going. people trapped on the trains. businesses and homes are crushed. a major move by israel supreme court striking down a contentious law. risking even more division in the country at more. as we start 2024, some of the 2023 political predictions that were also wrong. how is it looking this new year? welcome to the lead. i m casey in for jake tapper. we start with destruction in a japan after a 7.2 magnitude earth right. four people were killed when the 7.5 magnitude quake hit western japan just hours into the new year followed by a series of aftershocks. the weather agency says those could continue up to a week. it also triggered tsunami warnings along the coast and residents have been urged to evacuate. the warnings have been downgraded but there is still a tsunami threat. multiple buildings caught fire or collapsed including a home on the upper left of the screen. it was reduced to a pile of rubble. we start coverage off from japan where more than 8000 military perso
ajudge in florida has unsealed some of the documents relating to the fbi s search of the mar a lago home of donald trump. it comes after american news organisations argued it was in the public interest to know more about the search. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. and this is riga, the capital of the small baltic state of latvia, which was liberated from moscow s rule some three decades ago, and which is now braced for a new era of confrontation with russia. vladimir putin s invasion of ukraine reminded latvians of the russian threat. it also stoked internal tensions because a quarter of latvia s population is ethnic russian, and this country relies heavily on russian gas supplies. well, my guest today is latvia s prime minister, kristjanis karins. just how vulnerable is latvia? prime minister kristjanis karins, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. vladimir putin s invasion of ukraine happened six months ago. right now, here in latvia, has that
families by an average of $1,500 a year, put medicare and social security, medicaid excuse me, social security and medicaid, on the chopping block every five years. in other words, every five years, they re going to no longer exist unless they vote them back into existence. i disagree with that. what in god s name are they doing? i ll work with anyone, democrat, republican, independent, who have real solutions and savings for the american people. not take money out of their pockets. the other element i would like to address that has impacts on inflation is lower the deficit. the reason this matters to families is because reducing the deficit is another way to ease inflation. my friends on the republican side like to paint me as the big spender. let s look at the facts. facts matter. under my predecessor the deficit exploded. every single year he was in office. under my plan we re on track to cut the federal deficit this year, by $1.7 trillion. you hear me now. this year, $1