tv BBC News BBC News January 9, 2024 10:00am-10:31am GMT
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two airlines find loose bolts on some of their boeing 737 max 9 fleet, just days after part of the fuselage fell off a plane midflight. the alaska airline plane debris was found in this oregon back garden by bob — a physics teacher. my heart did start beating a little faster at that point because i thought, "oh, my goodness, people have been looking for this all weekend, and it looks like it's in my back yard". dog meat is off the menu in south korea as the country's parliament bans the trade of the animal for human consumption. translation: we have eaten this since the middle ages. why stop us from eating our traditional food? hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. america's top diplomat is in key
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meetings today in israel. he is expected to press the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu on what happens next in the region. antony blinken is on his fourth tour of the region since october 7th. in saudi arabia on monday, mr blinken emphasised the need to prevent the conflict from spreading. earlier, he met the president of israel, isaac herzog, who thanked the us for "standing steadfast with israel". mr blinken�*s visit comes as hezbollah said one of its commanders was killed in an apparent israeli drone strike in southern lebanon. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu was on the northern border, where he signalled that he's prepared, if necessary, to escalate military operations in lebanon. hamas health officials say
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more than 23,000 people have been killed in gaza by israeli strikes since the conflict began three months ago. here's mr blinken speaking as he met the president of israel, isaac herzog. i've just come from a number of countries in the region — turkey, greece, jordan, qatar, united arab emirates, saudi arabia — and i want to be able to share some of what i've heard from those leaders with the president, as well as with the prime minister and the cabinet later today. and, of course, we'll have an opportunity to sit with the families of some of the hostages and discuss our relentless efforts to bring everyone home, and back with their families. and there's a lot to talk about in particular about the way forward, so i look forward to these conversations. as always, it's very good to be with you. president herzog thanked washington for its support of israel. he also condemned south africa for filing a case against israel at the international court ofjustice — accusing it of crimes of genocide against palestinians in gaza. and here, with the hypocrisy of south africa, we will be at the international court ofjustice and we will present proudly our case of using self—defence under our most inherent right under international humanitarian law, where we are doing our utmost, under extremely complicated circumstances on the ground, to make sure there will be no unintended consequences and no
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civilian casualties. earlier, i spoke to our middle east correspondent yolande knell. she told us more about what we can expect from blinken�*s latest visit to israel. he's got a lot to discuss, both trying to stop a regional conflict, looking at lowering the intensity of the fighting in gaza, and also looking, as he was indicating, to the future and a post—war vision for gaza. the indication is that this will give some kind of reassurance to israel's arab neighbours, who mr blinken has been meeting in recent days. he now has a day of back to back talks where he's looking to achieve so much, but events on the ground can easily overtake him here. the fighting still remains
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very fierce in gaza, from the indications of the past day or so, particularly in the centre and in the south of the gaza strip, despite the fact that the israeli military are trying to give assurances that it is moving into a new phase of less intense, more targeted fighting. also, as mr blinken has been trying to calm things down, a lot is going on behind the scenes diplomatically between israel and its neighbour lebanon, we're getting indications of yet another strike in southern lebanon taking place this morning. that is not confirmed yet. and obviously, yolande, the conversation will also be about what a post—conflict gaza would look like? that's right. mr blinken has been saying he wants to talk about the future governance of gaza. this is something that is considered to have been ignored somewhat by israeli political leaders.
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it has taken time for the israeli war cabinet to come around to talking about that and to have a brief plan published by israel's defence minister last week, giving an outline of what israel's strategy could look like, saying that palestinians will be allowed to go back to their homes. mr blinken has been saying that he thinks displaced palestinians must be allowed to go back as soon as conditions allow. but there are indications in israel's media that that could be tied to a new hostage deal to bring home the 100 plus hostages remain in captivity in gaza. earlier, i spoke to nick maynard in cairo. he is a senior surgeon and clinical lead for the charity medical aid for palestinians. he's been working in al aqsa hospital in central gaza for the last two weeks and told me why his organisation is longer able to operate. we've been working at al—aqsa hospital for the last two weeks, but on friday, we were withdrawn for safety reasons.
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i was operating on a serious blast injury during the day and at about three o'clock, i finished in theatres to come out and find that there had been an attack on the intensive care unit of al—aqsa hospital by the israeli defence force, and the area was no longer deconflicted by the israeli defence force and we were told we had to leave. we have not been able to go back since. already, many local doctors and nurses had started leaving, as the population of middle gaza from the main camps there had all been ordered to evacuate to the south by the israelis. so many of the doctors were living there and had to leave with theirfamilies. all the foreign doctors have now
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left, and many of the local doctors and nurses are leaving as well. how crucial were the operations of this particular hospital? i understand it was the main hospital in middle gaza? there is no functioning hospital north of al—aqsa hospital at the moment and north of gaza. al—aqsa was supplying medical services to the whole of middle gaza. and it was receiving upwards of 500 patients a day from bomb blasts and gunshot wounds and also, of course, the other health needs of the population, although the predominant admissions were of course related to trauma. so without any sufficient health care staff, it will be an unmitigated disaster for those people living in middle gaza with effectively no health care facilities at all.
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you've just come back from gaza. if you could paint a picture of what you've seen first—hand? i've been going to gaza for many years. i have many friends and colleagues there, and since october the 7th, i and other colleagues in the uk have been talking daily to our friends and colleagues in gaza. to be honest, we thought we had a good idea of what was going on, and the reality is far worse. it's impossible to appreciate what an appalling situation gaza is in until you are there and seeing it and seeing the mass, indiscriminate slaughter of civilians. some of the horrors i saw and our team saw in al—aqsa hospital, will live with me forever.
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they were scenes i would never have expected to see in a civilised world, babies, small children coming in with limbs amputated, with the most appalling burns imaginable. absolute horrors. nick, i understand one of your colleagues working in the emergency department was affected by an air strike, and your organisation has found it tough because some of your staff have been caught up in the conflict? yeah, i am out there with a uk based charity, medical aid for palestinians. but map has wonderful local staff in gaza who work for map, and one of the wonderful staff members who we know well, her family was bombed just a few hours before we were leaving gaza. she was badly injured.
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her seven—year—old daughter was killed. other members of the family were killed. it was appalling to see this happen, and really rams home to all of us the indiscriminate nature of the killing that is being inflicted on these patients and the civilian population of gaza. quite horrific. nick maynard there. and just some news coming into us on the subject of health care and the health system in gaza, a senior officialfrom of health care and the health system in gaza, a senior official from the who has told the reuters news agency that they are hugely concerned about 66 detained health workers in gaza. they say the health system is collapsing in gaza at a rapid pace. we will have more on that later in the programme. united airlines says it's found multiple bolts that need tightening, during checks on its boeing 737 max—9 aircraft.
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the inspections were ordered after part of the fuselage of an alaska airlines plane blew out in mid—air. here's our north america correspondent david willis. this giant hole opened up after a panel on the side of the plane dislodged only a few minutes after it had taken off with 171 passengers on board. there was just a really loud boom, which was so startling, and the plane just filled with wind and air. and it's just crazy, because that shouldn't happen, right? you know something's wrong and you don't know what. i didn't know where the air was coming from. the oxygen masks dropped. 171 planes of the same type remained grounded by the us regulator as the safety investigation got under way, and a massive search began for the missing panel — which landed in the back garden of a local physics teacher's home. when i went to investigate it, it was very obviously part of a plane. it had the same
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curvature as a fuselage. it had a plane—type window in it and it was white, which is why it was gleaming. preliminary investigations of planes belonging to both alaska and united airlines have uncovered loose bolts on the same panels, and the entire fleet of boeing max 9s is expected to remain grounded for several more days, at least. david willis, bbc news, los angeles. here in the uk, two formerjustice secretaries — one conservative, the other labour — are leading calls for the government to introduce legislation to quash the convictions of those caught up in the post office it scandal. the postal affairs minister, kevin hollinrake, said various options were being looked at to speed up appeals and compensate the victims. he said more talks would be held today, and he hoped to announced a solution "very shortly". hundreds of postmasters were wrongly convicted of offences including theft and fraud, but a faulty it
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system was to blame. i'm the sub—postmaster, so i'm locked in and everyone else is locked out. so if you want to see my account... this is a scandal going back decades, and now a tv drama watched by millions has pushed it to the top of the political agenda. i know it's probably me because i'm really rubbish with technology, but...|'ve declared my cash, i've declared my stock, i've done it all three times and i still can't get it to balance. mr bates vs the post office tells the real—life story of sub—postmasters and mistresses wrongly accused of stealing because of a dodgy computer programme. so on one hand, you had the post office saying that you're the only one, it must be you. and, obviously, people in the community then start to believe what they're being told by the post office. and that's really difficult, actually — is people... they was a trusted brand — the most trusted brand — now, obviously, that brand, i think�*s destroyed. the huge miscarriage ofjustice has been discussed many times before in parliament — but on the first evening sitting of 2024, a minister under renewed pressure to speed up justice for the victims.
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we have devised some options for resolving the outstanding criminal convictions with much more pace. my right honourable friend the lord chancellor will quite rightly need to speak to senior figures in the judiciary about these options before we put them forward. those plans, he insisted, would be announced very shortly — and he said a new independent panel would oversee compensation payments. this is the former post office boss, paula vennells, who received a cbe in 2019. she said that she's truly sorry for the suffering caused. but well over a million people have signed a petition calling for her award to be removed. and now the prime minister says he'd strongly support the honours forfeiture committee taking a look at the case. cheering. after years of struggle, it seems there is finally some momentum behind their campaign — but for now, their wait forjustice goes on. peter saull, bbc news.
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around the world that across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. new figures show retail sales increased byjust i.7% across the uk in december — significantly lower than the 6.9% rise in 2022. the british retail consortium says shoppers held back on their festive spending due to a lack of confidence in the economy. the group warned shoppers and retailers they of a "challenging" year ahead. the insurance firm admiral says pothole—related claims soared last year. they said customers made 40% more claims for pothole damage in 2023, at an average cost of over £3,000 per claim. higher—tech vehicles and a general rise in the price of repairs is thought to be behind the spike. as a cold spell hits much of the uk, a double—decker bus in kirkcaldy
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lost control yersterday after it hit freezing rain, crashing into parked cars, before skidding into a garden wall and finally coming to a stop. it had been on its way to a local primary school. luckily, no passengers were onboard and no one was injured. you're live with bbc news. south korea's parliament has voted to ban the killing and selling of dogs for their meat. under the law, people who farm, butcher, and sell dogs to eat will face up to three years in prison — though it won't be illegal to consume the meat. the bill to end the centuries—old practice is supported by pet lovers including the first lady and animal rights groups, but has faced protests from dog farmers. our seoul correspondent, jean mackenzie, has the latest. a warning — her report contains images of dog meat being cooked. this alleyway is one of the few places you can still come to eat dog meat here in seoul in one of these specialist restaurants. dog meat is considered a delicacy among some older koreans, but it's far less popular now
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with young people. many of them never eat it now or have never even tried it, and so consumption is falling. and when we spoke to people about the ban, the generational divide was stark. translation: we've eaten this since the middle ages. - why stop us from eating our traditional food? if you ban dog, you should ban beef. translation: more i people have pets today. dogs are like family now, and it's not nice to eat our family, so i think it's best to get rid of it _ under the new law, those who farm, butcher or sell dogs to eat can be jailed for up to three years, though it won't actually be illegal to eat dog meat. it's hoped that the ban on selling will be enough to stop people from eating it. the ban won't come into force for another three years to give restaurant owners and farmers time to find anotherjob or to transition their businesses.
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and the government has promised to support those who are forced to switch livelihoods. but the industry has been incredibly critical of this ban. they've argued that, given the declining popularity of dog meat, the government should have just allowed it to disappear naturally over time. translation: what are | we supposed to do now? we need to be compensated. i think we should accept dog meat, but raise and slaughter them in a hygienic environment. in contrast, animal rights organisations have, of course, welcomed this ban. they have been campaigning for this for a long time, arguing that the practice is cruel and the conditions on the farms where the dogs are kept are poor. previous governments here in south korea have tried to ban this as far back as the 1980s, but the current president and the first lady
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are known to be animal lovers. they have six dogs of their own, and this is thought to be one of the reasons the bill has now passed. news just breaking now — another earthquake measuring 6.0 has struck central japan. there has been no tsunami warning. this comes as the japanese government says the death toll from the country's new year's day quake has risen above 200. the new year's day quake measuring 7.6 struck the remote noto peninsula — toppling buildings and sparking a majorfire. efforts are continuing to find those who remain missing over a week later. but rescuers say they are struggling with warnings of landslides and building collapses due to the rain and snow. australia's prime minister says the country is considering setting up a disaster relief force to help relieve a military overstretched by regular natural disasters. it's as towns in the country's southeast were evacuated due to flooding. residents in low lying parts of the australian state of victoria have been told its too late to leave, as floodwaters rise following record breaking rain.
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our correspondent phil mercer in sydney has more on this. we've heard in the last few hours from anthony albanese, the australian prime minister. he is considering setting up a reserve force to help respond to natural disasters to ease the burden on the australian military. last year, there was a review of australia's military capabilities, and it said the military�*sjob to respond to natural disasters was taking it away from its core objective of defending the country, so anthony albanese is suggesting that a permanent force could be on standby to help with natural disasters. also, mr albanese is saying that extreme weather events in this country were becoming more intense and more frequent and
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in his opinion, these are the impacts of climate change. so what we have seen not only in the last 2a to 48 hours in the southern state of victoria, with people being told that flooding had made it too late for them to leave their homes or for other people to seek higher ground, we have seen flooding across eastern australia in the last few weeks, while other parts of the country have been battling storms and bushfires. so certainly in many ways, australia is on the front line of climate change, and the albanese government wants to make australia better prepared. one would imagine that any help to insulate australia from the extremes of the climate will be welcomed. mr albanese has also announced a multi—million dollar package to help people in the northern state of queensland clear up after devastating storms there, so certainly in the last 2a hours or so, we have had record—breaking
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rainfall in the south—eastern state of victoria and also today, warnings of severe thunderstorms, intense rain and the possibility of flash flooding in queensland. so australia, in many ways, is a land well used to nature's extremes, but there is a growing concern that global warming is making these extremes more common and more intense. the company behind the latest american mission to soft—land on the moon has said the planned touchdown may not happen. astrobotic said the propulsion system of its peregrine one robot lander is faulty and the system is losing critical amounts of fuel, which made it difficult for the spacecraft to point its solar panels at the sun to recharge its batteries. the peregrine one robot lander was launched on monday and was due to attempt a landing on the moon late next month. our science correspondent jonathan amos has more.
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the outlook is very poor today. they have been trying to get top of this propulsion leak. what seems to be happening is, it's losing propellant and as it does so, that's creating a force which is moving the spacecraft out of alignment, which means it's struggling to keep its solar panels pointing at the sun. you need to do that to top the battery up to then power your systems to be able to communicate with earth and do the other things that the spacecraft wants to do. in orderto maintain the alignment, they are firing the thrusters on the spacecraft. they're overfiring the thrusters on the spacecraft. and, of course, that is using up even more of this propellant which is rapidly depleting. so astrobotic, the company behind this mission, issued a statement overnight saying that they had perhaps a0 hours before the propellant was exhausted and that the spacecraft would start to tumble. at that point, of course,
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those solar panels will not be pointing at the sun, the battery will discharge, and i'm afraid this mission will come to an end. and then what happens? well, that's it for astrobotic for this particular mission. they're one of three us companies that have been engaged by the us space agency to take supplies eventually, but scientific equipment in the first instance to the lunar surface, as nasa thinks about taking astronauts back there towards the end of the decade. astrobotic have other missions in the pipeline. they're going to put down a big rover for nasa later. the other two companies, together with astrobotic, were going to do six missions at the moon this year. so the attitude from nasa is... it's a bit like a football analogy. they told me that you take a good number of shots on goal and hopefully, one or two of the balls will go in and the others will learn from the experience
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of what has gone before. so, yes, nasa has a risk appetite for this because these are low—cost missions, but they hope in the long run that these small private companies they have engaged will be able to routinely land on the moon. before we leave you, let's bring you some pictures from israel. they show you the us secretary of state antony blinken as he is meeting with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. mr netanyahu's team has had an expanded meeting with members of the war cabinet will be held after that meeting. you're watching bbc news. hello. it's another cold, wintry day out there today. we've got some icy stretches around, some fog patches that are going to linger all day, particularly across parts of northern scotland. but for most of us, thankfully, it is going to be another dry day. still plenty of flood warnings out,
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but they're starting to reduce in number now. so high pressure driving our weather at the moment. quite a few isobars in the south. this is where we've got the breeziest conditions. breeze coming in from the east or north—east for southern england and wales too. still some wintry showers down towards the channel islands into the afternoon. also some snow flurries for the likes of dartmoor, for instance, as well. one or two light showers could come out of this cloud across north—east england and eastern scotland, but most places dry. plenty of sunshine for central parts of england, wales, northern ireland. temperatures only three to six degrees on the thermometer, but add on the wind chill and it's going to feel typically about minus two or minus three, especially towards southern england and the channel islands. into this evening and overnight, then, most of us looking dry again. we've got a bit more cloud filtering in across scotland and northern england as well. clearer skies further south and west. it's here that temperatures will fall lowest. so again, a widespread frost to start your wednesday morning, and i think we could well see some
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icy stretches and some fog patches, especially in the north. through the day tomorrow, we might see a few more showers pushing into north—east england and eastern scotland. they'll be a little bit wintry over the higher ground — the pennines, for instance, southern uplands and the north york moors. more in the way of sunshine further south, but we've still got that brisk easterly wind and temperatures will be up a notch on recent days. so we could see seven or eight degrees on wednesday. not much change into thursday, but we've got this area of high pressure still with us. quite a bit of cloud that's going to be rotating around that coming in from the atlantic and trapped underneath the high pressure, so fairly cloudy in the north and the east, i think. southern england, perhaps parts of northern ireland seeing a little bit of sunshine at times, and it's not as cold as it has been. so seven or eight degrees our top temperature on thursday. thankfully, again, mostly dry. things are then looking largely dry, but somewhat cloudy and murky, i think, for friday. but it's going to be all change into the weekend because we'll start to see this weather front pushing its way south, not bringing too much in the way of any rainfall. but it will introduce just a few showers and some colder air. so heading into next week,
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fell off a plane midflight. dog meat is off the menu in south korea as the country's parliament bans the trade of the animal for human consumption. the death of a two—year—old after exposure to mould brings about new uk government proposals where social housing emergency repairs will need to be carried out within 2a hours. the longest strike in nhs history came to an end at 7am, as junior doctors went back to work one hospital has told the bbc that the pay dispute has cost them £1 million because of extra staffing costs and lost income from cancelled operations. our health editor hugh pym sent this report from milton keynes. my unofficial title is teapot technician. otherwise housekeeper. another hospital trolley — this one with self—styled
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