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tv   BBC News  BBC News  January 7, 2024 4:00pm-4:31pm GMT

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rishi sunak confirms that the government is looking at legal options to exonerate sub—postmasters who've been wrongfully convicted of fraud because of a faulty computer accounting system. and hollywood rolls out the red carpet for one of its biggest nights the golden globe awards. hello. i'm lauren taylor. at least 70 people have been reportedly killed injabaliya in nothern gaza. the israeli army claims it has "completed the dismantling" of hamas�* command structure in the northern gaza strip. meanwhilejordan's king abdullah has warned the us secretary of state antony blinken of �*catastrophic repercussions�* of the continuation of israel's military campaign, during his tour of the middle east. earlier he met thejordanian foreign minister. king abdullah also urged blinken to put pressure on israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire.
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the secretary of state is now in qatar for talks with the emir. meanwhile, at a cabinet meeting, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu pledged to continue the war in gaza until all of their goals are achieved. translation: we are not stopping until victory. the war must not be stopped until we achieve all of its goals. the elimination of hamas, the return of all of our hostages and ensuring gaza no longer poses a threat to israel. i say this to both our enemies and friends, this is our responsibility and this is our commitment. every other consideration must be set aside and we will continue until total victory. i asked our correspondent injerusalem, wyre davies, to put mr netanyahu's comments into context. yes, interesting points in the statement by benjamin netanyahu, a message to enemies and friends, a clear message to the americans
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and european governments who would like israel to show more restraint in its bombing campaign in gaza and to even call for a ceasefire but that simply isn't going to happen. israel has two goals in the war which has been going on for more than three months and that is to completely crush hamas and to secure the return of all of israel's hostages. with that first point, completely crushing hamas, the bombing campaign continues and there have been some horrific scenes from gaza in the last 2a hours and one attack on a house, a building in northern gaza in which around 70 people were killed and the images are appalling coming out of there. people's bodies blown to bits, children, women, other civilians and similar scenes in the south where 63 people are said to have been killed in israeli air strikes on the number of dead in gaza is now almost 23,000 according to the hamas
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run health ministry in gaza since the war began on the 7th of october, so it's clearly a devastating picture and is really showing no signs of restraint at all and that's because it says the goals are simply not yet met. as the diplomacy continues and so does the fighting. at least 70 people were reportedly killed injabaliya in northern gaza. the israeli army says it has "completed the dismantling" of hamas�*s command structure in the northern gaza strip. among those killed in southern gaza is hamza al dahdouh, an aljazeera journalist and cameraman— who was reported to have been hit by an israeli drone strike — this is their vehicle, near rafah. a second person in the car also died. hamza had been working alongside his father — — who is the aljazeera correspondent in gaza. this is wael, pictured at his son's funeral, along with other members of his family. dozens ofjournalists have been killed in gaza since fighting began three months ago.
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israel has said it does not targetjournalists — and that his country is the only one in the region which actually supports a free press. jodie ginsberg represents the committee to protectjournalists. i asked her what her organisation had heard about the incident. hamza was in a car with a freelance journalist and another member of aljazeera staff and they were on a road between khan younis and rafah when their car was hit by a drone strike. we understand they were en route to an area designated as a humanitarian zone to report on bombing in the area where the car was hit. so far it's been a deadly conflict to report on and casualties who live there but tell us about the way that they manage the risks. spin the most fatal conflict and we've been doing these work for more than three decades and we've had 75 gemma steel six i ——, and more than 75journalists have been killed since october the
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7th. it's really only gaza and journalists who are able to document the war because they have had little access and they are the only ones doing the work, so they are travelling to places like refugee camps to report on the effects of the war that those places are also under attack so there's is nowhere safe forjournalists to operate. tell us about the reaction from aljazeera and whether there will be proper accountability as to what happened here. they've accused the israelis of targeting the journalists and we continue to demand independent investigations into these deaths and we've seen a number of cases where journalists are wearing press insignia and it was known they were operating and had been killed and it was really important we saw investigations and that those responsible are held accountable and they must never be targeted in a war.
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here in the uk, the prime minister confirmed a review of the post office — after the it scandal which saw hundreds of post masters and mistresses "wrongfully treated". including several who were convicted. rishi sunak called the post office scandal an appalling miscarriage ofjustice" and said he hoped to make this right. the public outcry has only grown in the past week or so after this dramatisation of these events on itv aired from new year's day and it centres on the post office branch managers and the new it system was installed from 1999 called horizon and it threw up anomalies. as a consequence 700 of them to date, they have been convicted of false
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accounting fraud and it's ramped up in the past few weeks because of this documentary and now the focus is on overturning this and it's accepted that the vast majority are innocent and they've been fighting for years to clear their name and rishi sunak was on the airwaves today and thejustice department is looking at ways that they can speed up the process and each and every one of those people has has to appeal directly to the post office and it handles the appeals and just 90 or so to date have been overturned and they've been traumatised, terrorised for years and years and chased through the courts and there has been a body set up, a compensation committee to oversee the process and to make sure it works properly and i've been talking to one of those members, lord james arbuthnot. he's been working with one of his constituents who were convicted in 2009 and he outlined part
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of the problem for me. for them to have to come forward is itself an affront, because they have to come forward and they have to apply for their conviction to be overturned and they then have according to current rules, have the burden of proof of showing that their conviction is unsafe and that's all wrong and given the way the post office has behaved over so many years, it ought not to be for the sub—postmasters to have to prove they were badly treated. we all know they were badly treated. it ought to be something that is done en masse so we can put it behind us and move on. so the post office have apologised time and again and lord arbuthnot
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pointed out there were good people working there now trying to sort this out but it will take time and there is a public inquiry going on at the moment and the post office did tell us that they are behind the inquiry and want to get accountability for what went wrong and a few ideas have been mooted and certainly the government is looking at whether the post office could be removed from the appeal system and whether the cps could take over but no matter who takes over it could take years and years to work through hundreds of cases to get people having their cases overturned so another idea floated is a state intervention to exonerate them en masse and it would require an act of parliament and this is something they're looking at doing and there is a mounting case and many of them have been trying to clear their names for two decades or so.
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mr sunak also spoke about his rwanda asylum plan and several other issues in his interview with laura kuenssberg — and we'll be playing it in full for viewers in the uk, at half past four. the environment agency is warning that more properties could flood over the next week as river levels rise. more than 1,800 properties have already flooded after prolonged wet weather and intense rainfall. this lunchtime there are nearly 350 flood warnings and alerts in place in england, and five in wales. jessica lane has the latest from collingham in nottinghamshire. it's in between nottingham and lincoln and is a large village, and as you can see it's one of the villages that's been affected. it's notjust here. there are several smaller villages in the area which have been totally cut off in the last few days and some residents have been evacuated because the flood waters have covered the roads
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going in and out and that's because levels in the river trent have reached record highs in the last few days and i'm told it is an improving picture and the road sign you can see it was covered by water and you can see what it says and it's hoped the water levels will drop. there is a family that lives half a mile up the road and they have been cut off the road and they have been cut off the days and this morning the fire brigade have had to send out boats with bottles of water and tins of food to make sure they have enough provision for the next few days and simonjones reports on the situation elsewhere as well as along the river trent. the rain may have stopped, but the worry hasn't. in torksey in lincolnshire, families are saving what they can from the advances of the river trent. people living alongside the river lambourn in berkshire have been up all night monitoring the situation with some properties already flooded. we thought we had peaked on all
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of the water levels by friday. however, over the last 12 and 2a hours, although we've had a considerable period of dry weather and it was even sunny yesterday, water levels have continued to rise. hundreds of flood alerts and warnings remain in place across england and wales. getting around isn't easy. dunham bridge connecting lincolnshire and nottinghamshire remains closed. even though we've got some dry weather in the forecast, thank goodness, we're really pleased about that, it is going to take a while for the peaks in the rivers to move down through to the sea and take the pressure off communities like like those we've seen in recent days. the prime minister meets the environment agency team in oxford. the government's been accused of being asleep at the wheel by labour in its response to the widespread flooding chaos. ministers say affected communities in england will be able to apply for funding to help them through these extremely challenging times. now it's set to get
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a lot chillier, too. a cold weather alert has been issued by the uk health security agency with the cold snap expected to last several days, bringing with it the threat of ice. simon jones, bbc news. police in lincolnshire say two people have died, after their car became submerged in water. it happened on saturday in tetney lock, in the early afternoon, near grimsby and the mouth of the river humber. police say there was a collision, and a blue mercedes 300 left the road. a sixteen year old boy and a forty year old man were pronounced dead at the scene — their next of kin have been informed. now for a look at the day's sport. holders manchester city have reached the fourth round of the fa cup. just one of the premier league teams who have avoided one of the competition's famous shocks.
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they beat championship side huddersfield 5—0 at the etihad. goalless for the first half an hour. phil foden started the scoring after the ball came to him in the penalty area. the england internatoinal�*s second was city's fourth. crafted a little more intentionally this time from a corner. after kevin de bruyne had come on as a substitute. returning from his lengthy hamstring injury. he laid on the fifth for another player back from a spell out, jeremy doku. not every premier league team had it so easy. albeit none of them lost to lower league opposition. luton nottingham forest and west ham were all taken to a replay. although forest did come from two goals down to draw. aldershot town were the non league team involved on sunday. but were dispatched by west brom of the championship. arsenal against liveprool is the tie of the round. that kicks off shortly. chelsea and australia striker sam kerr has become the latest female fooballer to suffer
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an anterior cruciate ligament injury. it happened during her club's warm weather training camp in morocco. chelsea say kerr will be assessed by a specialist in the coming days and then begin her rehabilitation. it's likely she'll miss the rest of the domestic season. and potentially the olympics if australia qualify. rafael nadal has pulled out of the australian open which starts in a week's time. he's onlyjust come back from nearly a year out of tennis with a hip injury. but in his defeat at the brisbane international he picked up a new injury. nadalfelt discomfort in the same area during his quarter—final loss to jordan thompson. a scan has revealed a very small muscle tear. the spaniard says it's not the same issue that required surgery injune bbut he's not ready to compete at the highest level in five—set matches and he's returning to spain for treatment and rest. fog that tournament in brisbane was won by grigor dimitrov. it's the bulgarian's first atp title in more than six dimitrov beat holger rune,
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a player in the world's top five aand12 years his junior to win the final in straight sets. it was tighter than the scoreline suggests the first set went to a tie—break and there was just one break of serve in the second. an emotional dimitrov said as he lifted the trophy "it's been a while since i held one of these" my love affair started 11 years ago out here in brisbane and it continues. i am very thankful that i am able to play in front of you guys and lift the trophy again. it means a lot to me for so many different reasons. i want to say thank you to my team. my parents are not here, they had to rush to the airport, so it's a shame they are not here, but i will send them a picture. laughter meanwhile elena rybakina reversed the result of last year's australian open final, beating aryna sabalenka convincingly to take the title in the women's event in brisbane. the former wimbledon champion ended sabalenka's15—match winning streak on australian soil, only losing three games in the final. rybakina will move up to third in the world rankings. for sure, it gives confidence, but as i said i always have a tough
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battles against her and this week is for the players. i battles against her and this week is forthe maven-— for the players. i feel like maybe not everybody — for the players. i feel like maybe not everybody has _ for the players. i feel like maybe not everybody has caught - for the players. i feel like maybe not everybody has caught their l for the players. i feel like maybe i not everybody has caught their best form and i'm playing well now, so hopefully, as i say, i can continue and the plan is to go to adelaide. coco gauff has shown why she's one of the favourites to win the australian open. the us open champion, still only 19, came from a set down to beat elina svitolina and retain her auckland classic title. there's been a shock in the opening match of snooker�*s masters, the belgian was beaten by six frames to two by england's jack lisowski at alexandra palace. lisowski was 4—0 up before brecel pulled two frames back but lisowski rallied to win and book his place in the quarterfinals. he'll now face the winner of the day's other match between former champion shaun murphy and china's zhang anda. and that's all the sport for now.
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votes are being counted in the general election in bangladesh — where voting took place amid tight security after violence on the eve of the poll. prime minister sheikh hasina is trying to gain a fourth straight term in office. bangladesh's chief election comissioner has described the violence on the eve of the poll as an attempt to sabotage the vote. the main opposition bangladesh nationalist party has asked people to boycott the election. and international observers including the un have said the poll is taking place in a repressive environment. to discuss it, i am joind now by associate professor of politics and public policy at the blavatnik school of government at the university of oxford — maya tudor. it seems the turnout was particularly low.- it seems the turnout was particularly low. the turnout is around 1496. — particularly low. the turnout is around 1496, down _ particularly low. the turnout is around 1496, down from - particularly low. the turnout is around 1496, down from the i particularly low. the turnout is - around 1496, down from the previous around 14%, down from the previous election which was upwards of 80%, so it's quite a slide in participation in this election. 50
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participation in this election. so what do you read into that? people, or were they apathetic? what what do you read into that? people, or were they apathetic?— or were they apathetic? what was auoin on? or were they apathetic? what was going on? i _ or were they apathetic? what was going on? i think— or were they apathetic? what was going on? i think broadly - or were they apathetic? what was| going on? i think broadly speaking thus election has been closely watched because many see this as a watershed election in terms of bangladesh's transition to what many observers think will be increasingly a one—party state, so i kind of democratic backsliding. it's worth recalling that the sheikh came to power in 2009 in the care taken election that was widely thought of as free and fair but she removed the stipulation that the election had to be held under a caretaker government and what that meant is that slowly and what that meant is that slowly and steadily, the arms of the state have been quarter sized and many
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observers including myself feel that this is a signal that the party is consolidating power over their many arms of the state, so the election commission has been thought to be politicised and there have been mass arrests and the bnp, the opposition party, the major opposition party mention reports that 20,000 of its members have been arrested in the run—up to the election, so it's hard to think of the diminishing turnout as anything other than a sense that the election is not broadly thought of as a legitimate one. can the election is not broadly thought of as a legitimate one.— of as a legitimate one. can the international _ of as a legitimate one. can the international community - of as a legitimate one. can the international community do . of as a legitimate one. can the - international community do anything about the perceived sense of it becoming a one—party state? about the perceived sense of it becoming a one-party state? some governments _ becoming a one-party state? some governments have _ becoming a one-party state? some governments have already - becoming a one—party state? ”he governments have already done some things, and the united states has already restricted visas for some of
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the individuals it has deemed to be seen as undermining the election and what will be very interesting to watch is whether it does anything in response to the perceived low levels of legitimacy for this election. the us is bangladesh, for the us, the largest garment exporters, the largest garment exporters, the largest single export item in the economy, so what the us does will be very interesting to watch, but another really interesting angle to the election is it is a microcosm of global geopolitics because india and china, rivals though they may be, they are both aligned in supporting they are both aligned in supporting the incumbent prime minister as she has cracked down on the islamist party and has partly because of that
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and partly because of her move towards one—party politics reflects the kind of politics of both india and china domestically and they have been relatively staunch supporters of her government, so what will be interesting to watch on one hand is what the us, india and china do in response to the elections and the second important thing to watch will be what happens to the economy which has been growing at quite a clip, 6%, but inflation has broadly been thought to exceed that and if you speak to people on the streets, their concern is very much about rising food prices for real staples such as rice and what happens under this government in the next months and years on the inflation front and what that means for foreign reserves will be important. mr; what that means for foreign reserves will be important.— will be important. my tudor, thank ou ve will be important. my tudor, thank you very much _ will be important. my tudor, thank
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you very much indeed. _ the us aviation regulator has ordered the grounding of 171 boeing 737 max 9 aircraft — after part of an alaska airlines plane's fuselage fell off on friday. it's expected to cause widespread disruption to flights in the us. no european airlines are thought to have the plane in their fleet. are thought to have the plane it comes after one of alaska airline's planes had to make an emergency landing on friday after losing part of its fuselage while in midflight. no—one was injured in the incident, and checks are being carried out of the boeing 737 max 9 aircraft by airlines across america. hollywood's award season gets under way in earnest on sunday with the golden globes. barbie and 0ppenheimer are tipped for success, as emma vardy reports. hi, barbie. hi, ken. it was neverjust about a plastic doll. barbie, a satire on a female's role in society, became a sensation last summer... hi, barbie. ..as audiences dressed in pink and headed to the cinema, making director greta gerwig the first female to make a $1 billion movie.
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i got those both ice cream. cool i don't know if we can be trusted. for best drama, 0ppenheimer, the three—hour epic about the american physicist who developed the atomic bomb, is battling it out against martin scorsese's killers of the flower moon. leonardo dicaprio is up for best actor, but it's his co—star, lily gladstone, who may become the first native american to win best actress. i didn't realise this was a race. he's on the floor, tom. explain to me what he's doing. and succession, the drama about a media dynasty is predicted to be the big winner in the tv categories. studios are hoping for a boost from the awards, as the globes are the first major event since actors and writers strikes saw hollywood productions grind to a halt, costing the industry dearly. so there's a lot at stake. but the globes are also known as the biggest party in town. throughout the night, the champagne will be flowing, because this event has something of a reputation for being one of
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the most raucous of awards season. getting ahead is popular here because winning a golden globe can help influence the oscars in two months�* time. emma vardy, bbc news, beverly hills. professor sir roy calne — the pioneering surgeon has died at the age of 93. he led the first liver transplant operation in europe in 1968 — and went on to be the first doctor to use an immuno—suppressant in 1978, which was found to be effective in reducing organ rejection. his family said he died in cambridge late on saturday evening. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. in some areas, the fog hasn�*t cleared today, notably in parts of northern ireland, the central belt of scotland, northwest england and north wales. and following on from some very wet
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weather to start january, we still have numerous flood warnings in force. the details on the website there. with high pressure hanging notjust through this weekend but for most of next week, we do have a lot of dry weather now for the next four or five days, but it will continue to feel colder and with strong winds in the south, that will accentuate the chill. so, yes, it looks much drier, most definitely, but it will feel colder when you add on that wind in particular. and ice and fog are a real issue through the night—time periods as well. so for the rest of the day, still a few showers across northeast england, northern scotland. still one or two through parts of east anglia, kent and essex. and that fog that we have, that i mentioned earlier as well, making it feel colder, so temperatures are a bit below par at the moment and they will stay that way for the next couple of days. in fact, overnight tonight,
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the fog will thicken up and return more widely. ice will develop where we�*ve got a lot of standing water and spray, and particularly where we see these showers pepping up through the night, so it is going to be widely frosty, even where temperatures stay a degree above freezing — of course, the ground will still freeze. still icy and slick, particularly because we�*ve got those showers falling onto that cold ground, potentially washing off the salt. fog and ice hazards overnight tonight. there is a met office warning for the south and east. that�*s where we�*ve got this feed of northeasterly winds starting to strengthen further and just pushing those showers in, so it looks as if we will see a centimetre or two of snow for parts of east anglia, south—eastern england and through the day tomorrow, they�*re going to drag their way westwards on that breeze. you can see they are down, we could see two or three centimetres and that, of course, will add to the risk of ice, it being quite slippery. elsewhere, perhaps fewer showers across northern scotland and eastern england. one or two for northern ireland and, as icy, a few pushing across other southern parts of england and the channel islands. with that wind, it will feel colder still than today, so really quite a raw day or two
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to come across the southern half of the uk, in particular because of that wind and the stubborn fog problems further north. but importantly, the dry weather stays with us this week.
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this is bbc news. the headlines: jordan�*s king abdullah warns antony blinken of the "catastrophic repercussions" of israel�*s campaign in gaza. he urged the visiting us secretary of state to press
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for an immediate ceasefire. meanwhile, least 70 people have been reportedly killed injabalia. eyewitnesses in the refugee camp in northern gaza say many people were killed in an overnight israeli air strike. israel has yet to comment. the uk prime minister rishi sunak has denied having doubts about the plan to send some asylum seekers to rwanda when he was chancellor in 2022. number ten documents seen by bbc news indicate he was not sure the deterrent would stop channel crossings. polls close in bangladesh elections, which are expected to be a landslide for the current prime minister. most opposition parties boycotted the election. rishi sunak has denied he had doubts over the rwanda scheme when he was chancellor. the prime minister told laura kuenssberg that his job

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