tv BBC News BBC News January 8, 2024 11:00am-11:31am GMT
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blast off! the first american spacecraft in more than 50 years is on its way to the moon after a successful launch. the bbc uncovers evidence of rape, torture and forced abortions by the founder of one of the world's biggest christian evangelical churches. and oppenheimer wins big at the golden globe awards in los angeles, taking home five of the night's big prizes. hello, i'm lucy grey. we start this hour in the middle east, where america's top diplomat, antony blinken, is continuing diplomatic efforts to prevent a regional escalation of israel's
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war in gaza. he'll hold talks with the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman on the latest stage of his middle east tour. they're expected to discuss how to bring peace to gaza and how to stop attacks on red sea shipping by houthi rebels who are backed by iran. mr blinken will then travel to israel. intense israeli air strikes have been continuing in the gaza strip, as well as ground battles with hamas fighters. israeli forces say they carried out strikes on 30 targets overnight. aid organisations say their doctors in gaza have been forced to pull out of one of the last functioning hospitals, after the surrounding area was designated a combat zone by the israeli military. the world health organization says if the al—aqsa hospital is stopped from operating, it will be a "moral and medical outrage". wyre davies has sent this report from jerusalem. and a warning — it contains distressing images from the 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
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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. 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
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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 — 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
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journalists who have been killed in gaza. paying the highest price to report this war to the world. wyre davies, bbc news, jerusalem. our middle east correspondent yolande knell told me more about mr blinken�*s priorities. there have been some israeli ministers within the coalition government there, on the far—right in particular, that have been calling for forced displacement of palestinians, in effect, from the gaza strip. washington has already issued sharp rebukes about that and said the palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes in the north of the gaza strip, first of all, as soon as conditions allow. so that will be part of antony blinken�*s message as he comes here. otherwise, we can expect him to continue this conversation about trying to stop the regional spill—over of this war. he's also said that it's imperative that israel takes more action to put a premium on protecting civilians in the gaza strip and also does more
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to help in terms of getting aid notjust into gaza, but allowing that aid to be distributed where it's really needed. as we were seeing in the report there, benjamin netanyahu remaining defiant in terms of any calls for a possible ceasefire. are there talks still ongoing right now in terms of a possible pause in the fighting? because there was a lot of talk about that a few days ago, but that seems to have gone quiet. well, of course, the qataris have been important mediators. and this is something that was addressed when mr blinken was meeting qatari officials in the past day. and they have given assurances that there are still continued efforts to reach a new ceasefire deal with hamas, to bring home the remaining 100+ israeli hostages still held by hamas and other armed groups in the gaza strip. and we also saw, unusually, some of the hostage families heading to qatar themselves to meet qatari
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officials, trying to keep the issue of their loved ones on this diplomatic agenda. mr blinken himself has put it high up on his agenda, this issue of bringing back the israeli hostages when he was laying out what he hoped to achieve in the middle east. the ukjustice secretary, alex chalk, will meet with the minister responsible for the post office today, to discuss how hundreds of branch managers who were wrongly convicted in the horizon it scandal could be cleared. pressure is increasing on the government to take action over what has been described as the most widespread miscarriage ofjustice in british history. here's our business correspondent, marc ashdown. hello, how can i help? oh, hi, it'sjo hamilton- here from south warnborough. i'm trying to produce this week's cash account. - and what's the problem? jo hamilton's story was central to the recent itv drama — she was falsely accused of stealing £36,000 from the village post office she ran in hampshire.
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in the meantime, you'll need to make good the loss. i haven't got that money! her conviction has now been quashed, but she's still angry that so many are still waiting forjustice. to know my conviction�*s quashed and to keep the promise to my parents — who didn't live to see it, sadly — that i would never give up until i overturned my conviction... and, yeah, it's amazing. it also opens doors to compensation, as well, which is life—changing. jo is among more than 700 post office managers convicted over a 16—year period from 1999 — faulty software in the horizon it system was to blame — but to overturn convictions, each and every person still has to appeal directly to the post office and prove their innocence. well, if you meet the victims and how traumatised and broken they are, you can understand why they don't want to go anywhere near a court. so therefore the government need to come up with a solution
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which expunges these convictions and restores these people's reputations. one suggestion is to remove the post office from the appeals process, and possibly pass new legislation to exonerate all of the victims as one. rishi sunak said thejustice secretary, alex chalk, is currently weighing up what to do. the group themselves have not been compensated. they've had literally a tiny interim payment or tiny payment at the beginning given to them, and they're having to fight for the rest of it. submit claims, months later they come back. they've extended the deadline now from 6th of august this year to into next year, and by then it'll be heading for year six. you know, how can it possibly take that long to pay 500 people? a public inquiry is ongoing — the post office said it supports it and is keen to establish what went wrong in the past, and the accountability for it.
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a police investigation is also under way into whether crimes were committed by some of those prosecuting hundreds of innocent people in what's become known as britain's biggest miscarriage of justice. marc ashdown, bbc news. in the last few hours, a rocket has blasted off from cape canaveral in florida, carrying the first american spacecraft to attempt a moon landing for more than half a century. this is the moment it happened. the peregrine mission will carry out experiments on the lunar surface, which will help pave the way for future space exploration. our science correspondent, jon amos, watched the launch. picture—perfect launch on the space coast. cape canaveral, florida, in the united states this morning, about 7:18 gmt, a little bit earlier in the morning in the us, the rocket, the vulcan,
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lifted off and after 15 minutes of flight, it ejected this peregrine lander, as it's called. you can see a picture of it here in preparation. it's going to take a few weeks for the lander to arrive at the moon and then it will attempt a soft landing, and i put the emphasis on "soft landing," on the 23rd of february. and it's not since this event happened way back in 1972, the apollo 17 mission. you can see gene cernan, the commander of apollo 17. that was the last mission to touch down gently on the surface of the moon from the united states. they haven't attempted it since. they've had a number of probes that have deliberately crashed into the surface of the moon. but there's been no soft landing attempt. and there is this new big effort now to get america back to the moon. it's called artemis, as opposed to apollo. and the mission that we saw take off today is part of that process. the big difference is back then it was all nasa. now nasa are going with commercial
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partners and international partners. and this is a commercial, it's a privately owned, built, operated lander that was on the top of a rocket. and it will be that company, pittsburgh—based astrobotic, that will be in charge when the landing comes up on the 23rd february with some nasa's science instruments on board. they've purchased that space. it is a logistics mission service that they have purchased. and what exactly are the experiments that they're going to be conducting? one of the interesting things about the moon that we've learnt in the last few decades is that there is water there. water is interesting because you can use it in a number of ways. you can drink it if you're an astronaut, but you can also split h20 into hydrogen and oxygen, and that's a rocket fuel. and if we are going to go back to the moon with astronauts and we're going to stay there, set up lunar bases, if you remember these guys, they only went for a few days
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and then they came home. the idea is that we go, we stay, we have a permanent presence. and if you do that, you need resources at the moon and water would be one of them. and this spacecraft has instruments that are going to study how water moves across the surface. and interestingly, lucy, one of the sensors that were going to do that was developed here in the united kingdom, and that will be the first sort of scientific instrument to touch the surface of the moon, we hope, nice and gently on the 23rd of february. some news that an israeli strike inside lebanon has kissed her his brother commander. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.
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let's look at some other stories making news in the uk. actor idris elba is calling on the government to immediately ban the sale of so—called zombie knives and machetes to help stop young people losing their lives in knife crime. he willjoin victims�* families outside parliament later to launch a new campaign. the home office previously announced plans to give police more powers to seize knives. transport for london says there will still be some disruption to tube services, despite the rmt union calling off a planned strike. passengers are being advised to check before they travel. london underground workers had been due to walk out until the end of the week in a dispute over a five—percent pay offer. thousands of old green metal street cabinets, once used to store broadband and phone cabling, are set to be converted into charging points for electric vehicles. bt group is setting up a pilot project which it's hoped will boost the number of charging stations across the country.
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you're live with bbc news. evidence of rape, torture and forced abortions by the founder of one of the world's biggest evangelical churches has been uncovered by the bbc. tbjoshua was the late founder of the synagogue church of all nations in nigeria and built an empire, and counted dozens of political leaders, celebrities and international footballers among his associates. former church insiders have gone public for the first time with claims of atrocities that span almost 20 years. peter murimi reports. a warning — viewers may find some elements of his report upsetting. everyone here in the stadium say, i lovejesus. tbjoshua was one of africa's most famous pastors, drawing presidents, premier league footballers and millions of followers across the globe. he had huge resources, huge amounts of influence,
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notjust in nigeria, throughout africa, israel, mexico, singapore. tbjoshua performed televised healings, where members of his congregation claimed to have been cured of aids, cancer and a range of chronic conditions. negative tested for hiv and hiv 2. everybody wanted the privilege to go with, to meet this... ..big giant. tb joshua's closest followers were known as disciples, and lived together for years inside his compound in nigeria. it was a psychological prison. we all thought we were in heaven, but we were in hell, and in hell terrible things happen. dozens of these insiders alleged that the pastor repeatedly assaulted, raped and tortured women behind closed doors, with the most recent incidents in 2019. it became so robotic. i disconnected from my body. i just became like... ..a puppet.
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rape became like a normal, terrifying thing that you would do. it's like you are an animal being slaughtered. i was 17 years old. he would be calling girls in one after the other. . i stayed here almost 14 years. they will be in thousands. some women claim they were forced to have abortions inside his compound following the alleged assaults. i had three abortions at synagogue. and from speaking to other women, i'm not the only one. women that he rapes, he forces them into abortion. i never had a choice whether i could keep a potential child or not. people tried to speak up to expose him, but nobody would listen.
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tbjoshua died in 2021. his wife, evelyn, is now leading the synagogue church of all nations. good morning, viewers all over the world. the bbc contacted the church with allegations in this report. they did not respond to them, but they said previous claims against tbjoshua have been unfounded. today, the church still attracts millions of viewers to its online platforms. some people, they are still living in fear for their lives, in fear for the retribution that will come if they do open their mouths. peter murimi, bbc news. you can watch disciples: the cult of tbjoshua on the bbc africa youtube channel and listen to the new season of world of secrets wherever you get your bbc podcasts. let's get some of the day's other news now. us officials say the missing part of an alaska airlines plane that detached mid—air during a flight
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on friday has now been found. it was discovered by a portland teacher in his back garden. the us aviation regulator says 171 boeing 737 max 9 planes will remain grounded until its satisfied the planes are safe. republican and democratic congressional leaders in the us say they've agreed the main elements of a $1.6 trillion budget deal designed to avert a damaging government shutdown in january. it's yet to be approved by the house and senate. farmers in germany are beginning a blockade of roads across the country at the start of a week—long protest against plans to phase out fuel subsidies. a concession that saw the government back—track on plans to remove some agricultural tax breaks hasn't been enough to stop farmers going ahead with their protest. hundreds of brazilian football supporters have been paying their last respects to mario zagallo, who won two world cups as a player before leading the national team to victory as manager in 1970.
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he went on to win a fourth world cup as brazil's assista nt—manager in 1994. zagallo died on friday at the age of 92. india's supreme court has cancelled an order that allowed the premature release of 11 men convicted for the gang rape of bilkis bano, a pregnant muslim woman. the incident occurred during the 2002 anti—muslim riots in gujarat state. the hindu men, who also murdered 1a members of the victim's family, received life sentences. earlier, i spoke to our south asia correspondent yogita limaye in mumbai about how the latest ruling has been received by relatives of the victims. the judgement has been welcomed by bilkis bano's lawyer and also by members of herfamily who say they're relieved. we are yet to hear from ms bano herself, butjust to take you back to the history of this case. this was an attack that occurred during the religious violence in gujarat in 2002.
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it was a mob of hindu men who attacked ms bano and herfamily. they were convicted of gang raping ms bano, who was pregnant at the time, and murdering 1a members of her family. they were then convicted and given a life sentence. in august 2022, the gujarat state government ordered the release of these men. when they were released, i think one of the things that really prompted outrage here in india is that they were almost given a hero's welcome. there were family members who gave them sweets, who touched their feet as a mark of respect and also paints a picture of the deepening polarisation in india. the gujarat government is run by the bjp party, which is which also runs the federal government. it's prime minister narendra modi's party. he was the chief minister in the state of gujarat in 2002 when that violence occurred and was accused of not doing enough to protect
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the lives of muslim victims. and ms bano, when she filed the petition against this release, that she felt completely numbed, that she lost all her faith in a sense ofjustice, that it had shocked the conscience of the nation. and now we've got the supreme court saying that the order which released these men, that order was illegal, that the men have to surrender to jail within two weeks. the reason the supreme court has said one of the reasons anyway, you know, it is a pretty long order, but one of the top lines is that the gujarat government was not a competent authority to actually order this release because the men were tried and convicted in the state of maharashtra. there are other details coming out as we receive the copy of the judgement, but the top line is that the men will have to surrender in jail within the next two weeks. the atomic bomb drama oppenheimer
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was among the big winners at the golden globe awards in los angeles, taking home several of the night's big prizes, including best director for christopher nolan, and best drama film actor for its lead, cillian murphy. other winners included emma stone, who won best comedy film actress for poor things, and the french thriller, anatomy of a fall, took the best foreign language film award. helen o'hara is a film critic — she told me the success of oppenheimer was not a surprise. it's a biopic from a very, very credible, respected director. incredible lead performance. very, very starry supporting cast. i'm not surprised. i maybe expected maybe a little bit more of a split between oppenheimer and films like maestro or killers of the flower moon. but it feels like, you know, that's a credible oscar contender. what about barbie? it was such a massive hit at the box office, wasn't it?
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it basically won this award that acknowledges that it was a popular with the film going public, but that's it. a bit of a surprise there? yeah, i personally would have given barbie a lot more love. i think it's a fantastic film. it did also win best song for billie eilish, which i think is pretty near locked on for the oscar for best song as well. but yeah, i think it's been a little bit disrespected, the opening monologue as well, which got very bad reviews from comedianjoe coy who also, you know, was not flattering towards barbie. i think there's a tendency to dismiss female—led films as being somehow less serious. and i think barbie is suffering from that. i suppose it's the issue of of awards, isn't it? of awards, isn't it? you know, the sort of wanting to be seen to have a major movie, something like oppenheimer, which is deep and whatever, and something sort of fun and silly. theyjust...it�*s less likely, isn't it? that's the way it is nowadays. i mean, it didn't always used to be, you know, we've had awards in the past for things like gone
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with the wind and obviously lord of the rings, even in the recent past. but it seems now that there's almost a disadvantage to being a big, successful blockbuster film. and partly that's because, you know, so many of them in recent years have been superhero movies, which the oscars don't want to be seen to be rewarding. but i do feel like it's catching very, very clever films like barbie in the same sort of net, which i think is a bit of a shame. what about the golden globes, it has suffered years of controversy, hasn't it? how has it done in terms of trying to put that behind it now, do you think? i mean, it seems to have regained some respectability, given that all the nominees pretty much showed up on the night, which wasn't necessarily going to be the case a couple of years ago. they did admit lots of new members. they have tried to diversify their membership. they are no longer really the foreign press based in hollywood. that used to be the criteria for membership. so they've now got, you know, voters based in london and everywhere else. but there's still a very small group ofjust film critics. so they're not a very good predictor for the oscars, for the baftas, for anything else. but they seem to have at least, you know, cleaned up their act somewhat, gotten rid of some of the rather egregious
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looking sort of press trips and so on that they used to go on and then nominate not very good films and tv shows as a result. fianlly, when retired postman rodney holbrook noticed the workbench in his garden shed kept being mysteriously tidied, he decided to do a bit of detective work. and here's what he found when he set up a night vision camera. his secret helper was in fact a little mouse — picking up pegs, corks, nuts and bolts. he's since given his mystery friend a nickname — "welsh tidy mouse". stay with us here on bbc news. after the relentless rain for the start of 2024, things this week, thankfully, are looking much quieter and calmer on the weather front. lots of dry weather in store, but certainly colder out there. we've got some frost, some fog and also some icy stretches through this week.
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a few wintry showers out there today, although most places are avoiding them. it's high pressure that's driving the weather. we're going to see the winds rotating around that area of high pressure, so coming in from an east or north—easterly direction. quite breezy conditions, in fact, over the next few days, particularly towards the south. that east or north—easterly breeze will draw a little bit more cloud to eastern areas of the uk, in particular down towards east anglia, and the south—east and the london region. some wintry showers through the course of today, so you may see a slight dusting of snow at low levels. one or two showers further north, as well, across the north—east of england, but they're tending to fade away. so plenty of sunshine out there. mist and fog fairly slow to clear for some of us into the afternoon, particularly in the north. top temperatures today somewhere between about three to six degrees, so certainly feeling chilly, especially towards the south, where we've got those brisk winds coming in from the east. it's going to feel subzero with the wintry showers and the breeze, as well. these showers falling as sleet and snow drift their way gradually further westwards across southern parts of england and wales through this evening and overnight. most of us dry with clear spells,
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but again, like last night, some mist and fog developing, particularly for scotland and for northern ireland. temperatures could be as low as minus seven or minus eight across rural sheltered glens in scotland. through the day tomorrow, after that chilly start, mist and fog gradually clearing from the north. a bit more of a breeze coming in from the east across parts of southern england and wales too, but generally less in the way of cloud and wintry showers compared to today, so a bit more sunshine. it will feel cold again, about three to six degrees, but a little bit chillier in the breeze. not much change into wednesday, but what you will notice is a bit more cloud will drift in across parts of scotland, i think northern england too. probably a bit more sunshine further south. it is looking like a predominantly dry picture on wednesday. thankfully, another dry day, so the flood warnings will start to come down over the next few days. six or seven degrees for most of us, i think, so it's turning a little bit milder through the middle part of the week. things are mostly dry towards the end of the week, but after a slightly milder spell for some of us, those temperatures
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plane had warnings days before mid—air blow out. and blast—off for the first american lunar mission developed by a private company. we look at the commercialisation of space. welcome to world business report. i'm lukwesa burak. we start in the us where alaska airlines says it had to cancel 170 flights on sunday after the us federal aviation administration grounded all boeing 737 max 9 jets fitted with the same panel as the one which broke off an alaska airlines plane on friday. the air carrier says the disruption is likely to continue into the coming week. this comes just four years after all 737 maxes were grounded following two fatal crashes in indonesia and ethiopia. since the plane has came back into service, there have been
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