retaliatory strikes against iranian-backed militant groups. the latest on the rising tensions in the region, plus, trump s christmas message lashing out at special counsel jack smith as the former president tries to get his election interference case thrown out. so, is the former commander in chief immune from criminal prosecution? we ll see. we ll talk about that coming up. and later on, the presents opened and the cookies devoured, millions of americans set to travel today in the post christmas rush. i m going to speak to a travel expert about some travel tips to help you survive the misery. hey, everybody. good morning to you. merry post christmas. we begin this hour with the breaking news out of the middle east. president biden ordering retaliatory strikes against iranian-backed militia groups in iraq after three u.s. service members were injured in a drone attack in northern iraq on monday. since october 17th, there have now been at least 103 separate attacks on u.s.
16 countries take the stage in liverpool later for the second semifinal. sticking with the eurovision theme, we are in liverpool at the shopping centre right in the heart of liverpool, surrounded by these beautiful eggs, i will tell you about them later on. the bank of england is expected to raise interest rates again today to 4.5%, the highest level in 15 years. it will be the 12th consecutive hike since december 2021, meaning mortgage payments could rise further for millions of customers. our business correspondent hannah miller reports. this is the first home gheev has owned, bought with his girlfriend two months ago. but since they agreed their mortgage, the monthly payments have gone up twice in line with the base rate of interest set by the bank of england. when we were coming to find a mortgage, the fixed rates were astronomically high. we figured that if the bank of england base rate goes up by another two or three percentage points, we re actually better off staying
hello. happy mother s day to all the moms out there. thank you for joining us today. we begin with the votes being counted in turkey s presidential election. the race could have global repercussions by reshaping the country s domestic and foreign relationships. president erdjon is leading. he and his opposition claim to be leading. let s check in at istanbul. reporter: very preliminary results are beginning to trickle out. vote counting is continuing and we expect in the coming hours to get the preliminary results of this presidential vote. the whole is anxiously awaiting the results. we ll find out what the turks decided to vote for today. did they decide to vote for more of the same, for the promise that the president will continue on the same path for this country, or are they did they decide to go for the opposition that promised change to reverse the past two years and they say a return to real democracy, or is this divided, polarized nation headed towards a run-off?
moscow has dismissed the move as political and a significant number of governments and people around the world appear to agree. and, of course, putin will not be removed from office, still less arrested. well, my guest is the world renowned human rights lawyer geoffrey robertson. is the campaign for global cooperation to uphold international law and human rights going backwards? geoffrey robertson, welcome to hardtalk. how big a deal is the icc s decision to charge vladimir putin with war crimes and issue an arrest warrant? it s very important because it has removed a credibility that he would otherwise have had. he is banned now from 123 countries. so, in addition, he may well end up in the hague, not soon, of course, but in years to come, there may be a coup and he may, like milosevic, be handed overfor. to ease sanctions. he may, in time, he s only 69, be stumbling into the dock like some old nazi, as there are at the moment in germany, so it is not without significance. i