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. >> every single legal scholar i. see and maybe there is some buddy out there, some whack job, virtually everyone i have seen is there is no case. it is a case that should not have been brought. >> the woman who donald trump paid 100 $30,000 to keep quiet has been speaking out in rate detail in court >> she says she decided to do that not because of the money but she thought it was a win-win. she could get paid and secure the safety of her family with just getting the story out. ♪ >> the people call stormy

daniels, the adult film star who slept with donald trump and was paid for her silence takes the stand in manhattan. it has been a salaous day in court. we will get the latest from our correspondent in new york. israel lunches and other operation in rafah. the main crossing is closed. we will hear from the u.n.'s point man who is trying to keep the eight operation afloat. and a plot to cecily president zelenskyy foiled but what does it tell us about russia's intent and the enemies within? stormy daniels was paid $130,000 for her silence but that is not with this case is about. it is not the act of paying the adult film star that is under legal scrutiny. the prosecution alledge it is the manner in which she was paid and how it was ultimately covered up. she was paid by donald trump just before the 2016 election.

the defense say to protect his family. with the prosecution allege she was paid through his advisor michael cohen who was later reimbursed for legal services by the trump organization. an attempt to falsify business records in that way is click typically classified as a misdemeanor new york at the prosecution argued because it was paid right before the 2016 election, that constituted a campaign-finance crime. a felony for which michael cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 should that is what stormy daniels testimony is central to this case four. what was she paid for, why was it so urgent, the former president says there is nothing to see. let's speak to our north america correspondent who is in new york. there have been questions about whether this is cutting through. and imagine the evidence we have heard today will be headlines everywhere tonight.

>> absolutely. stormy daniels was a hotly anticipated witness if not the most highly anticipated one. she is at the center of all of this. her account is extremely salacious. just in terms of the headlines that will come out of this and how it might affect the presidential election is certainly at the top of mind. no doubt donald trump's who focuses intently on how he is pretrade in the media -- how he is portrayed in the media. her testimony verged on explicit details even the judge said went too far. she talked about that sexual encounter donald trump denies in 2006 at lake tahoe testifying donald trump greeted her in silk pajamas, that she swatted him on his butt with a rolled up magazine and he posed on the red before they had sex while she

stared at the ceiling. the defense called for a mistrial saying her testimony was unduly prejudicial but the judge said a mistrial was not warranted though he agreed some of the things were better left unsaid. >> did she go into the motivation she had to take the payment? >> i think this is where the testimony really becomes relevant to the key par of this case. stormy daniels said she did not tell many people about the alleged sexual encounter because she was ashamed. and that in 2011 she did try to sell her story but she was threatened by someone in trump's orbit who she later came to find out was michael:, his fixer, saying to leave the story alone and leave donald trump alone should that is what she testified. she says when donald trump began his run for office, she decided

she wanted to get the story out for her safety and also to be paid. she said that was her motivation for deciding to agree to stay silent in exchange for the $130,000 payment. >> that comes to the point i was setting out. why she was paid. and the timing of the payment. which she make the connection between the election -- did she make the connection between the timing and the election? >> she absolutely did. she said donald trump previously had never raised concerns about her keeping quiet about the affair. as far back as 2011, there was no effort to buy her silence. she said she knew it was down to the election because michael: kept delaying paying her and she knew if sheikh did not get paid before the election, she never would so she is another

corroborating witness for the prosecution that this was all done to prevent embarrassing information from getting out to influence donald trump. >> thank you very much. the intelligence service in ukraine have uncovered a russian plot to assassinate president volodymyr zelenskyy. two kernels from the government protection unit suspected of passing on secret information to the russian fsb have been arrested. the bbc has obtained this communication which appears to show them admitting to the plot. they brought drones come explosives and mines to kyiv. the plan was to followr. zelenskyy, abductive and then murder him. they were reportedly recruited before the russian invasion two years ago. the assassination according to the statement was to be timed for president putin's inauguration which took place today in moscow. here is what the spokesman of

ukraine security services had to say. >> the network of activities were overseen by the fsb from a broad including two ukrainian state security administration who leaked information to the russian federation. the enemy was actively developing plans to eliminate president zelenskyy. one of the most important tasks of the fsb agent network was to find executors in military clothes to the president who could take the head of state hostage and later kill him. >> matthew schmidt is an associate professor of national security and political science at the university of new haven. thank you for being with us. it puts the focus on the security circle around president zelenskyy. how well is he protected? >> thanks for having me. he is obviously very well protected and we know it is not just his security service but it is the cia, british ielligence and probably the polls are

looking out for him outside of ukraine. >> it's part a conversation in our office about what would happen if he was killed. would it harden resolve in the west? ? would it lead to a collapse in ukraine? is there someone with the same charisma as president zelenskyy that could take the mental? >> i think the russians grossly miscalculate if they think assassinating to lenski to better their position in the war. i think it would embolden western support. it might be the kind of event th would draw in western troops. it would certainly increase the resolve of the ukrainian people. this was a ham-handed plot when you look at it. i don't know what the russians were thinking. boko that is the interesting point. we sort of have this fear and respect in some instances for russian intelligence and what they are capable of. this looks a little bit like the military and just how inadequate

some of it is. >> this is another instance where the west had a perception that the competency of the russian military was much greater than it turns out it is and it is the same with their intelligenceervices. we have evidence of this for years. there was the plot in the u.k., the filled plots against alexei navalny. this continues on in that line. one of the interesting thingis this was a hit for hire. this was about money. it was not about ideology. that speaks well of the people around zelenskyy that you don't have people who are doing this for putin. they do it for anybody. those people tend to get caught. >> it was also long distance. the idea is they would use a drum and a missile which digests the fsb are not that close to president zelenskyy pit >> they can't seem to find somebody close enough. these are two kernels in the

protective units who cannot get close enough so they have to come up with this plan to bring in drones and a missile. there are lots of points of failure here. they were caught supposedly had not been. there is every reason to believe those drones and that missile would be shot down by air defense. this did not seem like a professional operation. >> just a final thought. does it put the spotlight on a corruption problemithin the ukrainian military? >> i think this is a latent corruption problem. you have seen a lot of firings going on in the last year to try to release things out. these two accused kernels came in early on i think before 2018. before back when the military was a lot more corrupt. i'm not sure it is a present-day problem as much as there are some people left in the system who would do things like this for hire.

>> thank you for coming on the we are told the situation in ukraine was one of the subjects xi jinping raised today in his meetings with the french president macron. the chinese leader was on the second day of his visit to france and he was taken to a small town in the peer any and mountains. there are major concerns in europe the chinese are dumping their overproduction and state subsidies are undercutting european industry. in britain there are fresh concerns about chinese spying with new information today chinese elements had hacked the payroll of the ministry of defense. china said the claims were absurd. l's bring in someone who has been on the program before. senior europe correspondent at the south china morning post. let's start with the focus on ukraine. there was some reporting today president xi jinping has an

embryonic plan for some peace talks with regards to ukraine. which is interesting because as we were discussing last night, it feels as if the europeans had gone past that point. >> i would say you are probably right. i saw the same rumors you did on social media. it has not been substantiated and i would be quite surprised looking at the rhetoric that came out of this trip. they do seem as far apart as ever. both sides say they want to bring peace to ukraine but they are very different point of use in how they would do that. xi jinping reiterated his point in paris that the legitimate security concerns of all parties in the conflict would have to be respected and that is anathema to the ukrainians and europeans who see russia as the aggressor in this war. they don't see the security concerns of the russians as being legitimate.

it seems to jar with the reality of what we have seen in the diplomacy leading up to this. chinese diplomats have been traveling to europe for months. they have been pushing for in order to attend peace talks in switzerland, they told e.u. officials they wanted the west to stop shipping weapons to ukraine. that is not going to happen. we see an increase in that. i would hasten to say i might be wrong but those rumors seem far-fetched. >> president macron has welcomed a chinese commitment in inverted commas to abstain from selling weapons to russia and control of the export of dual usage equipment. there is a big difference between a commitment and following through on the. -- on it. i wonder if that does reflect a cooling of the relationship between beijing and moscow which has also been discussed. >> i don't think so.

vladimir putin is going to china next week. i don't see that much of a cooling in the relationship. macron did say he had a commitment from xi jinping he also said that last year when he went to beijing in april. the proof will be in the pudding. particularly on the dual use goods. the europeans notice a dramatic increase in the intensity in which china is shipping things like circuit boards and microchips and surveillance equipment and satellite imagery. these sorts of dual use items they say are rocking up on the battlefield in ukraine and killing ukrainians. the proof will be in the pudding. one thing we did see come out of this meeting was that the chinese supported the french push to have an olympic truce which would a cease-fire in all global conflicts during the paris games in july and august i don't think the russians -- many parties of the conflict

would pay heed to the timing of the olympics in terms of when they are going to have a cease-fire. >> trade was a big discussion. the european commission is wrapping up its anti-subsidy investigation into chinese electric cars. with the chinese are very good at is divide and rule. i don't think the germans are keen on this investigation because they have a ose relationship with the chinese when it comes to cars. not so the french. >> the germans and the french are quite far away on how they see this. the french were the ones who sponsored the commission's investigation. what we saw this week was the french double gaming motion. they want to see anti-subsidy duties put on the import of chinese cars coming to europe but they want the chinese to set up electric vehicle factories in france. they said this on the record this is what they want.

the germans don't like any of this. we see europe's two major powers are pulling in opposite directions paired the french really love the tougher trade stance brussels has taken. the french diplomats in brussels joke that brussels itself is becoming more french. it is and at the much of the germans who are far more exposed to the chinese economy. >> a couple other stories i want to touch on outside of france. of course the story in the u.k. that china is thought to be behind a hack of the u.k. mystery of defense payroll which is embarrassing for the mod appeared a great concern not just for the mod but there are other concerns as well. >> it is part of a trend. in the last month we have seen a ratcheting up in these cases of alleged aspe knowledge on the part of the chinese to intelligence services. this morning in brussels, the german far right lead candidate

in the european election is an mp. 's office was rated by german and belgian police investigating his assistant for spying for china. we saw four german nationals including his assistant arrested last month for the same charges and you will recall the mps i the u.k. who have had their phones hacked by china. we saw the head of the belgian foreign affairs committee have the same probl. the former belgian prime minister says his phone was hacked by chinese intelligence services. there is a big uptick appeared i don't know what the western authorities are going to do because it seems like a bit of a problem. >> one last thought. tiktok as we expected have announced they are going to challenge a u.s. law that could force a nationwide man on the app. not entirely surprising.

presumably with the backing of the chinese state. >> the backing of the chinese state, i don't know if that would help them. it is often humorous to me to see for instance chinese diplomats and state journalists going on twitter to voice support for tiktok when the company itself is trying to convince everybody it has no connections to the chinese state. it is no surprise they are going to challenge this. in europe we had a story last week where president venr line said she did not rule out banning tiktok here. i think that is a long way away. it seems to be on to a bit of a hiding to nothing in the united states. it is a tough environment. >> always great to talk to you. things for coming on. around the world and here in the u.k., this is bbc news. for our u.k. viewers who are still with us, it's have a look

at some of the headlines. john sweeney will become scotland's seventh first minister after being nominated by parliament. the snp leader succeeds youssef resigned today. there have been no trains on some of the busiest commuter routes in the country due to strikes by train drivers. disruption is expected to continue throughout the week. tomorrow it is a different set of operators which will be affected. among them, avanti west coast and great western. it has been revealed prince harry will not meet the king during his visits to the u.k. this week. a spokesman for the duke of sussex had a meeting between father and son was not possible because of the king's busy schedule. harry is in london to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the invictus games games which he set up to rehabilitate wounded or sick service personnel.

you are watching bbc news. the white house said this afternoon at is hopeful israel and hamas can close the remaining gaps on a cease-fire agreement the palestinians have accepted but israel has rejected. so why did the israelis appear blindsided by a negotiation? cia director bill burns was so involved in. bi burns has returned to cairo for talks today. those close to the talks say the u.s. invited the israelis to cairo over the weekend but they declined to send a team. what is really official told axios that was a mistake that led to israel having less visibility on the final stages of the talks. they have begun again today in cairo and the israelis have sent a mid-level delegation hamas by the u.k. and other western governments say the ball is now in israel's court. >> we emphasize the ball is now

in netanyahu and the extremist pillars of his government's court. the behavior after hamas approval is an indication he is insisting on disrupting efforts of mediators including the u.s. administration and he does not care about the lives of his hostages -- the lives of his hostages. darker things are escalating inside rafah. americans say they have been assured this is a limited mission. israelis have cut off the main crossing point which limits the eight operation. before we came on air, i spoke to the director of planning. he is in rafah and trying to keep the operation going. >> couple days ago, we will come to the news israel had enforced an evacuation order for a three mile area in the eastern side of rafah. the estimate 100,000 people live in that area. the evacuation order told people that they had to move so it is

tantamount to force distillation -- forced displacement which is. illegal under national law it is a similar pattern to what we have seen in other parts of gaza starting in gaza city on the 13th of october. two days ago, the evaction order was issued. we are this time last night -- we heard this time last night gaza accepted the cease-fire agreement so there was a sense of relief and a sense of respite. there were even celebrations in the street. they turned out to be premature. the news following was the deal had been rejected by israel. we woke up this morning to the sound of heavy bombardment. a lot of people from with inside the evacuation area have left. a lot of people outside the area have left as well. rafah is home to 1.5 million

people. five out of six of those people are displaced so most people are living in tents and some of those people outside the evacuation area or the area subject to an evacuation order have decided to move now. a lot of movement on the streets. a lot of fear. quite a lot of panic and severe anxiety amongst an already exhausted population should >> have worked in rafah so i know either side of the crossing which is being closed is this core door which tanks can move up and down. is that the situation? that effectively the israelis have control close to the egyptian border such that aid cannot get in at all now? >> since october and for many years the only entry point for aid and commercial supplies to gaza has been in rafah. the border crossing which you will know is in the southeastern

corner. that closed on sunday following a palestinian atta on an israeli military point. we woke up this morning to the news israel had taken control of the palestinian side of the crossing. you may have seen the video footage taken by idf soldiers fairly gratuitously driving tanks over lawns and vandalizing the crossing point. more fundamentally from a terror perspective, it means that crossing point is closed. >> we are going to speak to the -- that she is concerned it is part of the problem in gaza. i wonder what you make of that officially. >> we have heard that.

andra is not part of the problem. it is the largest aid operation on the ground in gaza. we are the ones keeping people alive. we are providing food to almost 1.9 million people. 85, 90% of the population. we are providing 25,000 health care consultations for people. refugees and non-refugees inside gaza. historically, palestinian refugees have enjoyed some of the highest rates of literacy, the best health outcomes in this part of the region. it is what is keeping gaza going right now. we have a collective responsibility and israel has a responsibility as per the findings of the international court of justice. >> sam rose. we will speak to a member of the israeli knset tonight to get some answers on

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