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tv   BBC News  BBC News  January 7, 2024 10:00pm-11:01pm GMT

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rishi sunak confirms that the government is looking at legal options to exonerate postal staff wrongfully convicted of fraud. in the uk, authorities say more properties could flood over the next week — as river levels drastically rise. hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. there's been an upsurge in the fighting in gaza over the past 2a hours, with israel stepping up its attacks. eyewitnesses in the jabalia refugee camp say many people were killed in an overnight israeli air strike. israel has yet to comment.
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twojournalists have been killed in a strike on their car in gaza. israel has denied targeting them. aljazeera, whose gaza bureau chief lost his eldest son in the attack — has called for the international criminal court to hold israel accountable. there's been violence in the west bank too — nine palestinians and two israelis were killed on sunday. all this as us secretary of state antony blinken tours the region — hoping to start negotiations on gaza's future. 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 that gaza no longer poses a threat to israel.
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i say this to both our enemies and ourfriends. this is our responsibility and this is our commitment. every other consideration must be set aside and we must continue until total victory. our correspondent, wyre davies, has been monitoring events for us injerusalem — he gave us his assessment of mr netanyahu's comments. some interesting points in that statement by benjamin netanyahu, a message both to our enemies and ourfriends. and that's the clear message to the americans, to european governments, who perhaps would like israel to show more restraint in its bombing campaign in gaza, to even call for a ceasefire. but that simply isn't going to happen. israel has two goals in this war which has been going on for more than three months now, 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 absolutely continues. there have been some horrific scenes from gaza in the last 2a hours. there was one attack on a house, a building injabalia in northern gaza in which around 70
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people were killed. the images are appalling coming out of there. people's bodies blown to bits, children, women, other civilians. similar scenes from khan younis in the south where 63 people are said to have been killed in israeli air strikes. the number of dead in gaza is now almost 23,000 according to the hamas—run health ministry in gaza. that's since the war began on 7th of october. so it's clearly a devastating picture. israel is showing absolutely no signs of restraint at all, and that is because it says its goals simply are not yet met. the us secretary of state, antony blinken is currently on a week—long diplomatic tour of the middle east. earlier, he arrived in qatar and spoke at a news conference. the dilemma that's been posed from day one since october seventh,
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the dilemma that any country would face, is having been the victim of one of the most horrible attacks that i'm aware of, that i've ever witnessed in my 30 years, how to make sure it doesn't happen again. and any country faced with what israel had to face on october seventh would want to do just that, make sure it could not happen again. and that means dealing with the threat that hamas continues to pose. and as hamas leaders themselves have made clear, they would, if given the opportunity, do this october seventh, again and again and again. and that is not tolerable for any country, israel or anyone else. but as we've made clear also from day one, it's imperative that in dealing with this very,
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very difficult challenge, that it do so in a way that puts a premium on protecting civilians and making sure that people get the assistance they need. i spoke with steven simon — a professor of middle eastern studies at the university of washington — and who formerly served on the national security council for the middle east. he outlined the complex nature of the challenges facing the us secretary of state on this latest tour of the middle east. tony blinken's remarks and the very reason for his trip now to the middle east, really amounts to crisis management. the united states has very little it can do to influence either israel or hamas at this stage.
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what it really needs to do is reduce expectations on the part of us partners, other countries in the region that the united states is going to pull a rabbit out of a hat somehow. israel has little choice but to proceed with what it is now doing, which is chewing through gaza, in the hope of eradicating the hamas leadership, and destroying its military capacity. hamas has little choice, really, but to proceed with what it is doing, which is holding out in the hope that the hostages they are holding will buy them a long—term ceasefire, or possibly that there will be a widening of the war that will take the pressure off hamas and distract israel. neither of those is impossible, but neither also is likely, so hamas is stuck as well. and the united states needs to, or tony blinken will want to make that clear in the near term
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there is not much that can be done, but at the same time he will want to emphasise his tokyo principles, which as far as the us is concerned... i wonder if i could jump in quickly. of course. what you are describing is a scenario of possible compromise, how long do you think it will take for us to get to that point? not for months, i don't think, unless there is a truly lucky break on the hostage question. i think in the meantime, the united states isjust about laying down markers for both parties, so in other words, there is no way it will accept, the united states will accept gaza being once again a platform for terrorist activity, but at the same time, they will want to make clear to the israelis it is really reoccupation of gaza, is not in the united states interest and the united
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states will oppose it. the united states will also oppose the expulsion, movement of palestinians, gazan palestinians, from the gaza strip. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, will meet arab in bangladesh, the prime minister, sheikh hasina has won the general election. latest results show her party — the awami league — winning 152 seats and getting a clear majority. voting took place amid tight security after violence on the eve of the poll. at least 14 polling stations were set on fire. this election result gives the prime minister her fourth consectutive term in office. ahead of the announcement, the country's chief election comissioner has described the violence as an attempt to sabotage the vote. meanwhile, the main opposition, bangladesh nationalist party, had asked people to follow them in boycotting the poll. and international observers including the un said the election took place
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in a �*repressive environment�*. 0ur south asia correspondent, samira hussain, has the latest from the capital, dhaka. so the counting is still going on right now, but we do know that the awami league party, led by the prime minister sheikh hasina, has crossed that threshold of winning a clear majority. nowjust how strong that majority is, is still being worked out. that said, this is an election that pretty much everyone knew what the result was going to be, before votes were cast. and that is because the main opposition party, the bangladesh nationalist party were boycotting the elections, so when you look in terms of the choices that voters had when casting their ballot, it was either vote for the awami league,
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or vote for the independent candidates, and an overwhelming majority of those independent candidates were sport ires candidates were supporters of the ruling government. when you look at the turn out in the elections, you know, we spent the whole day at polling stations and yes, there were a steady stream of voters that were making their way in, but it wasn't a huge number that you would normally expect, in fact one polling station that we spent a lot of time at reported when polls closed only 5—6% of eligible voters went to cast their ballot. now according to the election commission they said within 30 minutes of when the polls were going to close about 27% of eligible voters cast their ballot. they since revised that number around said in the last 30 minutes some i3% went and cast their ballot, to show that you know, there was a lot more interest in these elections but i think it was quite a bit of apathy, because voters were not offered any
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kind of choice on the ballot, and with these calls by the opposition party to boycott the vote, there were just so, there were certainly less people that were willing to go and cast their ballot. what is the atmosphere like in the country at the moment? when the prime minister, prime minister sheikh hasina cast her vote, she described the, that main opposition party as a terrorist organisation, there are reports of the government cracking down on dissent, strongly, just describe the atmosphere in the country at the moment. if you are a member of any opposition party that is speaking out against the ruling government, you are probably going to be in a position where it is going to be very difficult to exercise your democratic freedom to protest, or to make speeches freely and this is something that
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has been documented by human rights groups and that was part of the argument made by the bnp, saying that so many of their leaders and supporters are in prison right now or in hiding, because the crackdown on free expression has just been so severe. but when you speak with members of the government, in fact i spoke with the foreign minister today, and he said look, these elections were free and fair, you had international observers that came, and they reported, that these elections were not rigged, but the bnp said look, for them, and to be responsible to their supporters they couldn't actually participate in these elections, because of this crackdown on any kind of free speech. in a protest back in october of last year, more than 10,000 of their supporters and leaders were arrested and that is according to human rights watch.
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ali riaz is a professor of political science at the illinois state university and president of the american institute of bangladesh studies. i spoke to him earlier about the significance of this result. what we have seen since the morning, all the media reports and all the social media reports that we saw, doesn't match up. as a matter—of—fact even official statistics that were provided to the midday, four hours into the election, they said about you know, 12% and then about 18%, and the last hour or so, itjumped up, the whole thing about i3%, which is a remarkably, you know, high number, which doesn't match up with what happened. so, i would say the basically the bangladeshi voters have voted with their feet, meaning they have boycotted the election.
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0verwhelming majority have boycotted the election. the main opposition party, the bangladesh nationalist party, they boycotted the election, also, their leader is currently under house arrest, on separate charges. just how legitimate will this election, how legitimate will it be viewed by the international community, when you have observers already questioning the environment that the country was under? absolutely. i mean, they rightly pointed out, raised caution with respect to the environment. election is not a single day thing. what we have seen since october 28, that the bnp leaders have been arrested, they claim 21,000 plus of their activists and leaders have been arrested. we have seen more than 1,500 have been convicted. we have seen serious repression against the opposition, not only bnp, other political parties and as a matter—of—fact, almost 16 political parties including bnp is boycotting.
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leading to this, over the year, the situation we saw has been serious erosion of democratic institutions and democratic practises, human rights violation, extrajudicial killing and forced disappearances, all sorts of things that have taken bangladesh towards more autocracy, than away from the democracy. so the election morally, how far that is legitimate? i think it is morally not a claim to be a legitimate election. so let us widen it out geopolitically. how important is the state of politics in bangladesh, to neighbours? sheikh hasina was earlier paying tribute to her good friend in india. how important is it that she, as she claims, she is the guardian of democracy in bangladesh? records doesn't actually live up to that kind of claim. i mean, overthe years,
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as i have mentioned, we have seen serious violation of human rights. we have seen the legal and extralegal majors to stop opposition and freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. and she understandably, the ruling awami league is expressing gratitude for the support of india, because india has been the principle backer of this government, despite the fact they knew there has been serious erosion of democracy. the british prime minister says the government is looking at legal options to clear the sub—postmasters wrongly convicted in the post office scandal, which he called �*an appalling miscarriage of justice�*. more than 700 people were convicted of charges including theft and false accounting, because of a faulty computer system — fewer than 100 of them have been exonerated. here�*s our business correspondent marc ashdown.
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the only way to stop it is to prove that i�*m not a thief, right? it must be a bug, it must be. lee castleton�*s years of suffering were laid bare in the recent itv drama. he was accused of theft by the post office and pursued through the courts. £26,000 has gone missing. you what? 26 grand. he was left bankrupt, shunned by his community and even considered ending his life. he said the public support this week has left him stunned. it�*s very lonely being the only one, as the post office would constantly tell each of the victims. so now we�*re together in this and we just need to keep walking forward, no matter what the punches are, no matter how hard the war gets. lee was among around 700 post office managers convicted over a 16—year period from 1999. in fact, faulty software in the horizon it system was to blame. today, the prime minister said the ministry ofjustice is looking at the best way to speed up the process for overturning convictions and handing out compensation. it's right that we find every
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which way we can do to try and make this right for the people who were so — as i said — wrongfully treated at the time. the compensation is a part of that. but as you say, there are legal things that may be possible as well. currently, each person with a conviction has to appeal to the post office directly to try to overturn it. campaigners say many have been left traumatised and don�*t trust the process. to date, just 93 convictions have been quashed. the committee set up to oversee compensation payments has written to the government, urging it to intervene and exonerate all of those accused as one. given the way the post office has behaved over so many years, it ought not to be for the subpostmasters to have to prove that they were badly treated. we all know they were badly treated. it ought to be something that is done en masse so that we can put this behind us and move on.
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that would most likely require fresh legislation to be passed through parliament, which could throw up some potentially tricky political and constitutional questions. but those watching the ongoing public inquiry say there is mounting evidence emerging this would be the quickest way to bring the many hundreds of victims justice, compensation and closure. we will look into each individual case and fight our corner. many questions remain over how this scandal was allowed to happen. and the metropolitan police is investigating whether crimes were committed in the way hundreds of innocent people were prosecuted and convicted in what�*s become known as britain�*s biggest miscarriage of justice. mark ashdown, bbc news. hollywood�*s award season gets under way in beverly hills in the next few hours, with the golden globes award ceremony. barbie and 0ppenheimer are tipped for success, but tv categories are also in the spotlight — succession, the crown and the last of us are nominated. the globes mark the first major ceremony of film awards season, which culminates with the oscars
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on the10 march. 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. i got us 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.
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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 the most raucous of awards season. brands giving away freebies in exchange for a celebrity endorsement. there is holiday, jewellery, and even a little psychic help. can we predict the winners guessing is popular because winning a golden globe can help influence
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the oscars in two months�* time. emma vardy. let�*s go live to the red carpet and speak to our la correspondent emma va rdy. i love the fact you have taken the spirit of st patrick to hollywood. 0f spirit of st patrick to hollywood. of course, a little bit of irish on the red carpet. have onlyjust left ireland and come here to enjoy the sunshine. it ireland and come here to en'oy the sunshine. , , _ , sunshine. it is getting busy behind ou, we sunshine. it is getting busy behind you. we have _ sunshine. it is getting busy behind you. we have a — sunshine. it is getting busy behind you, we have a while _ sunshine. it is getting busy behind you, we have a while yet - sunshine. it is getting busy behind you, we have a while yet haven't l sunshine. it is getting busy behind i you, we have a while yet haven't we. you, we have a while yet haven�*t we. that is right. the stars should be arriving any minute now but of course the biggest names don�*t come until the last minute and this is the night of barbie and 0ppenheimer, this evening, think back to the summer when those unusually those two films were released on the same day but instead of that being a problem for each of them it created even more buzz, the hashtag
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barbenheimer was born, for people who had a long attention span and could watch the films back—to—back, both saw big crowds going to the cinema this summer so they expect to take away a number of awards, margot robbie, she is up for best actress in the comedy category for barbie and of course the female director of the barbie film greta gerwig is up for best director and cillian murphy from ireland is up for best actor, he played 0ppenheimer, best actor in the drama category. many to talk about but the barbenheimer phenomenon seems to be dominating the headline at the moment. i can see peeple _ the headline at the moment. i can see people starting _ the headline at the moment. i can see people starting to _ the headline at the moment. i can see people starting to strike poses, behind you. so i think they will start to see some of the stars arriving shortly. how important does the golden globes help in setting the golden globes help in setting the scene for the other primarily the scene for the other primarily the oscars which will come up later
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in the year?— in the year? well, the globes is known as the _ in the year? well, the globes is known as the first _ in the year? well, the globes is known as the first major - in the year? well, the globes isj known as the first major awards in the year? well, the globes is i known as the first major awards of the season, it is the one that kicks things off, gets thins going, known as a bit of a party, it is not though a great predict for necessarily of the oscars, but there is a sense really that if you win a golden globe it helps to create a bit more buzz round your production, maybe makes people watch a film again, take a second look and that mightjust influence the oscars so it doesn�*t hurt to have a rather good result here and take away some trophies, if you have your eye on perhaps the more prestigious formal 0scars in a couple of months�* time, but once upon a time the tv awards used to draw big audience, people used to draw big audience, people used to draw big audience, people used to tune in to watch, to see only testify mishaps if nothing else but that has changed, audiences for tv are declining, streaming services means there is more come ticks, perhaps awards don�*t have the same
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gravitas they once had but there they are a big fixture and the red carpet is not going anywhere soon. we have run out of time, a number of key changes that have been made to this year�*s golden globes, and don�*t forget we are going to be crossing to emma vardy in la, in hollywood, to emma vardy in la, in hollywood, to get the latest on any of those names that are announced at the golden globes but in the meantime, if you would like to keep update with who and why has received the nominations, what people are going to be talking about, do head to the bbc news website. the article there is what you will find. everything you need good evening. high pressure has brought a welcome change to much drier weather for most this weekend, but there are still numerous flood warnings in force, around 170 during the day today. as ever, there is more detail
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on those on the weather website, including a warning for ice for the night ahead. but the high pressure that has brought the drier weather this weekend is staying put, as you can see, through the working week. there will be quite a keen wind in the south accentuating the chill, but for most, little rain in the forecast. it looks much drier, therefore, but it is already colder and it will remain so. and we�*ve had some stubborn fog this weekend. in fact, during sunday across parts of northern ireland, scotland, northern england and wales, and indeed that will thicken up as we go through the coming night, there could be the odd pocket further south as well. what we will find is more showers coming into east anglia and the south—east. widely frosty i think even where we see the towns and cities just above freezing, the ground will still turn potentially frosty and icy because we have had a lot of rain. but overnight we are going to see those showers, and into monday, popping up across the east anglia region and the south—east of england, and they will be snow even at lower levels,
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it is cold air. with a few centimetres potentially over the downs, that will make things very slippery potentially because they could wash off the salt. ice is certainly an issue in the south and east but also elsewhere because it has been so damp. the fog again for central and southern scotland, northern ireland, northern parts of england and wales, it might well linger. but we will see some brightness and some sunshine as well. the wind is a little stronger again across southern parts compared to today, pushing wintry showers across other southern counties through the day. and making it feel colder still. we will see a smattering of snow in those showers further south, particularly over the hills and the channel islands. into tuesday, the high pressure system stays towards the north, those keen east winds or north—east winds continue in the south. but that might benefit, pushing the showers out of the way and breaking the cloud up a bit more for more sunshine. but still again plenty of it for north—west scotland, northern ireland, western england and wales, more in the south. might pick up a bit more cloud across north—eastern coasts but as you can see temperatures below par. and as we go through the rest of the week, it stays largely dry
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but it is still pretty chilly.
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this is bbc news, the headlines. i�*m lukwesa burak. an upsurge in violence in gaza,
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with at least 70 people reportedly killed in the jabalia refugee camp. in the uk, authorities say more properties could flood over the next week — as river levels drastically rise. and final preparations are under way in the us for the launch of a spacecraft which will attempt to land on the moon. and the biggest stars in hollywood are arriving onto the red carpet of the golden globes in beverly hills. awards season is kicking off with barbie and 0ppenheimer ready to get silverware. eyewitness reports from gaza say many people have been killed in an israeli air strike on a building in the jabalia refugee camp, in the north. there�*s been no comment from israel, whose war with hamas has entered a fourth month. hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by the uk government.
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in the south of the strip, a tv cameraman who was the son of the aljazeera network�*s gaza bureau chief was killed in an israeli strike. wyre davies sent this report from jerusalem, and it contains distressing images from the very start. images coming from jabalia in northern gaza today are difficult to watch. reporters quickly on the scene described dozens of bodies lying in the rubble of a destroyed building, many of them women and children. unconfirmed reports say at least 70 people were killed here in what was reported to be an israeli air strike. the israeli military has not yet responded to a bbc request for more information. across gaza, say aid agencies, the civilian toll is unbearable. this, the aftermath of another attack in khan younis.
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health officials say that even medicalfacilities, including hospitals, are unsafe as israel�*s relentless campaign continues against hamas military targets. the staff inside of this hospital are heroes who are doing everything they can without sleep, without food, without knowing if their own families are safe, in order to save the lives of others. so this hospital and the staff in this hospital have to be protected. with an increasing sense of urgency, the american secretary of state is on a whistle—stop tour of middle eastern capitals. with real concern about the humanitarian situation and the possibility of a region—wide conflict, antony blinken is being urged to use america�*s influence over israel to demand an immediate ceasefire. but even if washington presses that point, israel�*s leader isn�*t yet listening. translation: we are not stopping until victory. - the war must not be stopped until we achieve all of its goals —
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the elimination of hamas, the return of all of our hostages, and ensuring that gaza no longer poses a threat to israel. i say this to both our enemies and ourfriends. wael al—dahdouh wishes the fighting would end. he�*s already lost family and several colleagues. today, the aljazeera correspondent buried his son, hamza, also a reporter killed in an airstrike. israel says they were targeting a suspect and were aware of others in his car. the latest of at least 75 local journalists who have been killed in gaza. paying the highest price to report this war to the world. wyre davies, bbc news, jerusalem. earlier i wasjoined by frank lowenstein — former us envoy for middle east peace — who explained the threat of a wider regional escalation. we�*ve already seen regional escalation to the point
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where this could spin out of control very quickly in yemen, in iraq, obviously in lebanon. so i think that�*s why blinken is going not only to israel, but also to other countries in the region to try to get everybody on the same page in terms of presenting a preventing regional escalation that nobody wants. he�*s got quite a to do list, hasn�*t he, on this tour? which of his goals do you think he will achieve? well, i think the preventing regional escalation is probably possible. i don�*t think lebanon, i don�*t think hezbollah wants that war. i don�*t think iran wants a war. so i think it�*s just a matter of trying to calm everybody down and i think probably try to put the dialogue with respect to the southern lebanon on a trajectory where they may be able to resolve that on a more sustainable basis. they�*re talking about finally demarcating the border and that kind of thing. so i think that goal is probably most attainable for secretary blinken. well, king abdullah ofjordan has also been speaking because secretary blinken was there. he left, travelled from jordan to qatar. now, the king did say and warned secretary blinken
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against the catastrophic repercussions of continued aggression against gaza. just how much sway do these regional leaders have in trying to resolve this issue? well, i think they have a tremendous amount of sway, not only over what happens in the present tense, but also what we do going forward. and i think that�*s very much what secretary clinton is working on, is getting their input, not only on how to how to bring this conflict to a reasonable conclusion, but also what comes next. the problem is, i think ultimately that the israelis don�*t really care what anybody else has to say about how they conduct their operations in gaza. so the tension there is between, you know, the input of the united states and all of our regional allies and what israel has decided it wants to do, irrespective of what anybody else says. does israel care about the united states? they do, but only to a point. and i think the main point of disagreement with us and the israelis right now is over the humanitarian situation there. i think we would like to see an enormous amount of humanitarian
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assistance going in. i think we would like to see a pause in the fighting where hostages could be released and there was an opportunity to actually get humanitarian assistance to a lot of the people that are desperately in need. again, i imagine that�*s something that the israelis would be receptive to. i think it�*sjust a matter of timing. in terms of moving forward, we heard during orfollowing talks with president erdogan, secretary blinken saying that, i think that from our conversations today, it�*s clear that turkey is prepared to play a positive, productive role in work that needs to happen the day after the conflict ends. when is this conflict going to end? yeah, that�*s a really good question. i think it�*s going to end in not so much in the sense of stopping completely, but in the sense of transitioning from one phase to another. and i think that�*s very much on the mind of secretary blinken during this visit. we�*ve been pushing the israelis to change their tactics, to do much, much more to prevent civilian casualties and allow humanitarian assistance in.
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and the israelis have said they�*ll do it. they say they�*re doing it in the north now. their actions haven�*t really changed in the south. so i think that�*s going to be a main point of emphasis for the secretary. 0n the israeli tactics, obviously, today they announced that they dismantled hamas�*s command structure. i mean, what exactly does that mean? but also, mr hagari pointing out that the approach for central and southern parts of gaza will have to change. have they done something wrong? well, i think what they�*re saying about southern gaza and central gaza is that they�*re going to try not to kill quite so many civilians and to try to do a little bit more on the humanitarian front. it remains to be seen whether they�*re actually serious about that. i think that�*s one of the things that concerns the united states the most, is that they�*ll say they�*re going to change their tactics, but really nothing�*s actually going to be any different on the ground. so i think we�*re going to be pushing the israelis notjust for words, but for actions on the ground on those two key fronts, civilian casualties and humanitarian assistance. here in the uk, the prime minister was quizzed on the bbc�*s sunday with laura kuenssberg. he reiterated his plans to cut taxes this year, and insisted that changing
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the benefits system would help pay for it. the labour leader keir starmer said that pre—election giveaways were the wrong way to govern. here�*s our political correspondent damian grammaticas. for rishi sunak, this is set to be a decisive year. the most important call of his premiership coming — when to hold an election. he is trailing in the polls, but has a plan — to offer tax cuts, paid for, he says, by controlling welfare spending, particularly for those deemed too sick to work. in the last decade, that system hasn�*t been reformed at all. and you�*ve seen the number of people who are signed off has tripled. now, do i think our country is three times sicker than it was a decade ago? the answer is no. the system is not working as it was designed to work, and now we are bringing forward reforms that will mean that we look at the eligibility for who is signed off sick. and another tv studio, the labour leader — his vision includes spending more. eventually, 28 billion per year to transform the economy. conservatives, already
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attacking the idea as irresponsible, inflationary. if we can have a fight going into the election between an incoming labour government that wants to invest in the future, long—term strategy that will lower our bills and give us energy independence, versus stagnation, more of the same under this government, if they want that fight on borrow to invest, i am absolutely up for that fight. and the labour leader says the sooner the better. though rishi sunak has tried to quash speculation about the election date, suggesting autumn. i can't help feeling that all he really wants to do is to get two years clocked up of his own premiership. and that means he is putting vanity before country. this place, rwanda, is vital for rishi sunak this year. his plan to deport asylum seekers here has stalled. government documents suggest that as chancellor, mr sunak thought the policy won�*t work. today, he insisted he does believe it will be a deterrent. i absolutely believe in the value and importance of having deterrents. now, in terms of the scheme, i was chancellor of the time.
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myjob is to make sure that we get value for money for taxpayers. tomorrow, mps get back to westminster. for rishi sunak, a testing political calendar awaits. cold health alerts have been issued for parts of england this week, with temperatures due to plummet, leading to snow and ice. it comes as many areas are still trying to recover from the aftermath of storm henk, which caused widespread flooding. about 170 flood warnings are still in place in england and wales — and the environment agency says more properties could flood over the next week as river levels rise. jessica lane reports. as the cold weather hits many parts of the country, lots of homes and gardens remain underwater, including here in nottinghamshire.
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there is still water in the conservatory. the conservatory flooded first, so we tried to sandbag a barrier in. hit by flooding earlier this week, erica has had to move in with her neighbours. i�*ve had loads of offers from all over the village. the village have been brilliant, and they have all offered to come and clean up. obviously i have to wait for the insurance to come and assess the damage first, before i move anything. lots of the fields in the area are still under water. and, in fact, there are some houses over here, and the people in those houses are isolated. the fire brigade has had to send boats out, filled with bottles of water and tins of food to make sure they have enough provisions to keep them going for the next few days. they�*ve also been checking on other isolated people cut off by the sheer amount of water. people alongside the river lambourn in berkshire were monitoring water levels all last week after some homes flooded. the prime minister met the environment agency earlier, in oxford. the government has been accused of being asleep at the wheel by labour in its response
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to the widespread flooding chaos. ministers say affected communities in england will be able to apply for funding to help them through these challenging times. even though we�*ve got some dry weather in the forecast, 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 those we have seen in recent days. here in collingham, some of the flood water has receded. but the cold weather is hitting many in the country trying to salvage their homes and businesses. and, with the prospect of more flooding to come, it continues to be a worrying time. jessica lane, bbc news, collingham, in nottinghamshire. (pres)police in lincolnshire say two people have died, police in lincolnshire say
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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 16—year—old boy and a ao—year—old man were pronounced dead at the scene — their next of kin dead at the scene. internet and social media services have been severely disrupted across pakistan, just as the party of the former prime minister imran khan was about to launch a massive election campaign online. mr khan is currently injail facing trial on multiple charges of corruption, and has been disqualified from standing in the general elections next month. his pti party called the shutdown "absolutely shameful." netblocks, a london—based internet watchdog, said the disruption was consistent with previous social media filtering events in pakistan which had been imposed ahead of opposition rallies or speeches by mr khan.
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final preparations are under way in the us for the launch of a spacecraft which will attempt to land on the moon. emily brown reports. after nearly a decade of planning and testing, the first american spacecraft set to attempt a lunar landing in more than 50 years. this is the new partnership between nasa and private industry united launch alliance. this is their vulcan centaur. it�*s a private competitor to elon musk�*s spacex, and it�*s set to take off from cape canaveral space force station. the rocket is carrying astrobotic peregrine one, and that aims to be the first us craft to make a soft lunar landing since the apollo programme. let�*s take a look at the rocket in more detail. we know it has a height of nearly 62 metres, a diameter of 5.4 metres, and a total mass of more than 500,000 kilograms. on board are scientific instruments that will probe the lunar
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environment, hoping to pave the way for the return of astronauts on the moon. but there�*s also some unusual cargo. a physical bitcoin, sculptures by the artistjeff koons and controversially, dna and human remains of the star trek creator gene roddenberry, as well as sci—fi author and scientist arthur c clarke. the vulcan rocket�*s upper stage is also carrying late cast members of star trek, as well as former presidentsjohn f kennedy, dwight eisenhower and george washington. well, the countdown is on. take—off is expected at 2:18 am local time. here in the uk, some parents believe the covid pandemic has shown that it�*s not essential for children to attend school every day — according to a new report. the centre for socialjustice says more support is needed to tackle school absences. 0ur education editor, branwen jeffreys has the story. bell rings.
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it�*s part of the legacy of covid, a broken contract with school for some families. last year, almost twice as many children missed 10% of lessons. mental health issues, the cost—of—living crisis aren�*t helping. this report suggests parents�* attitudes have shifted. almost a third agreed the pandemic showed going every day was not essential. to repair the missing link between school and families, it suggests mental health support for every school, expanding the use of mentors forfamilies, creating a right to sport for secondary pupils, to have five hours of extra activities every week. also looking at how fines are working and investing in youth clubs. some of the solutions can be quite straightforward. it�*s not necessarily wholesale reform, so i think government needs
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to think about kind of the wider offer and schools need to be thinking about building a really constructive relationship because parents and schools both have the children�*s interest front of mind. the government has tried mentoring in a few areas and may extend it. labour will set out its plans this week. school absence isn�*t simple. many reasons lie behind it. but everyone agrees parents play a key role. alaska airlines says it�*s again halting flights by 18 of its fleet of boeing 737 max nine planes that had returned to the air following safety inspections. one of the carrier�*s planes had to make an emergency landing on friday after losing part of its fuselage midflight. a second american airline, united, says none of its max 9s will now resume flights.
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let�*s get the background from our reporter, leigh milner. this video footage was taken by a passenger on board flight 1282 shortly after take—off. look closely and you can see a hole in the side of the plane — just 20 minutes after take—off, flight 1282 made an emergency landing back at portland international airport in oregon. luckily, no—one was injured. we are very, very fortunate here that this didn't end up| in something more tragic. no—one was seated in 26a and b, where that door plug is. - these pictures show the full extent of the damage in what was a terrifying experience for those on board. there was a kid in that row, his shirt was sucked off him and out of the plane.
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his mother was holding onto him to make sure he didn't go with it. last night, the uk�*s civil aviation authority said it had written to all foreign owners of boeing 737 max 9 aircraft demanding that inspections are carried out before they can operate in uk air space. there are no uk—registered max 9s. and the us federal aviation administration has ordered the temporary grounding of 171 boeing 737 max 9s as investigators try to work out exactly what happened. this is the latest incident involving boeing�*s best—selling model that was launched back in 2015. in october 2018, a 737 max operated by indonesian airline lion air crashed shortly after take—off, killing all 189 on board. five months later, in march 2018, an ethiopian airline 737 max was involved in a similar crash, killing all 157 passengers. that led to all boeing 737 maxs being grounded by the us regulator,
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the federal aviation administration, for the next 20 months. after this latest incident, alaska airlines grounded their 737 max 9 fleet. boeing has said it will cooperate with any investigation. let�*s get some of the day�*s other news now. three more people have been arrested in connection with the january 6th assault on the us capitol building, on the third anniversary of the attack by donald trump supporters. nearly 1,300 people have so far been charged in relation to the riot. a us federal appeals court has reinstated a ruling that bars california from enforcing a new gun law prohibiting the carrying of guns in most public places. the ban came into force on january the first after an earlier ruling,
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but is now on hold. 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. hollywood�*s award season is getting under way in beverly hills with the golden globes award ceremony. barbie and 0ppenheimer are tipped for success, but tv categories are also in the spotlight — succession, the crown and the last of us are nominated. the globes mark the first major ceremony of film awards season, which culminates with the oscars on ten march. the ceremony starts at 01:00 gmt and usually lasts between three and four hours.
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earlier i spoke to anna smith, film critic and host of the podcast �*girls on film�* to ask why this year�*s award season might be different from the past. quite exciting because things have shifted a little bit. as we know, the golden globes had a bit of controversy in the past. they�*re now under new ownership and there are also more people voting for them. and i quite like the breadth of what we�*re seeing in the nominations, despite a few of the films mentioned there, being in the leaders. they are perhaps a little bit more diverse. there are more foreign language films in there. and yes, they are glitzy and glamourous, so there�*s quite a lot to look forward to. so 0ppenheimer and barbie, as we just saw in that report by emma vardy, are leading the charge, particularly when it comes to the films. what about the tv side of things? tv side, i think succession is highly likely to come away with a lot.
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we�*ve got a great situation — a lot of these succession actors being up against each other, which could of course split the vote and someone like pedro pascal could do well there. i think the bear, that�*s a big favourite for everyone from the past year that�*s likely to do well to. likely to do well too. and in terms of sort of british nominations, we�*ve got a lot of the crown actors and the crown up for tv as well. now, then, now that we�*ve got the film talk out the way, it�*s always other stuff going on around these awards ceremonies. on around these awards ceremonies that is interesting. so let�*s start with the host. now, i understand they only really confirmed it in december because people kept turning it down, kept turning the job down. well, it�*s not actually the most popularjob in showbiz because, you know, a lot of people have been felt that they had to take the role and didn�*t really enjoy it and spoke out against the golden globes. prior to that, of course, we had some very funny people like amy poehler and tina fey and ricky gervais to it. but some of them got into a bit of hot water for being a bit too close to the bone.
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so now we�*ve got comedianjo koy, who�*s going to be doing this. hopefully a safe pair of hands, could be interesting, everything to play for. but yeah, i mean, it�*s a slightly surprising decision. i mean, well known to in the us, perhaps not so much in the uk. ok, you brought up the issues that go back to 2021, the ethics and diversity, and they have promised that this year there are going to be some major changes for this ceremony. could you give us an idea of what we could see? well, i think we�*re seeing more diversity in terms of who�*s presenting awards. and they�*ve certainly diversified the membership to make sure that there are more women and people of colour actually voting. and i�*m hoping we�*re going to see the results of that in the actual outcome. and i would imagine that that we may see some performances and things like that, all kind of with the same aim of showing that they�*re a big, diverse, welcoming group. and sort of distancing themselves from a lot of the accusations of the past. and i think there are two new category changes as well. but i think one of the main things that americans will see and notice
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is that they�*re switching to cbs rather than nbc. is that because of the low ratings that they had last year? again, i think it�*s partly to do with that, but also a way of making a new start. this really is making a statement this is a fresh, new golden globes, it�*s a new beginning. they�*ve got to now sort of a box office winner category, which is perhaps making it even more mainstream. but then again, in some of the nominations, you�*ve also got it perhaps going for a little bit more sophistication and a little bit more credibility. so maybe trying to be all things to all people. we�*ll see. a number of celebrities have arrives if you want a number of celebrities have arrives if you want to a number of celebrities have arrives if you want to keep a number of celebrities have arrives if you want to keep up—to—date a number of celebrities have arrives if you want to keep up—to—date head to our website, bbc news. good evening. high pressure has brought a welcome change to much drier weather for most this weekend, but there are still numerous flood warnings in force, around 170 during the day today. as ever, there is more detail
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on those on the weather website, including a warning for ice for the night ahead. but the high pressure that has brought the drier weather this weekend is staying put, as you can see, through the working week. there will be quite a keen wind in the south accentuating the chill, but for most, little rain in the forecast. it looks much drier, therefore, but it is already colder and it will remain so. and we�*ve had some stubborn fog this weekend. in fact, during sunday across parts of northern ireland, scotland, northern england and wales, and indeed that will thicken up as we go through the coming night, there could be the odd pocket further south as well. what we will find is more showers coming into east anglia and the south—east. widely frosty i think even where we see the towns and cities just above freezing, the ground will still turn potentially frosty and icy because we have had a lot of rain. but overnight we are going to see those showers, and into monday, popping up across the east anglia region and the south—east of england, and they will be snow even at lower levels, it is cold air.
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with a few centimetres potentially over the downs, that will make things very slippery potentially because they could wash off the salt. ice is certainly an issue in the south and east but also elsewhere because it has been so damp. the fog again for central and southern scotland, northern ireland, northern parts of england and wales, it might well linger. but we will see some brightness and some sunshine as well. the wind is a little stronger again across southern parts compared to today, pushing wintry showers across other southern counties through the day. and making it feel colder still. we will see a smattering of snow in those showers further south, particularly over the hills and the channel islands. into tuesday, the high pressure system stays towards the north, those keen east winds or north—east winds continue in the south. but that might benefit, pushing the showers out of the way and breaking the cloud up a bit more for more sunshine. but still again plenty of it for north—west scotland, northern ireland, western england and wales, more in the south. might pick up a bit more cloud across north—eastern coasts but as you can see
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temperatures below par. and as we go through the rest of the week, it stays largely dry but it is still pretty chilly.
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welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i�*m steve lai. the headlines.
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in bangladesh, prime minister sheikh hasina wins a fourth consecutive term in an election boycotted by the opposition. in gaza — at least 70 people are reportedly killed in the jabalia refugee camp. antony blinken, says israel must do more to prevent civilian casualties. rishi sunak confirms that the uk government is looking at legal options to exonerate postal staff wrongfully convicted of fraud. and hollywood rolls out the red carpet for one of its biggest nights — the golden globe awards. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we begin in bangladesh where prime minister sheikh hasina has led her party to another general election victory. the awami league has won a hundred and fifty two of the parliamentary seats declared so far, a simple majority.
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this will give the sheikh hasina her fourth consecutive

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