what we know about how they were found in what the biden team is doing about it. and a dangerous escalation into the battle over medication and abortion. we will touch down in the state whose attorney general has threatened to prosecute women for taking abortion pills. plus, they would ve been dr. martin luther king junior s 94th birthday. tomorrow, we celebrate his. life later this, hour though, we will talk with his. work velshi starts now. and good morning to you. it is sunday january the 15th. i am ali velshi. we begin with a dire warning for the american economy. a debt ceiling showdown that is set to explode this week in congress, with potentially disastrous consequences. but in order to understand what is at stake, let us start with a history lesson and a historic visit. on, friday president biden hosted the japanese prime minister fumio kishida at the white house. an important visit meant to highlight the close relationship in the alliance between those two nations. a
the sound of artillery fire. you can tell every minute that this is a city that is being intensely fought over. we start here in the uk, where the prime minister rishi sunak has set out his priorities for 2023 in his first major speech of the year. let s have a listen to some of what he had to say. first, we will have inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security. second, we will grow the economy, creating better paid jobs and opportunity right across the country. third, we will make sure our national debt is falling so that we can secure the future of public services. fourth, nhs waiting lists will fall, and people will get the kjaer they need more quickly. fifth, we will pass new laws to stop small boats, sunak making sure that if you come to this country sunak illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed. rishi sunak spent the first few weeks of his premiership last autumn trying to restore stability after the turmoil of liz truss go
paid their last respects to the former pope benedict 16th before his funeral at the vatican on thursday. it s seven in the morning in singapore, and one in the morning in ukraine, where a ukrainian battlefield commander in the eastern town of bakhmut has told the bbc that the fighting there is ferocious. a us official has said russian forces have made incremental advances around the town, with mercenaries from the russian paramilitary wagner group heavily involved in the assault. the battle has been described as a meat grinder with high numbers of casualties on both sides. almost all of the city s 70 thousand occupants have fled. russia is working hard to capture bakhmut in the hope it could lead to the fall of sloviansk and krama torsk as well the two most important cities in the donbas still under ukrainian control. but ukrainian forces are holding firm. the bbc s yogita limaye reports from the city. this is what the merciless bombardment of a city looks like. a
worried her roof might collapse. elizabeth, were you on the fence about whether or not you were going to evacuate. i was so afraid either way, i didn t know what to do. a lot of people have that idea that they can just wait and see what s going to happen. and that s the problem, because if they wait to see, we won t be able to help them. reporter: and it s not just seniors refusing to leave, going viral online, some florida residents adamant about riding out the storm. our family lives right outside of tampa and we have decided to hunker down. for the people who are not from florida, right, i ve got these big old windows. i don t know if they re going to hold up. reporter: but most are taking the warnings to heart. major roadways have been jammed for the last 24 hours and tampa s airport, completely shut down operations at 5:00 p.m. tuesday. reporter: it was nerve-racking. i literally got the last flight for the day. you re counting your lucky stars right now?
grabs, 14 days out. republicans making surprising gains in several key house races as warning signs grow for democrats in the reliably deep blue northeast. hello, welcome everyone, sandra smith in new york. i can t believe it, two weeks to the day, john. john: and first it was the west coast where the republicans were making gains, now it s the northeast. who knew. john roberts in washington. this is america reports. good to be with you, sandra. the chances of a majority of the house looking bleak for democrats as we now project republicans to take a 16-seat advantage. four races moving toward the gop since just last week. but the senate is another story. remaining a toss-up, voters in four states will determine which party takes control. and we are watching all of it, right here in new york. the race for governor is moving now from solid democrat to likely democrat. the republican candidate, lee zeldin, making crime his final pitch. to frame the race as an referendum o