic collapse of a california bank. u.s. stock prices sliding amid questions about whether this is an isolated case or a sign of things to come. cnn s chief white house correspondent phil mattingly is following the story for us along with mark and our own matt edgen matt, first to you, how serious is this bank collapse? reporter: stunning collapse. silicon valley bank may not be a household name but it has more than $200 bil
here in the uk, 2022 saw the highest number of excess deaths outside the covid pandemic in half a century. and france tries again to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. it s an unpopular reform that didn t go well last time it tried. we ll be live in paris. we start in ukraine. president volodymyr zelensky has said ukraine s army is facing an extremely difficult situation as fighting continues in the eastern donbas region. the focus is the salt mining town of soledar. the uk defence ministry says it s likely that russian forces including wagner group mercenaries now control most of the town. we ll be taking a look at why it s become central to this conflict. but first, here s president zelensky. translation: and what did russia want to win there? i everything is completely destroyed. there was almost no life left. thousands of their people are gone, the whole land in soledar is covered with the corpses of the invaders and scarred from the strikes. this is what madness loo
concerns about safety. paramedics and support staff are taking further action in their dispute over pay and conditions. they say the current situation is not sustainable. we don t meet minimum levels now on a day to day basis. i cannot stress enough how difficult it is for us to be able to deliver that care to patients. here at westminster, the government not was planning ahead. it wants to change the law to force unions to offer emergency cover during strikes. labour say that is insulting to workers. we ll have the latest on the series of disputes in different public sectors and the likelihood of resolution any time soon. also tonight. 2022 was a year of climate extremes, weather experts say. europe and the polar regions were hardest hit by global warming. the latest on the fighting in eastern ukraine, where the mining town of soledar is reported to be under russian control. and the popularity of gaming helps boost the uk s home entertainment industry to record levels. and s
welcome to bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we begin in china where authorities have stopped issuing short term visas to individuals from south korea and japan, in retaliation for covid restrictions imposed on chinese travellers. inside the country, state media are downplaying risks from the virus. officials from several major cities and provinces have said the infection rates are past their peak and officials in beijing say it s discriminatory to single out chinese travellers. translation: regrettably, some countries disregard science and their own covid situation, they are bent on imposing restrictions on china. china firmly reject this and will take reciprocal measures, we called the relevant countries to base their measures on facts and science and take proportionate measures and not use this to engage in political manipulations. we can now speak to the travel writer and blogger, steve rohan, who worked in china for six years. he joins
scottish democracy. the electric car battery maker britishvolt has gone into administration, leaving hundreds of staff redundant. more rail strikes train drivers will walk out on the 1st and 3rd of february, after union bosses rejected a pay offerfrom rail companies. a double decker bus overturns in icy conditions in somerset. 56 people are injured. and after 31 years presenting his weekday mid morning show, broadcaster ken bruce announces he is leaving bbc radio 2. hello, good afternoon. for the first time, the uk government has announced it is blocking a law passed by the scottish parliament. the scotland secretary alisterjack told the commons he was blocking introducing reforms that would have made it easier for people to legally change gender. he said transgender people deserved respect and understanding, but he believed the bill would interfere with uk equalities law. the first minister, nicola sturgeon, says her government will take legal action against the decision,