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tv   Newscast  BBC News  January 14, 2024 9:30pm-10:01pm GMT

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the channel from france. more than 70 people, including children, were on board, when it got into difficulty in french waters. now, for a round up of the week's politics, and some close analysis of today's interviews with the uk foreign secretary lord cameron, as well as the labour leader sir keir starmer, here's newscast with laura kuennsberg and paddy 0' connell.
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but because they have been big global events in american and british military action against a military group in yemen. now, the foreign secretary in the studio this morning was obviously timely, interesting that he actually has done what would be called the sunday round because initially david cameron was trying to stay out of the topline political fray. cameron was trying to stay out of the topline politicalfray. that cameron was trying to stay out of the topline political fray. that is a side bar compared to the very important issues that we were talking about. i think there's been a sense from lots of leading politicians in the last few days that everywhere you look, tensions are heating up, whether that is the houthis, it seems that's what's happening in ukraine, whether that's increasingly aggressive china, it feels that tensions are on the boil, and this is how david cameron described it.— and this is how david cameron described it. , , ., described it. this is a time where it is hard to _ described it. this is a time where
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it is hard to remember _ described it. this is a time where it is hard to remember a - described it. this is a time where it is hard to remember a more i it is hard to remember a more unstable and dangerous uncertain world, very much delights from where i sit in the foreign office, the red lights on the global dashboard are very much flashing, and at that moment you have in number 10 downing st someone who is a strong leader but takes all of these issues into consideration, but has a clear plan for how we enhance this country's as if the red lights are flashing. maw; if the red lights are flashing. many eo - le, if the red lights are flashing. many peeple. including _ if the red lights are flashing. many people, including lots _ if the red lights are flashing. many people, including lots of _ if the red lights are flashing. many people, including lots of people who are synthetic very much to the uk, like the un have warned of the escalation after the american and british strakes. there is what iran describes as an active resistance, we can see iran having a link with russia and china. he said the red lights are flashing. should people watching this morning feel afraid because sure not feel great about the level... we've got a war in europe, we've got instability in the middle east. more for his taking place in africa at the moment that
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have been for decades. with that the terrorist threat that is always with us but added to that, we've got the state threat of states taking action against people in this country. we are against people in this country. - are marking 100 days this week since hamas launched its attack on israel, and that i can remember addicted that the uk would be palming yemen within100 days. it's been a clear escalation, even if the government doesn't want to call it that. . the world is looking _ doesn't want to call it that. . the world is looking very dangerous and it is one _ world is looking very dangerous and it is one of— world is looking very dangerous and it is one of those moments where the uk parliament and uk politics both tries to _ uk parliament and uk politics both tries to look big and inevitably also _ tries to look big and inevitably also contends with how at the mercy they are _ also contends with how at the mercy they are of— also contends with how at the mercy they are of global forces, global events, — they are of global forces, global events, i— they are of global forces, global events, i think that is something we will see _ events, i think that is something we will see in_ events, i think that is something we will see in the house of commons this week— will see in the house of commons this week rishi sunak trying to show
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notjust_ this week rishi sunak trying to show notjust why he this week rishi sunak trying to show not just why he decided to join the us air_ not just why he decided to join the us air strikes but the uk pursuing the right— us air strikes but the uk pursuing the right course while also acknowledging that there are diplomatic currents here that the uk isiust_ diplomatic currents here that the uk isjust a _ diplomatic currents here that the uk isjust a small part diplomatic currents here that the uk is just a small part of. diplomatic currents here that the uk isjust a small part of.— isjust a small part of. yesterday and the newscast, _ isjust a small part of. yesterday and the newscast, we _ isjust a small part of. yesterday and the newscast, we spoke - isjust a small part of. yesterday| and the newscast, we spoke with isjust a small part of. yesterday - and the newscast, we spoke with the fa ct fact that there many can make it out of the have it of palming places without asking us. what kind of sense did you get from david cameron of how sure they are of their case and what will happen in parliament this week? i and what will happen in parliament this week? ~ f this week? i think they're absolutely _ this week? i think they're absolutely sure _ this week? i think they're absolutely sure of - this week? i think they're absolutely sure of their . this week? i think they're - absolutely sure of their case. i think they believe it was very easily within the legal margins because it was an attack on international shipping. because it was an attack on internationalshipping. i because it was an attack on international shipping. i think they know they have the support of the opposition leader who was also staunch and his support for it this
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morning. staunch in his support for it this morning, didn't raise any sort of even really a flicker of doubt. sort of said, "yeah, i got the briefing, absolutely happy "to back it, the right thing to do." so i think in terms of the action this week, i think the government feels absolutely rock solid. i think the labour leadership also feels solid on it. but they know also that there will be noises from their backbenchers about whether or not they should have gone to parliament and also for keir starmer as an individual politician, because not so long ago, as we touched on yesterday, he was promising the prevention of military action act, which would have required a vote in parliament before military action. and i wonder, henry, what you made of his sort of... i was going to say wriggle. that might be unkind. have you changed your mind? no. there's no inconsistency here. really? there's obviously a huge distinction between an operation, the like of which we've seen in the last few days and military action, - a sustained campaign. military action, usually involving - troops on the ground. that's recognised by everybody. national security must come first.
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there will always be urgentl situations where parliament can't be consulted beforehand. but the principle that if there's to be a sustained campaign, i if we're going to deploy our troops on the ground, that parliament. should be informed, there should be a debate, the case should be made i and there should be a vote, i do stand by that. i mean, yeah, let's be real. the promise was about signalling and it was about signalling that he was anti—war. this was during his leadership campaign where he was trying to portray himself as someone who could offer sort of corbynism without some of the rough edges. he was trying to sort of fuse the politics of his predecessor, jeremy corbyn, the man... he was still running to succeed him, but his predecessor, jeremy corbyn, with something a bit more electable. and this was one of a number of pledges which was designed to signal that he was really quite left wing. and for that, you just need to look at what he said the law would be called, the prevention of military intervention act, not the vote on military intervention, yes or no act.
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the prevention of military intervention act. and actually, i interviewed him just after the war in ukraine began, and i rememberasking him about this, and i don't think he said the thing about that he said to you today about it only ever being intended to apply to cases of troops on the ground. but what he did say then was that he would still do it, but that it would be called something else. what he said today to you was that he would still do it, but it might not actually have to be a law. it might be codified in some other way. so i think the position has eased even since then. i think that's right. and he also backtracked on his previous pledge to stop saudi arabia and arms sales from the uk. well, we will do a review to look at the sales, - look at the countries _ and the relationships that we have. obviously, that follows a review. but you used to say, you said in february 2020, "we should stop "the sale of arms to saudi arabia." is that still your position? we will review the situation
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and the review will give usl the answer to those questions. so you may not any more promise to stop the sale of arms to saudi arabia, which is what you used to say in 2020? we will review the situation. l the review will make clear what the position is. - but i know also this morning, patty, you were talking to lyse, our colleague, lyse doucet, about the situation in yemen, about the houthis. yes. because i mean, listening to you two talk about signalling, here's another signal that we should be picking up. do the houthis want to be seen as part of the axis of resistance against the west? lyse doucet, our chief international correspondent, says yes. yes, because this is kind of an ancient playbook. you're seen as the strong man. i mean, it is men who run the middle east. you're seen as a strong man. and in fact, you know, we're now talking about yemen, which is on the red sea. so basically looking at the houthi rebels want to take on the west. so they've now been bombed and the street is out in the thousands supporting.
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this is the warning. it's the law of unintended consequences, which we were addressing with labour'sjohn mcdonnell, who voted against the iraq war in 2003. basically the point is to all our politicians, how do you think the 2003 war in iraq went? now parliament back that so it's an interesting question what least was raising in our minds the whatever you say about the red sea shipping, which is obviously the trigger for the uk and the us. have you worked out that this is what the rebels actually want? they want to be seen as facing downjoe biden. and it was interesting talking to david cameron about this. i mean, he says, "oh, it's nonsense to say "that this is about the wider region, except if it's perceived "by that in the arab world." we heard that from a houthi commentator who was on the programme this morning. if it's perceived that way, as in the arab world, they want it actually, they want to be part of the wider war. western leaders can say till they're blue and blue in the face, "oh, it's got nothing to do with the wider conflict." except what they're also saying are things like grant shapps, the defence secretary, this week
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saying "we are watching iran, "we are joining the dots." "we see you, we see what you were doing." david cameron this morning talked about his own conversation with the iranian foreign minister. i said that the houthi actioni is unacceptable, it is illegal, it is dangerous. it could well result in the severe loss of life and the sinking - of ships, and it has to stop. they have considerable - influence over the houthis. we know that they've supplied them i with weapons and they should act. i |and i think it's important to bej able to have that conversation. i wanted to make sure it was i as clear as it possibly could be. so they've got themselves into a slightly strange position where they are all making these wider connections. keir starmer even did that in a piece in the independent on sunday. david cameron did that at length this morning. so they're saying, "yes, iran's behind the houthis." "that's part of this wide scary, "dynamic going on, except we're only doing these strikes "because they're attacking, shipping" and just somehow to me, that that seems quite
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a problematic argument for our politicians to make. i guess the reason they're walking that delicate tightrope is what they don't want to be seen to be doing is getting into a proxy war with iran. and i guess they would say, and i'm sure we'll hear from rishi sunak in the house of commons tomorrow, that once the houthis attacked british vessels and more generally the shipping routes, they had no option. and that that is the context in which they're acting. but of course, there is the broader context of iran behind all of this, as there has been behind so much of the attempt to contain broader regional conflict since october the seventh, over the past 100 days. and can i be the one who obviously didn't see your programme, to be honest? not because i don't like it, obviously... i'm sure you're going to watch it straight, the minute we finish. because i'm otherwise engaged. so can i go to a question which i think radio four audiences would be very interested interested in? what do we read into the fact that david cameron is doing the talking, touring the tv studios?
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can i go back to where you began? this is the card employed by rishi sunak. henry was there on downing street. now then we see him being wielded almost say, i like a deputy prime minister and i wonder if you two boffins think that cameron's trumped dowden? i think david cameron has a lot of power and a lot of influence. i must push you to answer my question. and i think that david cameron is doing a lot of work that the prime minister otherwise would actually be doing. so those grip and grins, the cheesy handshakes in front of number ten when foreign leaders come to town, those bits of protocol, those bits of phone calls, those bits of this, that and the other, david cameron can do a lot of that work that a prime minister would normally do because he has the status of a foreign prime minister. no offense to james cleverly, opposite numbers, expect to see opposite numbers, but david cameron has the status as a former pm to take lots of that work of rishi sunak�*s back. take us behind the scenes
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because when you walked in here for i wouldn't call it rehearsals, people looking at this would not think it's been rehearsed. but when you walked in here, you passed on the comment that geordie gregg made. the former editor of the daily mail, now editor in chief of the independent, who was on our panel this morning. what did he say? at the end of the david cameron interview, i asked him how he thought it went and he said he purred, "the rolls—royce is back." henry, live reaction to that gossip from the green room? well, i mean, it's certainly true that once you've been prime minister, you know, as tough and forensic as laura's interviews are, i'm sure they are slightly less stressful for lord cameron than they are for most of the cabinet ministers. this is a recurring theme of the weekend newscast. it's rishi sunak who gave him thatjob. yes, he surprised people on downing street like henry. he's wielding him, if i may use that phrase, in more and more muscular ways. and he's allowed him perhaps to go to ukraine.
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it's a train that my paper says today was a steel chain, had a bet on it. you've made thejourney in the back of a van. i think they're a duo. i think we should just say on this newscast, it's almost like a regent. he's almost a regent. also on that sort of meta point about david cameron, how interesting it is that david cameron came and did this interview, and i was shocked and he went into downing street and became foreign secretary when i finally managed to raise someone in downing street on the phone to talk through it, i said, "you know, "is he just going to float above the fray or is he going to muck "in to the politics?" and they said, "no, no, no, he's going to muck in. "he's going to be doing loads of interviews." morning interviews and sunday interviews." and actually, thus far, he hadn't done some very... he'd done some very precise interviews, specifically when he visited ukraine or when he visited the middle east about those subjects. but until today, he hadn't done one of those broader interviews where you're expected to defend the whole sweep of government policy.
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now, i think it's interesting that he did it on a day where foreign affairs is at the top of the agenda. but i'm still waiting for that interview where he goes out on a sunday morning and says, this is why rishi sunak deserves to win the next election. these are the problems with labour party's policies on health or on the economy or whatever. we haven't seen that from him yet and i think that is one of the things that downing street wanted from him, as well as the experience of foreign affairs, which they're using him for a lot, was also the campaigning skills that he used to win two general elections. it's very interesting because at the beginning of all of this, my impression from the new foreign secretary's empire was actually he would not be seeking to get overly involved, which is rather different from what i think number ten necessarily wanted. so you said you both think they want more more flesh from cameron than less. not the whole leg, not just the ankle? i think it made sense for them to do it today.
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i don't think we're going to start seeing him pop up all the time. i do. i think they will try to use him in campaigns when they actually get to the election. and actually, while he didn't do the sort of traditional sunday, "well, "this is what we were doing and this is why the other side "are a bunch of terrible rotters." he did, however, very carefully on, i think, two or three occasions say how incredibly wonderful and insightful and hardworking and careful and fabulous his new boss is, rishi sunak, what a marvellous, decisive prime minister he is. he was very careful to do that. so i think he is conscious of the dynamic of it, maybe looking a bit like headmaster and head boy and maybe he also enjoys it a little bit, one might speculate, but i do think that he's conscious of it, and i think the last thing actually he'd want to do is cause any trouble. and the headmaster here is david cameron. yeah. and one of the pictures looks like... one of their colleagues impishly said that to me when he got the job. he said, "have you seen the picture?
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"they look like headmaster and head boy." it's hilarious. and said david cameron had a better suit. politicians are so mean about each other. here's another thing tales from sundays. i mean, i've been working on a sunday for a long time, and one of the things that happened was you'd never have a party leader out, sir keir starmer and a frontbencher at the same time. funnily enough, whilst you had sir keir starmer, we had wes streeting and that's unusual to allow another voice to come out. so can we go back in time? what was the take away from the sir keir starmer interview? i can tell you what happened with wes streeting if anyone's going to get there. but henry, what was sir keir starmer�*s manoeuvre today on the tv? well, inevitably, a lot of the interview was taken up with the situation in the middle east and the strikes on yemen.
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and we saw there and it's of a piece, i think, with what we were discussing earlier about him walking back some of his previous comments on military intervention generally. we saw there him trying to... well, he is supporting the government, but he's also more generally trying to display in this, which is an election year, that the labour party on national security can be trusted. there is a view at the top of the labour party that one of the big reasons they lost and lost so big at the last general election in 2019 was because people didn't trust the labour party with national security, people didn't trust jeremy corbyn. and their view is that by cleaving pretty close to the government on most issues, while occasionally quibbling with a dotted i or a cross t here or there, they display that they are serious and trustworthy on national security. so there was a lot of that, but also a bit on his domestic policies, because one of the big rows of this year has been about his green spending pledge, a pledge to borrow, to invest £28 billion a year. it went backwards. the pledge went backwards. that's why.
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he was a that's why. so to start with, they used to say it would be an extra 28 billion every year. then it went to, "yes, we're still going to do the 28, but only "in a second half." and the parliament and the problem politically, which i was trying to get keir starmer to answer this morning and i'm not sure that i really managed to get him to answer is that they started all this by promising people lots of goodies, lots of newjobs in green industries, cheaper bills, energy security and no nasty emissions, you know, clean powerfor all. and we're going to get there by spending £28 billion. now, they say, oh, we might not spend the 28 billion if we can't afford it. and even if we can, it might not happen to the second half of the parliament. but you can still have the goodies. we're still promising you the green jobs, the green power, cheaper bills for all. question — if the goodies cost a certain amount and you're not committed to the price tag, how can you still promise the goodies to people?
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that's the political problem, which of course the conservatives want to hammer, hammer, hammer and say, that means they're planning secret tax rises, which they believe propels them into a traditional election campaign. "you can't trust labour because they're secretly plotting "to take all your money." when you talk to labour people about it, they say, "well, no, "there is still the commitment and we are still going to do it." but it is a conundrum for them. and keir starmer did just promise that it would still be in the manifesto, but ijust wonder kind of where they're really going with that. but if the numbers in the budget in march look really, really gruesome, there is a scurrilous rumour that suggests that the labour leadership might at that point say, "oh, things "are so terrible, sorry, the 28 billion for the chop," but that would create a huge row and it may well be the kind of scurrilous thing that's been put around westminster. and i wasn't completely clear from your exchange whether he was committed. i don't know what you thought, whether he was committing to the £28 billion figure being in the manifesto or to the broader pledge to borrow to invest in clean power, being in the manifesto. and there is a difference.
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there is. and i'm not sure he was clear, which is why i think it's interesting. i just wonder about betty in barnsley trying to get this on the doorstep of a conservative candidate, rocks up and goes, "labour's 28 billion is going to be in the second part "of the parliament. "you can't vote for them because it was meant "to be in the first part of the parliament." i mean, does it really matter on the doorstep? isn't this in this an election year? it's quite easy for labour to try and deal with that. it's a political class question. i don't really see why this is a doorstep question. because what they want to turn it into is nothing to do with the 28 billion. it's labour. labour is going to put your taxes up and there's no other way we can flip blame this, they flip flop and then they want to spend your money. well, that is a doorstep message. well, also, though, some people in the labour party think should be a much stronger doorstep message would be if keir starmer actually would have stuck to doing the 28 billion straight off and to be going around
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the country and saying, ok, here we are in scunthorpe, steel producing part of the country. it could mean exposing jobs here. here i am today in doncaster. it could mean 6000 jobs here and 28 billion. actually, a government can borrow that. no sweat. let's get on with it. make the positive case. look at how it stimulated the economy in other parts of the world. so there's trouble stirring from the conservatives towards the labour position here. and there is frustration on the left saying if you're going to do it, let's just do it, make the case, get round the country, make the case. some labour mp would also say why else this in the rest of the case this is you know, it's true i mean, it's true here that say if you're going to do it, be loud and proud and do it and get out there and make a positive case, because this should be aboutjobs and cheaper bills and, you know, 28 billion in the context of a government that spends, whatever it is, a year about a trillion. can i ask a question for all of us exhausted viewers and listeners? sorry, was that too long? no, no, no. it's about the tone of the year, henry. is this kind of the next three months of my life, labour being asked what would you do differently,
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and not really saying? well, they would say that they have said plenty of things that they would do differently. but i mean, probably not on foreign policy, which we've been talking about today, but, you know, on... whether it ends up being 28 billion or less, they would borrow to invest in the economy. i'm sure you heard from wes streeting in various ways. he would he would run the health service differently. but, yes, i mean, ithink those are the questions you're going to hear for a lot of the year. 0k. and i think in many ways, this year could be quite tedious until we actually get to the general election campaign, i'm afraid to say. there you go. there's an advert for you. it won't because it will be filled with scoops from you, henry. so it won't be dull. you'll be filled with scoops, with the things that politicians don't want to know. that's what the politicians want to talk about. there are lots of things they don't want to talk about which we will be rooting around. and one of the things that
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david cameron didn't want to talk about this morning — see what i did there? — was greensill. greensill capital. now, newscasters are very smart people. i'm sure most of them will remember that greensill capital was a financial firm that ended up collapsing. that one, david cameron was on the payroll for a while. he got a ticking off from a committee of mps for not having very good judgment because he got in touch with former colleagues in government to try to help the business. and he has answered questions about this before to a committee of mps. he has never, however, answered the question of how much money did he earn, how much cash did he get from the company? documents seen by the bbc say that you received about £10 million. is that true? no, that isn't true. how much did you receive? the most important thing i did - was to help alzheimer's research uk raise millions of pounds for people battling with dementia. _ that was the number one thing that i did. i well, he denied the £10 million figure, didn't he? so that is one interesting thing here. but also he made a broader
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argument that his earnings and more generally his dealings when he was out of office were not fairgame. basically, he was saying those were from when he was a private citizen. and i think that's generally how we treat former prime ministers. but we're not very used to having a situation where a former prime minister comes back into the cabinet. and i think that probably does impose a slightly higher level of scrutiny on what he was up to. which kind ofjoins up many of the thoughts we've had today, because when they go, they normally scamper off. and we do like to say where they've gone and look at the checks they're trousering. and then then lo and behold, it's now a public policy question when they come back. and look, time's defeated us. we can't go on. but henry, it's lovely to have you on a day off. thank you very much for summarising everything that's happened. we're going to say good bye now. good bye. bye bye. newscast from the bbc.
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hello. a cold wintry week of whether i had. in a bus bit of disruption down to the fact that we've got plenty of snow showers in the forecast, particularly towards the forecast, particularly towards the north, mainly across parts of scotland, in fact, the rush hour is around further south, but it is going to be and some short sharp overnight process. cold weather down to the fact that is out towards the east of the uk, opening the door is for these cold winds to come in from the arctic. the arctic. the wind—chill will be a significant factorfor wind—chill will be a significant factor for the wind—chill will be a significant factorfor the next wind—chill will be a significant factor for the next couple of days. the next few hours, more of the snow showers packing, temperatures overnight or failing to —2, showers packing, temperatures overnight orfailing to —2, —3, even in towns and cities, colder than that in the countryside. through monday, more snow showers across the northern half of scotland. some snow and icy conditions across northern
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ireland, so we have yellow warnings and force here. the items tree shower amongst exposed parts of this irish seacoast. temperatures for most of us about 2—5 celsius, but when you add on that wind—chill, it is going to be a bitterly cold. it will feel more like 97 or even —8 across the northeast of scotland. as we continue through monday evening and overnight into tuesday, we are watching this area of the pressure, this weather system which moves its way from west to east across the northern half of the uk. now, that could cause a bit of disruption on tuesday. tuesday morning, expecting snow to be persistent through the central belt of scotland. 2—5 cm of snow here. pushing slowly across government. across the high ground, ten to 20 cm of snow on tuesday. a mix of rain, sleet and snow for northern ireland and for northern england as well. sleet, snow over the high ground. it looks dry with sunshine for this south, but tuesday
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again feels cold wherever you are. into the middle of the week, keeping a close eye on this area of the pressure. most of the computer models keep it over france. he got the cold air in place for those northerly winds across the uk. we could see some snow around southern counties of england for a time. i think it will predominantly be heavy snow showers again for the north of scotland, northern ireland and around any of those costs exposed to that northerly wind. it's going to feel cold again, not quite as windy, temperatures a few degrees above freezing. more wintry showers for many of us on thursday, perhaps a little milderfor some of many of us on thursday, perhaps a little milder for some of us little milderfor some of us by friday.
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live from london, this is bbc news. a volcano erupts in iceland — the fifth occurrence on the reykyanayss peninsula since 2021. this is the scene live there as molten lava spews from the ground. 100 days after hamas attacked israel — and israel started its war on gaza — relatives of israeli hostages join a rally in tel aviv, while the un describes the situation inside gaza as a stain on our shared humanity. five people have died after a boat sank as they tried to cross the channel from france. frederik x is now the king of denmark, following the formal abdication
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of his mother, queen margrethe. tens of thousands of danes gathered in copenhagen to witness his historic succession. iam i am azadeh moshiri, welcome to the programme. we begin with the latest from iceland. a volcano has erupted near the fishing town of grindavik in the southwest of the country. these are the live pictures of the area — and while it's now dark there, you can still see the lava glowing and smoke rising over the skyline. and these pictures from a little earlier today show some houses set on fire by the molten lava. now, remember this follows a similar eruption in the same area last month — but this time it's much closer to the town. people living in homes nearby have already left the area. and local authorities have declared an emergency.
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grindavik lies about a0 kilometres from iceland's capital, reykjavik.

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